What do gummy bears, Beethoven and Andy Warhol have in common? They’re all waiting for you in Bonn, Germany, which has an especially good reason to earn a spot on your travel list this fall and into next year.
On Sept. 9, the Beethoven Haus museum in Bonn will open Beethoven by Warhol, a special exhibition that brings together more than 100 items from international and regional Warhol collections, including previously unpublished works, photographs, trial proofs and other material connected to Warhol’s famous Beethoven portfolio.
The exhibition runs from September 9, 2026 through April 5, 2027, which aligns with the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death in March, 2027.
The poster for Beethoven by Warhol, a special exhibition running Sept. 9, 2026, through April 5, 2027, examining Andy Warhol’s fascination with Beethoven and his iconic 1987 BEETHOVEN portfolio.
(Beethoven Haus Bonn)
Warhol and Beethoven might sound like an odd pairing until you think about what they had in common. Both became cultural icons whose artworks were recognizable far and wide. Warhol, of course, was drawn to people and symbols everyone already knew from pop culture, as seen with his Marilyn Monroe portraits and Campbell’s Soup series.
That’s why in 1987, shortly before his own death, Warhol turned Beethoven into one of his final major print subjects. Though long dead, the famous composer’s likeness was still alive, and his genius still influenced contemporary musicians. Warhol created a four-part screen print of Beethoven as one of his last commissions, using sourced images from the Beethoven Haus museum, where the exhibit will take place.
The HARIBO Store on Poststraße in downtown Bonn
(We-Ge via Getty Images)A Bonn trip starts with Beethoven, but it doesn’t have to end there
You don’t have to be a classical-music person to have fun in Bonn. With a population around 325,000, the city was the capital of West Germany for decades and is still one of the locations where the United Nations assemble.
Bonn is also the birthplace of HARIBO, the world’s most famous gummy bears. You can stop in for a tour of the gummy bear factory and take in the atmosphere’s sweet and sour smells, or you can visit the location on Poststraße in downtown Bonn to take home a treat.
Visit the Bonn History Museum to see how West Germany has developed since 1945 and after unification with East Germany in 1990. Walk by Villa Hammerschmidt, the neoclassical villa that served as the former presidential residence and still sits along the Rhine.
Former presidential residence Villa Hammerschmidt in Bonn, Germany, surrounded by bright pink and orange summer flowers in August 2024.
(Megan DeMatteo)
Stop by the Bonn Minster, a 1,000-year-old church where the beheaded statues of the city’s patron saints, Cassius and Florentius, recall Bonn’s Roman roots.
And finally, walk through the University of Bonn campus and see, against an ocher-colored façade, the gilded Regina Pacis statue that, according to local legend, survived both a devastating fire and Napoleon’s attempts to remove it.
The gilded Regina Pacis, or Queen of Peace, statue on the old main University of Bonn building. Local legend says the statue survived both a devastating fire and Napoleon’s attempts to remove it.
(thehague via Getty Images)
Don’t forget to take a photo before Bonn’s Old Town Hall, an elegant Baroque building on the market square that was rebuilt after World War II.
Though it’s one of Bonn’s prettiest buildings, the site has had a surprisingly practical history. Its predecessor served as a jail, police station, marketplace and customs office, where goods were weighed before merchants paid their taxes.
Magnficently designed clock on the old townhall in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Europe
(Hartmut Schmidt via Getty Images)
Today, its pink-and-white surface makes it one of Bonn’s most recognizable landmarks and a popular spots for public events. Go, and you might see a farmer’s market nearby worth strolling through.
V-hotel and its two treehouse suites sit among the lush green hills surrounding Bonn, creating an inviting retreat just outside the city. Photo: V-Hotel Bonn website (v-hotel.de)
(V-Hotel Bonn website (v-hotel.de))Stay somewhere that keeps the art going
If you’re coming to Bonn for Beethoven, Warhol or a gummy-bear pilgrimage, make the hotel part of the fun. V-Hotel sits on a forested hillside outside the city in a former government office building that sat in ruins for 12 years.
V-Hotel’s eclectic and inviting lobby
(Megan DeMatteo)
Co-owner and designer Christina Voit is an art-history graduate who has kept the building’s exposed concrete and wood and filled the 42 rooms and common spaces with a curated mix of prints, sculptural objects, photographs and hand-painted street art. Two treehouse rooms hide among the surrounding trees, too.
Breakfast table at V-Hotel, where an open-concept dining area looks out onto the surrounding greenery, making the forest feel like part of the room.
(Megan DeMatteo)
Voit came to the project after spending four years in New York, where she lived near Prospect Park, volunteered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and worked in restaurants before returning to Germany.
Her father eventually asked her to help turn the abandoned building into a hotel. “We built it together. We opened it together. We did the concept together,” she said.
V-Hotel owner Christina Voit stands beside a mural showcasing the building’s original industrial concrete and the contemporary art she curated throughout the former government office.
(Megan DeMatteo)
That makes the V-Hotel a particularly good home base for a Bonn trip. You can spend the day seeing Beethoven’s birthplace, hunting down HARIBO gummy bears or walking the former West German government district.
Megan DeMatteo stands in front of a colorful mural at V-Hotel Bonn, where contemporary art fills the former government building.
(Christina Voit)
Then, come back to an aesthetically pleasing hotel where the art on the walls tells a story and the breakfast table awaits you with basket of overflowing homemade breads.
And when you need a quiet place to recover from all that history, the forest is right outside your door.
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Disclosure: The author was a guest of the German National Tourism Board. Hosting organizations do not review or approve articles before publication. All observations reflect the author’s independent review.
How this was made: AI assisted with structure, formatting, interview transcription and metadata. All reporting, product testing, research, interviews, fact-checking, writing and editing was done by Megan DeMatteo, an independent writer and editor who, like many solo creators, handles the full workload of a traditional newsroom team.