Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [564]
Included in the entrance price is a 45-minute trip into the neighbouring Volkswagen factory, bigger than Monaco and the world’s largest car plant. These leave at about 30-minute intervals from Monday to Friday only, and there’s a daily tour in English (at 12.45pm, but call to confirm as this can change). The factory is so large that tours rotate through different workshop sections, so it’s pot luck as to whether you’ll see one of the 3000 cars produced each day roll off the assembly line or something less interesting, such as metal-pressing.
A Turmfahrt (Car Tower Discovery; adult/child/concession €8/4/6) involves sitting in a glass case and being freighted to the top of a 46m tower and down again – it’s as if you’re in one of the cars in this transparent tower, where vehicles are stored before being collected by eager new owners.
For a pure, competitive adrenaline rush, ring ahead to organise an English-speaking instructor for the park’s obstacle courses and safety training (costing between €17 and €28 each). You’ll need a valid licence, of course, and to be comfortable with a left-hand-drive car. The park even has a mini-course, with toy models that can be driven by kids.
AUTOMUSEUM
More low-key, the AutoMuseum ( 520 71; Dieselstrasse 35; adult/concession/family €6/3/15; 10am-6pm Fri-Sun, closed 24 Dec-1 Jan) has a collection that includes a vehicle used in the Herbie, the Love Bug movie, a Beetle built from wood, the original 1938 Cabriolet presented to Adolf Hitler on his 50th birthday, and the bizarre ‘See-Golf’, a Golf Cabriolet from 1983 with hydraulic pontoons that extend outwards to make it amphibious. Take bus 208 to Automuseum.
PHAENO
The glass-and-concrete building that houses the science centre Phaeno ( 0180-106 0600; www.phaeno.de; Willy Brandt-Platz 1; adult/child/concession/family €12/7.50/9/26.50; 9am-5pm Tue-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun, last entry 1hr before closing) is truly cutting edge. Sleek, curved and thin, it looks like a stretchy spaceship from Planet Minimalism.
Inside this building designed by British-based Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid are 300 hands-on physics exhibits and experiments (with instructions and explanations in both German and English) – and, frequently it seems, 10 times as many schoolchildren all pulling at them. You can wind up your own rocket, check your eyes by looking at bunnies, build an arched polystyrene bridge, watch thermal images of your body – and so on and so on. For the one really peaceful chance to savour the building’s architecture, head to the canteen. Look for the window at the far end to see how it cleverly frames Porschestrasse.
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BITTEN BY THE BUG
Cast-iron proof that Germans do have a sense of humour, the Volkswagen Beetle is truly greater than the sum of its parts. After all, the parts in question initially comprised little more than an air-cooled, 24-horsepower engine (maximum speed 100km/h) chucked in the back of a comically half-egg-shaped chassis. Yet somehow this rudimentary mechanical assembly added up to a global icon – a symbol of Germany’s postwar Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle) that owners the world over fondly thought of as one of the family.
Indeed, it’s a testament to the vehicle’s ability to run on the smell of an oily rag while rarely breaking down that few would even begrudge its Nazi provenance. Yes, in 1934 Adolf Hitler asked Ferdinand Porsche to design a ‘Volkswagen’ (people’s car) affordable for every German household and, yes, the Käfer (bug) was the result. However, Beetle production only really began in the new Wolfsburg factory under British occupation in 1946.
Did the company realise then what a hit it had on its hands? By the early 1960s, the chugging, spluttering sound of VW engines could be heard across 145 nations.
Urged on by ads to ‘Think Small’, North Americans were particularly bitten by the bug, and this durable, cut-price vehicle became a permanent