Experience the best of Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 by Margrave Karl Wilhelm of Baden-Durlach, and its streets radiate from his palace like the ribs of a fan, which gives it the nickname Fan City. The palace now holds the Baden State Museum, and its gardens run into a woodland park. In the market square, a stone pyramid marks the founder's grave.

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court and Federal Court of Justice sit here, and the technology institute and the ZKM art and media centre, housed in a former munitions factory, give the city an inventive edge. Trams run out onto railway lines to neighbouring towns. The Rhine lies to the west with Alsace beyond, Baden-Baden and the Black Forest to the south, and Heidelberg to the north.

Baden is wine and good-food country: Spätzle noodles, Flammkuchen from across the border, Black Forest ham and cherry cake, and Pinot wines from the vineyards on the hills east of the Rhine. The Rhine plain has one of the mildest climates in Germany, so spring comes early and summer evenings in the beer gardens are warm.