Dortmund

Dortmund is an industrial city, and proud of it. Wherever you walk there are monuments to its colliery past, with tours round old mines and refineries.

It is also famed for its lighter, Pils beers, making it ideal if you would rather slurp a lighter lager compared to many of Germany's heavier ales, and there is plenty of drinking to be done in the city, especially on match days. A word of warning – locals are football-mad, so criticise Borussia Dortmund in public at your peril.

But it is not all about football in Dortmund, as there are plenty of cultural undertakings to enjoy, including a smart, modern theatre and fine, local art.