The Best Big German Cities

Germany's top cities offer a wealth of diversions, as simple or as sophisticated as you want. You'll find world-class museums, music, cuisine of all kinds, great shopping, and plenty of nightlife. You'll also find elegant boulevards, riverside promenades, enormous parks and green spaces, bustling pedestrian-only quarters, fascinating architecture, and plenty of picturesque corners just waiting to be discovered. And thanks to Germany's excellent public transportation systems, you can easily reach it all by subway, streetcar, or bus.

• With its dramatic history and cultural and artistic riches, Berlin always has a major-league buzz. But since 1989, when the wall separating East Germany and West Germany came down, Germany's largest city and new capital has become an international superstar.

• Munich is a southern German city where the urban pleasures are as soft and sweet as Schlagsahne (whipped cream) on a rich slab of cake or as exuberant as an oom-pah-pah band in a giant beer hall during Oktoberfest. This capital of Bavaria is sensuous, sophisticated, and fun-loving, with countless cultural diversions and a kind of urban magic.

• Hamburg, Germany's third-largest city, has the liveliness and lustiness of a big port and the sophistication of a wealthy European metropolis. The "Queen of the North" presides over a beautiful setting on the Alster Lake but is notorious for her erotically charged entertainment district called the Reeperbahn.

• Dresden reigns as the treasure house of eastern Germany. The old capital of Saxony is where you find the world-famous Zwinger palace/museum complex, the riches of the Green Vault, and the reconstructed Frauenkirche, Germany's most amazing architectural reconstruction effort.

• Cologne, with its soaring cathedral, first-rate museums, and Rhine-side setting, is one of the most attractive and intriguing cities in western Germany. Cologne's carnival is the biggest and brashest in the country, and its vibrant contemporary-arts scene gives it a hefty dose of sophistication.

• Frankfurt, with its designer skyscrapers, yields plenty of pleasant surprises, including a fine lineup of museums and great shopping on Germany's busiest shopping street, the Zeil.