Getting There

By Plane

Lufthansa (tel. 800/645-3880 in the U.S., 800/563-5954 in Canada, or 01805/805805 in Germany; www.lufthansa.com) operates the most frequent service and flies to the greatest number of Germany's airports. From North America, Lufthansa serves 23 gateway cities. In any season, there are more than 100 weekly flights from these cities to Germany. The largest of the gateways is the New York City area, where flights depart from both JFK and Newark airports. Lufthansa has an alliance with United Airlines and Air Canada to provide seamless air service to Germany and other parts of the globe from North America. Dubbed "Star Alliance," the union allows cross-airline benefits, including travel on one or all of these airlines on one ticket and frequent-flier credit to the participating airline of your choice.

American Airlines (tel. 800/443-7300; www.aa.com) flies nonstop from Chicago and Dallas to Frankfurt daily, and American's flights connect easily with ongoing flights to many other German cities on Lufthansa or British Airways. Continental Airlines (tel. 800/525-0280; www.continental.com) offers daily nonstop service from Newark to Frankfurt. Delta Airlines (tel. 800/241-4141; www.delta.com) offers daily connecting service to Hamburg (via Paris) and nonstop to Frankfurt from Atlanta, Cincinnati, and New York's JFK; nonstop to Munich from Atlanta; and nonstop to Berlin from JFK. United Airlines (tel. 800/538-2929; www.united.com) offers daily nonstops from Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago to Frankfurt and Munich, and because of the Star Alliance, discussed above, all German flights by Lufthansa or Air Canada will also be honored as a part of a United ticket. US Airways (tel. 800/428-4322; www.usairways.com) also flies to Frankfurt and Munich daily (with nonstops from Charlotte and Philadelphia).

From London, British Airways (tel. 0870/8509850; www.britishairways.com) and Lufthansa (tel. 01805/805805; www.lufthansa.com) are the most convenient carriers to the major German cities, including Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin. British Midland (tel. 0870/6070555; www.flybmi.com) has daily flights to Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Munich.

By Train

Many passengers, especially holders of the Eurailpass, travel to Germany by train from other European cities.

British Rail runs four trains a day to Germany from Victoria Station in London, going by way of the Ramsgate-Ostend ferry or jetfoil. Two trains depart from London's Liverpool Street Station, via Harwich-Hook of Holland. Most trains change at Cologne for destinations elsewhere in Germany. You can purchase tickets through British Rail travel centers in London (tel. 866/274-8724 in the U.S. and Canada; www.britrail.com).

Unless you pay a premium for rail travel on the Eurostar, which connects London's St. Pancras station via the Chunnel with either Paris or Brussels, train travel from the U.K. to points within Germany can be lengthy and tedious, with multiple transfers en route and with long, bouncing segments aboard either hovercrafts or conventional ferryboats between the English port of Ramsgate and the Belgian port of Oostende. If you opt to save money and embark upon one of these non-Chunnel methods of transport, expect transit times between London and Cologne of up to 12 hours, and from London to either Berlin or Munich of between 18 and 22 hours, depending on the train and the ferryboat or hovercraft crossing.

Frankly, it's far better to pay the extra premium aboard Eurostar, the name given to each of the trains running under the English Channel, between London and Brussels, and from there, taking a high-speed train onward to your destination within Germany. Even so, transit time from London to Cologne, requiring a change in Brussels, would take 4 hours and 45 minutes; from London to Berlin, requiring a single change in Brussels and Cologne, would take 9 hours; and from London to Munich, requiring a single change in Brussels, would require between 9 and 10 hours, depending on the day of the week.

By Car & Ferry

To bring a car over from England, you face a choice of ports from which you'll continue driving to Germany. P & O Ferries (tel. 08716/645645 in the U.K.; www.poferries.com) has 30 to 35 ferryboat crossings a day, depending on the season, between Dover and Calais. The crossing can take as little as 1 hour and 15 minutes. Once you're in Calais, the drive to Cologne takes about 3 hours. Other options involve passage from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, a sea crossing of about 8 hours. You can also take your car via the Chunnel .

Via the Chunnel

The $15-billion Channel Tunnel (or "Chunnel"), one of the greatest engineering feats of all time, is the first link between Britain and the Continent since the Ice Age. The tunnel was built beneath the seabed through a layer of impermeable chalk marl and sealed with a reinforced concrete lining. The 50km (30-mile) journey between Britain and France takes 35 minutes, although actual time in the Chunnel is only 19 minutes. Once on the Continent, you can connect to Germany fairly easily.

Rail Europe (www.raileurope.com) sells tickets on the Eurostar direct train service between London and Paris or Brussels (tel. 800/622-8600 in the U.S., or 800/361-7245 in Canada; www.eurostar.com). In the U.K., make reservations for Eurostar at tel. 0870/5186186. The train operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, running every 15 minutes during peak travel times and at least once an hour at night.

The tunnel also accommodates passenger cars, charter buses, taxis, and motorcycles from Folkestone to Calais. Tickets may be purchased at the tollbooth.