Aachen in 2 days
A ready route for 2 days in Aachen: the main sights grouped by area, so you don't walk back and forth. Each day opens on the map with all its stops.
Cathedral Quarter & Altstadt · Museums & Pontviertel
6 places · about 5,5 h of sightseeing · 1,6 km between them
Morning
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Aachener Dom (Aachen Cathedral)Charlemagne's UNESCO-listed Palatine Chapel, his burial place, and Germany's first UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed 1978).
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Domschatzkammer (Cathedral Treasury)One of the most significant church treasuries in Europe — the Cross of Lothair, the Bust of Charlemagne, and the Persephone sarcophagus.
Afternoon
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Aachen Rathaus (Town Hall) & Krönungssaal (Coronation Hall)Built on the foundations of Charlemagne's palace hall; the great Coronation Hall upstairs hosted 30 royal coronation banquets.
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Centre Charlemagne (Neues Stadtmuseum Aachen)Aachen's modern city-history museum, built directly over Charlemagne's palace courtyard between the Dom and the Rathaus.
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ElisenbrunnenA neoclassical colonnaded pavilion over Aachen's sulfurous thermal spring — the city's most photographed landmark after the Dom.
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Suermondt-Ludwig-MuseumAachen's principal fine-art museum — medieval sculpture, Old Masters and a notable Rhenish religious-art collection in a grand 1901 villa.
Route of the day: Google Maps Apple Maps
Parks, Spa & New Town
3 places · about 4,5 h of sightseeing · 8,1 km between them
Morning
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Burg Frankenberg (Frankenberg Castle) & ParkA 13th-century lowland castle in a leafy residential quarter, later home to aviation pioneer Hugo Junkers — now an events venue set in its own park.
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LousbergA 264m wooded hill on the edge of the old town, laid out as one of Europe's earliest public parks (1807) — the best skyline view over Aachen.
Afternoon
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Carolus Thermen Bad Aachen
A large modern thermal spa fed by Aachen's own hot mineral springs — the same waters Charlemagne and the Romans bathed in.
Route of the day: Google Maps Apple Maps
Good to know
When to go
Spring and autumn are the most pleasant for the cathedral and the old town.
Book ahead
Aachener Dom (Aachen Cathedral), Domschatzkammer (Cathedral Treasury), Aachen Rathaus (Town Hall) & Krönungssaal (Coronation Hall), Centre Charlemagne (Neues Stadtmuseum Aachen), Elisenbrunnen, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Burg Frankenberg (Frankenberg Castle) & Park, Lousberg, Carolus Thermen Bad Aachen
Closed days
- Centre Charlemagne (Neues Stadtmuseum Aachen) — closed: Monday
- Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum — closed: Monday
Want times, places to eat and a plan for your own dates?
In your own plan:
- exact times for each day, checked against the opening hours on your dates
- places to eat near every stop, in three budgets
- your flights, hotel, kids and pace taken into account