PUBLIC HOLIDAYS & SPECIAL EVENTS

Public holidays include New Year's Day; Good Friday to Easter Monday; 1 May (Labour Day); Whit Monday, Ascension Day, Pentecost, Corpus Christi (10 days after Pen­tecost); 3 October (Day of German Unity); 1 November (All Saints' Day); 18 November (Day of Prayer and Repentance); and usually Christmas Eve to the day after Christmas.

There are many festivals, fairs and cultural events throughout the year. Some famous and worthwhile ones are:

January

Carnival season (Shrovetide, known as 'Fasching')

Many carnival events begin in large cities, most notably Cologne, Munich, Dusseldorf and Mainz; the partying peaks just before Ash Wednesday.

February

International Toy Fair Held in Nuremberg

International Film Festival Held in Berlin

March

Frankfurt Music Fair and Frankfurt Jazz Fair

Thuringian Bach Festival

Spring Fairs Held throughout Germany

 

April

Stuttgart Jazz Festival

Munich Ballet Days

Mannheim May Fair

Walpurgisnacht Festivals Held the night before May Day in the Harz Mountains

May

International Mime Festival Held in Stuttgart Red Wine Festival Held in Rudesheim Dresden International Dixieland Jazz Festival Dresden Music Festival Held in last week of May into first week of June

June

Handel Festival Held in Halle

Sailing regatta Held in Kiel

Munich Film Festival

International Theatre Festival Held in Freiburg

July

Folk festivals Held throughout Germany

Berlin Love Parade

Munich Opera Festival

Richard Wagner Festival Held in Bayreuth

German-American Folk Festival Held in Berlin

Kulmbach Beer Festival

International Music Seminar Held in Weimar

August

Heidelberg Castle Festival

Wine festivals Held throughout the Rhineland

September-October

Oktoberfest Held in Munich

Berlin Festival of Music & Drama

October

Frankfurt Book Fair

Bremen Freimarkt

Gewandhaus Festival Held in Leipzig

Berlin Jazzfest

November

St Martin's Festival Held throughout Rhineland and Bavaria

December

Christmas fairs Held throughout Germany, most

famously in Munich, Nuremberg, Berlin, Essen

and Heidelberg

ACTIVITIES

Germany is ideal for hiking and mountaineer­ing. Well-marked trails crisscross the country, especially popular areas like the Black Forest, the Harz Mountains, the so-called Saxon Switzerland area and the Thuringian Forest. The Bavarian Alps are the centre of moun­taineering in Germany. Good sources of information on hiking and mountaineering are Verband Deutscher Gebirgs-und Wan-dervereine (Federation of German Hiking Clubs; 0561-938730, fax 9387310;  www.wanderverband.de; Wilhelmshoher Allee 157-9, 34121 Kassel) and Deutscher Alpenverein (German Alpine Club; 089-140030, fax 1400398;  www.alpenverein.de; Von-Kahr-Strasse 2-4, 80997 Munich).

The Bavarian Alps are the most extensive area for winter sports. Cross-country skiing is also good in the Black Forest and Harz Mountains. Ski equipment starts at around €12 per day; daily ski-lift passes start at around €13. Local tourist offices are the best sources of information.

Eastern Germany has much to offer cyclists in the way of lightly travelled back roads, especially in the flat and less-populated north. There's also an extensive cycling trail along the Elbe River. Islands such as Amrum and Rugen are also good for cycling.

ACCOMMODATION

Germany's accommodation is well organised, though some cities are short on budget hotels; private rooms are one option in such situations. Accommodation usually includes breakfast. Look for signs saying Zimmer frei (rooms available) or Fremdenzimmer (tourist rooms) in house or shop windows. In nearly every town, tourist offices offer a room-finding ser­vice (Zimmervermittlung), which costs from nothing to €3. If you're looking for rooms in private homes, this is the way to go. TIBS (0761-885810, fax 8858119; email@TIBS.de) handles accommodation bookings throughout Germany.

Camping

There are over 2000 organised camping grounds in Germany . Most are open April to September, but several hundred stay open year-round. Facilities range from primitive to overequipped. In eastern Germany camping grounds often rent out small bungalows. Get permission before camping on private prop­erty. The best source of information is the Deutscher Camping Club (089-3801420, fax 334737; www.camping-club.de; Mandlstrasse 28, 80802 Munich).

Hostels

The Deutsches Jugendherbergswerk (DJH; 05231-74010, fax 05231-740149; DJH Service GmbH, 32754 Detmold) coordinates all Hostelling International (HI) hostels in Germany. Almost all German hostels are open all year. Guests must be members of an HI-affiliated organisation or join the DJH when checking in. The annual fee is €10/17.50 for juniors/seniors (above/below 26 years of age). A dorm bed costs €12 to €20 for juniors and €15 to €23 for seniors. If you don't have a hostel-approved sleeping sheet, it usually costs from €2.50 to €3.50 to hire one (some hostels insist you hire one anyway). Breakfast is always included.

In practice prior booking or arrival deter­mines who gets rooms. In Bavaria, the strict maximum age is 26. Most hostels have a cur­few, which may be as early as 10pm in small towns. The curfew is rarely before 11pm in large cities; several have no curfew.

The DJH's Jugendgdstehuuser (youth guesthouses) offer some better facilities, freer hours and two-bed to four-bed dormitory rooms from €12.50 to €22.50 per person, including sleeping sheet.

Pensions, Guesthouses & Hotels

Pensions offer the basics of hotel comfort with­out asking hotel prices. Many are private homes, often a bit out of the centre of town. Some proprietors are a little sensitive about who they take in and others are nervous about telephone bookings - you may have to give a time of arrival and stick to it (many visitors have lost rooms by turning up late). If you're having difficulty finding a cheap place to sleep, head for the tourist office and use the room-finding service (see earlier in this section).

Cheap hotel rooms are a bit hard to find during summer, but there is usually not much seasonal price variation. The cheapest hotels have rooms with shared toilets (and showers) in the corridor. Average budget prices are €30 for a single and €45 for a double (without bathroom). Rates usually include breakfast.

FOOD & DRINKS

This is truly a meat-and-potatoes kind of country, although vegetarians will usually find suitable restaurants or fast-food places. Students can often eat cheaply at mensas (university cafeterias).

Wurst (sausage), in its hundreds of forms, is by far the most universal main dish. Regional favourites include Brarwurst (spiced sausage), Weisswurst (veal sausage) and Blutwurst (blood sausage). Other popular main dishes

include Rippenspeer (spare ribs), Rotwurst (black pudding), gegrilltes Fleisch or Rost-brdtl (grilled meat), Putenbrust (turkey breast) and many forms of Schnitzel (breaded pork or veal cutlet). Many restaurants serve at least one fish dish; vegetarian dishes may be harder to find. Potatoes feature prominently in Ger­man meals, either Bratkartoffeln (fried), Kartoffelpuree (mashed), Swiss Rosti (grated then fried), or Pommes Frites (french fries). Germans are keen on rich desserts. Popular choices are the Schwarzwdlder Kirschtorte (Black Forest cherry cake), as well as endless varieties of Apfeltasche (apple pastry). In the north you're likely to find berry mus, which is a sort of compote.

The most popular nonalcoholic drinks are mineral water and soft drinks, coffee and fruit or black tea. Order water ohne Kohlensdure if you're bothered by fizz.

Beer is a cultural phenomenon that must be adequately explored. The beer is excellent and relatively cheap. Beer-drinking has its own vocabulary. Vollbier is 4% alcohol by vol­ume, Export is 5% and Bockhier is 6%. Helles Bier is light, while dunkles Bier is dark. Export is similar to, but much better than, typ­ical international brews, while the Pits is more bitter. Alt is darker and more full-bodied. A speciality is Weizenbier, which is made with wheat instead of barley malt and served in a tall, half-litre glass with a slice of lemon.

German wines are exported around the world, and for good reason. They are fairly inexpensive and typically white, light and in­tensely fruity. The Rhine and Moselle Valleys are classic wine-growing regions.

ENTERTAINMENT

The standard of theatre performances, con­certs and operas is among the highest in Europe. Berlin is unrivalled when it comes to concerts and theatre and Dresden is famed for its opera. Tickets can usually be purchased at short notice from tourist offices and directly from box offices.

The variety of pubs is enormous, ranging from vaulted-cellar bars through to theme pubs, Irish pubs, historic student pubs and clubs offering music or performances. Beer gardens are especially common in the south.

Large cities throb with club and disco sounds. Berlin is a world techno capital, but you'll find a variety of lively clubs in most major cities.