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step-gabled old town. En route to Rostock, stop in Bad Doberan, with its great red-brick minster, quirky Frank Zappa memorial and kid-friendly narrow-gauge train. Though aesthetically challenged, Rostock does have some interesting sights and serves as the region’s nightlife hub. Stralsund, by contrast, is more sedate but has a very attractive Altstadt and is also the gateway to Rügen Island, with its tree-lined country roads, long sandy beaches and mysterious chalk cliffs. To truly traipse off the beaten path, head out to the remote Darss-Zingst Peninsula, where nature puts on an especially handsome show. Conclude these meanderings with a stop in Greifswald, an old university town close to beach-fringed Usedom Island, a popular holiday island that Germany shares with Poland.

A ride along Germany’s magical Baltic coast reveals eye candy at every bend of the road. Take your sweet time as you travel along this 500km route from Germany’s border with Denmark to where it rubs shoulders with Poland.

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TAILORED TRIPS

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CASTLES & PALACES

Until unification in 1871, Germany was a mosaic of fiefdoms, whose overseers ruled from the comfort of their Schloss (palace) or Burg (castle). A sentimental favourite among Germans is the Wartburg in Eisenach, where Martin Luther translated the Bible into German while in hiding. Less well known but equally impressive is Saxony’s Festung Königstein, which overlooks the Elbe and is so big, bold and formidable that nobody ever dared attack it. More refined are Schloss Sanssouci in Potsdam and Schloss Charlottenburg in Berlin, both impressive residences of the Prussian Hohenzollern clan. The family’s ancestral seat, medieval-looking Burg Hohenzollern near Tübingen is actually a 19th-century neo-Gothic confection, the original having been destroyed long ago. A similar fate befell Schloss Heidelberg, although much of it survives as a romantic ruin. For more romance, visit the robber-baron hang-outs along the Romantic Rhine, especially St Goar’s rambling Burg Rheinfels and Braubach’s pristine Marksburg, which, like the fairy-tale Burg Eltz near the Moselle, has never been destroyed. Germany’s most famous palace may be Füssen’s Schloss Neuschwanstein, but King Ludwig II’s more playful Schloss Linderhof or his grand Schloss Herrenchiemsee on Lake Chiemsee are even nicer. Another big Bavarian delight is the baroque Würzburg Residenz, designed by star architect Balthasar Neumann.

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CATHEDRALS & CHURCHES

Germany has a wealth of houses of worship, the most magnificent of which lift the spirit with their harmonious architecture and priceless treasures. Germany’s best-known church, the Kölner Dom in Cologne, is also its biggest: its twin spires dominate the city’s distinctive skyline. Another exquisite Gothic cathedral is Freiburg’s Münster, which has similarly awesome stained-glass windows. The title of ‘world’s tallest steeple’ (reached by 768 steps!) belongs to Ulm’s Münster, while the Berliner Dom in Berlin claims to be Germany’s largest Protestant cathedral. Older than all by several centuries is Charlemagne’s octagonal palace chapel, now part of Aachen’s Dom.

Fans of Romanesque architecture will hit the trifecta along the Rhine with the awe-inspiring cathedrals of Mainz, Worms and Speyer. Bavaria brims with baroque churches; the Asamkirche in Munich and the Wieskirche in Steingaden are both standouts. The landmark Frauenkirche in Dresden, levelled during WWII, was triumphantly reopened in 2005. Also in former East Germany, the Schlosskirche in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, where Luther published his Ninety-Five Theses and found his final resting place, is a major pilgrimage site for Protestants.

Churches with amazing carved altars include the Jakobskirche in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the St Nikolaikirche in Kalkar and the Petrikirche in Dortmund.

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GERMANY IN THE SLOW LANE

Like a fine wine, some of Germany’s most memorable destinations are best appreciated in leisurely sips, not quick gulps. So