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Germany

Germany Destinations Travel Guide

Language: German

Currency: Euro (EUR)

Calling Code: 49

Description of Germany

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.

Travel Destinations in Germany

Northern Germany

Western Germany

Central Germany

Eastern Germany

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.

Getting here

Entry requirements

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.

By plane

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.

Entry requirements

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.

By train

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.