The Dahme-Spreewald district claims to have 16 designated nature reservations and 75 landscape conservation areas, giving as well lots of opportunities to relax from the big city stress you might be experiencing in Berlin.

Dahme-Spreewald District Map

This is a district where you can explore unusual landscapes with quiet and beautiful surroundings. And besides offering traditional festivals, the Dahme-Spreewald district gives you also lots of opportunities for sporting as well as relaxation.

It is certainly one that represents East Germany‘s culture fairly well.

The Elbe-Elster district in the state of Brandenburg is influenced by its extensive agricultural usage.

Elbe-Elster District Map

Large forest and water areas provide you with opportunities to explore this part of the German country.

Some of its attractions are the Brikettfabrik Louise in Domsdorf, the Abraumförderbrücke (a gigantic coal mining machine) in Lichterfeld, and the Planetarium in Herzberg (Elster).

The Barnim district is one another located very close (50km or 31mi) to Germany’s capital Berlin, giving you as well plenty of opportunities to relax and enjoy the German country side.

Barnim District Map

Here you’ll find the forest- and sea-rich Schorfheide (both a town and a recreational area), the Nature Park Barnim, the regional park Barnimer Feldmark, and the hilly region Chorin-Oderberg, giving you countless opportunities for taking a walk or just relaxing from the everyday world. The Barnimer country is also the starting point for innumerable delightful trips and discoveries, ideal with the cities Eberswalde and Bernau bei Berlin.

You will love the variety and special attractions revealed to you by a multiplicity of buildings of bricks and churches. Impressive buildings as well as certifications of industrial history shape the Barnim district.

Thuringia (German: Thüringen) is a state situated in the Center of Germany. (Yes I know, I say the same about Hesse. So let’s say both are in the Center, all right? :-)

About 2.3 million people live here, which makes it the fifth smallest German state (by population). Erfurt is its capital.

Thuringia Map

It joins scenery, culture, chance for activity and leisure, and an immense deal of humid warmth. Visitors from all over the world consider it as a medieval state. And it is famous as an area for chill sports and winter fun.

Thuringia has a lengthy and thrilling history. One visit would not be sufficient for you to see all the tourist attractions and to learn about their history. But it does not only offer history.

The Catholic trust was removed as early as 1520; priests that remained loyal were thrown away and churches and monasteries were mainly shattered, especially throughout the Peasants’ War in the year 1525.

After its restoration, this state got well urbanized into a victorious and exhilarating state at the heart of a reunited Germany. It was rapidly managed to conquer the aftermath of despotism and a forbidden economy. (I remember that time very, very well…)

Nowadays, you can find numerous attractions, such as castles, museums, chronological construction and events, as well as the beauty of its woods and outside and inside activities. The funny thing is though that Thuringia somehow remains a well kept secret that many potential guests have not yet discovered it.

The most noticeable geographical characteristic is the Thuringian Forest, which is the mountain chain in the southwest. The Werra River, a tributary of the Weser River divides this mountain chain from the volcanic Rhön Mountains, which are partly in Thuringia, Bavaria and Hesse. In the northwest, a small part of the Harz Mountains are to be found. The eastern side of Thuringia is in general plain though. The Saale River flows throughout this plain area (from south to north).

Rather than driving high-speed using the Autobahn, use the country roads (Landstraßen) and drive from side to side through all the cities and townships. This gives you a better chance to see a great deal of the beauties this place offers!

Spend a holiday in Thuringia to learn about their culture, and enjoy its nature and participate in outdoor activities. For instance, in Eisenach, you can follow the path of Martin Luther and see the Wartburg, where he converted the New Testament from the Greek words into German. Or take pleasure in melody by Johann Sebastian Bach played on period instruments.

It’s a place that has rediscovered its original potential, a region offering dazzling cultural attractions and a high class of existence.

It is also a bit cheaper than the more heavily touristed metropolises of Germany, with a lot of hotels and restaurants that provide a solid middle-class comfort at reasonable prices.

For example, Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, has quite a few dozens of hotels and guesthouses, ranging from simple boarding houses (Pensionen) to 4-star business hotels.

And the resort of Oberhof is ideal for inspiring, healthy activities in the clear winter air.

By the way, the Optics Museum in Jena has a demonstration of well-known Zeiss microscopes—one of the major set of spectacles to be found nowhere else.

Perhaps you’re wondering whether we have German cities starting with the letter J?

Yes, we do, 76… :-)

A travel through the Oberhavel district, located right above Germany’s capital Berlin, is always also a travel through Prussian history.

Oberhavel District Map

Oberhavel district means vacation and recovery between the pulsating cultural metropolis Berlin and nature experience.

If you would like to combine the visit of Germany’s capital with relaxation or if you are tired from the large city plaster, then go ahead and visit this district.

Enjoy the crystal-clear Stechlinsee and smell fresh country air on the Oberhavel farmer market or in one of the numerous equestrian farms. Not to forget a visit of the Ziegeleipark Mildenberg to make a journey through Berlin-Brandenburger industrial history. :-)

And the district’s capital, Oranienburg, with its castle in baroque style is a great opportunity for plenty of photos.

All in all, the Oberhavel district is with its expanded watercourses the right place for spare time, recovery and vacation. Whether riding, walking, golf, biking, or water sport on one of the 170 lakes — it’s all here for you.

German cities with O at its beginning? Right spot, right spot, my friend. :-)

There are 407 of them… (Scroll down the list to find those with links; they’re “done.”)

Saxony (German: Sachsen) had a rich and tumultuous time, changing hands many times and gaining or losing territory over the years, which is why other states in Germany also carry the “Saxony title:” Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) and Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt).

Saxony Map

With approx. 4.3 million inhabitants, it is a land of variation, a region whose scene has been described as looking like “unstable seas on earth.”

Its capital is Dresden, the Florence on the Elbe. Big-city stylishness and small-town romance, river valley and mountains, grasslands and woods, palaces and citadels, manor houses and impressive homes, arts and skill, classical music and a sparkling bar scene, industrial architecture and industrial culture: Saxony has it all.

Of all the beautiful scenery, the highest glory is Saxon Switzerland. This region offers such a wealth of strange natural wonders in such a small space as the Elbe Sandstone. The River Elbe carves its way through the very heart of this exclusive landscape. And rock climbers often have the time of their life there.

Saxony offers an above-average number of very well preserved momentous smaller towns, for example Meißen, Freiberg, Pirna, Bautzen, Görlitz and others; thus tourism from within Germany is important for this state.

Besides its small towns and villages, larger cities like Dresden, Leipzig and Zwickau serve very well for sightseeing for visitors from all over the world. Some good-looking regions are the ones joint with Czech Republic, counting the Lusatian Mountains, Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge), Saxon Switzerland, and Vogtland.

Dresden is one of the must-see places for any person visiting Germany with the freedom to travel at will. It is filled with some of the most fantastic structural design imaginable, the Elbe river is wonderful, and the city harbors offer many little surprises for miles in all directions. Art and music are all over the place.

Leipzig is extremely worth a visit, too. It has progressed very well since Germany’s reunification, and has abundance enough to keep you busy for a weekend (or much longer!). If you’re aiming for traditional art and harmony, you’ll find Leipzig particularly pleasant.

All in all, Saxony needs definitely to be on your Germany itinerary! :-)

Situated in the north-east part of Germany, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (German: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), a.k.a. Mecklenburg-Cispomerania, features the largest adjacent region of waterways in Central Europe.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Map

The fatal moraine of the previous ice age runs crossways Mecklenburg. This attractive scenery consists of wide meadows and grasslands, as well as widespread areas of woods and ponds.

Its capital is Schwerin. This state is one of the least thickly populated and least industrial German states, being the sixth largest in size, but only 14th in population!

MV is the state’s normally truncated name. And some Germans even call it lovely Meck-Pomm, which makes the name considerably shorter, right?

The state actually comprise of two parts, Mecklenburg and Vorpommern. When we discuss about its history, we come to know that Mecklenburg encompasses two thirds of the present state’s territory.

Germanic tribes settled in Mecklenburg first. Then the Polabian Slavs became the monarch till 12th century. After this ruled Henry the Lion the citizens.

Mecklenburg first became a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire in 1348. At that moment it became republic after the First World War. Vorpommern was also under Swedish law after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. It was taken over by Prussia in 1815.

Then, after World War II, both have finally been merged together.

With its Mecklenburg Lakes (Mecklenburgische Seenplatte) — a beautiful Land Of A Thousand Lakes with calm area of landscape and green fields — it has become a very popular and well-liked travel destination. In fact, it counts to Germany’s leading tourist destinations nowadays. The seashores and sandy dunes found here are as imposing as the staged precipice enclosed with beech forests.

The island of Rügen, with its exclusive chalk precipice, the equally well-liked islet of Usedom and the inland region far from the shore, counting to the Mecklenburg Lakeland region, are a heaven for everyone.

You may find some piece of yellowish-brown along the shorelines. Search for and you’ll surely see birds maritime in the blissful gentle wind in Stralsund and Western Pomeranian Bodden (coves), Greifswalder Bodden & Peenestrom, anywhere Pine trees, soft and aromatic forest floors, sandy beaches, and all this positioned right next to some of the best swimming areas of Germany!

Explore the areas around the beautiful bays and coves and the Peene River. Go out for a hike in the spanking fresh air and enjoy the outstanding country views.

All over the place you shall find Burgher houses and affectionately re-established Gothic red brick construction dominated in the center of most cities & towns. Gabled town houses enclosing market places and charming churches imitate the nautical impression of the Baltic Sea — this and more you’re going to find in Hanseatic cities and towns like Greifswald, Rostock and Stralsund.

The magnificent church steeples still dominate the skylines of many metropolises in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) to this day. And extensive meadows and modern statues form appropriate settings for imposing fountains.

Next airport? Well, Hamburg and Berlin actually have the closest international airports. But some business travelers use the small Rostock-Laage airport [RLG] in the south of Rostock. They enjoy its personal atmosphere and widespread service.

No, Y isn’t a typical German letter, is it? Especially for city names.

I know, my friend. Although this letter is very common in the English language, we do not have a German city starting with Y…

None existent…