In Belfast, participants can go behind the closed doors of Stormont, the seat of Northern Ireland’s governing Legislative Assembly and symbol of hard-won peace solidified by 1998’s Good Friday Agreement. A three-course lunch with an Assembly member follows at an almost 200-year-old Georgian manor and working farm.

From the port city of Warnemünde, a trip to Berlin is led by a local film expert, who guides through the city’s famous movie locations from films such as The Bourne Supremacy, Inglourious Basterds, and Run, Lola, Run. A champagne “wrap party” and private screening of Billy Wilder’s “One, Two Three” will be held at the swanky Red Room inside members-only Soho House, formerly the home of the Soviet Politboro.

Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts has unveiled its second European luxury hotel opening in recent months – the highly-anticipated Waldorf Astoria Berlin. Setting a new standard in luxury for Berlin and the wider German market, the hotel marries the timeless elegance of the legendary flagship, Waldorf Astoria New York, with a unique design inspired by Berlin’s vibrant and contemporary personality.

Featuring 232 luxury guestrooms and suites, the hotel sits within the spectacular new Zoofenster skyscraper, designed by renowned German architect, Professor Christoph Mäckler. With a total of 32 floors and a height of 118 meters all crafted with stone and glass and the city’s highest suite, the splendid presidential suite on the top floor, the Zoofenster and Waldorf Astoria Berlin are a truly magnificent addition to the skyline of Berlin’s City West.

The hotel’s interior design has been conceived by the renowned Parisian agency, Inter Art Etudes, in a timeless yet contemporary interpretation of art deco style. From the lobby to the guest rooms and suites, the hotel’s interior design, is worthy of the prestigious legacy of the famed Waldorf Astoria, which opened its doors in 1931 on New York’s Park Avenue.

John Vanderslice, global head of luxury and lifestyle brands for Hilton Worldwide, said, “We’ve experienced unprecedented levels of luxury growth in Europe lately, with five unique Waldorf Astoria hotels now welcoming guests across Europe. Waldorf Astoria Berlin is a wonderful addition to our portfolio, offering exquisite luxury that combines culinary excellence with a world-class spa offering and flawless, intuitive service.”

The hotel’s enviable location puts guests on the doorstep of some of the city’s most famous tourist attractions. This includes the historic church, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, built as a memorial to Kaiser Wilhelm I, the first man to become emperor of a united Germany. The glamour of the premium shopping boulevard, Kurfürstendamm, known to locals as Germany’s Champs Elysées is only minutes away and contains a plethora of designer fashion houses.

Simon Vincent, president, EMEA, Hilton Worldwide said “We are privileged to be playing such a critical role in the regeneration of West Berlin through the opening of this magnificent property. Waldorf Astoria Berlin is an outstanding example of the splendour for which the brand is renowned and is a fantastic addition to our multi-brand portfolio in Germany where we now operate 18 hotels across four brands.”

Waldorf Astoria Berlin boasts an impressive range of dining and drinking experiences in a variety of settings and styles. The outstanding attraction will be the restaurant run by world-renowned French chef, Pierre Gagnaire. Boasting 12 Michelin stars at restaurants across the globe, Gagnaire requires little introduction and tables at the opulent “Les Solistes by Pierre Gagnaire” are set to be amongst the most highly sought after of the Berlin restaurant scene.

In addition, the Romanisches Café – renowned as a legendary meeting place for literati, local artists and musicians – is set to reopen on the ground floor of the hotel, just a stones throw from where it was first located around 100 years ago. The New York-styled Lang Bar offers upmarket ambiance in which to enjoy a range of cocktails and artisan beers. Whilst in the shadow of the famous Waldorf Astoria grandfather clock, Peacock Alley provides signature afternoon teas in a stylish, yet relaxed, environment to complete the hotel’s array of mouth-watering experiences.

Providing further opportunity for indulgence will be the hotel’s spa, featuring acclaimed French beauty specialists, Guerlain. With a tradition of excellence in the field of wellness and beauty which can be traced back almost 200 years, the Guerlain Spa Waldorf Astoria will see the trendsetting brand bring its innovative range of treatments to Germany for the very first time.

Guerlain Spa Waldorf Astoria will offer eight therapy rooms amid a spacious 1,000 square metre spa area, each individually designed to complement the delivery of a variety of treatments. Guerlain has also developed the “Beauty Revelation” a signature treatment which will be exclusive to Waldorf Astoria Berlin, combining rejuvenating body and facial treatments to invigorate the senses and leave guests with a sensation of freshness in both body and mind.

In addition to the hotel’s exclusive dining and wellness facilities, Waldorf Astoria Berlin also provides a spectacular venue for meetings, conferences and events hosting from 10 people up to 1200. The second floor of the hotel features a range of exclusive facilities including a 3550 square foot ballroom perfect for extravagant weddings, award ceremonies or banquets. Five private rooms all with the benefit of state of the art equipment and natural lighting throughout, are also available and a wonderful terrace overlooking the city, for up to 200 people, is located on the sixth floor.

Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts currently includes more than 20 landmark destinations around the world, with European properties including: London Syon Park, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel; Trianon Palace Versailles, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel; Rome Cavalieri, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts; and The Caledonian, a Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem is due to open its doors to guests next year and Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam is expected to open in early 2014.

For more information go to: www.waldorfastoriaberlin.com

The composer was born in Eisenach in 1685. In this city, visitors can listen to the Goldberg Variations in the Bachhaus, the 600-year-old house that is the first museum in the world dedicated to Bach and his music. Also in Eisenach, there will be performances of the St. Matthew Passion in St. George’s Church (Georgenkirche), where Bach was baptized. There are also concerts in Erfurt, the medieval Thuringian capital, and in Dornheim, in the church where Bach married and in Bach Church in Arnstadt, where he held his first post as organist. In Weimar, Bach played the organ at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. Bach was not just a great composer, but also a committed Lutheran.

The 10 conference rooms vary in size. Three of the rooms can be combined to create a hall of 220 m2, meaning that larger events can also be accommodated without difficulty. The InterCityHotel “FreeCityTicket” will also be included in the room price, enabling guests to use Berlin’s public transport system free of charge. The hotel was designed by the architectural firm of Reichel+Stauth on the basis of an urban development concept and will feature an external facade in natural stone. The eight-storey building will comprise a total floor space of 19,800 m2 above ground.

In the long-haul segment, Lufthansa is launching a new service from Munich to Vancouver, in addition to the existing connection from Frankfurt. From July, passengers in Europe will also be able to book and experience the new product and fare concept for Germanwings, which will gradually take over Lufthansa’s point-to-point routes. In the summer timetable, Lufthansa customers will have a choice of flights to 218 Lufthansa destinations in 82 countries (previous year: 216 destinations in 83 countries).

The summer timetable runs from March 31 to Oct. 26. “This summer we are again offering new flights to fantastic holiday destinations around the Mediterranean and expanding our expertise in the holiday travel segment,” says Jens Bischof, Member of the Lufthansa German Airlines Board. The new holiday destinations include the Balearic island of Menorca, the Andalusian city of Jerez de la Frontera, and the Bulgarian resort of Varna on the Black Sea, Cardiff and Glasgow.

At the start of the summer timetable, Germanwings is taking over a total of six of the point-to-point services that up to now have been operated by Lufthansa, starting with the routes from Hamburg to Vienna, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Dubrovnik, Nice and Palma de Mallorca. From July 1 of this year, further routes will gradually be operated by the new Germanwings. Passengers who have already booked a Lufthansa flight that is transferred to Germanwings will be automatically rebooked on Germanwings. All Lufthansa’s intra-European routes that are not routed through the airline’s Frankfurt and Munich hubs are due to be taken over by Germanwings, which will offer new, attractive fares.

With the introduction of the 2013 summer timetable, Lufthansa is withdrawing its services to Perm and Kazan in Russia for financial reasons. At the same time, however, the airline is increasing frequencies on its routes to Nizhny Novgorod and Samara. This summer, the Lufthansa Group airlines – Austrian, Brussels, Germanwings, Lufthansa and SWISS – will together serve 285 destinations in 102 countries on four continents from their hubs in Brussels, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich. They will also complement each other’s services by offering numerous codeshare flights.

American Airlines (AA) begins non-stop service from ORD; Air Berlin increases the number of flights from JFK, LAX, and MIA; and the Oneworld codeshare partnership of both airlines plus existing Lufthansa NA connections create many new options for connecting flights via Dusseldorf – 60 airlines to 180 destinations worldwide. Effective March 31, 60 airlines will fly to 180 destinations in 50 countries, including many new routes, especially for North American leisure and business travelers.

AA will offer daily non-stop connections between ORD and DUS, starting on April 12, using Boeing 767-300 ER with two classes, 30 seats in business and 195 in economy class.  AA is a Oneworld partner along with Air Berlin – Germany’s second largest airline with DUS as one of its hubs – which creates many new options for connecting in both Chicago and DUS for travelers flying to and from either airport. Connecting is easy at DUS: With only one terminal building, DUS offers a minimum connecting time of 35 minutes. The new AA connection is the second non-stop flight between ORD and DUS. Lufthansa has been flying the Chicago route successfully for many years.

In addition, Air Berlin will increase the number of weekly flights on other US routes: New York (JFK) to DUS will be offered 10 times a week, up from seven. Los Angeles (LAX) to DUS will go up to four times a week from three; and Miami (MIA) to DUS will become a daily flight, up from five times a week. Both Air Berlin and Lufthansa use DUS as a hub (no other European airport is a hub for two major airlines).

This gives travelers many excellent options for quick and convenient worldwide connections via the airlines’ extensive networks, including several new destinations: Air Berlin will start flying to Cagliari (three times a week), Rimini (once a week), and Rostock (once a week). Lufthansa features five new flights in its network: Glasgow (six times a week), Cardiff (once a week), Mallorca (21 times a week), Menorca (two times a week), and Jerez de la Frontera (three times a week). Several new airlines will start flying from DUS, including Spain’s “Vueling” (DUS – Barcelona) and Iceland’s “Wow Air” for flights to Keflavik/Reykjavik.

Several U.S. and Canadian cities (Atlanta, Chicago, Ft. Myers, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver) offer non-stop flights. Passengers who continue their journeys can choose from numerous convenient connections to Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and many other German and European cities. Throughout the year, 70 airlines serve 190 destinations worldwide – among them 125 European destinations. Another major advantage of the airport is its layout. With all gates in one terminal building, Düsseldorf International claims to be the “airport of short distances” – guaranteeing minimum connection times of 35 minutes.

“Young international travelers are a target group with considerable potential for growth,” says Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the GNTB.

Activities for the theme year are centered around a broad-ranging social media campaign entitled “Youth HotSpots in Germany – Share the Moment,” which was officially launched at the 2013 ITB in Berlin and will continue until March 2014. The main communication channels being used at the start of the campaign are the dedicated section of the website and social media platforms, in particular Facebook, Twitter (twitter.com/GNTB2013) and Instagram.

The core elements of the campaign are a mobile app and a new microsite. As most young people now take their smartphones with them when travelling or on holiday, the GNTB has brought out a Youth HotSpot mobile app as part of the campaign. The app is available free of charge from the App Store and on Google Play. It provides young international travelers with an overview of 1,300 open-access Wi-Fi hotspots in Germany, enabling them to access social networks for free.

Another key aspect of the campaign is the GNTB’s microsite at www.germany.travel/youth.  It specifically targets young visitors and gives them the chance to find out about Germany before they arrive. An interactive map uses pulsating rings of different sizes to show where there is most going on in Germany in the five HotSpot categories: must-sees, nightlife, shopping, bars & cafés and festivals & events. Clicking on the rings on the interactive map opens the towns and cities in which the different HotSpots are located.

The original HotSpots were selected on the basis of surveys of young Germans. Users will be able to update the map with their own HotSpots and share them with their friends on Facebook and other social media. In doing so, they will be creating user-generated content for the microsite, thereby becoming part of the campaign themselves. This word-of-mouth marketing, which is now very much on-trend, allows the GNTB to make young visitors aware of HotSpots in Germany. Recommendations made by friends on social networks are a particularly important source of information for young people.

The map categories were derived from a survey conducted by IPK International and the 2011 World Travel Monitor (WTM), which found that city breaks (33 percent) and multi-destination tours (27 percent) are especially popular with young European travelers. According to IPK International and the WTM, young visitors’ preferred holiday activities include sightseeing and soaking up the atmosphere in towns and cities. Consequently, the main attractions for them are the major cities and specific events. Shopping and culinary experiences are also popular, as are exhibitions and museums. Germany’s 6,000 or so museums cater to every interest, from art and architecture to history and the natural world.

The Europa has a travel concierge who will help book shore excursions and pre- and post-cruise arrangement before the cruise. There also is an international hostess onboard all cruises, whether bilingual or not, to ensure English-speaking passengers feel comfortable on the German line.

Also, this summer, children 11 years old or younger sail free when sharing a suite with one or two full-price adult passengers. Children age 12-15 sharing a suite with two full-price passengers pay $60 per night, which includes meals and soft drinks for lunch and dinner.

In fall 2014, the Europa will be operate the Ocean Sun Festival, a classical music festival with internationally acclaimed stars performing onboard and at historic sites ashore. The 13-day music festival cruise Aug. 31-Sept. 13, 2014, sails from Travemuende, Germany, to ports in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Great Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Cruise-only rates start at $5,990, per person, based on double occupancy.

The Europa will operate its annual food festival on a bilingual itinerary through Western Europe June 10-24, 2014. Guests will sample wines at local vineyards in Bordeaux and while sailing with chefs, winegrowers, cheese makers and pastry chefs. The 14-day cruise from Lisbon, Portugal, to Hamburg, Germany, stops in Spain, France, Great Britain and Belgium. Rates start at $6,820 per person, double occupancy, cruise-only.

Rail Europe Inc. is offering $100 off the Youth Eurail Global Pass and $75 off the Adult Eurail Global Pass when booked between now and June 12. Agents need to enter coupon code YOUTH100 or ADULT75 during checkout and the discount will be applied to the total purchase.

The Eurail Global Pass from Rail Europe provides city-center to city-center travel on the national rail networks of 24 European countries.

Participating national rail networks include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland (includes Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

Prices begin at $393 for Eurail Global Youth Pass and $682 for the Eurail Global Adult Pass.

The continuous pass is available for 15 days, 21 days, one month, two months or three months and the flexipass is available for 10 or 15 days of travel within a two month period.

Bookings can be made by visiting Rail Europe’s website at agent.raileurope.com or by calling Rail Europe’s contact center or at the banner ad at right.