Germany observation tower
Bismarck Tower (Aachen)
You can see 95 km from here, looking north-east.
Calculating the panorama…
Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.
The view
Up to 95 km away.
Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.
Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).
- 95 kmFarthest ridgelooking north-east
- 99%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 63Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 264 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 63 peaks you can name from here
From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.
From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.
The sun
The best sunsets are in April and from August to September.
When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.
- Jansouth-west20 min before the sea-level sunset21%
- Febwest18 min before the sea-level sunset24%
- Marwest12 min before the sea-level sunset30%
- Aprwest8 min before the sea-level sunset34%
- Maynorth-west2 min before the sea-level sunset29%
- Junnorth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset29%
- Julnorth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Augnorth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset33%
- Sepwest12 min before the sea-level sunset36%
- Octwest14 min before the sea-level sunset28%
- Novsouth-west18 min before the sea-level sunset20%
- Decsouth-west20 min before the sea-level sunset19%
- Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
- Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
- %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).
The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.
The place
Bismarck Tower (Aachen).
Bismarck tower in Aachen, Germany
Bismarck Tower (Aachen) is an observation tower in Germany, 264 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 95 km away, looking north-east.
63 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Balver Wald (546 m), 138 km away.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 99% of the circle.
The skies are clearest in April and from August to September.
Get there and stay
- Going upCheck the opening hours before you go: towers and decks close in bad weather.
- Stellplatz Bad Aachencampsite · 1.7 km · 11 within 10 km
- Am Bismarckturmplace to stay · 0.3 km · 115 within 10 km
- Aachennearest town · 3.7 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in AachenBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Maastricht Aachen Airport (MST)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 30 km in a straight lineCar hire at LGG airport (Grâce-Hollogne)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The viewpoint and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 25other viewpoints within 5 kmRollefbachviadukt, Brander Wall, Blick auf Schleckheim and 22 more
- 16named peaks within 5 kmElleterberg, Wolfsberg, Brandenberg and 13 more
- 101marked trails within 3 kmJakobs-Pilgerweg Köln - Aachen, Via Mosana, Wanderweg der Deutschen Einheit (Bad Godesberg - Aachen) and 98 more
- 130shelters and huts within 5 kmSchutzhütte Siebenwege, Schutzhütte Schmalzloch, Schutzhütte Siebenpfade and 127 more
- 426car parks within 3 km
- 5visitor centres within 5 kmHaus des Gastes, ASEAG Kunden-Center, Tourist Info Elisenbrunnen and 2 more
- 157restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 11campsites within 10 kmStellplatz Bad Aachen, Jugendgruppenzeltplatz Aachen, Natur- und Sportfreunde e.V. Aachen and 8 more
- 115places to stay within 10 kmAm Bismarckturm, Haus Daphne, City Apartments Regence and 112 more
- cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
What you see from Bismarck Tower (Aachen), and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas100 mountains within 25 km
Lakeyas2 lakes within 15 km
Forestyas13 forests and trees within 15 km
Birdyas3 birding sites within 25 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The view, as people saw it.
Other viewpoints nearby.
Bismarck Tower (Aachen)
Germany
- 67Viewyas Score
- 95 kmFarthest ridge
- 63Peaks in view
- 264 mAltitude
Vaalserberg
Germany · 6 km
- 72Viewyas Score
- 127 kmFarthest ridge
- 105Peaks in view
- 324 mAltitude
Krawutschke Tower
Germany · 24 km
- 70Viewyas Score
- 111 kmFarthest ridge
- 267Peaks in view
- 395 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q866482) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Sun | J. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms |
| Peaks in view | Peakyas (Wikidata, CC0) |
| Panorama and altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Clouds | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Lakeyas, Forestyas, Birdyas, Darkskyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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