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

Airport questions are handled here

Stuttgart

Frankfurt

Munich

Cologne

Berlin

other cities

reserved

Driving safely / the German Autobahn
getting cheap rail tickets and when is the best moment to buy

Frankfurt Airport

Frankfurt's principal airport is one of the busiest airports in the world, according to 2005 traffic numbers. Frankfurt is the banking center of Germany and host of a number a international trade fairs. Therefore all major airlines and all airline alliances fly frequently to Frankfurt and connects it to every continent and major city in the world. The German flagcarrier Lufthansa is the main airline in Frankfurt and offer the best connections.

The airport has today two terminals (Terminal 3 is under construction) linked by the skytrain. Terminal 1 is separated into Concourses A, B and C while Concourses D and E can be found in Terminal 2. All Lufthansa and Star Alliance flights depart from Terminal 1 though it is not (yet) an exclusive Star Alliance terminal.

All other airlines depart from Terminal 2.

The airport is connected to downtown Frankfurt by taxi, bus (Line 61 to Frankfurt S�dbahnhof (Frankfurt Southern Station)), and most easily by subway/fast train. To get to the city, take lines S8 or S9 direction Frankfurt or Hanau at the Regionalbahnhof (regional train station) in Terminal 1 (entrances in section A and B). Do not leave at Frankfurt Niederrad unless it is actually your destination. Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, the central station, is in the heart of the city. The ride from the airport to the central station takes 12 minutes. Be sure to purchase a ticket at the vending machines in the train station before boarding the train.

The Frankfurt airport also has connections for inter-city trains. Regional trains to Mainz, Wiesbaden, and Hanau stop at the same place as the subway to Frankfurt. Connections outside the Frankfurt region have a separate train station, the Fernbahnhof ("long-distance train station"). Here, you can board high-speed trains to Cologne, Munich and other destinations.

important FlyerTalk threads:

FRA Airport Shower
12 hour layover in Frankfurt - what to do?
FRA-port of entry to Germany
Frankfurt security
Frankfurt Airport for visitors


Berlin Airports

Berlin is in the lucky situation to have not only three airports but two airports close to the city centre. The wisdom of Berlin politician will result in the very soon closure of Berlin Tempelhof (THF) and closure of Berlin Tegel (TXL) in the foreseeable mid-term future. All air traffic will be concentrated on the former East Berlin Airport of Schoenefeld (SXF) (located outside the city border) after its conversion a 21st century hub called "Berlin Brandenburg International" (BBI).

For the time being, TXL still is the base for most of the regular carriers (eg. LH, BA, AB, AF, LX) and a few LCC whereas SXF is the base for most LCC and certain exotic airlines.

Berlin Tegel (TXL)

TXL is one of the most convenient airports worldwide. Gates 0 to 16 are arranged in a huge circle and are accessible by car. You can take a taxi (about 15 to 20 Euro from both, Kurf�rstendamm and Berlin-Mitte) more or less to and from the gate. Certain "remote" positions are still reachable within two or three minutes after arrival by public transport or taxi. Security and check-in is in general directly at the gate. There is (again: in general) no distinction between arrivals and departures. You receive your luggage within minutes directly at the gate. Check-in times are as short as the distances. Officially it is between 20 and 40 minutes before takeoff. Unofficially, arrival at the airport 10 minutes before departure was sufficient for me.

TXL has two landside lounge areas, one BA lounge and one LH lounge with seperate areas for FTLs and SENs. All lounges are landside. The LH lounges are quite nice and LH SENs are free to use them just on presentation of their card. No boarding pass required. The SEN lounge offers a good choice of free food and drink. You may ask for magazines at the reception, newspapers can be collected inside the lounge. There is a Burger King and further restaurants in the central hall, everything located within minutes from the gates.

TXL is very well connected by public transport to both central areas, Kurf�rstendamm and Berlin Mitte. Transfer to rail in Charlottenburg and Bahnhof Zoo for local and regional trains, at Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Central station) for long distance trains and for and to SXF is easy. You will find four bus stops in front of the central building (Haupthalle). Fare for all connections within Berlin is 2,10 Euro (Ticket Berlin AB) Tickets are available from the Bus driver or from the machines. Tickets bought from a machine have to be validated on boarding. You may only board busses through the front door and have to show your ticket. These buses serve the following destinataions:

TXL: serves the suburban train station at Beusselstra�e, the Central Station (Hauptbahnhof), the parliament area and continues to the boulevard “Unter den Linden”, to Friedrichstra�e and to Alexanderplatz. This service is most convenient for most hotels in the Berlin-Mitte (Westin, SAS, Maritim Arte, Adlon and others).

109: serves the subway station at Jacob-Kaiser-Platz (change for SXF), the suburban train station at Jungfernheide (change for SXF and certain suburbs). Charlottenburg Castle, Charlottenburg Station (change for SXF and Potsdam) and continues more or less the full way of Kurf�rstendamm to Bahnhof Zoo. At both, Bahnhof Zoo and Charlottenburg you can change to regional and suburban trains.

X9: serves the subway station at Jacob-Kaiser-Platz (change to U7 for SXF), the suburban train station at Jungfernheide, the subway station at Ernst Reuter Platz (change for the U2 to Stadtmitte for the Hilton Hotel and to Potsdamer Platz for this area) and terminates at Bahnhof Zoo (change for SXF, Potsdam and other regional destinations).

128: serves in particular the subway station at Kurt-Schumacher-Platz. Change there to the U6 for Friedrichstra�e (regional railway station, Melia Hotel), Franz�sische Stra�e (Westin) or Stadtmitte (Hilton).

Transfer from TXL to SFX

You might have to change airports if you – e.g. – arrive on LH in TXL and continue on a LCC from SFX. The quickest way is helicopter. Taxi will take about 30 minutes and should be in the range of 50 Euro. Or

• take the Bus 109 and change at Bahnhof Charlottenburg Platform 6
• take the Bus X9 and change at Bahnhof Zoo Platform 5
• take the Bus TXL and change at Berlin Hauptbahnhof Platform 13

to the S9 to Sch�nefeld Airport.

It will cost you 2,80 Euro (Ticket Berlin ABC), takes 90 minutes. It can be done in 70 minutes with more changes, but if you are not familiar with the Berlin transport system, refrain from doing so. Taking the 109 and the change at Charlottenburg should be the easiest. From every stations mentioned you have the choice either to take the S-Bahn or to take a regional train: I normally change at Charlottenburg only because it is the smallest station with easy connections and involves the shortest bus ride. The Reginal Express to W�nsdorf (calling at SFX) and the RE to Senftenberg (calling at SFX) are calling at Charlottenburg, at -23 or -49 past the hour. The ride from Charlottenburg through the City West and Berlin Mitte it rather scenic and you will see quite a lot of Berlin including Siegess�ule, Parliament, Brandenburg gate et al.

For the brave guys, you might avoid Charlottenburg, Hauptbahnhof or Bahnhof Zoo and just take the TXL bus to nearby Beusselstrasse or the X9 or 109 to Jungfernheide and then continue on the Ring S-Bahn (S41) clockwise (the train indicator may say Gesundbrunnen or Storkower Stra�e) to Ostkreuz and change there to the S9 to Sch�nefeld. It might safe you five or ten minutes, involves an extra change and is less scenic.

For everybody keen to avoid the daylight: The theoretically quickest and
maybe most convenient and most reliable (but boring) connection is

• five minutes on the 109 or X9 bus from Tegel Terminal to Jacob-Kaiser-Platz subway station (one stop on the X9, I believe three stops on the 109),
• change there in comfort to the Subway (U-Bahn) in the direction of Rudow subway station (from there you can already see the aiport),
• change at Rudow to the X7 feeder-bus which will take you in six minutes directly to the Terminal without any need to walk from the trainstation to the terminal

The only disadvantage: 45 minutes of 1:03 hours is on the subway cross town whereas the S-Bahn or the regional trains give you a (really) scienic ride through the West and the historical East of Berlin with several great sights (BTW: Another disadvantage of the connections via Jungfernheide or Beusselstra�e: You won't see anything interesting)

You are fully free to play around on http://www.bvg.de/index.php/en/Bvg/Start

Regading the current problems with the coaches of the Berlin S-Bahn, the shedule is squeezed out a lot (speacialy to SXF), so any advice should be take the U-Bahn from Jungfernheide or the Airportexpress. This situation will continue untill fall 2010.

important FlyerTalk threads:

Tegel to Schoenefeld airports



Hamburg Airport

GENERAL

Hamburg Airport is conviniently located inside the city area. There are two main terminals:

Terminal 1
Opened in 2006 - this terminal hosts all airlines exept Lufthansa, other Star-Alliance-Carriers and partner-airlines of Lufthansa.

Terminal 2
The old terminal hosts Lufthansa, other Star-Alliance-Carriers and partner-airlines of Lufthansa like Condor or Germanwings. Most likely Turkish Airlines will change to terminal 2 in the near future.

Between the two terminals you�ll find in the near future a huge additional shopping area. Opening is announced for 2008.

However – both terminals will guide you to the same airside area with many different shops, small restaurants and bars. Most gates are domestic / shengen-gates, but there are movable glass walls to create international / non-shengen parts. That means, that there is onyl a very small dedicated non-shengen area. So if you�re are going to connect between two international / non-shengen flights, be prepared to enter the EU.

LOUNGES

There are 3 lounge areas, all airside.

The Lufthansa Lounge (upstairs, directly after the security checkpoint of terminal 2 on the right side, accessable via stairs or lift) has seperate areas for LH FTL and LH SEN (also *Gold). There are seperate smoking-areas in both lounges, restrooms are outside the lounge, no showers available. The SEN-Lounge is very nice with a decent selection of food, drinks and newspapers. Highlight in the summer days is the open-air-terrace with great views of the apron. Wireless LAN is available (T-mobile), but not free of charge.

In the same area you�ll will find the main Airport-Lounge, just a few steps before the entrance to the Lufhansa Lounge on the right side. This is a shared lounge for premium passengers of many smaller airlines, Emirates and Skyteam passengers with elite status. The lounge has a nice design and a good selection of drinks, but only mediocre snacks on offer. This lounge is also used with Priority Pass and can be entered by anyone with a lounge voucher – these vouchers are also available at the airport offices in both terminals. The charge is 18,25 Euro. These charge can not be paid in the lounge.

The second Airport-Lounge is the Hamburg-Lounge, located between gates C9 and C10 downstairs. It is mainly used by passengers of Oneworld-Airlines, but is accessable also by others. Offerings and rules are the same as in the general Airport-Lounge.

If you�re using the Lufthansa Lounge or the main Airport-Lounge you may want to benefit from a special fast-track-security check, accessable from Terminal 2. You�ll find this hidden way through the crowds, if you use the escalator (inside the landside checkin-area) upstairs and turn right. You�ll see a sign “LOUNGES”. Behind this door is the security check – very convinient in busy times of the day.


PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Since there is no railway connection to the city center, you have to use one of the two bus-services. First is the bus 110, connecting the airport every 10 minutes to Ohlsdorf train station. From there you may use the suburban trains 1 or 11 or the underground 1 to the city center. All trains stop at the central station (main tourist information). A single one-way ticket is 2,50 Euro, a day-ticket 4,90 Euro, traveltime to the main station is around 40 minutes in total. For more information, routings or prices visit http://www.hvv.de which is available in English too.

There is also a nonstop bus-service to the central station, operated every 15 minutes by Jasper, an independent bus-company. A single one-way ticket is 5,00 Euro. Traveltime to the main station is around 25 minutes. Be aware, that tickets from Jasper are not valid in the other public trains or busses. For more information visit http://www.jasper-hamburg.de, which is available in Englisch too.

Taxis are available in the arrival-areas. The trip to the main station is around 20 to 25 Euro. Not all taxis will accept credit cards, please ask the driver before entering the cab. Better cabs (modern cars, english speaking drivers, credit cards) are available from a designated spot in Terminal 2. After arrival take the escalator to the departure level and cross the hall until reaching the security checkpoint. Then turn left and you�ll see a door, leading you outside to the VIP-parking area. Taxis called (+4940211211) will pick you up there at no additional costs. Cabs have to be called – this is not a public taxi-area.[/QUOTE]

for future use

please feel free to send me your links

Germany welcomes the new thread^ Any information needed for or about Bielefeld or Hannover?

my idea of how this could look like is the following

POST:
1st part: introduction to the topic - in wiki style
2nd part: a summary of all threads about that topic

for example:

German Railpass explained
German Trains to become smoke free

edited by moderator to keep this thread readible - thank you for your valuable contribution and the writing of the Berlin Aiport part

looking good.
how about doing the work in the wiki instead of here and link extensivly to the wiki?

it should be much easier to edit and work on that.

agreed. but unfortunately people don't look at the wiki. just post your edit remarks here and I'll do the rest. or pm me if you think one link/thread is important to be in this directory and I'll be happy to add it

this can only work if alot of people do it together, this thread is open for discussion - I'll delete posts when edits are done

This is misleading as many non-star alliance airlines depart from Terminal 1, take for example AA, AI, RO, SU, UL.

thanks. just pm me a rephrase of that and I'll be happy to modify it

It does not really matter where they depart - because that can change. The terminal information is only relevant for you to see where you will find the check in for your airline. BA for example does fly out of both Terminals. Once you are airside, you can walk between both sides easily, but it might take some minutes.

The airport lounge is also accessible by oneworld though it depends where your flight is going from - no good idea to go into this Terminal 2 lounge and fly from teh end of Terminal 1 and vice versa.