Germany

Stretching from the North Sea to the Alps, Germany is home to a wealth of old, beautiful and exciting towns and cities where you'll find all sorts of interesting sights for the whole family. With its vast area, Germany also offers many different types of holidays, whether you want a city break, a romantic wellness holiday, a walking holiday or perhaps a skiing holiday, you will find the options in Germany.

If you want to go on a city break, there are many great cities to go to in Germany. Take a trip to the country's capital Berlin, home to more than 3.5 million people. Here you can visit the famous Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag building, Alexanderplatz with its huge TV tower and the many interesting museums that tell the stories of World War II, among other things.

You can also take a trip to Hamburg, Germany's second largest city with 1.8 million inhabitants. Here you can experience many interesting things such as the Elbphilharmonie concert hall, the Kunsthalle art museum, the world's largest model railway exhibition Miniatur Wunderland, the colourful nightlife in and around the Reeperbahn and many good shopping districts. Other German cities worth visiting include Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart and Dortmund.

Germany also offers many fantastic nature experiences and you can't mention nature in Germany without mentioning the Harz Mountains. The Harz National Park is one of the most popular hiking and skiing areas in northern Germany and is a popular destination all year round.

Further south you'll find the Black Forest National Park, located in Baden Württemberg on the border with France, which is also a very notable nature area in Germany. The national park offers stunning unspoilt scenery and a hilly landscape.

In southern Bavaria you'll find the Berchtesgaden National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park is located in the Alps and the highest peak, Watzmann, is 2,713 metres above sea level. The area offers plenty of beautiful unspoilt nature and many interesting animal species. If you're heading on a self-drive holiday to Austria or Italy, it's worth stopping here.

Germany also boasts many impressive buildings, including the Neuschwanstein Castle near Füssen in south-west Bavaria. Built on a hilltop, the palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria for the German composer Richard Wagner. The castle is also known, as a fairytale castle and is considered the most visited castle in the world.

Cologne Cathedral, Kölner Dom, is a Roman Catholic cathedral and the city's best-known architectural landmark. Construction of the beautiful grand church began as far back as 1248 and was not completed until 1880. The cathedral holds the record for the church building in the world with the largest façade. The cathedral has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.

If you're in the Essen area, it's worth taking a trip to the Zeche Zollverein coal mine and its Kokerei Zollverein coking plant, a disused industrial site in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The area is also part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage and was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2001. Mine shaft No 12 is considered an architectural and technical masterpiece and is often called the most beautiful coal mine in the world.

Enjoy the varied landscape. From the coastal areas on the North Sea and Baltic Sea, to mountainous southern Germany and the ever-popular Harz Mountains. You will easily find beautiful natural areas with stunning views of mountains, forests, lakes and rivers, the Rhine being the largest, as well as Germany's many exciting cities. Visit the capital, the northern port city of Hamburg, Munich in Bavaria or the cathedral city of Cologne. Germany offers great experiences for everyone and is perfect for a self-drive holiday.