Discover Germany - Europe's largest economy, birthplace of the printing press and the automobile, home to Oktoberfest, the Autobahn, and world-class engineering.
Germany is a country in Western Europe. Its capital is Berlin.
Germany is the engine of Europe - literally. The country that invented the automobile, the printing press, and aspirin also happens to be the EU's largest economy and most populous nation. It's a place of contradictions: rigidly efficient but deeply philosophical, famous for strict rules but also for world-class partying. Berlin has more museums than rainy days, Munich has Oktoberfest, and the Black Forest looks exactly like you'd imagine from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.
But Germany is also a country that confronts its history more honestly than almost any other nation. The Berlin Wall, the Holocaust memorials, the divided-and-reunified capital - it's all there, not hidden but built into the fabric of daily life. Beyond the big cities, there are medieval towns along the Rhine, castles that inspired Disney, a car culture that gave us the Autobahn (no speed limit, seriously), and a beer tradition so refined that the purity law for brewing dates back to 1516. Germans work hard, recycle obsessively, and get six weeks of vacation. Not a bad deal.
Two towns forced into one, Germany's highest mountain and a World Cup downhill, with painted houses and a gorge for the day off skis.
Bases: Garmisch-Partenkirchen
An imperial city, a rally city and a trial city, rebuilt on red beer, bratwurst and gingerbread. Five days in Franconia's biggest city.
Beer halls, royal palaces and a surf wave in a city park. Five days in Bavaria's capital, planned around real opening hours.
Bach's city, the cradle of 1989 and a beer that tastes of salt. Five days in Saxony's liveliest city, planned properly.
A castle ruin, the oldest university in Germany and a Neckar valley full of wine. Five days in Germany's romantic old town.
Brick warehouses, harbor ferries, Sunday fish and the Reeperbahn after dark. Five days in Germany's Hanseatic port, planned properly.
One of the greatest composers in history, his work forms the foundation of Western classical music
Born in Ulm, developed the theory of relativity and won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921
Born in Bonn, bridged the Classical and Romantic eras and composed some of the most recognized music ever written
Germany's Shakespeare - author of Faust and The Sorrows of Young Werther, towering figure in world literature
Born in Trier, his political philosophy and writings on capitalism reshaped the entire 20th century
Germany's first female Chancellor, led the country for 16 years and became one of the most powerful leaders in the world
Won Wimbledon at just 17 years old, the youngest men's singles champion in the tournament's history
Germany has over 1,500 different varieties of beer and 1,300 breweries, governed by a purity law from 1516
The Autobahn has sections with no speed limit - recommended speed is 130 km/h but many drive much faster
Germany is the birthplace of gummy bears, invented by Haribo in Bonn in 1922
Oktoberfest in Munich attracts over 6 million visitors annually and serves around 7 million liters of beer
Germany has more zoos than any other country in the world - over 400
The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, after a confused press conference where an official accidentally said travel restrictions were lifted immediately
Gutenberg's printing press, invented in Mainz around 1440, is considered the most important invention of the second millennium
Drop a pin where you think it is and see how close you got. A few rounds and you will place Germany and its neighbours without a second thought.
Western Europe · Europe
