Top five experiences

1. Munich

Confident and cutting-edge, traditional and twee, Bavaria’s capital takes all the state’s quirky variety and condenses it into one of Europe’s most intriguing destinations.

The “city of art and beer” wows with its collections of old masters, Gothic sculpture and pop art; but when the high-brow day ends, Munich retreats to the beer hall to savour a hop-infused culture like no other.

2. Oktoberfest

Social barriers evaporate, strangers become friends and everybody sings too loudly, drinks in excess and has way too much fun at the world’s biggest beer bash in Munich. The event lures a global mob of hedonists, but there’s a quieter, folksier side, with less raucous beer tents and traditions taking visitors back to its early 19th-century beginnings. So squeeze into your lederhosen or dirndl and get on down to the Theresienwiese – it’s an experience you won’t forget.

3. Beer halls and gardens

Munich and Bavaria are synonymous with the beer hall, a time-warped institution of tankards; tightly trussed, strong-armed waitresses; and resident oompah bands. The daddy of all beer halls is central Munich’s Hofbrauhaus, but there are plenty of equally characterful, and perhaps less touristy, spots throughout the south. If you prefer your watering holes al fresco, Munich celebrated 200 years of the beer garden in 2012, and this passion certainly has another two centuries to come.

4. Schloss Neuschwanstein

Bavaria’s best-known castle emerges from hilltop woodland above Fussen like a storybook vision. Commissioned by Ludwig II, 19th-century king of Bavaria, Neuschwanstein is top of the league when it comes to Germany’s tourist attractions. What would have been a private royal residence is a reflection of Ludwig II’s longing to retreat into his own fantasy world, a secluded realm in which the operas of Richard Wagner played a pivotal role.

No wonder Walt found inspiration here for his Disney World creations.

5. Hiking

If you’re a fan of wander (hiking), boy are you in for a treat – the hiking in southern Germany is about as good as it gets. Whether you want to ramble among the mythical mountains of Berchtesgaden, splashed with jewel-coloured lakes; crest the country’s highest peak, 2962m Zugspitze; or trek the Alps, there is a trail with your name on it. Edging west brings you to the wonderful Black Forest.

What’s new

Museum of the Bavarian Kings

As if two of Germany’s dreamiest castles, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, weren’t enough, someone’s gone and opened a must-see museum a short stroll away.

Perched on the edge of the picturesque little Alpsee, this former lakeside hotel is full of Wittelsbach memorabilia and provides a bit more background on the castles you’ve probably just toured.

Museum Brandhorst

The biggest, brashest characters of pop art rule at the Brandhorst, an edgy addition to Munich’s Kunstareal (an entire quarter of the city centre given over to galleries). Warhol, Hirst, Wombly, Flavin – the name-dropping list is long.

Cuvillies-Theater

One of Europe’s finest rococo theatres reopened recently after a facelift. Go on an auditorium tour or dip into the program of classical music concerts.

HILLTOP castles and green energy, beer halls and luxury cars, Alpine peaks and cutting edge art – southern Germany blends thigh-slapping tradition with clear-headed modernity like nowhere else on Earth.

Southern comfort

The Germans have a word, gemutlichkeit, that untranslatable blend of cosiness, well-being and a laid-back attitude. Nowhere does this mood permeate deeper than in the prosperous south where fairy-lit beer gardens, alpine views, medieval towns, rousing hilltop castles and many a red-faced village brass band awaits you.

But there’s another facet to gemutlichkeit: it’s also a marble-smooth autobahn of luxury cars speeding to gourmet restaurants and chic alpine spas, Munich’s high-brow cultural scene robed in black, and cappuccinos at dawn on intercity expresses. The two coexist – an incongruous mix packed with the unexpected.

Alpine air and Munich flair

Bavaria is definitely a place for those who prefer their air fresh rather than freshened. Though the Alps only tickle Germany’s underbelly, locals know how to get the most out of their peaks, stringing cable cars up the vertical reality of the Alps; marking out entire atlases of cycling, hiking and cross-country skiing trails; even running a train up the inside of the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain.

Yet this is just a short ride from the urban joie de vivre of Munich, a sexy, sophisticated and self-confident city with a nonchalant, almost Mediterranean feel.

King of the castle

Southern Germany is famed for its castles, from medieval fortresses to the 19th-century follies commissioned by Bavaria’s most celebrated king, Ludwig II. Mad about Versailles (and some claim just plain mad) he “single-handedly” launched Bavaria’s tourist industry and even stirred Walt Disney with his story-book Neuschwanstein Castle.

You could spend a month zig-zagging between sugary palaces, stuccoed baroque residences, wind-cracked Gothic ruins and vista-rich chateaux. Palace fatigue? Then just retreat to a tavern and raise a tankard to this marvellous corner of Europe.

Cuckoo clocks and lederhosen

If you’re coming here in search of strapping Alpine types in lederhosen, big-bosomed wenches juggling platters of roast pork, tipsy oompah bands and Hansel-and-Gretel cottages, you’ll be pleased to hear that Germany’s south keeps all its cliched promises. Nowhere is this truer than on the Romantic Road, a 350km-long route from Wurzburg to the Alps stringing centuries’ worth of quaint walled towns on a ribbon of history and tweeness. And if you think all the folksy fuss is just for the tourists you’d be wrong – many Bavarians turn out en masse for traditional festivals and celebrations in their lederhosen.