The Ars Electronica Center on the Danube, Linzer torte and a steel city turned culture capital.
Germany's sunniest city: a Gothic minster, little water channels in the streets and the Black Forest behind.
Goethe's and Schiller's houses, the birthplace of the Bauhaus, and Buchenwald on the hill above.
The capital of the Hanseatic League: the Holstentor gate, seven brick spires and Niederegger marzipan.
A 12th-century stone bridge over the Danube and the largest intact medieval city in Germany.
A UNESCO old town on seven hills, a town hall built on an island in the river and smoked Rauchbier.
The Town Musicians, the UNESCO-listed Roland statue and town hall, and the Schnoor lane of medieval cottages.
Altbier in the 'longest bar in the world', Gehry's dancing towers at the harbour and the Konigsallee.
The Mercedes-Benz and Porsche museums in a valley of vineyards, with the Black Forest an hour away.
The Kaiserburg above a rebuilt medieval city, the Nazi rally grounds and the Nuremberg trials courtroom.
Bach's church, the peaceful revolution of 1989 and the artists' halls of the old Spinnerei cotton mill.
The Frauenkirche rebuilt from rubble, the Zwinger's Old Masters and the Elbe skyline Canaletto painted.
Philips' company town turned design city: Dutch Design Week, Strijp-S and the Van Abbemuseum.
The cycling capital of a cycling country, with the Martini tower and the youngest population in the Netherlands.
The oldest Dutch city, on the Meuse between Belgium and Germany, where the EU treaty was signed in 1992.
Rembrandt's birthplace and the oldest university in the Netherlands, with canals quieter than Amsterdam's.
Vermeer's canals, Delft Blue pottery and the tomb of William of Orange in the New Church.
Monet's cathedral, the square where Joan of Arc was burned and the Gros-Horloge astronomical clock.
Three medieval towers guard the old port; the Ile de Re is a bridge away.
Van Gogh's town, with a Roman amphitheatre still hosting bullfights and the Camargue at its edge.
Where European surfing began in 1957 — Napoleon III's beach resort on the Basque coast.
The walled corsair city of Brittany, rebuilt stone by stone after 1944, with the biggest tides in Europe.
The cathedral where French kings were crowned and the champagne houses tunnelled into the chalk beneath it.
The capital of the Dukes of Burgundy: mustard, the Owl trail through the old town and the Cote d'Or vineyards south.
Half-timbered Alsace at its prettiest, the Isenheim Altarpiece and the Alsace wine route on the doorstep.
The 'Venice of the Alps': canals through a medieval old town and the cleanest lake in Europe.
Cezanne's town of fountains and plane trees, with Mont Sainte-Victoire on the horizon he painted sixty times.
The Palace of the Popes, the broken bridge of the song and the biggest theatre festival in the world each July.
A student city of the south: the Place de la Comedie, the oldest working medical school in Europe and beaches ten kilometres away.
The mechanical elephant of Les Machines de l'Ile, the Dukes' castle and the city Jules Verne grew up in.
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