Dozens of street fairs are opened in Cologne before the Christmas. Among them there are some of the most famous, oldest and greatest, which originate in the Middle Ages, as well as several new fairs, which recently introduced, but already managed to win the love of Cologne citizens and guests.

Very beautiful and spectacular celebration takes place on the last day of the year in Scotland. Here the New Year is called Hogmanay and originates from the Vikings, who paid great importance to the shortest winter day. But it became especially popular during the period from the 16th century to the mid 20th century.

Over 450 thousand tourists from Russia visited Istanbul, the main tourist city of Turkey, during 11 months of 2011. In total Istanbul tours from January to November were bought by 7.5 million people. Most tourists were Germans. More than 900 thousand German citizens visited the famous Turkish city.

On December 31 at the New Year night will be opened the season of Vienna balls, which are the most famous and luxurious in the world. It will last until March 10, and during that time in Vienna will take place about three hundred balls, but the most important and solemn will be hosted on December 31.

Chocolate Wonderland, which will be launched in Shanghai, is a traveling exhibition. For the first time this unique exhibition was presented in 2010 in Beijing. According to CNN, during two and a half month the exhibition was visited by nearly half a million visitors.

Vienna was named the most comfortable place to live in Europe according to the Quality of Living 2011 rating published by the Mercer company.

11 new objects were included in 2011 into the UNESCO Intangible Heritage of Humanity List. Among them are healing prayer chants in Peru, traditional Bedouin weaving in the Arab Emirates, as well as rituals in Brazil, Mauritania and other countries.

Chinese Disneyland in Hong Kong opened a separate theme park dedicated to the heroes of the animated film Toy Story. The park was named Toy Story Land. Most of its attractions are somehow connected with the characters of the Toy Story movies. The park is located in the western part of Disneyland, just behind the Fantasy Land.

From November 23 to December 31 at the famous Munich Theresienwiese will be held Tollwood Winterfestival 2011 winter festival, which is the second popular festival among the Bavarians after the Oktoberfest.

In the eastern part of Brazil on the Atlantic coast is located a popular holiday resort of Praia do Forte, where on November 24 will begin the sixth gastronomic festival Tempero no Forte, which will last until December 4.

On November 30, 2011 near the Ellsworth mountain range at an altitude of 700 meters will begin one of the most unusual sports events on the planet - Ice Marathon. The main feature of this competition is the place - Antarctica - only a few hundred kilometers from the South Pole of the planet. Therefore, the full name of the marathon is Antarctic Ice Marathon, which will be held for the 9th time.

The festival in Bologna is popular also due to its duration, because it lasts more than a month and ends just before the New Year. Generally, La Porticata is the longest holiday of its kind in Europe.

In Vienna in November 2011 it is planned to open a new railway station - Bahnhof City Wien West. The new station, which was formerly known as Westbahnhof, will open its doors after a major upgrade, which started in 2008.

Monaco was named the country with the highest percentage of Internet users among the world nations. According to the site www.internetworldstats.com, over 97.6% of the Monaco population has personal Internet access. The population of Monaco today is about 29 000 people.

On October 26, 2011 in a small town of Vadsø in northern Norway will begin the Festival of the king crab (Polar Spectacle), which will last for three days. It is timed to the end of the season of catching crabs. The season of catching king crabs in Norway lasts for 3 months from October to December, so return of sailors with the first catch is celebrated with big festivals.

Each year outside the Arctic Circle in Sweden near the town of Jukkasjärvi appears the world famous attraction - the ice hotel. Tons of snow and ice from the nearby Torne River is regularly used to create the grand ice building. In previous years along with the ice hotel the authors of the project built an ice church. This time the creators of the Ice Hotel seriously consider the possibility to build an ice mosque in addition to the church.

In a country that gave the world Legoland, was opened completely new format amusement park. Denmark will offer a unique track for the fans of segways.

Tibet, Great Wall, Forbidden City, Shanghai, Hong Kong - these are the totems, which make the first impression of tourists, who visit China. However, this country is full of wonderful hidden treasures that many have not yet discovered. The five best romantic resorts in China - it sounds strange, but still worth to get acquainted with this phenomenon more closely.

European taxis were independently evaluated by the experts. EuroTest program, which objective is to optimize the transport infrastructure in cities across Europe, conducted a study on the quality of taxi services in 22 European cities. As a result the highest rank was occupied by Barcelona.

Tourism in Spain revives after crisis. It can be proved by the data of the FRONTUR tourist group. The information is related both to the rental sector and hotel industry in Spain.

On September 30, 2011 the Italian city of Palermo (Sicily) invites all lovers of horses, horse racing and other equestrian sports at the traditional international tournament Coppa degli Assi. In this representative competition every year take part the best athletes from Europe, Argentina, New Zealand and the United States.

Festival of Celtic culture and history will be held in the small town of Kilkenny in Ireland from September 28 to October 3. Despite the small size of the town Kilkenny is a very significant cultural and historical center of Ireland and is the second most popular tourist destination after Dublin. The main purpose of Kilkenny Celtic Festival is to draw attention to the ancient Celtic culture.

Marine Park in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Parque Maritimo de Santa Cruz de Tenerife) is one of the main attractions of the city and is visited by more than a thousand people a day during the summer season.

On September 30, 2011 in the Austrian federal land Upper Austria (Oberösterreich), which is located on the north-west of the country, will be held a pumpkin festival. On this day in Linz, the administrative capital of Oberösterreich, will be held numerous boisterous festivities.

Diving - this kind of active leisure has firmly and permanently embedded in the structure of international tourism services. Number diving vacation fans is growing every year. Everyone identifies for himself the most interesting places for diving. At the same time in the world are regularly published the most interesting places for diving. Here you can watch the list of unique places for diving in 2011.

Barack Obama has decided to sell his summer house. The summer residence of the President of the United States - Blue Heron farm, located in Massachusetts on the Martha's Vineyard Island - is on sale for 23.7 million dollars.

On September 24 will be held the 5th final stage of the International Fireworks Competition in Hannover. The capital of Lower Saxony for the 21st time organizes such event in the magnificent Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen.

Beer and whiskey festival was organized for the first time in 1992 and each year was becoming more popular. It is is now the best known, the most popular and the largest festival of this type in the world.

This weekend in Switzerland will be held the traditional European Heritage Days. More than 750 historical, architectural and natural sites will be available for everyone on 10 and 11 September.

In the second-largest city of Portugal Porto, located on the north-west of the country from 16 to 25 September will be held annual International Festival of Puppet Theatre (Festival Internacional de Marionetas do Porto 2011). Despite of seeming childishness of event, the festival annually brings together tens of thousands of adult fans who come to the city from all over Europe.