Munich, which means "monk settlement," was founded in 1158 and has long been the center of Bavaria. Germany's third-largest city. Munich has a population of about one and a quarter million inhabitants. Located in the southeast near the Bavarian Alps, Munich is a center of trade and culture, and also of the high-tech and media industries. Precision instruments, automobiles and beer are all produced in Munich. When Munich hosted the Olympics in 1972, the city constructed a new subway system that is still one of the best in Germany.

Hamburg, located on the Elbe River in northern Germany, is the country's second-largest city. A major European port, the city is known for shipbuilding and oil refining. More recently, it has also become known as a publishing center. Probably the best known German-language news magazine, Der Spiegel, is a Hamburg weekly that was modeled after Time magazine. It began to be published in 1945 and now has a readership of around one million people, making it one of Europe's most important periodicals.

Frankfurt, located on the Main River in the west-central part of the country, is Germany's fifth-largest city and its main financial and transportation center as well. The Bundesbank, the European Central Bank and Germany's main stock market are all located in Frankfurt, earning it the nickname of "Bankfurt." Even though there are airports with direct international flights at several other cities such as Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, and Stuttgart, most non-European travelers continue to fly into Frankfurt. For one thing there is a convenient rail connection from the airport to the main downtown train station that takes only twelve minutes. Frankfurt is known for its annual international book fair and Germany's biggest tennis event, the Federation Cup, is also held here each year. German architect Helmut Jahn designed the towering Trade Fair Tower, the Messeturm, and this tall, skinny building added to Frankfurt's skyline of gleaming towers that are the headquarters for Germany's banks.

Düsseldorf is a city in west central Germany, situated on the Rhine river northwest of Cologne. With a population of just over half a million, Düsseldorf, together with Cologne and the Ruhr area, is the economic center of western Germany. The city's fashionable Kö boulevard (short for Königsallee) and the fashion fair that Düsseldorf hosts in the spring lure not only native clothing designers but also world-renowned designers from France, England and Italy.