Bremen, Germany

Bremen is the smallest state in the country and it exists as two ports and a river — the city of Bremen on the Weser and Bremerhaven sixty kilometres downstream where the big ships actually dock. The Schnoor quarter is the old fishing district with the tiny houses and the narrow lanes that is genuinely charming; the Schlachte is the riverside promenade where the whole city drinks in summer; the Bremen town musicians are the statue that every German child grows up knowing; and the Beck's brewery has been making the beer that funded the whole thing for four hundred years.

The state's character is Hanseatic and protestant-merchant, which means understated, money-conscious and genuinely polite, with a strong trading and coffee heritage — Bremen was the coffee capital of Europe for a century. The harbour workers and the university give it more variety than the size suggests, and the local accent is northern flat German.

Expect real port-city directness, genuine Hanseatic discretion, and a state where the beer is older than most countries.

Nearby: Hamburg Lower Saxony Cologne Berlin