• Don't miss the German Parliament (Reichstag), re-designed by British architect Norman Foster, or the Brandenburg Gate; both potent symbols of German unity, near where the Berlin Wall stood until 1989.

• Stroll along part of the path of the Berlin Wall, clearly marked in the road, from the Brandenburg Gate to glitzy Potsdamer Platz, derelict during Germany's divided years, but now restored as a modern focal point for the city. A few small segments of the Wall still stand here.

• Visit the Berlin Wall Museum (Mauermuseum) (website: www.mauermuseum.de) at Checkpoint Charlie, where people crossed from West to East and vice versa, and learn about the history of divided Berlin.

• Take a cruise on the Rhine from Koblenz (website: www.koblenz.de), with its hilltop fortifications opposite the mouth of the Moselle river to Bingen, past fairytale castles, pretty villages and 120m- (394ft-) high Lorelei Rock, legendary home of a siren who lures boatmen to their demise.

• Head into southwest Bavaria near Füssen, close to the Austrian border, to see the impossibly fantastical Neuschwanstein castle (website: www.neuschwanstein.com), built in the 19th century by Bavarian King Ludwig II (‘Mad King Ludwig').

• Visit the attractive island of Mainau (website: www.mainau.de) on the north shore of Lake Constance, with its historic buildings and multicoloured roofs. Owned by a private foundation, it is maintained as a garden island and is famous for its flowers.

• Marvel at the jewellery, sculpture and many other treasures in Dresden's restored Grünes Gewölbe (Green Vault) (website: www.skd-dresden.de), home of 18th century leader August the Strong's huge collections, and now a focus of the city's UNESCO-designated architectural heritage.

• Visit one of Germany's host of romantic university towns. Freiburg (website: www.freiburg.de) is gateway to the Black Forest, and home to a gothic Cathedral (12th to 15th centuries) with magnificent tower. Heidelberg (website: www.cvb-heidelberg.de) on the Neckar River is Germany's oldest university town.

Experience architectural heritage in one of Germany's UNESCO World Heritage Site towns: Bamberg (website: www.bamberg.info), northern Bavaria, Goslar (website: www.goslar.de) in Lower Saxony, and the jewel in the crown, former Hanseatic port Lübeck (website: www.luebeck-tourism.de), on the Baltic coast to the north, are highlights.

In Hessen (website: www.hessen-tourismus.de), follow the German Fairy Tale Road. Schwalmstadt (website: www.schwalmstadt.de) was the home of Little Red Riding Hood. In the Reinhardswald, Sababurg (website: www.sababurg.de), now a castle-hotel, inspired the Brothers Grimm to write Sleeping Beauty.

• Enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of Frankfurt am Main‘s (website: www.frankfurt.de) historic Römer district, which contrasts starkly with the modern skyline of the city nowadays commonly known as ‘Mainhattan' due to its shiny skyscrapers and financial power.

• Relive the days of the Roman Empire at the Saalburg (website: www.saalburgmuseum.de), a reconstructed Roman settlement near Bad Homburg in the forested Taunus hills to the north of Frankfurt am Main.

• Pause for thought at Dresden's reconstructed Frauenkirche (website: www.frauenkirche-dresden.de), destroyed in the firebombing of the city in February 1945. Now rebuilt and re-consecrated, it is a poignant symbol of the past.

• See the southern 1,000-year-old town of Weimar (website: www.weimar.de), home to many great men, including Goethe, Luther, Bach, Liszt, Wagner and Schiller. An important cultural centre of the past, the city experienced its golden age in the 18th and 19th centuries.

• Take a train ride east from Freiburg into the spectacular countryside of the Hochschwarzwald (Upper Black Forest) (website: www.hochschwarzwald.de), a year-round holiday area, popular for winter sports in winter, and walking, boating and nature trails in summer.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.