Germany's Top Five

Love parade may be dead, but techno will live forever. Thousands of techno freaks and adrenaline aficionados flock every year to Nature One, one of the biggest clubbing events in Germany, on Pydna Rocket Base in Rhineland-Palatinate, 80 km (50 miles) west of Frankfurt. You can pump up your blood pressure and dance yourself silly to the sounds of 100 DJs and live acts, including international stars such as Paul van Dyk, Poziom X, Northern Lite and Sonic Trip. From Aug. 5 - 7.

You don't have to wait for Oktoberfest to become a German beer expert. And if you believe that beer is not just a drink, but a way of life, then you shouldn't miss the opportunity to join 600,000 beer fans who come to the Berlin International Beer Festival along Karl Marx Allee from Aug. 5-7. More than 240 breweries from across Germany, along with guests from Poland, the Czech Republic, Belgium and the UK, offer some 1,750 types of beer for your tasting pleasure, accompanied by live music on 15 stages.

Every year, the city of Frankfurt celebrates its river, the Main, with a lavish festival whose medieval origins date back to the fourteenth century. A family event par excellence, the Main Festival, attracts 350,000 visitors who get to enjoy spectacular fireworks, traditional merry-go-rounds, fun rides, shooting stands and gastronomic specialties. The Main riverbank is one of the most beautiful parts of Frankfurt and is often overlooked by tourists. The festival runs from Aug. 5 - 8.

The Theatron Music Summer is a month long music festival at the Theatron, an open air auditorium in the city's Olympic Park. The "longest open air music festival of the world," according to the Guiness Book of Records, the Theatron Music Summer features a diverse and multicultural program, ranging from classic cabaret and world music to snazzy jazz and good old rock'n'roll. All this in a beautiful setting overlooking the Olympic lake. From Aug. 1 - 28.

For art lovers in Berlin, DaimlerChrysler Contemporary is showcasing its new acquisitions in the series "Minimalism and After" -- an attempt to reevaluate early American and European minimalism as well as track its reception and further development in contemporary art. The exhibit focuses on the dialogue between American and British artists, as well as minimalist and conceptual approaches to the questions of architecture and space. It is open from July 29 - Nov. 27.