With DJs, bouncers and bars, the Nuremberg train offers a complete clubbing experience for hundreds of ‘clubbers’– and some lovely views of the Bavarian countryside … ‘Do you ever get seasick?” Timm Schirmer, a 27-year-old DJ with a fabulous blond moustache, asks me shortly before we board the Techno Train. “When you’re dancing on the train it can feel like you’re at sea, because you can’t always see that you’re moving.” Worryingly, I have indeed spent many a past holiday retching on boats. But Timm’s question comes after I’ve paid €100 for a non-refundable ticket for what social media suggest ..read more

Rather than bomb down motorways for marathon stretches, the idea was to see new things along the way, such as the great lakes of Germany and a Renaissance town in Italy How far would you go – and how long would you take – to avoid flying and thoroughly embrace the idea of slow travel? In my case, it was 3,167 miles over three weeks. For nearly a decade I had wanted to do a road trip to Croatia, and to get as much out of the journey as the destination itself. Rather than bomb down the motorway for marathon stretches, the idea was to slow down and see new things. It seemed we had barely rol ..read more

Tell us about your favourite places to visit in Germany – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break With the Euro 2024 football tournament just a month and half away, the spotlight is going to be on host nation Germany in the early part of this summer. Whether you’ve enjoyed visiting the big cities with their bierkellers and clubs, the country’s Baltic coast and islands, half-timbered ancient villages, or its famous forests and mountains, we’d love to hear about your favourite experiences. If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words that will be judged for the comp ..read more

Offering exquisite scenery, rare wildlife and spectacular trails, these under-the-radar national parks are worth tracking down There is a wild and wonderful water world in the north-eastern corner of Spain. The Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici national park, in the central Pyrenees north of Lleida, is characterised by more than 200 lakes fed by melting snow and ice, plus rivers and streams, gorges, waterfalls and marshes. (Aigüestortes means “winding waters” in Catalan, and Sant Maurici is the biggest lake ..read more

In our new series, we explore a city through its musical landmarks and songs. First stop, Germany’s hip, historic capital, home to trailblazing clubs and inspiration for Dietrich and Bowie Music soundtracks our travels, kills time and distracts, entertainingly. In Berlin, which has more than 300 train stations and where you can see everything panoramically from the overhead S-Bahn, a well-loaded smartphone or MP3 player turns a journey into a film with a score. I have more records related to Berlin than to any other city. I can’t help feeling the city should have a nexus or mother venue where ..read more

The Höllentalbahn is a spectacular line through south-west Germany’s forests and magical towns. Enchanting stop-offs en route include gothic Freiburg and pretty Titisee lake In the tucked away Black Forest town of Donaueschingen, the mighty River Danube begins. It rises as a clear, three metre-deep wellspring in the town centre, encircled by a stone basin sculpted with zodiac symbols. From there, the Danube – Donau in German – flows full tilt onwards for 1,771 miles to its mouth on the Black Sea, passing through the great cities of Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade. There’s so much poetry in that ..read more

Malta’s first art biennale, Copenhagen’s repurposed Carlsberg district, the first Arctic Circle capital of culture … this year promises a feast of cultural activity Germany is celebrating the 250th birthday of one of its best-loved painters, the Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). His work features mountains, ruins and stormy seas, often with human figures, such as Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. There are exhibitions in Hamburg (until 1 April), Berlin (19 April to 4 August) and Dresden (24 August to 5 January 2025), where Friedrich lived for 40 years; he is buried in the city’s ..read more

The city’s Christmas markets and baroque architecture will revive even a flagging festive spirit, while its steampunk street art is an edgy pick-me-up When I was eight, Christmas was ballistically exciting and worth dragging my parents out of bed at 4am for. Over my 32 years since, a combination of atheism, credit card bills and John Lewis-branded Venus flytrap monsters has made me more cynical than excitable about the holiday. But I feel my humbug attitude slowly dissolve as I walk between the Christmas markets of Dresden, passing a man in an enormous polar bear costume by the grand baroque F ..read more

Our slow travel expert rides a train through a region of lakes and forests which deserves to be far better known The elegant main railway station in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck is well suited to grand departures, but these are few and far between these days. The only international destination served from Lübeck is Szczecin, in Poland. Half a dozen daily trains ply a meandering route through sparsely populated terrain on a 185-mile journey that starts in Holstein and then crosses Mecklenburg to reach Pomerania. It is a region where, historically, Prussia and Sweden vied for supremacy. Today it ..read more

This 60-mile trail through northern Germany takes in eerie folklore, industrial heritage and forests recovering from a devastating pest The inscription on the wooden shelter where I stopped to eat my Käsebrötchen made quite the pledge. “Wanderer,” it said (at least, according to Google translate), “I protect you from wind and weather, a saviour from evil hands.” Extreme? Perhaps – but you need that sort of promise when loitering with cheese rolls in these spooky parts. A hut was first built on this spot as a rest stop for medieval donkey drivers shifting goods from the nearby town of Osterode ..read more