Germany tourist information

Germany is a country in central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea, to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic, to the south by Austria and Switzerland, and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Within its borders are a portion of the Alps mountains, the famous Rhine and Danube rivers, and the Black Forest.

Places to go in Germany ...

Aachen Aalen Adenau Ahlbeck Ahrensburg Albstadt Alken Allensbach Allershausen Altdorf Altenahr Altenberg Altenholz Altentreptow Alzey Amberg Annaberg Ansbach Apfelstaedt Apolda Arnsberg Arnstadt Aschaffenburg Aschau Ascheberg Asperg Assmannshausen Auendorf Aufkirchen Augsburg Aurich Babenhausen Bad Aibling Bad Arolsen Bad Bertrich Bad Bevensen Bad Birnbach Bad Blankenburg Bad Brambach Bad Bramstedt Bad Brueckenau Bad Doberan Bad Driburg Bad Durrheim Bad Endorf Bad Grund Bad Harzburg Bad Herrenalb Bad Hindelang Bad Kissingen Bad Kreuznach Bad Krozingen Bad Laasphe Bad Lippspringe Bad Mergentheim Bad Nauheim Bad Nenndorf Bad Oeynhausen Bad Orb Bad Peterstal Bad Pyrmont Bad Reichenhall Bad Rippoldsau Bad Rothenfelde Bad Sackingen Bad Salzschlirf Bad Salzuflen Bad Sassendorf Bad Schandau Bad Segeberg Bad Steben Bad Sulza Bad Toelz Bad Urach Bad Vilbel Bad Wiessee Bad Wildungen Bad Wimpfen Bad Windsheim Bad Woerishofen Bad Zwischenahn Baden Baden Badenweiler Baiersbronn Balingen Bamberg Barleben Barsinghausen Baunatal Bautzen Bayerisch Gmain Bayreuth Bayrischzell Bebra Beilngries Beilstein Bendestorf Bensheim Berchtesgaden Berg Bergen Bergisch Gladbach Berlin Bernburg Bernkastel Kues Beverungen Bielefeld Biersdorf Bindlach Bingen Blankenburg Blankenfelde Blaustein Bochum Boeblingen Bokel Bonn Boppard Borkum Bosen Bramsche Brandenburg Braunlage Braunschweig Brehna Breisach Am Rhein Breitnau Bremen Bremerhaven Bretten Bruchsal Brueggen Bruehl Buchenberg Buchholz Buehl Burghausen Caputh Celle Chemnitz Chorin Coburg Cochem Cologne Constance Cottbus Crivitz Croeffelbach Cuxhaven Dachau Darmstadt Dasing Dassow Daun Deggendorf Deidesheim Delitzsch Dessau Detmold Dettelbach Diemelsee Dieskau Dietfurt Ditzingen Dolzig Donaueschingen Donaustauf Dorsten Dortmund Drachselsried Dranske Dreieich Dresden Duisburg Dusseldorf Ebersberg Ebrach Eching Egestorf Ehrenfriedersdorf Eisenach Ellwangen Emden Empfingen Engelsbach Erding Erfurt Erkrath Erlabrunn Erlangen Eschborn Eschwege Essel Essen Esslingen Esslingen Am Neckar Ettlingen Euskirchen Fellbach Filderstadt Fischen Flensburg Forchheim Frankenthal Frankfurt Frasdorf Frechen Freiburg Freidorf Freising Freital Freren Freudenstadt Freyburg Friedewald Friedrichroda Friedrichsdorf Friedrichshafen Friedrichstadt Fuerth Fuessen Fulda Gadebusch Ganderkesee Garching Gelsenkirchen Genthin Gera Gerlingen Gerolstein Giessen Gifhorn Gillenfeld Glienicke Glottertal Goch Goerlitz Goettingen Goslar Gotha Grafenau Grainau Grasellenbach Gravenwiesbach Greifswald Grevenbroich Griesheim Groemitz Gross Beuchow Grossbeeren Guestrow Gummersbach Gunzenhausen Hagen Hahn Halberstadt Hallbergmoos Halle Hamburg Hameln Hamm Hanau Hannover Hanstedt Harlesiel Harpstedt Hartenstein Hartmannsdorf Hassloch Hattersheim Hauenstein Heide Heidelberg Heilbronn Heiligendamm Heiligenhaus Helmstadt Helmstedt Hennef Hennigsdorf Heppenheim Herdecke Herford Herleshausen Herrenberg Herrieden Herten Herzogenaurach Herzogsweiler Hessisch Oldendorf Hilden Hildesheim Hille Hindelang Hinterzarten Hirschberg Hochenschwand Hockenheim Hodenhagen Hof Hohen Demzin Hohen Neuendorf Hohenstein Hohwacht Hoppegarten Horben Hoyerswerda Ihringen Ilsenburg Ingolstadt Inzell Itzehoe Jagel Jena Juist Kaarst Kaiserslautern Kalbe Kaltenkirchen Kamen Karben Karlsruhe Kassel Kellberg Kelsterbach Kempten Kiel Kirchdorf Kirchensittenbach Kirchzarten Kleinmachnow Kleinzerlang Kleve Koblenz Kochel Koenigsbrunn Koenigswinter Konstanz Krefeld Kronberg Krumbach Kuehlungsborn Kulmbach Laatzen Ladenburg Lahnstein Lam Lampertheim Landshut Langen Langenargen Langenhagen Langeoog Lauscha Lauterbach Leer Legden Lehrte Leipzig Lenggries Leverkusen Lichtenwalde Liebenwalde Limburg Lindau Lippstadt Loecherberg Lohmar Lossburg Lowenstein Lubeck Ludwigsburg Ludwigsfelde Ludwigshafen Luedenscheid Luetjenburg Luneburg Mahlow Maintal Mainz Manching Mannheim Marburg Maria Laach Markkleeberg Marktbreit Marl Masserberg Mayschoss Meerane Meerbusch Melle Memmingen Merseburg Meschede Mettlach Mettmann Metzingen Miesbach Miltenberg Mitterfels Mitterfirmiansreut Monchengladbach Monheim Montabaur Moos Moritzburg Much Muenster Mulheim Munich Murnau Naumburg Neckarsulm Nesselwang Nettetal Neubrandenburg Neuenkirchen Neufahrn Neuhardenberg Neuhermsdorf Neumuenster Neuruppin Neuss Niederkassel Niedernhausen Niederzissen Niefern Nieheim Nierstein Noerdlingen Nordenham Norderstedt Norten Hardenberg Nuertingen Numbrecht Nuremberg Nurnberg Oberammergau Oberaudorf Oberharmersbach Oberhausen Oberhof Oberschleissheim Oberstaufen Oberstdorf Oberursel Oberwiesenthal Offenbach Offenburg Olbernhau Oldenburg Osnabrueck Ostfildern Ostseebad Ahrenshoop Ostseebad Baabe Ostseebad Binz Ostseebad Dierhagen Ostseebad Goehren Ostseebad Graal Muritz Ostseebad Prerow Ostseebad Sellin Ostseebad Wustrow Otterberg Otterndorf Ottobrunn Paderborn Parsberg Pasewalk Passau Pegnitz Peine Peissen Pfalzgrafenweiler Pforzheim Pfronten Pirna Plauen Pleinfeld Pliezhausen Plochingen Pommelsbrunn Potsdam Preetz Pulheim Putbus Quedlinburg Quickborn Radeberg Radebeul Radefeld Ralswiek Ramsau Rastatt Rathen Ratingen Rauenberg Raunheim Recklinghausen Rees Regensburg Reichenau Reichenbach Reilingen Reinbek Remagen Remscheid Reutlingen Rheinsberg Riedstadt Riesa Rimbach Rinteln Rodgau Romrod Rosenheim Rossau Rostock Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber Rottach Egern Rottenburg Rottweil Rust Saarbruecken Saarlouis Sagard Samtens Sankt Augustin Sarstedt Sasbachwalden Sauerlach Schesslitz Schillig Schkeuditz Schlangenbad Schleswig Schliersee Schluechtern Schmallenberg Schneizlreuth Schneverdingen Schoenwald Schomberg Schorssow Schwaig Schwarmstedt Schwarzheide Schweinfurt Schwerin Schwetzingen Schwieberdingen Seebad Ahlbeck Seebad Bansin Seebad Heringsdorf Seesen Sehnde Sendenhorst Siegburg Siegen Siegsdorf Sindelfingen Singen Sinsheim Soest Solingen Soltau Speyer Spitzingsee Spremberg Stade Stadtallendorf Stadtoldendorf Starnberg Steinheim Stockach Stockelsdorf Stolpen Stralsund Straubing Stromberg Stuttgart Suessen Suhl Sulzbach Tabarz Tamm Tangermuende Taucha Tecklenburg Teistungen Teltow Templin Tennenbronn Tettnang Timmendorfer Strand Travemuende Trebbin Trent Trier Troisdorf Tuttlingen Ulm Unna Unterfoehring Unterhaching Unterreichenbach Unterschleissheim Unterwossen Urbar Usseln Velbert Viernheim Vlotho Vohenstrauss Waldeck Waldenburg Waldkirch Waldkirchen Walldorf Walsrode Wandlitz Wangerland Wangerooge Waren Warendorf Weimar Weinboehla Weingarten Weinheim Weiskirchen Weitnau Wemding Wendeburg Wenden Wenningstedt Wernau Werne Wernigerode Wesel Wesendorf Westerburg Westerland Westerstede Wetzlar Weyhausen Wieden Wiesbaden Wiesloch Wiggensbach Wilhelmshaven Willebadessen Willingen Wilthen Windhagen Winterberg Winzenhohl Wirsberg Wismar Witten Wittenberg Wittmund Wolfsburg Worms Wuerzburg Wuppertal Zeuthen Zeven Zingst Zinnowitz Zirndorf Zittau Zorneding Zweibruecken Zwickau

Germany is a democratic parliamentary federal republic, made up of 16 states (Bundesländer), which in certain spheres act independently of the federation. Historically consisting of several sovereign nations with their own history, language (distinct dialects), culture and religion, Germany was unified as a nation state during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870/1871.

The Federal Republic of Germany is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8 and the G4 nations, and is a founding member of the European Union. It is the European Union's most populous and most economically powerful member state.

Germany is located in Central Europe and shares borders with Denmark in the North, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France in the West, Austria and Switzerland in the South and Poland and the Czech Republic in the East. The North Sea and the Baltic Sea represent additional National Borders in the North.

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Cuisine ^*

German cuisine varies greatly from region to region. The southern regions of Bavaria and Swabia share many dishes among them and with their neighbours to the south, Switzerland and Austria.

Meat
Pork, beef, and poultry are the main varieties of meat consumed in Germany, with pork being the most popular by a substantial amount. The average person in Germany will consume up to 72 pounds of meat in a year. Among poultry, chicken is most common, although duck, goose, and turkey are also enjoyed. Game meats, especially boar, rabbit, and venison are also widely available around the year. Lamb and goat are also available, but are not very popular. Meat is usually pot-roasted; pan-fried dishes also exist, but these are usually imports from France. Throughout Germany, meat is very often eaten in sausage form. There is said to be more than 1500 different types of sausage in Germany. Certain families may also make their own sausage for personal consumption.

Breakfast (Fruhstuck) commonly consists of bread, toast, and or bread rolls (the term for which varies a lot by region, Brotchen, Semmeln, Schrippen, Wecken or Rundstucke being among the most common) with jam ("Marmelade" or "Konfiture"), marmalade or honey, eggs, and strong coffee or tea (milk, cocoa or juice for children). Deli meats, such as ham, salted meats and salami, are also commonly eaten on bread in the morning, as are various cheeses. A variety of meat-based spreads such as Leberwurst (literally liver-sausage) can be found during breakfast as well.

Traditionally, the main meal of the day has been lunch (Mittagessen), eaten around noon. Dinner (Abendessen or Abendbrot) was always a smaller meal, often consisting only of a variety of breads, meat or sausages, cheese and some kind of vegetables, similar to breakfast, or possibly sandwiches. However, in Germany, as in other parts of Europe, dining habits have changed over the last 50 years.

Today, many people eat only a small meal in the middle of the working day at work and enjoy a hot dinner in the evening at home with the whole family. This is also the reason why the availability of cheap restaurants close to the office or the existance of a factory canteen cannot be assumed automatically. So the traditional way is still rather common, not only in rural areas. Breakfast is still very popular and may be elaborated and extended on weekends, with friends invited as guests. Since the 1990s the sunday brunch has also become common not only in city cafes.

Fish
Trout is the most common freshwater fish on German menu as well as pike, carp, and European perch are also frequently served. Seafood was traditionally restricted to the northern coastal areas except for pickled herring. Today many seafish like fresh herring (also as Rollmops), sardine, tuna, mackerel, and salmon are well established throughout the country. Prior to the industrial revolution and the ensuing pollution of the rivers, salmon were common in the rivers Rhine, Elbe, and Oder. Nowadays, thanks to tight environmental control, rivers are cleaner than they were a century ago and the fish population of Germany's rivers is gaining back its territory.

Vegetables
Vegetables are often eaten in stews or vegetable soups, but can also be served as a side dish. Carrots, turnips, spinach, peas, beans, and many types of cabbage are very common. Fried onions are a common addition to many meat dishes throughout the country. Potatoes, while a major part of the diet, are usually not counted among vegetables by Germans. Asparagus, especially white asparagus known as spargel, is particularly enjoyed in Germany as a side dish or as a main meal. Sometimes restaurants will even devote an entire menu to nothing but spargel, when it is the right season (late Spring). Spargel season is traditionally set to the month before St. John's Day.

Side dishes
Noodles are usually thicker than Italian pasta and often contain egg yolk. Especially in the south-western part of the country, the predominant variety of noodles is Spatzle which contain a very large amount of yolk. Besides noodles, potatoes and dumplings (Klosse or Knodel) are very common, especially in the south. Potatoes entered German cuisine in the late 18th century and were almost ubiquitous in the 19th and 20th centuries, but their popularity is currently waning somewhat in favour of noodles and rice. Potatoes are most often served boiled in salt water, but mashed and fried potatoes also are traditional, and Pommes Frites (french fries) have now become very common.

Drinks
Beer is very common throughout all parts of Germany, with many local and regional breweries producing a wide variety of beers. Beer is generally not very expensive and of good quality. In most of the country Pils is predominant today, whereas people in the South (especially in Bavaria) seem to prefer other lagers or wheat beer. A number of regions have a special kind of local beer, for example the dark Altbier around the lower Rhine, the Kolsch of the Cologne area, which is light but like Altbier uses a more traditional brewing process than Pils, and the weak and sour Berliner Weisse, usually mixed with raspberry or woodruff syrup, in Berlin. Since the reunification of 1990, Schwarzbier (black beer), which was common in East Germany but could hardly be found in West Germany, has become increasingly popular in Germany as a whole. Beer may also be mixed with other beverages:

pils or lager and lemonade: Alsterwasser or Radler
pils or lager and cola: Diesel, Schmutziges or simply Colabier
Altbier and cola: Krefelder
wheat beer and cola: Russ or simply Colaweizen

In the last years many breweries served this trend of mixing beer with other drinks, selling bottles of already mixed beverages. Examples are Bibob (from Kostritzer), Veltins V+, Mixery (from Karlsberg) and Cab (from Krombacher). Beer is sold generally in bottles. Canned beer is available but (especially in the public) it's consumption ('tin kills the taste - remaining only alcohol') has the reputation of alcoholism.

Wine is also popular throughout the country. German wine comes predominantly from the areas along the upper and middle Rhine and its tributaries; the northern half of the country is too cold and flat to grow grape vines. Riesling and Silvaner are among the best-known varieties of white wine, while Spatburgunder and Dornfelder are important German red wines. The sweet German wines sold in English speaking countries seem mostly to cater to the foreign market, as they are quite rare in Germany itself.

Korn is a German spirit made from malt (wheat, rye and/or barley), that is consumed predominantly in the middle and northern parts of Germany. Obstler on the other hand is distilled from apples and pears ("Obstler"), plums, cherries (Kirschwasser), or mirabelle plums and is preferred in the southern parts. The term Schnaps refers to both kinds of hard liquors.

Coffee is also very common, not only for breakfast, but also accompanying a piece of cake in the afternoon, usually on Sundays or special occasions and birthdays. It is generally filter coffee, somewhat stronger than usual in the US though weaker than espresso. Tea is more common in the Northwest. East Frisians traditionally have their tea with cream and rock candy ("Kluntje").

Popular soft drinks include Apfelschorle, apple juice mixed with sparkling mineral water, and Spezi, made with cola and an orange-flavored drink such as Fanta. Germans are unique among their neighbours in preferring strongly carbonated bottled waters ("Sprudel") to non-carbonated ones.

Transportation ^*

Due to its central situation in Europe, the volume of traffic, especially goods transit, in Germany is very high. In the past decades, much of the freight traffic shifted from rail to road transport, which led the Federal Government to introduce a motor toll for lorries in 2005. In addition, individual traffic increased to an extent that on German roads, traffic densities are very high by international comparison. For the future, a further strong increase of traffic is expected.

Autobahn
High speed vehicular traffic has a long tradition in Germany, not only owing to the automobile industry, but also, because the first Autobahn in the world, the AVUS, and the world's first automobile were built in Germany. Germany possesses one of the densest road systems of the world. It covers 12,037 kilometres (7,479 mi) of federal "Autobahn" motorways and 41,386 kilometres (25,716 mi) of federal highways. In contrast to other European countries, German motorways partially have no blanket speed limit. However, signposted limits are in place on many dangerous or congested stretches, and where traffic noise or pollution poses a nuisance; some of these limits apply only at night or only in wet conditions.

Railway
Another way to travel is via rail. Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) is the major German railway infrastructure and service operator. For commuter and regional services, franchises of various sizes are granted by the individual states, though largely financed from the federal budget. Unsubsidised long-range service operators can compete freely all over the country, at least in theory. Actually, Deutsche Bahn holds a de facto monopoly on long-range services.

ICE
The InterCity Express or ICE is a type of high-speed train operated by Deutsche Bahn in Germany and neighbouring countries, for example to Zürich, Switzerland or Vienna, Austria. ICE trains also serve Amsterdam (The Netherlands) as well as Liège and Brussels (Belgium). In spite of branch lines progressively being closed for at least the last seven decades, the rail network throughout Germany is still very extensive and provides excellent services in most areas. On regular lines, at least one train every two hours will call even in the smallest of villages. Nearly all larger metropolitan areas are being served by an S-Bahn heavy rail metro system. A large proportion of towns feature underground and/or tram systems. Good urban and overland bus services are ubiquitous.

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Airports
Frankfurt International Airport is a major international airport and European transportation hub. Frankfurt Airport ranks among the world's top ten airports and serves 304 flight destinations in 110 countries. Depending whether total passengers, flights or cargo traffic are used to measure, it ranks as the busiest, second busiest and third busiest in Europe alongside London Heathrow Airport and Paris' Charles de Gaulle.

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Culture ^*

Berlin is sometimes called the "culture-capital of Europe". After Paris, it's the second most popular touristic site among Europeans.

Germany's contributions to the world's cultural heritage are numerous, and the country is often known as das Land der Dichter und Denker (the land of poets and thinkers). German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages, in particular to such authors as Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach, considered some of the most important poets of medieval Europe.

German Fairy Tales
The fairy tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are world famous and the Nibelungenlied, whose author is not known, is also a major contribution to German literature. Theologian Luther, who translated the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set the basis for modern "High German" language. The mostly admired German poets and authors are without doubt Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist and Hoffmann. Other poets include Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich Heine, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Theodor Fontane, Rainer Maria Rilke and authors of the 20th century include Nobel Prize winners Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll, and Günter Grass.

Other famous authors are Brecht and Schmidt. Germany's influence on world philosophy was significant as well, as exemplified by Magnus, Leibniz, Kant, Herder, Mendelssohn, Novalis, Fichte, Hegel, Marx, Engels, Feuerbach, Schopenhauer, Schweitzer, Nietzsche, Husserl, Hartmann, Jaspers, Luxemburg, Heidegger, Arendt, Steiner, Gadamer, and Habermas. In the field of sociology influential German thinkers were Tönnies, Simmel, Weber, Horkheimer, Adorno, and Luhmann.

Many historical figures, though not citizens of Germany in the modern sense, were important and influential figures in German culture, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Kafka,and Stefan Zweig.

History

As Europe's largest economy and most populous nation, Germany remains a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed Germany in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR).

The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EC, which became the EU, and NATO, while the Communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then, Germany has expended considerable funds to bring Eastern productivity and wages up to Western standards. In January 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European exchange currency, the euro.