Germany's Medieval Heartland

Proud cathedrals, small country churches, defiant castles and peaceful monasteries – they all bear witness to the deep-rooted fear of God, yet also to the most mysterious eras in history: the med …

Passion Play 2010: Tickets for Sale

A play of life and death, promised in a moment of mortal threat - so began the history of the Oberammergau Passion Play in 1633. In the middle of the Thirty Years War, after months of suffering and death …

Historic Lodging

Muenster. Tipped off by a European Union investment scheme, 14 castles, monasteries and manor houses in North Rhine Westphalia have started to run Bed & Breakfast services – providing both, remarkable historical authenticity and a high grade accommodation.
Hotel-turned-castles include, amongst others, Schloss Diersfordt (built 1432), 14th century country house Hertefeld or Schloss Ossenberg with its unique Rococo style architecture. Vacancies can be checked by online booking requests…

Fairs

ITB Berlin: Tourist industry adapting to changes, survey says

Berlin, March 2009. Despite the global financial crisis there was a positive mood among exhibitors of the ITB Berlin. According to a representative survey carried out by Fachhochschule Eberswalde during the fair, six out of ten exhibitors said the recession had had no impact on their business. However, they said that travel behaviour would change. 52 per cent of exhibitors expected tourists to take even shorter trips, 60 per cent believed local tourism would boom, and 68 per cent expected demand for last-minute travel to increase. More than half of the exhibitors claimed they were currently adapting their products to suit changing conditions, for which ITB Berlin is the ideal venue.

Airlines

Air Berlin: New routes, more frequent services

Berlin, March 2009. Air Berlin will be offering additional domestic flights in its the summer timetable. From 11th May 2009 there will be five flights a day from Nuremberg to Düsseldorf, instead of the current four. From 15th June 2009 the frequency of flights between Nuremberg and Berlin will be increased from three to five a day, and the same applies to the Nuremberg-Berlin route from 20th July 2009. Air Berlin has just taken delivery of a new Q400 with a seating capacity of 76, and will be using this aircraft to operate the additional flights.
The flights are available for booking since 5th February 2009 and can be booked online, via travel agents or by telephoning the Air Berlin Service Centre (phone 01805 737 800). One-way fares start at 29 euros and include taxes, charges and miles.[close news]

Hotels

Many Openings scheduled for 2009

Frankfurt/Hamburg, February 2009. According to tophotel-projects.com, 174 hotels with more than 27,000 rooms are scheduled for opening this year in Germany. The number of luxury hotels will increase by 21. Outstanding hotel construction projects are the Movenpick Hotel Dusseldorf (201 rooms), Hilton Airrail Center Frankfurt/Main (247 rooms) and the Golf & Wellness Resort Budersand on Sylt Island (79 rooms). In 2008, 60 new first class and luxury hotels with more than 7,000 new hotel rooms had been opened.

While Germany's metropolitan areas are beefing up their hotel supply, accomodation in the UNESCO World heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley has also changed for the better: Tourists traveling along the Rhine River will now find a greater diversity of four-star hotels.
At present, Ruedesheim alone offers four premium hotels with 419 beds (Aumüller-Traube, Breuer´s Ruedesheimer Schloss, Hotel Jagdschloss Niederwald and Hotel Krone Assmannshausen). Regarding capacity, the Hotel Aumüller-Traube represents with 220 beds, apartments and suites the most impressive house. Aside from Ruedesheim, also other destinations like Koblenz and Bingen are catching up. The Mercure Hotel in Koblenz invested 3 million Euros to be able to cater to international needs. It provides 167 comfortable rooms and one suite. All rooms are equipped with technical innovations like flat screens and Wireless LAN. The new slogan is "Water & wine" and refers to the Rhine and its vineyard surrounding and can be found in its new appearance. It warmly welcomes the tourists with lovely decorated hotel rooms, a new bar and a restaurant with regional and international delights inviting their guests to atmospheric moments. Bingen even opened a new NH Hotel with 135 rooms, not far from the famous Loreley rock and across the street from the tourist attraction Ruedesheim. In Boppard, tourists can lodge in the Best Western Bellevue that is run with 175 beds. In terms of capacity, the Mercure Hotel in Lahnstein with its 354 beds stays atop of them all. Therefore Ruedesheim, Bingen, Koblenz, Boppard and Lahnstein are the right addresses to dwell on during a tour along the Rhine. [close news]

Railways

Beyond Germany: 50 Years of Europe by Eurorail

Utrecht, February 2009. Having evolved to become the traditional European rail offer, the Eurail Global Pass celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2009. For half a century it gives the maximum freedom for travelling by train on nowadays 21 European networks and shipping lines – and is still growing: as of 2009, the Eurail Global Pass is also valid in the Czech Republic.
While the Eurail Global Pass covers all 21 participating countries (continously or on specific days during a defined period of time), offsprings like Eurail Select allow for travel in selected countries.
Prices range from 359 Euros (5 travel days within a slot of two month/3 countries/ 1st class) to 1593 Euros for tree month of freel travel in 1st class coaches in all participating countries. [close news]

Art & Culture

Discounts on Track for Berlin's Bauhaus Exhibition

Dessau/Berlin, February 2009. Ninety years have gone by since the founding of the State Bauhaus. This anniversary will be jointly acknowledged by the three great German Bauhaus institutes - the Bauhaus Archive / Museum of Design Berlin, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, and the Foundation of Weimar Classics.
The centerpiece will be the major Bauhaus exhibition in Berlin's Martin Gropius Bau from July 22 to October 4, 2009. With Deutsche Bahn (German Rail), visitors can make the trip especially economically. A round-trip tickets costs only 89 euros. It offers second class travel without connections to special trains and is valid on two successive days. [close news]

Destination

New York Times: Munich is Germanys Hot Spot of the Moment

Munich. "Quaint, grandfatherly, Munich  long considered about as cool as polka music on cassette  is Germany s hot spot of the moment. ( &) This city polarizes, riles people up like nowhere else in a country of long-established regional rivalries. Its premier soccer team, Bayern Munich, is the dominant Yankees-style club people love to hate. Something about Munich s affluence, its self-satisfaction, its strong Bavarian identity and its Catholicism seems to rub the rest of the country the wrong way."
[read complete article] [close news]

Art & Culture

A Very Special Musical Country Outing

Schwerin, February 2009. First class concerts, the atmospheric ambiance of historic architecture and a picturesque landscape as far as the eye can see – these are the assets that have turned Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Music Festival from hidden champion to one of Germany’s leading Classic Music events.
Starting June 7th this year, the programme will be made up of more than 100 concerts. Performing artists will include Kent Nagano, Viviane Hagner, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, and Justus Franz' Philharmony of the Nations. [close news]

Historic Lodging

Private Castles Turn into Hotels

Muenster. Tipped off by a European Union investment scheme, 14 castles, monasteries and manor houses in North Rhine Westphalia have started to run Bed & Breakfast services – providing both, remarkable historical authenticity and a high grade accommodation.
Hotel-turned-castles include, amongst others, Schloss Diersfordt (built 1432), 14th century country house Hertefeld or Schloss Ossenberg with its unique Rococo style architecture. [close news]

German Railways

At 150mph Trains are Catching up with Planes

Berlin. Germany certainly has not become smaller but distances between cities are shrinking fast – at least if you take the train. Due to extensive investments in railroads, tracks and infrustructure, new ICE III trains run with a cruising speed of up to 150 mph.
Thus, you may save a lot of time giving trains a second thought: The ride from Munich to Nuremberg takes just a bit more than an hour, the one from Frankfurt-Airport to Cologne even less than an hour. The ICE Sprinter shuttles non-stop between Berlin and Frankfurt downtown, connecting Germany’s capital city with the countries’ financial hub in just 3.5 hours. Going south, travel time to Stuttgart, home of the world known car companies Porsche and Mercedes Benz, is just long enough to enjoy lunch and other amenities of the ICE’s board restaurant.
Meanwhile, ICEs are even part of airline’s transportation and service chains: Passengers of Lufthansa and its Star Alliance Partners can take advantage of check-in counters in the central train stations of Cologne and Stuttgart. Agents there will issue boarding cards for all connecting flights, and if you want so, your luggage will be checked through to your final destination. [close news]