In the planning (actually scheming) stage of trip to Germany / Austria / Hungary in spring of 2005. Would love to know your fav websites for general info on Germany, tourism, maps, food, hotels, sites, etc. Thanks!

Hotels:
http://www.hrs.de

Local guides for Munich and Berlin at:
http://www.inyourpocket.com

Trains:
http://www.bahn.de

Hamburg:
http://www.hamburg.de
(this BTW works with most cities, just enter the town's name followed by ".de&quot

Ratings of Hotels and Restaurants:
http://www.varta-guide.de
(equivalent to the Michelin guide)

Here's a webcam of the Marienplatz in Munich that I have enjoyed watching:

http://www.muenchen.de/Tourismus/Sig...803/index.html

Do you know which towns in Germany you are interested in visiting? Many of the towns have their own website, for example:

http://www.muenchen.de/home/60093/Homepage.html

http://www.koeln.de/

http://www.tourismus.ulm.de/index_e.dpx?lang=_e

http://www.badwimpfen.org/stadtplan.php4

As suggested, bahn.de has excellent information about train travel. The web site for trip planning can be found at:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Hope this helps get you started. Peace. >-

Robyn

http://www.bensbauernhof.com/ This site was very helpful to me while planning our 2 week trip to Germany and Austria. We stayed and ate at a few of Ben's recomended places and they were great!

For Berlin specifically:

Berlin Tourism (lots of info, and has an Events calender, for tourists who want to attend concerts/opera etc when they're there):
http://www.berlin-tourist-informatio...=www.berlin.de

Berlin Airports (especially how to get there or to the city):
http://www.berlin-airport.de/PubEnglish/index.html

Berlin local transportation (U-Bahn, S-Bahn, buses, trams):
http://www.bvg.de/e_index.html

Berlin museums:
http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/e/index.html

Berlin Reichstag building (including info on how to make reservations for rooftop restaurant):
http://www.bundestag.de/htdocs_e/index.html

Frankfurt tourism website:
http://www.frankfurt-tourismus.de/default.htm

Rhine/Mosel cruise ship company Koln-Dusseldorfer (with cruise timetables):
http://www.k-d.com/engl/index.html