"We are not planning anything for the World Cup," says the sign in the window of "Zur kleinen Markthalle" restaurant in Berlin's lively Kreuzberg district, promising clients match-free meals.

Such establishments are few and far between.

More than three-quarters of Berlin's bars and restaurants are planning to show not only the matches but also re-runs, meaning that once the 64-match tournament kicks off on June 9 it will be hard to eat out for the next month without at least passively following the game.

You could show your distaste by sporting one of the t-shirts proclaiming "World Cup Enemy" or simply "I hate football" that are on sale from Berlin to Munich.

Or you could go much further, to Tibet or India's northern Ladakh region, for example.

These and stops along the historical Silk Road are some of the remote destinations the Marco Polo travel agency is proposing for the good reason that over there the chances of anybody mentioning Ronaldinho's form or Wayne Rooney's injured foot are slimmer than Togo's hopes of winning the World Cup.

A poll of 2,000 people conducted recently by Germany's BAT polling institute found that 34 percent of women and 21 percent of men are not interested in the world's biggest sporting event.

It has motivated Stephan Barbarino, a theatre director from Munich, to launch an initiative called "Football-Free Zone" with publisher Karl-Heinz Schwaiger.

Their website (www. fussballfreiezone.de) comes to the rescue of accidental World Cup tourists who just happen to be in the country during the June 9 to July 9 event.

It points to the joys of German cuisine and art as well as Bavaria's many castles and lakes under a logo of a no-parking sign posted over a black and white ball.

"It is an alternative to the overwhelming hype that the World Cup has become," Barbarino said.

"There are enough people out there who do not want to spend 24 hours a day sitting in front of a giant screen watching football."

The tourism authorities in Brandenburg state in the former communist East Germany has borrowed the concept.

Brandenburg, the region surrounding Berlin, is trying to turn the economic misfortune of not hosting a single World Cup match -- though Ukraine's national side will be based here -- into a marketing strategy aimed at people who want to get away from it all.

"Are you ready for a football-free region?" a brochure at their offices enquires.

The state is offering spa weekends "away from the stress of football" in places they may never have heard of but could suddenly find appealing, like Prignitz.

It has also thought of time-out options for weary wives and girlfriends, suggesting they leave the boys in front of the television with their beers and head for a "girls' weekend" away in the verdant Spreewald region.

Tennis, anyone?