Heritage Journeys

On the Traces of World Power

Roman Cities Among the Historic Highlights of Germany

Long before Germany existed, the Romans were here: creating camps that became settlements, and baths, bridges, and border walls. Visitors can still get to experience impressive landmarks from well over 2,000 years ago: monuments that are part of lively university towns beloved by locals and renowned for their museums, impressive architecture, and more.

Six of Germany’s Historic Highlights began as Roman foundations or frontier posts. Two, Bonn and Regensburg, now hold UNESCO World Heritage status for stretches of the Limes, the empire’s great northern boundary.

This heritage journey of Roman cities, “On the Traces of World Power,” follows the legions from the Moselle to the Danube and along the Rhine.

Roman Cities

Trier

The undisputed capital of this journey, in every sense: founded as Augusta Treverorum around 16 BC, Trier rose to become a residence of Roman emperors and one of the largest cities of the late empire. The Porta Nigra, the imperial baths, the amphitheater, Constantine’s colossal basilica, and a Roman bridge still carrying daily traffic form Germany’s greatest ancient ensemble, UNESCO-listed since 1986. The Rheinisches Landesmuseum houses the treasures, and costumed gladiator and centurion tours convincingly bring the stones back to life.

Renaissance Palais with garden in front of it. Gras and trees

Augsburg

One of Germany’s oldest cities bears its founder’s name: Augusta Vindelicorum, established in 15 BC under Emperor Augustus, grew into the capital of the province of Raetia. The Roman story surfaces in the archaeological collection and in street names along the Via Claudia Augusta, the ancient trade route over the Alps that made Augsburg rich long before the Fuggers did.

church on a square surrounded by medieval houses. some trees on the square. summer.

Regensburg

The massive stone gate of the Porta Praetoria still stands where the legionary fortress Castra Regina guarded the Danube from 179 AD. Regensburg’s section of the Danube Limes earned the town its second UNESCO World Heritage status in 2021, joining the old town’s coveted existing award. Legionslagermauer lets visitors walk along the original fortress wall. The founding inscription of the Roman camp, preserved in the Historical Museum, is effectively the city’s birth certificate.

Bonn

Castra Bonnensia was no minor outpost: it ranked among the largest permanently occupied legionary camps in the entire Roman Empire, and its street grid still shapes Bonn’s northern districts. Since 2021, the site has been part of the UNESCO-listed Lower Germanic Limes, the empire’s Rhine frontier, with the finds displayed at the LVR-LandesMuseum.

beautiful courtyard with pagodas, fountain and flowers

Koblenz

The name gives it away: Confluentes, the place where the rivers flow together. Rome established a military post at the meeting of the Rhine and Moselle around 9 BC, securing one of the most strategic junctions in its northern provinces. Remains of the late Roman city wall and bridge foundations surface throughout the old town.

Historic Germany church tower with medieval architecture, cobblestone street, and vibrant flowers.

Aachen

Before Charlemagne chose Aachen, the Romans did, and for the same reason: the hottest springs north of the Alps. As Aquae Granni, the town grew around bath complexes whose thermal waters served soldiers and travelers for centuries. The tradition never ended; today’s Carolus Thermen spa draws on the same springs, making Aachen a rare place to experience Roman heritage in a bathrobe.

Historic German monument with a domed pavilion and lush green park setting.

Historic building in Germany with lush greenery and warm sunset lighting.

Wiesbaden

Roman forces founded Aquae Mattiacorum on the Rhine’s right bank around 6 AD, drawn by the site’s hot mineral springs, and by the early second century it had become the seat of the Civitas Mattiacorum administrative district. A garrison fort once stood at the bridgehead in what is now Mainz-Kastel. The Heidenmauer near the Kochbrunnen fountain, a reconstructed stretch of the late fourth-century fortification wall, remains the city’s most visible Roman monument today.

Osnabrück

In 9 AD, Germanic tribes under Arminius destroyed three Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, a defeat that ended Roman expansion east of the Rhine. The battlefield’s location remained unknown until 1987, when Roman coins and sling bullets were discovered near the village of Kalkriese, roughly 22 kilometers north of Osnabrück. Excavations there have since recovered more than 6,000 Roman artifacts, now on display at the Museum und Park Kalkriese.

Exploring the Frontier

The Roman journey rewards travelers who connect the dots: the Limes routes can be followed by car, bike, or river cruise; the museums in Trier, Bonn, and Regensburg hold world-class collections; and the occasional Roman festival or historic spectacle in ancient amphitheaters, to living history weekends along the Danube, Moselle, and Rhine, turn traveling in the footsteps of ancient civilization, Roman archaeology and landmarks into living history.