Germany: Regions, Cities & Travel Guide

What is Germany known for?

Germany is known for its regional diversity, its place in European history, and the everyday cosiness its own language calls Gemütlichkeit. The country spreads across 16 states, each with its own landscape and character. Its cities, rolling countryside, seasonal festivals and open country all draw visitors, running from the Alps at one edge of the land to the Baltic and North Sea coasts at the other.

German culture, holidays and rural life sit alongside the draw of the cities. Variety is the theme.

Where is Germany?

Germany is a country in central Europe, framed by the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and by the Alps to the south. Between those coasts and that mountain wall the land runs a full temperate band, low and open to the ocean along its northern shores and rising toward the high south. It is the largest country in central Europe, wide enough that its weather and its landscapes shift markedly from one end to the other.

The seas and the Alps bookend it. Neither edge is far from a border. Germany shares land frontiers on nearly every side, hemmed by more neighbours than almost any country of the continent.

Denmark adjoins it to the north, while Poland and the Czech Republic line the eastern frontier. Austria and Switzerland close the southern edge beneath the Alps, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands run along the western boundary. Within these limits the country divides into 16 states, each a self-standing piece of the federation.

Its densest built-up expanse, the Ruhr, gathers a cluster of cities across the old industrial belt, while the capital, Berlin, and the financial centre, Frankfurt, anchor the wider country.

What is the history of Germany?

The Federal Republic of Germany was constituted in 1949, drawing its states together under one federal government. Its formal name, Bundesrepublik Deutschland, still marks that founding. The country took shape as a federation rather than a single centralised state, and its 16 states each kept a measure of their own standing.

Berlin serves as the capital and the seat of the federal government. Germany sits at the centre of much of European history, a land whose past has shaped the wider continent. The federal form endures.

What is Germany like?

German culture is defined as much by its regions as by the country as a whole. Diversity is the rule. Across the 16 states, the texture of daily life shifts from one land to the next, so that a single national culture reads more like a federation of local ones.

Dialects shift from land to land, and even building styles mark out one region from another. The German language binds them all, and the word Gemütlichkeit, a sense of warmth and cosiness, names a value the culture holds dear. Seasonal festivities run through the calendar, from the cities out to the rural countryside.

Old-world custom sits beside modern life. Food and festivals carry the culture as strongly as any monument.

What is the climate of Germany?

Germany has a temperate climate, mild and changeable rather than extreme. The north lies open to the sea. Along the Baltic Sea and North Sea coasts the ocean keeps winters softer and summers cooler, while the sheltered interior and the ground rising toward the Alps run to sharper seasonal swings.

Winters bring grey and cold; summers turn warm and green. Four clear seasons mark the year.

How do you get to Germany?

Most visitors reach Germany through its largest cities, with Berlin and Frankfurt the main points of entry. Frankfurt anchors much of the country's air and rail connections. Overland, Germany can be entered from any of its nine neighbours, from Denmark in the north to Austria and Switzerland below the Alps.

The North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts add sea routes and ferry links from the north. Trains tie the cities together. By land, air or water, the country is easy to enter from across the continent.