Travel Tips for Germany — The Power Of Knowledge

Here, I show you my personal travel tips for Germany, so you have an unfair advantage.

Once you decide to travel to Germany you should know them right before you purchase your ticket...

Here you are going to find information about public and private transport, food stores, and other little, smart things. So sit down, relax and enjoy.

And remember to sign up for my STG Newsletter (here on right hand side). Join the community of hundreds of happy Germany lovers hungrily awaiting each issue full of valuable insider tips!

All right, here we go...

Public Transport Germany

Most German cities offer a so called Welcome Card. With it you have FREE use of public transport as well as many other benefits and discounts. Prices vary from 7 EUR for a 1-day ticket for one person, up to 39 EUR for a 3-day group/family/couple ticket. Welcome Cards are being offered in airports, hotels and tourist offices.

If you plan to use the German public transport, that might be a good decision. You can go literally everywhere with it. Our public transport is being highly maintained and constantly reconditioned throughout the country. I mean, it's right, we do have train stations in all German cities and towns, and in many villages as well. However, if in your preferred village is no train station, there is, surely, a bus service.

Now, there are some rules that are good to know. There are some different transport possibilities. I'm now going to let you know about them all so that you know what I'm talking about once you see the signs here on pages on my website.

Ways of public transport in Germany
	Airplane	When you go through the city, German airports are declarated by a sign you see on the left here. Or you find the description Flughafen or Airport. Inner German flights are often used in business cases. All big German cities have their own airport.
	Train	In Germany are few different trains. I start with the fastest: ICE = InterCityExpress IC/EC = InterCity or EuroCity RE = RegionalExpress RB = RegionalBahn (RegionalTrain) Make sure to get well-priced Train Tickets, though. The signs of our stations you see left hand side. They bear a title like Bahnhof (Bf.) or Hauptbahnhof (Hbf.) in addition or instead.
= S-Bahn	Suburban Train	A train that goes underground or upperground, can look like a normal train, often in red or orange color. Faster than tram or bus, slowlier than Regional Trains, because they stop at each station.
= U-Bahn	Underground	Looks like a tram, but it's faster, because it has not to deal with traffic jams. It goes underground as well as upperground. If upperground than only on tracks that cannot crossed by automobiles.
= Haltestelle	Tram	Trams go uppergound. Sometimes they are within traffic jams, sometimes they have their own ways.
= Haltestelle	Bus	Bus stop has the same sign as Tram stop.
	Footpath	Depending on were you are, sometimes it's better to use nothing else but your own feet to get to your final destination.

Do you want to know which is considered as the most beautiful railroad area of Germany? It is the distance between Mainz and Cologne, left (west) Rhine side. The course goes along the Rhine river and is UNESCO world cultural heritage. You will feel it!

When looking more closely into travel tips for Germany and German Rail, you will find their stations are highly maintained and constantly reconditioned. The bonus for you is, those stations are beautiful attractions throughout Germany. Whether in Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, Hamburg, or Berlin; or, the most beautiful one, the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof in Leipzig — it is always a memorable experience to feel the flair and beauty of their achitecture. Always make sure to take lots of photos.

Additionally, ask for the most favorable connections. If you select the fast connections you will drive in the exciting ICE, but you will not see very much of the country itself.

That said, if you would like to see the country, drive in the slower regional trains. If you, however, need to "be on time" or want to experience the incredible and unforgettable ICE... just do it!

Private Transport Germany

My apologize if I chose the wrong title for travelling by automobile or motorcycle.

If you choose to travel through Germany by automobile or motorcycle, there are a few things to be aware of...

1. We have right-hand traffic in Germany.

2. Germany has not much space but a lot of people (more than 82 million) actually live here. Also...

3. More than 48 million cars are on the streets, and hundreds of thousand of lorries (trucks) as well.

With that having said... traffic jams. We have them. Excessively. On every day. And we hate them. Nonetheless, you will recognize that we have a lot of streets too. *lol* So there are actually two different ways to go from point A to point B...

Ways of "private" transport in Germany
	Autobahn	Autobahn (motorway/freeway): recognizable by blue signs — usage is free of charge — The German Autobahn is world-wide well-known as a highspeed road with no speed limit, right? Well, that's not the whole story. Many motorways have speed limits, but there are still some without where you can drive as fast as the car can give. Mercedes and BMW are usually locked at 250km/h (155mi/h). If you want to drive faster you probalby need a Porsche or Ferrari. They, I believe, go up to 330km/h (205mi/h)! BTW, the ICE (Germany's high speed train) goes 300km/h (186mi/h) on its way from Frankfurt Airport to Cologne Germany. Special Tip: On the motorways, you're gonna see signs with information about a local radio station and its UKW declaration. So turn the radio on and hear the traffic jam news. They are going to be sent each 30 minutes, to half and full hours. Hint: Each motorway is being told together with the A (e.g., A 5, A 97).
	Bundesstraße	Bundesstraße or Landstraße (Federal road or country road): recognizable by yellow signs — Country road meets the reality, because it's definitely a opportunity to see and get to know the country. If not shown differently, speed limit is 100km/h (62mi/h), but with 80km/h (50mi/h) you are definitely fast enough. You drive stress free and can see the country in a more relaxed shape.

Do not drive faster than the signs tell you. If you see a sign that says that you may not drive faster than 120km/h (75mi/h), than don't drive faster. It's saver for human lifes. And...civil police is always on the road. You only recognize them once you drove faster or did something unallowed. And then... it might become very very expensive.

On some pages on my site, you are going to recognize the signs. This means, if you are going to travel through Germany by car, Taxi or motorcycle, I'm going to tell you the final destinations (streets, places, ways, etc) of places I'm talking about. That way, you know exactly what to type-in the fields at the online route planner.

Food Stores / Supermarkets In Germany

Germany and budget travel? Possible! And what about Germany and luxury travel? Unforgettable!

Even though Germany might be a luxury travel for some visitors, it's also doable to save some money by choosing the right shops and supermarkets. There are many different markets you can buy your food. I classify them in 4 different categories...

Food Shops in Germany
	Discounter	The Aldi brothers were the founder of the discount supermarket concept. Their first market opened in 1913 in Essen, Germany. Today, many other firms followed this concept. Food is cheap in these shops, but mostly in good quality. You are going to find the most important things you need. If you, however, are willed to find a huge range of food and non-food, you need to go to the department stores.
	Supermarkets	Supermarkets are located in destricts of German cities and towns as well as in villages. We Germans love them. We call them lovely Tante-Emma-Laden (i.e. corner shop or "mom-and-pop store"). Prices are normal, and goods are of good quality.
	Department Stores	I myself love to go shopping in the department stores. Mostly on one floor, they offer the range I need sometimes when I just want to buy something good. I cannot list all of them here, just the two biggest ones; Real and Wal Mart. You will find many others (e.g., HIT) too, just ask the citizen.
	Shopping Centers	These are huuuge department stores (usually with 3 or 4 floors, e.g., Kaufhof, Karstadt) you usually find either in downtowns (right in the middle of German cities; in the pedestrian precinct) or at the border of German cities. If at the border than they have names with "Center or Zentrum" at the end (e.g., Rhein-Center in Cologne, Taunus-Zentrum in Frankfurt). In these centers you are going to find everything. For me, it is always an pleasant experience to stroll through them. And of course, you are going to find more than food (usually in downfloor area) alone here. Even in the food zones, you can sit down, relax, talk to other people,... just enjoying the time and situation. Wonderful.

Post Offices In Germany

Post Offices
	Post Offices	You will recognize our postal service by its yellow sign hanging outside the "stores." Most airports and main stations have a post office. If they are located outside than nearby.

Good for now.

Want to have even more tips? I found a resourceful site on the Net on which you will find even more travel tips for Germany. The site is hosted by the German Embessy in Washington, D.C.

Note: Each human is different, so I would like to get to know what other travel tips for Germany you are looking for. Simply drop me a line using the Contact Form on the "Contact Me!" page.

Other than that... Enjoy your trips!

Sincerely,