Historical Main Market Square with Town Hall, Guildhalls, and Museums

The Gothic town hall and Baroque guildhalls are the top attractions of Grand Place (Grote Markt) market square in the historic old town center of Brussels.

photo credit: Yabby

The Grand-Place (Grote Markt in Dutch or Flemish) in the center of historic Brussels is one of Europe’s grandest public squares. The Grand Place has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list and is one of the most popular sights in Belgium. Flowers are still sold here most mornings but the Grand Place is at its grandest when it hosts the Tapis des Fleur (flower carpet) every second August. The Hotel de Ville de Bruxelles is the grandest building on the market square but is well complimented by the other Baroque guildhall houses lining the Grote Markt.

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Dom Cathedral, Chagall Church Windows, Roman Ships, & Gutenberg Museum

Top sights in Mainz are the Romanesque-Gothic cathedral (Dom), Chagall windows, and the Roman Ships and Gutenberg Museums. Transportation from Frankfurt Airport is easy.

photo credit: Luhai Wong

The historic city Mainz is a popular destination for travelers with a short stop-over at Frankfurt International Airport. Many travelers prefer Mainz to more modern Frankfurt and transportation by train is equally easy to either city. The top sights in Mainz include its large cathedral (Mainzer Dom), the Gutenberg Museum, Roman Ships, and the magnificent blue Chagall windows in the St Stephan church.

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Opening Hours, Tickets, and Transportation to King Ludwig’s Palace

Schloss Linderhof is a popular day-trip from Munich with easy transportation, long opening hours, and easiest ticket availability of Bavarian King Ludwig’s fantasy castles.

photo credit: froutes

Schloss Linderhof Palace is located in the Ammer Valley near Oberammergau and Ettal. It is a popular day-trip destination from Munich and can be combined with visiting the more famous and popular Disney-like Schloss Neuschwanstein Castle. Opening hours are long and the palace is open on Monday and most public holidays. The park is unfenced and tickets for the palace itself are fairly easy to obtain. Transportation to Schloss Linderhof is easiest by car but buses are also available.

A hotel and restaurant are located at Linderhof Park with many further options available in nearby Ettal and Oberammergau.

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Bavarian King Ludwig’s Palace and Gardens near Oberammergau

Schloss Linderhof, a fantasy castle of Bavarian King Ludwig, is a small, opulent palace in a park with fountains and grotto near Oberammergau and Ettal in the Alps in Germany.

photo credit: brewbooks

Schloss Linderhof is the smallest of the opulent palaces and castles built by Bavarian Mad King Ludwig II. It is the only of his fantasy castles that was mostly completed. The more famous Disney-like Schloss Neuschwanstein Castle and Versailles-inspired Herrenchiemsee Palace were both far from completion at the time of Ludwig’s mysterious death in 1886.

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Budget Carriers Air Berlin, TUIfly, and Germanwings

Germany’s best low-cost airlines Air Berlin, TUIfly, and Germanwings have cheap airfares, good service and safety records on flights to many European destinations.

photo credit: Sevi95

Low-cost airlines are increasingly popular in Germany. The best-known German budget airlines include airberlin, TUIfly, and Germanwings. German low-cost airlines have good reputations for customer service and excellent safety records. The huge list of additional and separate charges that made British and Irish low-cost airlines unpopular with travelers are still mostly absent from German airlines. In contrast to Ryanair and other European low-cost airlines, German budget airlines generally use convenient regular and main airports.

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Party Rallying Grounds, Kongreßhalle, & Zeppelin Tribune in Nürnberg

Top sights in Nuremberg associated with the Nazi Party include the Zeppelin Tribune, Große Straße (Great Road), Kongreßhalle (Congress Hall), and the rallying grounds documentation center.

photo credit: norbert_blech

Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände Nürnberg

The German city Nuremberg (Nürnberg) has a long history but in the English-speaking world is mostly associated with the infamous Nazi Party rallies of the 1930s and the post-Second World War Nuremberg Trials. Nuremberg has interesting old town with important museums but travelers should also travel to the south of the city to see the sights associated with the Nazi Party rallies. The most important Nazi-era sights in Nuremberg include the Reichsparteitagsgelände (Nazi Party Rallying Grounds) with a very interesting and informative documentation center in the Kongreßhalle (Congress Hall), the Zeppelin Tribune, and the Große Straße (Great Road).

The Nazi Party rallies in Nuremberg were weeklong extravaganzas with a mix of endless speeches, parades, a folk festival, sporting events, and military tattoos. These party rallies, especially after Hitler came to national power, were an opportunity for the Nazis to show off their might and to influence friends and foreign powers.

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Sightseeing in Nürnberg: Castle, Churches, Museums, Old Town, Nazis

The best sights to see in Nuremberg are the Imperial Castle (Kaiserburg), top museums, Gothic churches, a wall-enclosed old town, and sights associated with the Nazi party rallies and trials.

photo credit: rs-foto

Nuremberg (Nürnberg) was a major power during the Middle Ages and despite extensive damage during the Second World War has many interesting and historical sights worth seeing. Uniquely for a German city of this size, the old town is still encircled by its defensive town wall. The Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle) was central to German power politics for centuries. Several Gothic churches are filled with art while the Albrecht Dürer house is a museum dedicated to the memory of this important German Renaissance artist. The German National Museum has the largest collection of German art and cultural objects in the world. The Nazi Party Rally Grounds have the largest buildings surviving from the Nazi era while the courthouse used in the Nuremberg Trials may also be visited.

Nuremberg is the second largest city in Bavaria and also the unofficial capital of Fraconia (Franken), the cultural rather than formal political or geographical area that includes most of northern Bavaria.

• Nuremberg is written Nürnberg in German and may also be written as Nuernberg.

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Great Deals on Comfortable Stays near Outlet Factory Store Shopping Malls

The Novotel Troyes Aéroport offers great deals for cheap but comfortable stays while saving when shopping at McArthur Glen Outlet Mall and other factory stores in Champagne.

The Novotel Troyes Aéroport is a comfortable hotel, quietly located in the northwestern outskirts of Troyes in the Aube en Champagne region in France. The Novotel Troyes Airport hotel offer great deals and very cheap stays for advance reservations. Rooms have a double bed and a sleeper couch to sleep up to four per room in comfort – two children under 16 stay for free. The Novotel Troyes Aéroport is a great deal for families, especially over weekends when business clientele stays away and prices drop.

• Do use major internet hotel reservation services to see what prices are available on Troyes hotels but booking directly with the Novotel will usually give the best price, special offers especially for early reservations, and the best cancellation options.

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Admission & Opening Hours for Romantic Castles in Schwangau, Germany

Tickets for the romantic, Disney-like Schloss Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castle near Füssen in Germany are best reserved in advance. Opening hours are fortunately long.

photo credit: rs-foto

The Disney-like Schloss Neuschwanstein Castle opened for visitors shortly after the death of Mad King Ludwig II in 1886. Schloss Neuschwanstein and nearby Hohenschwangau Castle are amongst the most popular tourist attractions in Bavaria, Germany. Although opening hours are long, tickets with specific admission times are best bought in advance.

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Getting to Flughafen Friedrichshafen (FDH) by Car, Bus, and Train

Transportation to Bodensee Airport-Friedrichshafen (FDH) near Lindau and Bregenz on Lake Constance in Germany is fast by car, bus, boat, and train.

photo credit: DHausBT

Getting to Bodensee Airport-Friedrichshafen (FDH) in southern Germany is easy by road or rail. Many transportation options are available from towns in the Bodensee (Lake Constance) and adjacent regions in Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. In winter, special ski shuttle buses are available to the Allgäu ski region in Germany and the Arlberg ski resorts in Austria.

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