Try to go in autumn for the beer festival. Also, they have some fantastic football stadiums and if you go next summer your enjoy the spirit of the Germans during a major football tournament. There is also the remains of the Berlin Wall. :)

There is much more to Germany than beer festivals. Each city is a historical centre Try visiting cities like Cologne for its cathedral. From Cologne you can take the train or a boat down the Rhine and pass the medieval castles that were built to extract money from those who used the river. Some of these are now Youth Hostels, so you can stay in them. You also go past the famous Lorelei Rock, where a siren was supposed to sit and sing, luring sailors to their deaths on the rocks below. There is also the famous Maeuserturm (Mouse Tower) at Bingen where a greedy bishop called his starving people "rats" then was eaten by rats. The Rhine and its tributaries are also famous for wine making. Visiting cities like Worms, you can go to the monasteries where world renowned wines such as Liebfraumilch are made. Worms is also the city where Martin Luther was excommunicated, beginning the Protestant faith. Heidelberg, on the Neckar River (a Rhine tributary), is also famous for its wine and beer, and for its ancient university. Freiburg is on the edge of the Black Forest, and you get wonderful views of Switzerland from the spire of its magnificent cathedral. Munich is altogether too gorgeous. Even if you don't make it there for Oktoberfest (when it is overrun by drunken Aussies!), there are always beer halls where you can sit, drink and watch. The main square has the most beautiful clock, which has a little moving tableau every 11am. There is also the famous Deutsches Museum, one of the finest museums of technology in the world. From Munich you can go south towards the Austrian border and visit the town of Fuessen. Outside it, there is the famous Neuschwanstein Palace, built in the 1800s by the mad king of Bavaria, Ludwig II. It is the one that Disney based his fairytale castle on. THere is a famous road called the Romantische Strasse, which passes through many of the major historical cities of the south. And there is so much more. German food, culture, history...every little town is a jewel. At Christmas time, there are special markets full of German traditional food, toys and specialties. There are castles, cathedrals, palaces, townhalls, quaint villages, and great restaurants. Pics are of 1)Cologne cathedral from the Rhine 2)The Lorelei Rock 3)Liebraumilch wine 4)Heidelberg 5) Freiburg 6)The moving clock in the Marienplatz Munich 7)the Neuschwanstein Palace