Germany Travel Tips

Castle Neuschwanstein
Source: Sabine Geißler / pixelio.de

Germany offers almost unlimited number of different activities and sights, but also affordable prices, so you can easily make your cheap vacations here. Just make a research before you go: book a budget hotel, train tickets, plan your routes.

German is the official language and is spoken all over the country, but there exist many dialects that might make it difficult even for Germans from differents states to understand some phrases or words. English is widely spoken mainly by the younger generation and in touristic areas, therefore it might be a good idea to learn some basic phrases before your trip to Germany.

The voltage in Germany is 220V, compared to the U.S. 110 volts. So be careful when buying some electrical appliances or bringing some with you here. Make sure your electrical equipment had a build-in converter or you`ll need one.

On Sunday everything is closed in Germany except for some restaurants, bars, gas stations, shops and bigger airports. Today some of the biggest shops are realizing that they can make much more money if they are open on Sundays, so sometimes you might find some malls open. During the week most of the shops in biggest cities are closing at 8 p.m. at the latest and you might see shops in smaller cities closing even earlier.

Germans are very punctual so keep this in mind when attending not only official meetings, but friendly dinner invitations as well. It might be apropriate to bring some small present or flowers.

Germans like to shake hands and it is considered polite in most of the situations.

In the restaurants don`t expect to be seated, but find a free place yourself. The water is served as a mineral water (carbonated or still) and is charged like other beverages, i.g. Cola or juice.