• Explore the past at Berlin's Pergamon Museum (website: www.smb.spk-berlin.de), with its antiquities, Near East and Islamic Art collections. Situated on the capital's central Museum Island, it is surrounded by numerous other fine museums and galleries.

• See how the other half lived at baroque Charlottenburg Palace (website: www.spsg.de), on the east side of Berlin. The biggest surviving palace in the capital, it was built for Sophie Charlotte, wife of Prussia's King Friedrich I, in the late 1660s.

• Venture into the Harz Mountains, Black Forest (Schwarzwald) and the Bavarian Alps - some of the country's best areas for walking, skiing and other winter sports. The network of marked walking trails amounts to some 132,000km (82,500 miles).

• Enjoy spectacular riverside firework displays on a dinner cruise during the ‘Rhein in Flammen' (Rhine in Flames) (website: www.rlp-info.de) festivals that take place throughout the summer at various points along the river.

• Ride on a historic narrow-gauge steam train. Germany has a number of preserved railways, notably in Saxony, the Harz Mountains, and on the coast of Mecklenburg-Lower Pomerania.

• Take the kids to Europa-Park (website: www.europapark.de), Germany's biggest theme park, at Rust, near Freiburg in the southwest. For the brave it features Europe's highest rollercoaster.

• Take in a football (soccer) match. Germany's top teams include Bayern Munich, Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen, Hertha Berlin, Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen. Many stadia are new, built for the 2006 World Cup tournament staged in Germany.

• Pay homage to Germany's famous car makers at the new Mercedes Benz World (website www.mercedes-benz.com/museum) in Stuttgart, BMW Welt (website: www.bmw.com) in Munich, Volkswagen's Autostadt (website: www.autostadt.de) in Wolfsburg, and its spectacular Glass Factory (website: www.glaesernemanufaktur.de) in Dresden.

• Visit some of the many vineyards on the banks of the Rhine, Neckar and Moselle rivers, following one of the numerous specially designated Wine Roads (Weinstrassen) (website: www.deutsche-weinstrassen.de) in the region.

• If in Germany in the weeks before Christmas, browse the Christmas markets (Weichnachtsmarkt) which are staged in almost every town and city of any size. Warming glühwein and apple fritters are a must on a cold winter's day (website: www.germany-tourism.co.uk).

• Be pampered. Germany has over 300 spas and health resorts that offer a wide range of traditional and modern treatments. The most famous spa town is Baden-Baden (website: www.baden-baden.de), in the southwest.

• Germany is one of the great brewing nations. Indulge in some of its finest beers during Munich's two-week Oktoberfest (website: www.oktoberfest.de), which takes place from late September and attracts 6 million visitors to the Bavarian capital each year.

• If able to get tickets (waiting lists are long), head for northeastern Bavaria and Bayreuth, to witness the famous Wagner Opera Festival (website: www.bayreuther-festspiele.de), which takes place every year from late July to August.

• Drive down the Romantic Road, which connects the northern area of Bavaria with the south, and is the most famous of all the German scenic roads. The towns along the way give visitors an excellent insight into the region's history, art and culture (website: www.visitbavaria.com).

• In late August each year, celebrate the traditional Baked Fish Festival (Backfischfest) (website: www.backfischfest.de) at Worms, the biggest wine and food festival on the banks of the Rhine. It is dedicated to the Fishermens' Guild, Germany's oldest such organisation.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.