I'm looking for a social networking site, possibly by city or region, in Germany. I am a writer and come to Germany frequently, usually relying on people from my hotel, or a bar, to show me around and help me find what I want.

Is there a website I could use to make contact prior to coming? I speak a little German, but will probably have to ask them to speak English after a few sentences--typically not a prob with the younger generation.

Thanks for your help!

Try www.virtualtourist.com, which has forums like this one, though much busier, plus members make their own travel pages with reports, tips and photos. The search function allow you to find both pages and local members by location. You'll find a lot of active members from Germany there, including yours truly.

Try the forums at http://www.toytowngermany.com/
Although it's more geared to expats living in Germany, it should be helpful for you since you go there often.
It used to be "Toy Town Munich" only, so you'll find much more info about MUC than about other cities.
Please remember that TT members don't like "hit and runs" (sign up, ask a question and then vanish).

Thanks to you both. I may be able to use either, but my main problem lies in that I frequent the smaller, off-the-beaten-path cities. I once lived in Giessen, and this trip will find me there, Hanau, and Marburg. In the U.S. there are several websites that have subdirectories in smaller cities, like www.urbanplanet.org, and I was hoping to find something like that for Germany.

Either way, thank you. Germany, to me, is the most special place on earth. I was stationed there when I was 19, for nearly 3 years. Although I finished college later, those were my college years, just after the wall came down. It was a GREAT time to be in Germany, although the Mark to $ rate stunk. Now that I have been back a few times, of course, the Euro to $ rate stinks--for me.

I write fiction, and have completed one story an agent has taken on and is just beginning to shop around. It is set in Deutschland, all over the place--murder suspense. I'm coming back to research another I'm currently writing, and it will be in France and Germany. Meeting cool, local people helps color my writing, especially when I'm trying to paint an authentic picture.

Again, Danke!

if you're in the upper-rhine area (Strasbourg/Freiburg) - drop me a pm

Unlike here where Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt airport seem to be almost the only topics discussed, you'll find a lot more "off the beaten track" discussions on VT, and the German members live everywhere, not only in big cities, so I don't understand why there is a problem. Check it out.

Myself, by the way, I've spent a quarter of my life in Marburg (a wonderful place, ah those were the student times) - and lived on the outskirts of Hanau for a year (no inclination ever to go back).

You can use http://qype.de for information on bars / cafe / etc in some areas and if you are for more biz related things, I suggest you give http://xing.com a chance and search the forums for the name of the town - several of the areas are very active, I think the munich group has nearly 30K members.

Be careful that some areas are namend after the region, so not necessarily frankfurt but rhein-main-gebiet or so.

I mention Xing because while you do come over not strictly for business, these groups often have meetings and local knowledge and might help you with.

Even thought the language is set to german, you might get away with writing english and even receive some answers.

As for showing you around, not sure what you want to achieve, but nearly every german site has tourist bureau / website which should provide you with a lot of information.
hth