Before you go, you'll find a German National Tourist Office in New York at 122 E. 42nd St., 52nd Floor, New York, NY 10168 (tel. 800/637-1171 or 212/661-7200); in Toronto at 480 University Ave., Suite 1410, Toronto, ON M5G 1V2 (tel. 416/968-1685); and in London, P.O. Box 2695, London W1A 3TN (tel. 020/7317-0908).
Nearly all larger towns and all cities in Germany have tourist offices. The German National Tourist Board headquarters is at Beethovenstrasse 69, 60325 Frankfurt am Main (tel. 069/974-640).
Our Favorite German Websites
If you open a site that's in German, look for the little British or American flag, or for the word English on some, but not all, to see the pages in English.
The German National Tourist Board site (www.germany-tourism.de or www.cometogermany.com) gives you an online tour of several cities and highlights attractions. You can also access facts on weather, transportation, events, and so forth. A new, related site (www.visits-to-germany.com) designed especially for U.S. travelers lets you design and price specific itineraries and vacation packages.
The Hotelguide Germany IHA Hotel Association (www.hotels-germany.com) lets you book a room at any of more than 750 German hotels through its site. Conduct a search according to location and amenity preferences, or check out the page of special offers for accommodations conducive to family travel, cultural activities, sports, biking, special events, or last-minute travel.
Get started on the appealing, if daunting, task of eating in Germany with the help of the Gastroscout.com site (www.gastroscout.com). Search for a schnitzel-filled Gasthaus or another eatery by city, price, ethnicity, child friendliness, wheelchair accessibility, or any of a slew of other criteria. Recommendations are also given on this site.
The Munich Tourist Office site (www.muenchen.de or www.muenchen-tourist.de) offers information about the city's history, economy, places of interest (museums, parks, churches, and so on), and accommodations. There's also an entire section devoted to Oktoberfest.
The Munich Portal (www.perob.com) brings "details of the extensive culture of Munich, where to stay and what to eat," and "all the information you need about Munich," and much more "to a global audience."
