Baden-Baden, previously called just Baden, got its double name in 1931 in order to distinguish it from two other Badens (Baden bei Wien and Baden im Aargau). Due to its location in the state of Baden Würtemberg the town ended up with a double Baden in its name. The town was lucky to escape the destruction of the two World Wars that uglified so many German cities. But apart from excellently preserved 19th century architecture this spa town also benefits from it beautiful setting on the foothills of the Black Forest. The Romans were the first ones to take the advantage of the numerous hot springs yielding curative mineral waters. It is believed that emperor Hadrian founded the original settlement, but there's no conclusive data to confirm this. The town got its name from the margraves who ruled the city from the 14th to the 17th century. It was in the 19th century that the town became a spa resort for the European royalty and nobility.It was in those days that the most opulent hotels, casinos and villas were built here. Russian millionaires and the striving West European upper middle classes have displaced the queens, kings, composers, painters and the writers of the past, but this spa town has lost none of its glamour in spite of it. Germany's first casino was opened here in 1838 in the palatial Kurhaus, located on the western bank of the Oos River that runs through the centre of the town. Anybody who was somebody in the 19th and early 20th century arts and politics passed through the magnificently opulent rooms of the casino. Not far from the building, there's the elegant Lichtentaler Allee with its exotic vegetation and beautiful architecture. Baden-Baden's Altstadt is a whole different affair with its medieval and Renaissance architecture. It also offers the best views of the downtown.

Wiesbaden

Located on the right, northern, bank of the Rhine, Wiesbaden is the capital of the state of Hesse. Together with Frankfurt and Mainz it forms the Rhein Metroplitan Area, the banking and finances capital of Germany, inhabited by almost 6 million people. The population of Wiesbaden itself stands at around 300,000. However, while walking Wiesbaden's Altstadt with its surrounding spas, villas and parks you would never guess you were in one of Europe's largest conurbations. Like Baden-Baden this town developed into a major gambling and bathing resort in the 19th century. The casinos and the spas attracted rich and famous Europeans and by 1900 Wiesbaden had more millionaires than any other place in Germany. Famous Wiesbaden's bathers of the past included Goethe, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Wagner, and Johannes Brahms to name but a few. And again the Romans were the first ones to put the thermal spas of Wiesbaden to use. The tradition of bathing at this stop continued and became an important source of income for the town by late Middle Ages. Its flagship casino "Spielbank" was closed by the Prussian imperial government in 1872, only to reopen in 1949. Nowadays, Wiesbaden continues to cater for the well-heeled gamblers and bathers attracting a surprising number of Russians who were also among the town's first visitors in the 19th century.

North Sea and the Baltic

Sylt

The idyllic landscape of Sylt

Located at the doorstep of Scandinavia, Sylt is one of German islands in the North Frisian Archipelago. Due to its peripheral position within the Bundesrepublik, the island is culturally rather different from the rest of the country. A shrinking portion of the population still speaks the indigenous dialect called Söl'ring which is not just another variety of German, but belongs to an altogether separate Germanic language called North Frisian which is closely related to Danish, Dutch and English. This is a small (99 square kilometres), low-lying island with its highest peak standing at just 52 metres above the sea level. It was once connected with the mainland, but due to the erosion of its shores the narrow strip of land that connected it to Jylland Peninsula gradually sank. Due to an artificially built causeway (constructed 1927) it is now possible to reach the island by train (visitors can take their cars on board). Sylt is famous for its healthy climate which, together with its long and sandy shoreline, lead to the development of tourist industry. Sylt, especially Kampen and the area round it, are famous for the the high-class tourism that developed there; many German celebrities own a house in that area, and the island in general caters to better-off tourists. The presence of Germany's moneyed classes maintains the ever-rising prices of property on Sylt, making it one of the most expensive parts of the country in terms of real estate. The northern part of the island, where the town of List is to be found, is Germany's northernmost point. This is also where most of the Danish population of the island lives. With the wild North Sea crashing against its shores, the western part of the island offer some of world's roughest surfing. Quite contrary to the turbulent west, the eastern, Wadden sea, coast is much more tranquile. With the population of 9,200 the town of Westerland is the biggest settlement on the island. This is where Sylt's only airport is to be found. Westerland was the first resort to develop tourist infrastructure in the 19th century and today it attracts the largest number of tourists which means that it gets slightly overcrowded in summer. Westerland may be the most visited spot on the island, but Sylt is at its ritziest in the small village of Kampen. The offer of designer shops and first-class restaurants here is outrageous and the village hosts a myriad of German jet setters every summer. However, the most beautiful and atmospheric village on Sylt is Keitum. This used to be the main settlement on the island before Westerland took over. Keitum is dominated by the beautiful reed-thatched Frisian houses that belonged to the whalehunters and captains of the past.

Rügen

The pier at Seebrücke Sellin, Rügen

In the past decade Rügen has become the most popular tourist destination in the Baltic. At 574 square kilometres, this is Germany's biggest and most visited island, having surpassed Sylt after the reunification. Two of Germany's favourite tourists resorts, Binz and Selliln, are found on Rügen's east coast. The coast of the island is famous for its many peninsulas, bays and inlets which make it particularly attractive. The island enjoys a mild climate with the average February temperatures hovering around 0.0 °C and the average August temperatures reaching 16.3 °C. Rügen receives approximately 1800-1870 hours of sunshine annually. This may not seem like much by Mediterranean standards, but considering island's high northern latitude it sums up to a respectable number of sunny days. Unlike Sylt, Rügen got its share of mainland history - several kilometres to the north of Binz, Third Reich Government erected a massive holiday complex at Prora. The vast resort which was built between 1936 and 1939, consists of eight identical buildings which were never put to tourist use due to the outbreak of the war. The ugliness of the holiday complex is tremendous, but the buildings provide an excellent example of Third Reich architecture. The island was further uglified with GDR architecture that sprang up in the '60s and '70s. However, neither Hitler nor Honecker were able to ruin the natural beauties of Rügen. After the reunification the white sand beaches and the diverse landscape of the island attracted a lot of investment and holidaymakers from the western part of the country. This resulted in a massive improvement of tourist infrastructure which attracted foreign tourists (especially the Scandinavians) as well.

On the east coast of Rügen there's Binz, the largest and most visited seaside resort in Germany. It's a pleasant small town brimming with late 19th and early 20t-century architecture. The spectacular spa architecture of Binz is at its best in Schillerstrasse and Margaretenstrasse where a number of renovated villas are to be found. The resort also boasts some of the best beaches on Rügen as well as fantastic views of Prorer Wiek bay. It also offers the best nightlife on the island with most of the bars and clubs located at bigger hotels. Outside of Binz, nightlife is pretty much nonexistent in Rügen. Other major resorts on the island include Sellin and Sassnitz. Sassnitz is double in size comparing to Binz and it serves as a gateway to the Jasmun National Park located in its vicinity. The town boasts Rügen's only zoo. Yet another sight of Sassnitz is the decommissioned British submarine HMS Otus which was turned into a floating museum. Visitors here should not miss the charming and renovated Altstadt and the pleasant fishing harbour either. The landscape of Rügen is at its most spectacular in Jasmund National Park. The highlights of the park are the Königstuhl (Rügen's most famous cliff and its highest point) and the Wisower Klinken (chalk cliffs). Another natural highlight of Rügen, though not belonging to the Jasmund National Park, is the Cape Arkona. It features some spectacular rugged cliffs and a famous pair of lighthouses.

Bavarian Alps

The colourful church in Mittenwald, one of the most colourful towns in the Alps

Munich, Germany

The northern fringes of the Alps do not rise as high as the summits of the Austrian and Swiss Alps do, but they still offer plenty of spectacular landscape and a lot of good skiing too. This southernmost region of Upper Bavaria is replete with picturesque villages, ski resorts and scenic hiking routes. Due to a somewhat lower altitude the skiing season begins here in late December and lasts till late March, early April. Located at the foot of Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze (2962 m), Garmisch-Partenkirchen is the biggest and the best of all German skiing resorts. In order to host the Winter Olimpics in 1936 the towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen merged and formed this resort which has since then become the synonym for the winter sports in Germany. Three ski fields are on offer here: the Eckbauer (1236 m), the Classic Ski Area (varying altitudes) and the Zugspitze Plateau (2964 m). The very summit of Zugspitze is, by Zugspitzbahn, within easy reach from the town, and the view from the top is nothing short of astonishing. In clear weather, one can see half of Europe from here. Garmisch-Partenkirchen is also famous for its excellent hiking. Hiking all the way to the Zugspitze is for those who posses basic mountaineering skills and it can be done only in June, July and August. Approximately 20 km southeast of Garmisch-Partenkirchen one of Germany's nicest and most atmospheric villages, Mittenwald, is to be found. Over the past several decades the village has turned into a favourite getaway for the people from Munich who come here to enjoy the idyllic Alpine atmosphere of the village. Before the first tourists came in the 1930s the mainstay of the local economy was the manufacture of violins, violas and cellos. The manufacture still continues to this day, but it can't compete with the tourist-generated revenues. The village of Mittenwald is famous for its frescoes that adorn its main landmark - the church of St. Paul and Peter. However, the church is not the only building sporting a painted facade. The elaborate paintings also adorn the exterior walls of businesses and private houses. Moreover, Mittenwald offers excellent hiking and cycling routes while its surrounding four Alpine peaks guarantees first-class skiing. The village is particularly colourful during the carnival which is celebrated in late February or early March. Going back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and continuing approximatelly 30 km to the west, there's Füssen, another famous Alpine resort. Füssen's location at the end of the Romantic Road and its proximity to Germany's most spectacular castle Neuschwanstein draws swarms of visitors year-round. The spirit of Ludwig II, Bavaria's most eccentric sovereign ever and the builder of the nearby castles, is omnipresent - in 2000, the musical inspired by his life started running in a music hall built in order to house the musical. The Altstadt of Füssen is particularly charming, the sights here include: the Hohe Schloss, the former residence of the bishop of Augsburg and the Museum Füssen which, among other things, documents the history of violin making in the village. Further west in the Bavarian Alps there's the resort of Obersdorf. The cars are not allowed into this village which offers excellent skiing at somewhat lower prices than other resorts in the region. Obersdorf is also spectacularly set amidst high-rising mountains peaks, a location which guarantees excellent hiking and winter sports potential.

Hundred-odd kilometres east from the resorts clustered around the Zugspitze there's, Brechtesgaden, another beautiful Alpine getaway. The village straddles the border between Austria and Germany and lies approximately 30 km to the south from Salzburg. The Valley of Brechtesgaden is set among six towering mountain ranges, the highest of these culminating in Germany's third highest peak - the Watzmann which stads at 2,713 m. Brechtesgaden offers heavenly hiking in the surrounding national park where the Königssee is. This crystal-clear lake that covers slightly more than 5 square kilometres is Germany's deepest lake - the maximum depth reaching 190 metres. Lying at an altitude of 603 m it is also Germany's highest body of water. Before the advent of tourism the local economy subsided on salt-mining. Today the salt mines are yet another tourist attraction, featuring a small subterranean lake and the abandoned salt grottoes. The natural beauties of Brechtesgaden, are, however, overshadowed by its cultural offer. In the year 2000, some 3 kilometres to the east of the village the exhibition centre Dokumentation Obersalzber was opened. Between 1933 and 1945, Obersaltzberg served as the southern headquarters of the Third Reich Government. A wonderful exhibition opened in 2000 extensively documents the era of Führer's presence in the region. This is one of the best places in all Germany for those who are interested in how the Nazi elite lived. Since most of the Obersalzberg complex was destroyed first by the British air forces and then by the Bavarian Government, the documentation centre is not housed in the original complex, but in a former hotel. Several years ago a luxurious 5-star InterContinental resort was built in 2005 where previously the Obersalzberg complex stood and a new golf course is under construction in the vicinity of the resort. The only building left standing from the Nazi compounds is Hitler's residence - Eagle's nest, known in German as Kehlsteinhaus. The mountain lodge sits right on th Kehlstein Peak, a 1834 metres high mountain peak. The house is open for visitors between May and August and there's a restaurant inside offering fantastic views. Some of the Nazi bunkers are open to the visitors too.