From a small fishing village to a modern cultural hub, Bremen has grown into a fantastic travel destination over the last 1000+ years. But the Northwestern Germany city is usually overlooked by travelers heading to nearby Hamburg and other popular destinations, such as Berlin, Frankfurt, or Munich.
If you take the time to stop off in Bremen, you’ll find plenty to keep you busy in its major metropolitan area with about 2.5 million inhabitants (similar to Vancouver), Germany’s 10th-largest.
There’s a medieval town center, historical landmarks, fantastic food, art galleries, museums, and more! And without so many crowds, it’s the perfect time to visit the fun and exciting Hanseatic city before it becomes more popular.
Here’s what you need to know about the top things to do in Bremen.
1. Marktplatz and City Hall
The central market square in Bremen, Marktplatz, is a beautiful open square with stunning architecture and several important monuments, such as the Roland Statue (Bremer Roland), a statue of a fictional knight who symbolizes the city’s freedom.

The Bremen City Hall is the most recognizable and impressive building here. The stonework is decoratively carved with incredible figures and statues.
It’s so incredible that the tandem formed by the City Hall and the Roland Statue is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Inside the City Hall is equally beautiful, with incredible wooden structures. It’s still in use, but the building itself exhibits history in every corner.
Besides the Roland Statue, there is a modern statue of a donkey, rooster, dog, and cat that represents the famous Brothers Grimm’s Town Musicians of Bremen fairytale.
2. Bremen Ratskeller wine cellar
Right in the heart of Bremen is Germany’s oldest barrel of wine, dating back to 1653. It’s also stored in one of the oldest wine cellars, Ratskeller, which has been in the same place since 1405.

Since 1330, the town council has regulated who can buy and sell white wine. Since the council needed a cellar to store the wine, for hundreds of years, the most expensive wines were kept here. And now, you can take a tour and taste the wine! There’s even a specific wine that was last tasted by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The wine cellar has multiple halls and cellars as well as meeting rooms used for notable guests like Kaiser Wilhelm, Hitler, Wagner, Strauss, and Otto von Bismark. If you’re feeling fancy, you can eat at the on-site restaurant, which has amazing food and even better wine, straight from the cellars.
3. Handwerkerhof and the Bonbon Manufaktur
Handwerkerhof translates to “craftsman’s courtyard,” and it’s a small but beautiful courtyard right in the heart of the city. The shops here are all traditional, and you can find local artisans and craftspeople selling their work.
The highlight of this courtyard is the Bonbon Manufaktur, the sweet maker. The smells that waft from the shop, and the bright displays of hard sweets and candies are enticing enough to lure you in.
There is a window into the kitchen in the shop, where you can watch over 100 different sweets being made using traditional techniques. It’s the best souvenir!
4. Böttcherstraße
Although it’s only 100m long, the Böttcherstraße (Böttcher Street) in the center of Bremen is one of the city’s biggest attractions. The whole street was constructed in under 10 years in the 1920s but it seems to be much older.

The buildings are unusual in the expressionist style and have stunning brickwork — and were commissioned by Nazi sympathizers in the 1930s. Directly above the street, that massive bronze relief is called Der Lichtbringer. It was dedicated to Germany’s most infamous artist, Adolf Hitler, but he called the work “degenerate art”.
Böttcherstraße now has stylish bars, small boutiques, and art galleries. There are also some restaurants and museums, making it a lovely place to slow down and enjoy the city’s atmosphere.
On this street, you can find the famous Haus des Glockenspiels (House of the Carillon). The building is gorgeous, and if you visit at the right time, 30 porcelain bells play sea shanties and old folk songs — it’s magical!
A lesser-known attraction is Himmelsaal (Heaven Hall), hidden inside a historic building called Haus Atlantic. Visits are very limited, but if you can make it work, you’ll be able to admire a mystical place. The adjoined staircase is also impressive and is usually more accessible, by going through the Radisson Blu Hotel Bremen.

5. Kunsthalle Bremen
The private Bremen Art Society has run the Kunsthalle museum for over 200 years. It has a vast collection of artworks, drawings, and more. The museum features art and artists from all over Europe dating back to the 14th century.

There is a huge collection of 19th and 20th-century art, including works by Delacroix, van Gogh, Edvard Munch, and Alfred Sisley.
One of the highlights of this museum is the print and drawing department, which has thousands of sketches, doodles, prints, and more from the 1400s through today. The modern section, meanwhile, showcases interactive and digital art, which is a fun contrast.
Tickets cost €10 (∼ C$15), and you’ll want to allow a few hours to take it all in. If you want to visit other art museums, Schnoor One and Weserburg are also highly rated.
6. St. Peter’s Cathedral
The huge St. Peter’s Cathedral (also called the Bremen Cathedral or St. Petri Dom) is hard to miss. With 2 giant towers and spires with traditional green roofing, it has an unusual mix of styles, including Romanesque, Gothic, and Gothic Revival.

As impressive as it is outside, it’s even more impressive inside. Some parts of the cathedral date back over 1,000 years, including the crypt where you can see 8 mummies in glass cases; creepy! You can also head up one of the towers for one of the best views in the city.

The cathedral has a museum with many amazing artifacts which are no longer displayed in the main church, along with details about the building’s history, the renovation work, and its style.
Opposite the church, there’s a unique attraction: a spuckstein (spit stone). Bremen citizens still spit on a special basalt stone that marks where the head of the last person to be publicly beheaded in the city fell. Her name was Gesche Gottfried, and she was a female serial killer who had poisoned 15 people in the early 1800s.
7. Altstadt and Schnoorviertel
Like many German towns, Bremen has an incredible, picture-perfect old town that you’ll want to explore on foot. It’s called the Altstadt and it’s where you’ll find many of the attractions from this post.

The most beautiful part, with the most medieval feel, is the Schnoor. This tangled knot of narrow, cobbled streets features amazing traditional architecture and beautiful timber-framed houses.
Once the neighborhood of poor fishermen, it’s now a chic, attractive area with boutiques, cafes, restaurants, art galleries, and hand-crafted souvenir stores. You can stop for tea and traditional cakes before trying handmade sweets, supporting a local artist, or just doing some window shopping. The Viertel neighborhood just east is also worth a stroll.

8. Schlachte
The Schlachte is Bremen’s waterfront promenade on the River Weser, the longest river entirely in Germany. The pedestrian walkway runs the entire length of the old town and beyond.

It has a section with bars and Biergarten (beer gardens) where locals gather to sit on the banks of the water and talk over a drink. You’ll also find a market, food stalls, or street music to enjoy.
You can board a river cruise from here. If you cross the river, you can also visit the Beck’s brewery, as Bremen is the home of this well-known beer.
9. Bürgerpark
Bremen has plenty of parks, but the most popular is Bürgerpark (citizen’s park). This vast park covers over 200 hectares and has something for everyone: carefully manicured gardens, dedicated sunbathing spots, beautiful lakes, mini golf, boat rentals, and several boules pitches.
It attracts people looking to have a picnic, go jogging, catch up with friends, or play sports. You’ll find plenty of locals here, and yet because it’s so big, it never feels busy.
There is also a famous animal enclosure, which once had kangaroos, camels, and reindeer wandering around freely. Now, you can find guinea pigs, donkeys, geese, boars, wild pigs, peacocks, sheep, and alpacas.

Depending on your schedule, you could spend all day here just exploring the park, but you’ll want to allow 1-2 hours at a minimum.
10. Museums
Bremen has many popular museums.The Universum Bremen is a science museum worth visiting if only for the building’s unique architecture. It’s located not too far from the city center and Bürgerpark, near the University of Bremen. That’s where you can visit the Fallturm Bremen, one of only a few microgravity drop towers in the world (a structure where weightlessness can be produced).

The Overseas Museum (Übersee Museum) is a natural history and ethnographic museum that dates back to 1887 and is located near the old town.
The Bremer Geschichtenhaus (House of History) has costumed actors telling the history of the city and is located in the Schnoor neighborhood.
11. Valentin submarine pens
Slightly further down the river from Bremen are the incredible Valentin submarine pens (also called the U-boat Bunker). This huge factory was meant to produce and shelter German U-boats during WWII. It was the largest in Germany and the 2nd-largest in the world.

Although the pens were never fully constructed, and no submarine was ever made here, they are now a commemorative site enriched by an extensive photo collection. You can reach them by car or using public transport, and it is free to visit.
You can take a self-guided tour, which is incredibly thorough. You’ll learn about the construction — tragically marked by the loss of 6,000 slave prisoners, the technical aspect of building a submarine, as well as more general information about the impact of WWII in the area.
12. Relaxation
If you want to relax after busy days of exploring the city, you can splurge on a nice hotel for at least a part of your stay. Trivago has plenty of accommodation options in Bremen.
But the best option is a beautiful free hotel — and it’s easy to get! Take advantage of travel rewards deals like our Flytrippers readers who have earned over 3 million dollars in free travel with them (especially with this hotel deal).

The Moxy Bremen is a beautiful and recent hotel near the waterfront in the newly redeveloped harbor area, close to the old city and all the attractions.
It costs 9,500 Marriott points per night (47,500 for 5 nights) in May — and even less if you travel in the low season. That’s just 4,750 points per person per night with a companion! It’s not as cheap as Marriott hotels in Southeast Asia of course, but that’s not bad at all for Western Europe.
The current welcome bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card gives you 53,000 points (or 106,000 points if your companion takes advantage of it too).

The cash price is C$850 ($170/night for 5 nights), so using points can give you excellent value — those particular dates give you almost twice our conservative Flytrippers Valuation! You can read how Marriott Bonvoy points work.
Moxy is the most hip, young, and lively of Marriott’s 30+ different hotel brands. Hotels have fun lobbies that are actually a bar and a game room all at once, with a great social atmosphere.
The social lounge and bar area looks like a great spot to chill if you want to spend a day at a slower pace while in Bremen.
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Summary
Bremen is like a fairy tale town. It’s full of authentic charm and important historic sites. You’ll have a great time checking out the museums, enjoying the nightlife, and relaxing by the Weser River.
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Featured image: Bremen, Germany (photo credit: Jahanzeb Ahsan)