Germany

Top destinations in Germany

See a full list of places

Currency and money

The currency in Germany is the Euro. One Euro breaks down into 100 cents. As a rule of thumb the exchange rates to the Euro are approximately:

• 0.70 Pounds Sterling
• 1.1 US Dollars
• 1.5 Canadian Dollars
• 1.5 Australian Dollars

The Euro is the second most common currency in the world after the US dollar, and the same banknotes are used in all the countries in the Euro-zone (each country issues different coins, but these differ only in the picture on the back, and can be used outside their country of issue). Even in the European countries which do not use the Euro as their official currency, it is still very common to find it accepted in larger shops and hotels (sometimes at a suprisingly reasonable rate of exchange). It should not be difficult to exchange into or out of Euros at currency exchanges worldwide.

Travellers Cheques:

As with the rest of Europe, travellers cheques are not as useful here as in North America. Large Hotels and stores may accept them in lieu of cash, but most places will simply direct you to a bank to cash them. Banks can charge fairly high commission for this, especially if you are converting into a different currency. It is generally cheaper (although less dependable) to get cash from a home debit or credit card using an ATM machine. If you get travellers cheques, and will be moving between countries it is probably best to get them in Euros.

ATM Machines:

Germany not short of ATMs. Banks are mostly regionally-based with branches (with ATM attached) almost everywhere. They will pretty much all accept Visa, Mastercard and other cash networks such as Plus, Cirrus and Maestro. Be aware that if a machine retains your card you will probably not be able to get it returned to you - always try to travel with more than one card, and ideally some spare cash in case of emergency.

Credit and Debit cards:

Credit cards are fairly widely accepted in Germany. Visa and Mastercard are pretty much universally accepted. American Express is also fairly widely accepted. The main issue for customers from outside Europe is likely to be Chip and PIN, which foreign cards are sometimes not compatible with. In theory customers should be able to sign for their purchases if this is the case, but not all outlets will allow this. In any event signatures will be checked, and if the card must be used only by its owner.

Arriving by air.

Flights run into Germany from all over Europe and the rest of the world. Frankfurt is one of the largest airports in Europe, so it is quite likely to be a cheap arrival point for scheduled flights from all over the world. If you are arriving from anywhere in Europe you are quite likely to find it cheapest to catch a flight with one of the no-frills airlines. In addition to the German-based airlines mentioned in the section on public transport in Germany, most of the economy operators in Europe fly to at least one German destination, see the Operators section for more details.

Arriving by train.

Germany is at the heart of Europe's rail network, and as such trains arrive from all over Europe. Some prominent routes into Germany include:

• Warsaw to Berlin (Intercity trains are run by PKP, the Polish state railway company several times a day, with night trains heading further east as far as Moscow)
• Krakow and Katowice to Berlin (one Eurocity day train and one Euronight train are run by Deutsche Bahn)
• Budapest and Prague to Berlin and Hamburg (Eurocity trains are run by Deutsche Bahn several times a day),
• Austria to Munich
• Paris and Brussels to Cologne (Thalys high speed trains run several times daily)
• Amsterdam to Hanover and Berlin (Eurocity trains are run by Deutsche Bahn several times a day),
• Trains run through Denmark into Germany direct, and a night train runs over the ferry from Berlin to Malmo and other destinations in Sweden

Various local services such as those from Szeczin can often provide a cheaper way into the country from neighbouring countries. Full timetable details and prices for these routes can be found on the Deutsche Bahn website.

Arriving by ferry.

Overnight ferries from Harwich in the UK to Cruxhaven on the Western coast of Germany are run by DFDS Seaways three times a week. Otherwise destinations are basically limited to Helsinki and Sweden.

Arriving by coach.

many Eurolines run coaches from destinations all over Europe to Germany.

Getting around by public transport

Domestic air travel

in Germany is only really justified time-wise on the longest routes, such as Munich to Hamburg. The growth of the budget market however means that air travel can occasionally be cheaper than the equivalent journey by train. The first place to look is likely to be the German-based budget airlines these include:

• HLX which runs flights to Germany and further afield from Hamburg,
• Air Berlin, which runs flights mainly from the three Berlin airports (Tegel, Schoenfeld and Templehof), to other cities in Gernany, and to other destinations in Europe, mostly resorts in the south.
• German Wings, which runs from cities in the west of the country to various destinations.
• Easyjet is actually a UK based airline, but one of its major hubs is Berlin Schoenfeld airport, from where it runs flights all over Europe.

You should beware of out-of-town airports when using any budget carriers - while airports such as Berlin's Schoenfeld, Templehof and Tegel are all within easy and cheap reach of central Berlin (and each other) by public transport, Dusseldorf has one real airport with good links and one "Ryanair" airport located 20 euros away from the city itself. Check details of the stated airport on this site or on the website for the airport itself.

Also make sure you are making a fair comparison with the costs of train travel before you book. Extra charges such as cost of getting to/from the airport, and the "taxes" added to air fares after you have selected your flight which are often in excess of 20 euros, all raise the end price of air travel. Also, cheap tickets are only really available in advance, meaning that comparisons have to be made against advance purchase prices on the trains.

Coach travel

within Germany is certainly possible, and there are a number of well defined routes run by companies such as Deutsche Touring. Coach travel is not a great deal cheaper than train travel in Germany however, and since information is much more difficult to obtain and the coach can prove quite uncomfortable over long distances, you are probably better taking the train wherever possible

Train travel

. Diamonds are famously the hardest substance known to man, and that being the case seats on German trains are clearly diamond-encrusted. Nothing else could explain how they have made them so incredibly uncomfortable. And not just on the local trains - after an 8 hour journey on a normal German intercity train you won't be able to feel your arse for about a week. Happily this means that you will be more than willing to stand at the station while you are waiting, which is just as well, since the almost complete lack of benches and waiting rooms means you will basically have no choice. It is unclear whether Deutsche Bahn have created this situation because they are out-and-out sadists, or in a misguided attempt to make a fast buck (there are always plenty of cafes on stations, where you can sit down if you're willing to pay for overpriced food, and the first-class seats are at least a bit better), but either way they have managed to make taking the train a far less pleasant experience here than it need be. And all this for some of the most expensive train fares in Europe.

This is not to write off German railways altogether - compared to railways in Spain and much of Eastern Europe, they are reliable, regular and fast, and the staff are generally extremely polite and helpful, but the reputation they have for being the best railway in Europe is not really deserved. In any case, they are still by far the best way to get around in Germany, and since Germany is right in the centre of Europe, they are pretty key to most international rail travel on the continent. So here are some tips on how to survive, and even save a little money when using them:

• Plan your journey in advance, and find out the cost, using the Deutsche Bahn website. Most of it is translated into English, and it contains timetables (though not prices) for the whole of Europe.
• For travel within Germany, it is often cheaper to buy tickets either from the internet or from the machines on the station than from the ticket office. The ticket machines also sometimes offer cheaper ways to make long-distance journeys (using slower trains or different routes for example) than are shown on the website.
• The high walk-on fares, and relatively small number of supplements make Germany a good place to use an Interrail or Eurail pass. It is also worth considering buying a Eurodomino ticket for Germany if you will travelling much here.
• If you will be spending more than 200 euros on rail travel in Gernany, it may be worthwhile to buy a Bahn 25 Card. Details are on the Deutsche Bahn website. Basically it costs 50 euros, and gives 25% off all normal 2nd class tickets. For a further 15 euros, a Railplus card will extend the 25% discount to international journeys in most European countries.
• Cheap advance purchase tickets are starting to make an appearance in Germany. Currently the offer is rail travel for 29, 39 or 49 euros (depending on how many seats are available on a given train), for a journey on one of abour 20 routes throughout Germany. These can be slightly difficult to find, since the tickets are only made available one week before the week in which they are valid. If you look at prices on the website 3 weeks in advance therefore, they will not appear. Don't forget that these tickets will only be valid on the specific trains they are booked for, so it's important not to miss the train.
• It is possible to buy tickets in advance on the Deutsche Bahn website. This is mostly useful for the advance purchase offers listed above. Basically you will need a credit card and access to a printer. You book the tickets and pay for the tickets online, print out the confimation document, and then hand this over with the credit card used to the conductor on the train. This saves having to have a postal address to send tickets to.
• If you spend a day travelling around on local trains in a given lande (region) of the country, various "Lander" and "Schone-Wochender" tickets are available for unlimited travel alone or in a group of 4 or 5. Again details for each region are on the Deutsche Bahn website.

Post

The German postal service is a pretty much no-nonsense affair. Stamps are widely available and one type of post box fits all. As at November 2005, costs for a standard letter up to 20g are:

• 45 cents for standard delivery within Germany (postcards only).
• 55 cents for standard delivery letters.
• One euro for letters worldwide

Obviously, while this is a no-nonsense service, it is not a cheap one. If you are heading on from Germany to another country, particularly in Eastern Europe, consider taking your postcards with you to send from there.

Up to date prices, and full details are available from Deutsche Poste

Germany doesn't have a great reputation worldwide for the quality or uniqueness of its food. The only even remotely famous foods are sausages (or wurste), schntizel, and sauerkraut. While all of these are delicious and widely available in Germany, they do very little justice to the quality and variety of food available here. In Germany as in the UK, the immigrant population has brought with it a wide range of restuarants and takeout food from diverse ethnic origins. Whether you want Italian, Turkish, North-African or East Asian foods, you will find it somewhere in Germany. And if that's not enough I guess you can always go to McDonalds.

Self-catering

Germany is the home of the discount supermarket, and there are certainly branches of Lidl and Aldi on every street corner in many cities. These are perfect for picking up supplies if you are cooking in a hostel, or have a kitchen to prepare lunches for a week, but if you just looking for lunch for one which can be prepared on the road you might find you are better off in an ordinary supermarket or delicatessen. Take advantage of your location to try some of the more interesting foods eaten in Germany. Even the cheaper stores are likely to have tubs of Herring, pickled and served in cream sauce, and jars of pickles. Also try a range of different sausages. Whilst some of the more revered and famous types taste little better than the cheapest hot-dog weiners, there is a huge variety and at least one for every taste.

Beware of deposits on bottles and drink containers of all kinds in Germany. The word for depost is pfand, and the amount you will have to pay is normally listed next to the price of the product on the shelf. Ideally you should just use the contents and take the container back for recycling like a good citizen - you will then get your deposit back and everybody will be happy. If you are leaving the country however, or just can't be bothered to deal with an added transaction in a strange language, you can avoid paying deposits for most things by buying them in tetra-pak style cardboard cartons.

Drinks

Beer.

In the west of Germany, beer tends to be served in measures of 0.2 and 0.4l on draft, and is quite expensive at around 3 euros for a large beer. In the south and east the larger measure is usually a 0.5l, often with the option of a litre stein, and prices are likely to be lower even for the larger portion. Bottles are usually 0.5l everywhere, and will incur a deposit (pfand). Germans are rightly very proud of their beer, which compared with much European (and virtually all American) beer is tasty and strong (Usually around 5% alcohol by volume, but with stronger beers available). It also has very few impurities. As in the rest of the world, most German brands are now owned by large multinational brewing conglomerates, but strongly-held beliefs amongst the German population are likely to keep the actual product brewed in much the same places and in the same way for a good while to come.

Wine.

Germany is not a huge wine drinking country, and particularly in bars it is very much more normal to drink beer than wine. That is not to say that Germany does not produce good wine however. The Rhine and Saar valleys make a large quantity or typically fairly sweet white wine which goes quite well with the fairly stodgy traditional food.

Schnapps.

Schnapps is a sweet strong liqueur made typically from peach or cherry, but also from other kinds of fruit. This is the typical drink of choice for toasts in Germany.

Coffee.

You can get a perfectly good cup of coffee in Germany, although the quality is far from guaranteed. Look out for cafes which give plenty of prominence to their coffee machine, and avoid places which are really more bars than cafes. Nescafe signs outside a cafe are rarely a good sign. Also bear in mind that there is a different between Milch-Koffee (latte) and Koffee mit milch (typically coffee filter or instant coffee served with milk).

Pubs and bars

(See also the article on Drink in the Food and Drink section).

Bars in Germany are typically quite small, often with only one or two members of staff. Most often they will be divided into two, with the area close to the bar filled with bar stools and standing customers. It is normal to order your drinks directly from the bar if you are in this area. The remainder of the bar will filled with normal tables, where table service is provided. If the service is slow, or you would like to look at the options at the bar, it is not considered particularly rude to order drinks from the bar if you are seated at a table. Drinks mats are commonly used to keep tabs on how much you owe, with different markings meaning different drinks, so take care not to doodle on them and increase your bill. Even if you just pop in for one drink it is usually easiest to just settle your bill when you leave.

On a weeknight it may be necessary to hunt around a little before you find a bar which is open particularly late, otherwise closing will quite likely be by midnight. You will have no such problems on a Friday or Saturday night.