Language: German
Currency: Euro (EUR)
Calling Code: 49
Germany or officially the Federal Republic of Germany is the most populous state in Central Europe , a member state of the European Union and a state party to the Schengen Agreement. Germany extends from the coasts of the North Sea and Baltic Sea in the north with their beaches and mud flats to the Alps in the south, the largest part is flat or covered by low mountain ranges, the so-called low mountain ranges. However, the country is best known by travelers for its cultural treasures - since the late Middle Ages it has been one of the centers of Europe in almost all disciplines of art, and despite the devastation in the world wars, architecture has survived from Romanesque and Gothic to postmodernism.
Since ancient times, the Latin name Germania is
known for the settlement area of the Teutons and Germanic tribes.
The existing since the 10th century Holy Roman Empire, which
consisted of many dominions preceded German Confederation founded in
1815 a precursor of the German nation state, founded in 1871, known
as the German Reich, which developed rapidly from agrarian to
industrialized state.
After Germany lost World War I, 1918
its saw the formation of the democratic Weimar Republic. The
National Socialist dictatorship starting in 1933 with political and
racist persecution and the murder of six million Jews began the
devastating Second World War, which ended in 1945 in Germany's
defeat. The land occupied by the victorious powers was divided in
1949. The founding of the Federal Republic as a democratic West
German state with West binding on 24 May 1949 was followed by the
founding of the Socialist GDR on 7 October 1949 as East German State
under Soviet hegemony. The inner German border was sealed off after
the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. After the peaceful
revolution in the GDR in 1989, the solution of the German question
followed by the reunification of both parts of the country on 3
October 1990.
Berlin (Germany) |
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Berlin | Sanssouci Castle |
Northern Germany
Bremen (Germany) |
Bremen |
Hamburg (Germany) |
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Hamburg | Hamburg Wadden National Park |
Lower Saxony (Germany) |
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Hanover Brunswick Celle Cuxhaven |
Göttingen Hildesheim Lüneburg Oldenburg Wolfsburg |
Harz National Park Lower Saxon Wadden National Park |
Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) |
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Kiel Flensburg Husum Itzehoe |
Lübeck Neumünster Ratzeburg Sankt Peter-Ording Schleswig |
Eutin Castle Glücksburg Castle Plön Castle Schleswig-Holstein Wadden |
Western Germany
North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) |
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Düsseldorf Aachen Bonn Cologne Dortmund |
Duisburg Essen Münster Wuppertal |
Eifel National Park |
Rhineland- Palatinate (Germany) |
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Trier Mainz Cochem Koblenz Landau in der Pfalz |
Neustadt an der Weinstraße Speyer St. Goar Worms |
Freusburg Burg Eltz Rhine Valley |
Saarland (Germany) |
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Homburg Merzig Mettlach |
Neunkirchen Saarbrücken Saarlouis St Wendel |
Roman Villa Borg |
Central Germany
Eastern Germany
Brandenburg (Germany) |
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Potsdam Brandenburg an der Havel Cottbus Eisenhüttenstadt Falkensee |
Frankfurt an der Oder Ludwigsfelde Mühlberg Oranienburg Senftenberg Werder (Havel) |
Southern Germany
Cities
The federal capital is Berlin, which
was divided from 1961 to 1989 by the Berlin Wall and is one of the
cultural centers of Germany. Other important cities are the
Hanseatic city of Hamburg, the Bavarian capital Munich , the banking
city of Frankfurt am Main, Cologne with the cathedral and Mainz as
Carnival town, Weimar as the hometown of Goethe and Schiller and
Baroque city of Dresden with Frauenkirche and Semperoper, the
romantic Heidelberg with its huge, prtially destroyed castle, the
dreamy Freiburg , the trade fair city Hannover , the main metropolis
Würzburg , the Swabian Stuttgart , the industrial cities in the Ruhr
area and south of the suspension railway Wuppertal and the fashion
city of Dusseldorf , the ancient Moselle city of Trier and the
second oldest, founded by the Romans Augsburg.
Visa
In general, foreigners who want to stay,
work or study in Germany for more than 90 days per 180 days
generally require a visa. EEA citizens and Switzerland are exempt
from this rule. Other states have special regulations, such as the
required residence permit can be obtained after entry or it applies
only to certain, for example, biometric (travel) passes. Which
regulation applies to which state is to be seen on the
list of states regarding the
visa requirement or freedom of the Federal Foreign Office. If
the visa requirement exists, a visa must be applied for in person at
the competent German mission abroad. Application forms are also
multilingual online. Often, the purpose of the trip is to provide
adequate financing for the stay, proof of valid travel health
insurance with a minimum coverage of 30,000 euros and the
willingness and ability to return to the country of origin in due
time. In addition, the identity card or passport must be valid for
up to 3 months after re-departure. A "Schengen visa" (60 €) entitles
you to stay in the entire Schengen area for 3 months, the national
visa (75 €) for Germany for longer stays. Both visas are valid only
with a note to work or study (more under study and work ). Depending
on the reason for the entry, the processing can take several days or
months (eg gainful employment).
Customs regulations
Not
every commodity can be safely imported to Germany, there are many
restrictions and prohibitions. The specific provisions can be found
on the website of the German customs. In addition, the provisions of
the country of origin (and transit countries) should be known.
Drugs
Medicines may be carried for personal use according to
the recommended dosage for a maximum of 3 months. Counterfeit,
potentially lethal and common substances used in doping are
prohibited. Taking narcotics (containing medicines) is only
permitted with a medical certificate (original with translation) and
official certification of the respective country of origin.
Cash
When prompted or on request, specify the type, value,
origin, etc. orally. Cash and securities with a value of more than €
10,000 must be registered in writing when entering from outside the
EU (online form in German or English ) and handed over to the next
customs office without being requested. If the information is not or
incomplete or turns out to be wrong (as accurate as possible, better
the value higher than too low) fine up to € 1,000,000 are possible.
In particular, the purpose should be plausible, because officials
may be entitled to secure these funds.
Pets
To enter,
dogs, cats and ferrets need a tattoo or a microchip (mandatory after
2011), a valid rabies vaccination and an EU pet passport (from the
EU) or an official veterinary certificate (not from the EU).
Otherwise the chargeable departure (of the animal), several months
of quarantine or euthanasia threatens. The entry may only be made
via a few ways (by plane or ship, competent authorities ). More than
5 pet animals is a commercial import.
Pit Bull Terrier,
American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier and Bull
Terrier and their puppies and crosses are classified as dangerous
and may not be imported or kept. There are exceptions for a period
of up to 4 weeks or for specially trained dogs (eg guide dogs,
service dogs, etc.). In addition to the usual required documents,
the harmlessness must be proven.
The most important airports in Germany are
Frankfurt am Main (FRA), Munich (MUC), Dusseldorf (DUS) and
Berlin-Tegel (TXL). Hamburg (HAM), Berlin-Schönefeld (SXF),
Cologne-Bonn (CGN), Stuttgart (STR), Hannover (HAJ), Nuremberg
(NUE), Bremen (BRE), Leipzig Halle (LEJ), Dresden (DRS), Münster /
Osnabrück (FMO), Saarbrücken (SCN) and Erfurt-Weimar Airport(ERF)
are other important airports for international aviation. There are
also a number of other regional airports, so there is an airport
near every half-million city.
The increase in point-to-point
traffic, as well as the hub with low-cost carriers or traditional
scheduled airlines has meant that smaller airports have been
expanded and thus created an even larger range of flights in the
area. These airports include Frankfurt-Hahn (HHN), Dortmund (DTM),
Weeze (NRN), Karlsruhe / Baden-Baden (FKB), Memmingen (FMM),
Paderborn-Lippstadt (PAD) and Friedrichshafen(FDH). From here, there
are usually bus connections to the next larger cities. However,
since these airports are also far away from the eponymous cities,
the costs for the journey and very long travel times must be
considered. An extreme example is the airport Frankfurt-Hahn in
Hunsrück in Rhineland-Palatinate: the next big cities are Koblenz
and Trier (both 50 km), while the eponymous city of Frankfurt am
Main is more than 120 kilometers away in Hesse.
Also of
interest are the border-near airports Salzburg (SZG), Innsbruck
(INN), Zurich (ZRH), Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (BSL / MLH / EAP),
Strasbourg (SXB) and Luxembourg (LUX). Some of them are even
included in systems such as RAIL & FLY of Deutsche Bahn.
"Flag Carrier" and undisputed "top dog" at many German airports is
the Lufthansa, which is no longer in state ownership, but still
maintains excellent contacts in politics. In the meantime, Lufthansa
has made many flights to Eurowings , the intragroup low-cost
carrier, where you have to pay extra for virtually everything
(except the flight itself). After the bankruptcy of Air Berlin
Germany's second airline is the Germania , which is mainly
specialized in the holiday traffic, but also "exotic" destinations
such as Iceland or Tehran from smaller German airports flies to.
Other German airlines are Condor and TUIfly . In addition to
low-cost airlines, which often fly to smaller airports in Germany
with cheaper fees and often delete routes when subsidies are
canceled, there are also several foreign flag carriers, which
connect their respective hubs to the larger German airports, mostly
Frankfurt or Munich.
There are budget flights to almost every city in
Europe from Germany. The major budget airlines in Germany are
easyJet, Ryanair (now also offering a limited number of flights
within Germany), Eurowings (for flights within Germany, too) and
Wizz Air (for flights to Eastern Europe) which all offer several
connections to many countries throughout Europe. The main hubs for
easyJet are Berlin-Schönefeld and Dortmund, for Ryanair Hahn and
Weeze and for Eurowings Cologne/Bonn and Stuttgart. Most of those
airlines also fly into and out of other airports but usually with a
more limited choice of connections.
For (budget) flights to
European holiday destinations, for example round the Mediterranean,
some of Germany's other carriers are Condor (Thomas Cook) (also for
main tourist destinations throughout the world) and TUIfly. Germania
also has a number of international destinations.
When entering via air, special entry requirements must be observed. At many German airports, there is the so-called "two-channel check-in procedure" for faster clearance, which means that there are two ways to enter the country. During the green output for notifying free goods, which is red output for notifying paid goods determined. In the red exit there are constant checks and here the goods are registered with the customs, but also in the green exit there are often (event-related) controls. In case of doubt, the red output should always be used.
Traveling by train to Germany is possible in
principle from all neighboring countries. Hourly or two-hour
long-distance connections are available from Austria, Switzerland,
the Netherlands and France. To all other neighboring states (except
Luxembourg, only regional traffic) there is a regular connection to
the respective capital.
However, cross-border regional
traffic is still expandable. Gradually, the trains from the 70s is
replaced by multiple units and in local transport by double decker
trains, with more and more routes are taken over by private
companies. With the exception of Austria, Switzerland and Sweden,
all neighboring states have other traction power grids and signaling
systems. Because of this, only a few trains can travel in
neighboring countries. Only the 3rd ICE generation was equipped with
multi-flow systems, so that these multiple units now also go to the
Netherlands, Belgium and France.
If possible you should not
use the relatively expensive normal fare of the train. There are
various discounts, with which there are train ridesalso attractively
priced (including use of the Bahncard, savings rates with train
binding). It should be noted that in Germany the reservation of
seats in long-distance trains is recommended on weekends and
holidays, as most seats are reserved. Travelers with a discount
subscription (Austrian Vorteilscard, Swiss Half-Fare Card / GA)
receive a discount on rail travel to Germany in international
traffic (reductions analogous to the BahnCard 25). Since many
savings offers (especially those in long-distance traffic) according
to the load, one can say that a reservation is not necessary, if you
get the day before the trip still a ticket for 29 €. According to
statistics of the German railway, the long-distance trains on
Tuesday at 12 o'clock are the most vacant.
Swiss people are
advised to book the tickets from their place of residence or border
station directly at Deutsche Bahn or their Internet portal (tickets
will be sent to Switzerland without additional fees) and not via the
SBB (fees are often much higher there). It must be stated whether
one owns a Half-Fare Card or GA.
Several European high-speed trains cross into and
out of Germany:
The ICE brings you at 300 km/h top speed from
Frankfurt (3.25 hr), Cologne (2.5 hr) or Düsseldorf (2.25 hr) to
Amsterdam. The train journey from Frankfurt to Paris (320 km/h)
using the ICE will take about four hours; going from Hamburg to
Paris can take eight and a half hours. There is also an ICE line
from Frankfurt to Brussels via Cologne.
The Thalys brings you
from Cologne (Köln) to Paris in approximately four hours and to
Brussels in about two hours.
The TGV brings you from Marseille,
Lyon and Strasbourg to Frankfurt, and from Paris, and Strasbourg to
Munich.
Between Stuttgart and Milan you can travel with one stop
in Zurich, the fastest trans alpine train connection. The Italian
and German lines feeding into the Gotthard Base Tunnel (which opened
in late 2016) are being upgraded. The German and Swiss railways plan
to introduce new services along this route for the 2018 schedule.