to be surprised that so few British people would consider Germany a good holiday destination?

[emkana]

We've just come back from Bavaria and it was amazing. Lakes, the Alps, beautiful houses, good food, lots of culture, historic sites...

I highly recommend it!

AussieSim - yes the smoking. I called myself REL because of a confrontation I had with a revolting couple who plonked themselves down next to me and proceeded to wave their cigarettes inches from my and my friend's babies face. Trying to intimidate pregnant lady holding tiny baby - they were classy people! I thought we were going to get burned. Never been called a REL before and I quite liked it especially as they buggered off pretty quickly after that. I'm not usually so aggro btw. I just felt a bit responsible for the baby!

Me and my Indian friend play 'spot the pregnant lady smoking' or 'spot the lady blowing smoke into her pram' when we are on the bus. Scores get pretty high!

Theres lots of nice things about Bavaria though... no shops open on Sunday, no crime, that kind of thing. Really old fashioned.

Both Germany and Austria are great holiday destinations. We've just come back from a city break to Berlin (we used to live there but it was the first time we'd been back post-DC and they loved it) and usually spend our summer holidays here in Austria.

Salzburg is beautiful (if very touristy) - in fact, the whole area around Salzburg has spectactular scenery as does Carinthia. We live near to Vienna and there's lots to do there as well; there are some great museums that the DC really enjoy going to. I don't understand the comment about Austria being "no bag of laughs" either...

We did a house swap to Bavaria for our holiday last Summer - brilliant holiday, loads to do, lovely weather. Will definitely go back another year.

We're going on our summer hols to Germany. We lived there for 2 years and I absoluetly adored it, every single second.

The people are lovely
Everything runs on time
Everything is clean
The food is amazing
The countryside is fab

One day I want to live there full time, there is nowhere in the world I'd prefer. Give Germany a chance! The weather is better too