Route Charlemagne travel guides

The Aachen Rathaus is a Gothic town hall built on the site of Charlemagne's palace at Markt, still used by the city council and central to the Route Charlemagne. This guide explains what the building is, why the site matters, and how to combine a visit with the Cathedral and Centre Charlemagne.

The Centre Charlemagne is Aachen's modern city museum on Katschhof, between the cathedral and the Rathaus. Its permanent exhibition runs from the earliest settlement through the Roman town, the Carolingian Pfalz, the Baroque spa era and the modern European city, with a Geschichtslabor on Carolingian everyday culture. It is also the starting point of Route Charlemagne. Here is how to plan a visit, what the ticket covers and how to sequence it with the cathedral and Rathaus.

The Grashaus at Fischmarkt 3 is one of Aachen's oldest buildings and served as the city's first town hall. Today it houses the Europe station of the Route Charlemagne, and the interior is reserved for booked programmes, so plan for an exterior look and check access in advance.

Two days in Aachen works because the Old Town is compact: the cathedral, Katschhof, Rathaus and Markt sit close together. This plan pairs that imperial core with the thermal-spring side of the city, gives day two two half-day forks, and explains which ticketed interiors are worth your time.

Aachen packs a lot into a compact Altstadt, so most visitors get more from one museum chosen well than from three rushed stops. This guide sets out what the Suermondt-Ludwig, Couven, treasury, Centre Charlemagne and smaller collections each do best, and how to pair two without overloading a day.