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Vacations in Germany

There is so much to see here that you really have to come. Unfortunately you have to fly a long time but flights (Lufthansa - German Airline) are really cheap today.
There are lots of guides about Germany.
Ryan McDermott's Grand Tour - really interesting travel reports from Germany - a must!
Furthermore, I will present you a few links to interesting sites where you can collect information: The Fodor's Berkeley Guide wrote some interesting stuff about Germany and Germans and has a lot of other good information.
The U.S. State Department gives you these travel advises.
Try this link!
Besides, there is a German National Tourist Office in New York at 122 East 42nd Street.NY.NY 10168. Tel: 212 661 7200, Fax: 212 6617174, E-Mail: gntony@aol.com which have a dearth of tourist info about Germany and will gladly mail the reqested info to the enquirer.
The Mining Company has a special page for Southern Germany visitors. There are lots of informations about!

Germany Trips

In the future I will provide you here with information about special Germany trips.

Ostwestfalen (East-Westphalia) - this region is a part of the state Northrhine-Westfalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen). The biggest town in this region is Bielefeld today an industrial town which grew through lots of cloth factories in the last century. Other interesting and historic cities in this area are: Paderborn, Warburg

Where to stay?

If you are looking for a hotel in Germany, here are some (or are you looking for special hotels). But it is much cheaper to stay in a youth hostel or at a camping site - Camping site guide of Germany

A guide for Northern Germany.

Hiking tours in Germany and Austria.

This is really the best site I ever found in the Web - Philip Greenspun has done a wonderful travel writing and he also did something short about Berlin!

Russell Gilbert also visited Germany (for short: only Munich an Berlin - that are just two German cities) and wrote these lines about it.

Here you can read about Robert Strauss' Trip to Germany.

Transportation

If you want to travel from town to town you normally use a car or train in Germany. Only if it is just a short distance you can take a bus. Public transportation is very common in Germany and you will find buses, trams or undergrounds in nearly every town (bigger than 10000 inhabitants). Unfortunately this transportation is not cheap but if you try to find a parking space or pay a lot for a parking garage (in Paderborn it costs around 2 marks per hour but in Hamburg it can be 5 marks or more) in one of the bigger cities you will mostly prefer the public transportation. In smaller towns it is often much easier to find a parking space.

You want to travel by train?

One thing you need to know: How to telephone in Germany. On Martin Stut's Page you will find lots of information about this subject.

General Tips

I hope that you are now really interested in Germany and want to give you a small help for visiting Germany:

This is what you won't get in Germany or what is different from other countries:

we have 220 Volt in Germany so if you can not adjust your electrical items you should buy an adapter
we use the metric system so everything is in kilometers, liters, kilograms, ... and the temperature is always given in degrees Celsius
you won't get a glass of water for free in a restaurant - water means mineral water in Germany an it is not for free
shop opening hours - although it changed lately you will have problems to buy something after 8 pm or before 8 am ( food stores are normally open from 8:30 till 18:30/20:00, most other stores won't open before 9:30 and close around 18:30/20:00)
mostly you don't get a free refill in Germany (soft drinks are much more expensive than in the US and sometimes a beer is cheaper than a coke)
Germans often drive their cars really aggressive so don't be afraid
there are not many motels in Germany so if you travel you mostly have to leave the highway and find a hotel or pension in the next town

You can find more tips in the FAQ of soc.culture.german.

German for travellers
You should'nt believe Mark Twain who once wrote that it is impossible to learn German in a man's life - it is and there are many Americans who already did!

If you want to try some other links with general information about Germany:

Lonely Planet - Destination Germany - lots of useful information for visitors.
LTU's Travel Guide to Germany - some information about the biggest cities.
Germany Home Screen - Microsoft's information about Germany (short but not bad)
The Kassandra Project - a compilation of German cultur and historical resources on the Web.
City.Net Germany - lots of information from excite.
General Info - Germany a lot of interesting information
Michelin - Route planner, hotels, and restaurants

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