Insight Guides Germany (Travel Guide eBook) , livre ebook

How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book
This Insight Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your visit to Germany, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience. The guide begins with our selection of Top Attractions, as well as our Editor’s Choice categories of activities and experiences. Detailed features on history, people and culture paint a vivid portrait of contemporary life in Germany. The extensive Places chapters give a complete guide to all the sights and areas worth visiting. The Travel Tips provide full information on getting around, activities from culture to shopping to sport, plus a wealth of practical information to help you plan your trip.
In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.
Maps
All key attractions and sights in Germany are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.
Images
You’ll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Germany. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.
About Insight Guides
Insight Guides have more than 40 years’ experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.
Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

© 2018 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd




Table of Contents
Germany’s Top 10 Attractions
Editor’s Choice
Introduction: The changing face of germany
Green Germany
Decisive Dates
Church, Emperors and Kings
Insight: Renaissance Faces: Windows on the Soul
A Golden Age
Restoration
Empire to Dictatorship
Division and Reunification
Germany Today
Food and Drink
The Performing Arts
Contemporary Art
German Cinema
Insight: Festivals
Introduction: Places
Introduction: Berlin and the Eastern States
Berlin
Potsdam
Brandenburg and the Mecklenburg Lakes
Through the Harz to Leipzig
Berlin to Dresden
Dresden to Jena
Weimar and the Thuringian Forest
Introduction: Munich and the Deep South
Munich
Along the Alps
Insight: Mountains, Lakes and Big Skies
Eastern Bavaria
The Romantic Road
Franconia
Lake Constance
The Black Forest
Introduction: Frankfurt and the Seven States
Frankfurt
The Rhine and Moselle
The Route to Cologne
The Ruhr
Heidelberg and the Bergstrasse
The Fairytale Road
Introduction: Hamburg and the coast
Hamburg
The North Sea Coast
Insight: The North Sea: Friend and Foe
Via Lübeck to Flensburg
Along the Baltic Coast
Travel Tips: Transport
Travel Tips: A–Z
Travel Tips: Language
Travel Tips: Further Reading


Germany’s Top 10 Attractions



Top Attraction 1



Cologne Cathedral. Germany’s most spectacular cathedral and a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, it features two impressive towers that have dominated the city’s skyline for centuries. Its treasures include the Shrine of the Magi. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 2



The Berlin Wall. It divided Berlin for nearly 30 years, but parts can still be seen: at the East-Side Gallery in Friedrichshain, a 1.3-km (0.8-mile) stretch has been painted by artists from all over the world. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 3



Oktoberfest, Munich. The world’s largest fair, spanning over 16 days starting at the end of September. Revellers gather in huge tents to eat, drink beer and be merry – and not just in Munich. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 4



Lake Constance. One Lake, three countries sharing its shores: Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Visit picturesque Konstanz and Lindau, the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, or board one of the ferries that ply the lake. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 5



Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam. This small palace is a stunner thanks to its monumental flight of terraces, designed by Frederick the Great in 1744, and its exquisite Baroque garden. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 6



Museumsufer Frankfurt. Architecture and design, film and photography, literature, nature and technology: this riverfront complex has museums to suit every taste. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 7



Rhine Valley. Flanked by gentle vineyards or dramatic outcrops and crowned by the odd castle, the stretch from Rüdesheim to Koblenz is the epitome of German Romanticism. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 8



Heidelberg. With the Romantic movement, the castle – which took 400 years to build but which the Thirty Years’ War left in ruins – captured the public’s imagination. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 9



Sächsische Schweiz (Little Switzerland of Saxony). Take a trip to the Bastei rock formation to experience this bizarre landscape of eroded sandstone along the Elbe. For more information, click here .
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Top Attraction 10



Museumsinsel, Berlin. This five-museum ensemble, which covers Oriental and Roman antiquities to 20th-century art, is set on a Unesco-listed island. For more information, click here .
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Editor’s Choice



Best art collections

Kunsthalle Tübingen. Not one of your ‘usual’ showcases for invaluable collections, its exhibitions garner international praise. For more information, click here .
Museum Ludwig, Cologne . This first-class museum traces the evolution of European and American art from the 19th to the 20th century. For more information, click here .
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart. A fantastic array of European Art from the 14th to the 20th century, beautifully presented in a post-modern building. For more information, click here .
Römisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne. Look back over 2,000 years into the glorious past of the wealthy Roman settlement of Colonia. For more information, click here .
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne. Collections of old German masters from the 14th to the 16th century and the French impressionists too. For more information, click here .
Gemälde Galerie, Berlin. An impressive collection of Italian and Northern European painting from the Renaissance and early Baroque in Berlin’s Kulturforum. For more information, click here .



Gottfried von Wedig’s Musical Reunion (c.1615), at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne.
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Northern gems

Greetsiel. This small, unpretentious harbour village on the North Sea coast is full of colour and bustling with life. For more information, click here .
Halligen Islands. The most untouched and unusual islets in the Wattenmeer (tidal zone) of the North Frisian Islands: farmhouses on these ‘molehills’ sit just above the high-tide mark. For more information, click here .
Altes Land. Driving from Hamburg to Stade in spring is like being swallowed up by a big cloud of blossom. The Altes Land is the biggest fruit-growing area in Germany, even prettier for its half-timbered houses. For more information, click here .
Rügen. Grand white cliffs, wide sandy beaches and tree-lined alleys of chestnut and lime have attracted many painters to Germany’s largest island. For more information, click here .
Stade. The town prides itself on the typically northern German red-brick architecture of its lovely historic centre, contained within the Burggraben (old moat). For more information, click here .



Stade.
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Most picturesque towns

Alsfeld. This fairy-tale town is all carved corner-posts and half-timbered houses dating from the 14th to the 16th century. For more information, click here .
Arnstadt. One of the most beautifully preserved historic centres in Germany, with fine Renaissance architecture, and also one of the oldest – first cited in 704. For more information, click here .
Dinkelsbühl. Entered by one of its four