Berlin

Visitors to Berlin could believe that almost anything is possible. History weighs on the city like no other place on earth. At the end of World War II, it was a ruin that had to be rebuilt or recreated, then was divided when the process was only half complete. It was then put back together and is now the most diverse of international cities in terms of taste, lifestyle and culture. There can be no more revealing human laboratory.

The better-known highlights have a significance based in Berlin's past, much of it events in living memory. But the world's most rebuilt city is also careful to preserve the signs of its frontier beginnings, its rise as the centre of Prussia, and the memories of the Nazi and Communist periods that led to ruin.

In about 170 museums, Berlin lays bare its past as a powerhouse of culture and technology and an oppressor of people, many of them its own population. The chief museums of art and history on Museumsinsel are world heritage listed. Its theatres, concert halls and opera houses make it a cultural magnet.