I dont wish to sound funny, but there is an off chance that the German couple you are going to be staying with may have a few ideas.

Having said that make sure you get into Dortmund and have a pint of Dortmunder Kronen.

If you are looking for somewhere to eat I can recommend Cafe BARcelona, it is right in the middle of town and they do a fantastic breakfast for most of the day and is especially good at night for cocktails and food, but can get very busy on weekends. Its quite stylish and modern but not expensive, also staff speak great English. The Mohnsee Dam ( Dam busters) is a good place to visit purely for touristy reasons, weather prevaling you can hop on a boat around the Dam. If its a gentle stroll your looking for ,a nice walk around the Schloss Castle in Schloss Neuhaus will while away a few hours, some great little Ice cream Parlours and Pizzerias are on offer outside the main gates,' La Mama's' being a firm favourite and its only 5 to 15 mins from Paderborn depending on where you are. If you like cakes you are in for a treat as nearly every corner has a bakery.
If you want a wet weather alternative the ThermeBAd in Bad Lippspringe is a leisure complex with swimming pools and saunas

Many Thanks Lisaclaire, I'm not sure where we are staying as yet as we are staying with an elderly German couple about 30 mins outside Pader but with certainly have a look at the Dam etc as we will have the use of a car.

Beleive it or not, from 23rd to 25th June, Paderborn has a festival - and the theme this year is 'England'.

I know this - they tried to book my morris team (a great deal for us, but we were 1 person short of a team). It also has a Computer Museum...

Mark Rogers

Paderborn has it's own brewery, they make 2 sorts of beer, export and pilsener, I prefer the pils. If you go towards Detmold there's Hermans denkmal ( monument on a hill) nice walk up there and fantastic view. You're not far from the Hertz mountains, well worth a visit. Quite a lot to do around there you'll be spoilt for choice.

Forgot to mention food, go to an Imbiss (Take away) try Bratwurst (sausage) I would also recomend Gyros mit zasiki (like a doner kebab but pork) also various schnitzels.Enjoy!!

Padeborner Pilsner, I was weened on that and Dortmunder Kronen, after you've been to the schnelly for your Bratwurst go back and have a currywurst, basically a bratwurst with lots of ketchup and curry powder on.

Soest and the Mohne See are a good place to visit. That's where the Damm Busters had a party. Hermanns Denkmal was one of the turning landmarks for 633 and you can see the bullet holes in Hermanns helmet and where his sword was shot in half.

If you're going to see the Hermannsdenkmal, you should also go see the "Externsteine", which is basically a quite stunning natural formation of big stones with caves and a tomb, with a lake and a nearby restuarant. From Paderborn, take the Bus Line 450 to Horn-Bad Meinberg and then it's a nice walk thorugh the Teutoburger forest.

Also the Lippesee lake is quite nice and much closer than the Möhnesee.

Garry just for your information this topic is 7 years old and the OP hasn't come back on to HT for 6 years.

I thought it was strange when this was flagged up again!
I agree about externstein and lipisee though!

I bet Gary was an ex squaddie like me, lived in Detmold for 8 years.

Gary just thought that maybe someone else was gonna read this and he felt this needed to be said =)

And also, rennie, you loose that bet