Know before you go: Germany

Verified essentials for Germany: connectivity, transport, tickets, money and etiquette — every fact checked by humans, with dates.

Last verified: 2026-08-13

Before you book3

1. Check your passport and entry rules first.

   Before booking anything, check your passport's validity and the entry rules for your nationality — visa or visa-waiver, allowed stay, and any pre-registration your destination asks for. Rules differ by passport, not by airline.

   Documents

2. Sort travel insurance while flights are refundable. Travel insurance for this trip

   Medical care abroad is paid care — a short hospital visit can cost more than the trip. Buy a policy that covers medical treatment and trip interruption when you book, not the week you fly.

   Health

3. Europe's border rules changed — know EES and ETIAS.

   Non-EU visitors now register biometrics (photo + fingerprints) at the border under the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES), fully live since April 2026 — no pre-registration, just expect a kiosk on first entry to Germany, which is a full Schengen member. The separate ETIAS travel authorization (€20, online, valid 3 years) is still targeted for Q4 2026 but has slipped before — check its live status before you book flights, since a grace period follows once it does start.

   Documents

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2–4 weeks before1

1. Set up an eSIM before you land. Get an eSIM before you land

   Install a travel eSIM at home over Wi-Fi and it activates when you land — no airport SIM counters, no roaming surprises. Keep your home SIM active for bank SMS codes.

   Connectivity

A few days before7

1. Download offline maps and the language pack.

   Before you fly, download your destination's offline map area and the offline language pack in Google Translate or Apple Translate. The camera/Lens mode reads menus and signs instantly — it works best with the pack already on your phone.

   Apps

2. Prep your cards, skip the worst exchange rates.

   Tell your bank you're traveling, carry a second card in a different bag, and when a terminal offers to charge you in your home currency, always choose the local currency — "dynamic currency conversion" is a built-in bad rate.

   Money

3. Know Girocard — a "Karte" sign here often doesn't mean Visa or Mastercard.

   Germany's own debit network, Girocard, is separate from Visa and Mastercard, and plenty of independent restaurants, Kneipen (neighbourhood pubs), bakeries and market stalls have a terminal that only accepts Girocard or cash. A "Karte akzeptiert" (cards accepted) sign on the door is not a guarantee — it usually means the local network, not a foreign Visa or Mastercard, credit or debit. This is a genuinely different failure mode from a blanket "cash only": the terminal works, your card is real, and it still gets declined because the networks don't match.

   Money

4. Carry cash — plenty of everyday places don't take cards at all.

   Cash still covers a meaningfully larger share of everyday spending in Germany than in most of Western Europe, and it's the default rather than the backup at small Kneipen, bakeries, Imbisse (fast-food snack stands) and open-air market stalls in both Berlin and Munich. Independent restaurants away from the main tourist strips are the other common surprise — a sign reading "Nur Bargeld" (cash only) means exactly that, with no card fallback. Keep a reasonable amount of euros on you day to day rather than assuming only the Girocard-trap venues from the payment fact above need it.

   Money

5. A Deutschlandticket covers local transit, not the long-distance trains between cities.

   The Deutschlandticket is a flat monthly pass, €63 as of January 2026, that covers nearly all local and regional transport nationwide — including Berlin's BVG/S-Bahn and Munich's MVG/S-Bahn — on buses, trams, U-Bahn, S-Bahn and regional (RB/RE) trains. It does not cover Deutsche Bahn's long-distance ICE, IC or EuroCity services, which are what actually connect Berlin and Munich to each other and to neighbouring countries, so don't assume it gets you between cities. Buy those long-distance legs separately, and build in schedule slack: DB's long-distance punctuality has been a genuine, widely reported problem in recent years, not just a running joke.

   Transport

6. Most major museums close on Mondays in both cities — but not every one, and two are out for years.

   Berlin's Museum Island complex (Pergamonmuseum, Neues Museum, Altes Museum, Bode-Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie) and Munich's Pinakotheken both close on Mondays, matching the wider Central European convention — but that's a per-complex pattern, not a citywide rule, and plenty of independent museums in both cities keep their own schedule or open daily. Two of the buildings just named are effectively unavailable regardless of the day: the Pergamonmuseum is closed to visitors for a multi-year rebuild, and the Neue Pinakothek has been closed since 2019 with reopening not expected before late 2029. Check the specific museum's own calendar for your dates rather than assuming Monday is a safe museum-free day everywhere.

   Tickets

7. Several marquee sights in Berlin and Munich are mid-renovation right now — check before you build a day around one.

   Renovation closures are unusually widespread in both cities right now, and it's worth checking the specific status before anchoring a day around any one of them: Berlin's Pergamonmuseum is closed to visitors for a multi-year rebuild, and Munich's Neue Pinakothek has been shut since 2019 with reopening not expected before late 2029. Munich's Gasteig cultural centre is also closed for major renovation, with its concerts and programs relocated to a temporary venue (Gasteig HP8), and the Deutsches Museum is only about half-open — one wing has reopened with modernised exhibits, the other remains under construction. None of this rules out a great day at any of these institutions, but check the venue's own site for what's actually open before you plan around it.

   Tickets

Daily on the ground6

1. Berlin and Munich transit run on trust — validate your own ticket.

   Neither city's U-Bahn, S-Bahn, tram or bus network has gates — you buy a ticket from a machine, kiosk or app and are expected to validate it yourself before or as you board, and plainclothes inspectors do check on both systems. Berlin's BVG (U-Bahn, tram, bus) and S-Bahn Berlin run on one shared VBB tariff with fare zones that widen out from the centre; Munich's MVG and S-Bahn München work the same way under the MVV tariff, with its own zone structure. In both cities, which zones your ticket covers matters more than which operator sold it — get the zone right before you board rather than assuming a flat citywide fare.

   Transport

2. Sunday shop closures follow different rules in Berlin and Munich.

   Retail-closing law in Germany is set state by state, not nationally, and Berlin and Munich sit at opposite ends of it. Munich (Bavaria) is the strict extreme: ordinary shops may only open roughly 06:00–20:00 on weekdays and Saturdays, and close entirely on Sundays. Berlin abolished weekday and Saturday hour limits years ago — many shops can legally trade around the clock — but Sunday is still a near-total shutdown for ordinary retail, with only a narrow legal exception for flowers, newspapers, bread and dairy, mornings only. Don't count on a Späti (a Berlin corner shop) to get you through a Sunday either — despite the reputation, courts have held they're supposed to close like everyone else; what actually stays open regardless of city or day is shops inside train stations and airports, plus petrol stations.

   guide.topic.shopping

3. Don't toss the bottle — Pfand is real money, and you get it back.

   Most bottles and cans sold in Germany carry a Pfand (deposit) baked into the shelf price, which you get back by feeding the empty container into a Leergutautomat (reverse-vending machine) at almost any supermarket — it prints a voucher you redeem at the till or against your next purchase. The deposit is higher on single-use (Einweg) plastic bottles and cans than on reusable (Mehrweg) glass bottles, which you'll recognise by a small Pfand symbol and amount printed near the barcode. Either way it adds up over a few days of drinks, and it's worth the two extra minutes rather than binning it.

   Money

4. State the total you want to pay — that's how tipping works here.

   German tipping (Trinkgeld) is modest and informal: round the bill up to a convenient number, or add roughly 5–10% for good service at a sit-down restaurant — there's no fixed percentage or obligation the way there is in the US. Tell the server the total you want to pay, tip included, when they come to collect rather than leaving coins on the table afterward; handing it over directly is the polite convention here.

   Etiquette

5. Don't expect free tap water at a restaurant — ask for it specifically, and expect a look.

   German restaurants don't bring water unasked the way many other countries do, and simply ordering "Wasser" (water) gets you a paid bottle of Mineralwasser — usually sparkling (mit Kohlensäure) unless you specify still (ohne Kohlensäure or stilles Wasser). Tap water itself is safe to drink straight from the tap across the country, but asking for it as Leitungswasser at a restaurant can get you a puzzled look or a flat no — it's a legal option, just not a cultural default, so don't take a refusal personally.

   Health

6. Vegan and vegetarian eating is genuinely easy here, especially in Berlin.

   Germany has one of Europe's strongest vegan and vegetarian food scenes, and Berlin in particular has a large, well-established base of dedicated vegan restaurants, cafés and bakeries spread across the city rather than confined to one neighbourhood. Munich's scene is real too, just smaller and less internationally documented, so don't expect Berlin's density everywhere. Either way, this is a rare category where Germany makes travel genuinely easier for restricted diets than most of Europe, not harder.

   guide.topic.food

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