Introduction

This is a central place for useful advice, tips and collective wisdom of FTers about travel in Germany.

Links to external sources are italicised. Please feel free to post (or PM) suggestions, corrections and constructive criticism. I'll try to make it a directory of useful threads within this forum - please help me and send me your contribution by pm in a format, I can just copy and paste it to the right place. Please tell me as well about other usefull thread-topics, I need to add. if this turns out to be helpful, I may start a similar thread in the europe forum to get make some housekeeping and make information more accessible

Where is Germany?

Germany (German: Deutschland) is a country in Central Europe and a founding member of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by Denmark, to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic, to the south by Austria and Switzerland, and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Germany is a federal republic consisting of 16 states (so-called "Bundesländer" or, shortened to, "Länder"). Grouped roughly by geography, these are:

North

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)
Hamburg
Schleswig-Holstein
Bremen

West

North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen)
Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz)
Saarland

Middle

Hesse (Hessen)
Thuringia (Thüringen)

East

Brandenburg
Berlin
Saxony (Sachsen)
Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt)

South

Baden-Württemberg
Bavaria (Bayern)

Deep South

Mallorca


how to get in ?

Germany is a member of the European Union and the Schengen Agreement. European visa policy will be covered in the article about the EU. In brief, a visa to any other signatory state of the Schengen Agreement is valid in Germany too. No visa is required for citizens of other EU member states, and those of some selected nations with whom the European Union or Germany have special treaties. Inquire at your travel agent, call the local consulate or embassy of Germany or see the Entry Requirements of Germany's Federal Foreign Office

As of April 2007 only the citizens of the following countries do not need a visa for entry into Germany. Note that citizens of these countries (except EU nationals) must not stay longer than three months in half a year and must not work in Germany: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Sweden, Switzerland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, South Korea, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City, Venezuela

Also, there are no border controls between Germany and other Schengen Agreement nations, making travel less complicated.

PLEASE DO NOT POST SPECIFIC QUESTIONS IN THIS THREAD - THEY'll BE MOVED INTO A NEW THREAD. THIS THREAD IS ABOUT EXISTING THREADS AND GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY. IT'S MEANT TO HELP PEOPLE FINDING EXISTING THREADS.

thank you to for their valuable contribution

Flying Lawyer
mijugo
jarino