Story-book charm, cultural clout and a whole lot of gravitas.
Germany wears its riches well: elegant big-city charm, small picture-postcard towns, pagan-inspired harvest festivals, a wealth of art and culture and the perennial pleasures of huge tracts of forest, delightful castles and fine wine and beer are all there for the savouring.
"The reason there is so little crime in Germany is that it's against the law." - Alex Levin
Deep in the heart of Europe, Germany has had a seminal impact on Continental history. From Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire to Otto von Bismarck's German Reich, Nazism and the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, no other nation has moulded Europe the way Germany has - for better or worse.
Germany's landscape is straight from the Brothers Grimm: castles in the air, deep dark forests, fabled rivers. Its capital Berlin has history that encroaches achingly on the present and a culture so now it's almost tomorrow, and its other major cities are havens of fine art and fine living.
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Discover whale-watching, bear spotting and extreme mountain-biking with the Winter Olympics hosts