Travelling advice

Travelling

A guide for getting around Germany.

By Car

(see also the wiki page on buying and owning cars in Germany)

Traffic Rules

Some rules
  • No Right on red: You are not allowed to turn right on a red light. The only exception to this is when there is a specific signal with a green right arrow.
  • The usual rule at any intersection is to yield to traffic emerging from the right, unless signs tell you otherwise. (As a rule of thumb, in areas with a speed limit of 30 or below, this is the case, streets with a higher speed limit are in most cases priority roads). Be on your guard there are some people who forget this rule.
  • Keep in the right lane unless passing. Do not pass on the right. The exception to this is when different lanes have different destinations (as indicated by arrows on the road or signs).
  • Maintain a safe distance from the car in front. Your speed in km/h divided by two gives the safe distance in metres. At 50 km/h, the safe distance is 25 metres. Guide posts are 50 metres apart, so you can use them to estimate the distance to another car.
  • When turning left or right at light-controlled intersections with pedestrian crossings, watch out for people and bicycles crossing the road. They have priority over you.
  • Yellow markings are temporary and overwrite white ones (at construction sites for example). If you see yellow markings on the road, you can ignore all the white ones.
Autobahn
  • While there is no general speed limit, there is a recommended speed of max 130 km/h. If you drive faster than that and have an accident, you may be considered at least partially at fault, and your insurance may not cover all your costs. By law you must adapt your speed to the environmental and traffic conditions (so driving really fast in bad weather conditions is reckless).
  • About half the Autobahn have speed limits, so look out for traffic signs.
  • Passing on the right is forbidden (except during heavy traffic at very low speed).
  • The lanes on the left are for overtaking, so stay in the rightmost lane, move to the left lanes when overtaking, and move back to the right lane when you’ve finished overtaking. Before moving to a lane to the left, check your wing mirrors as there could be a car approaching you from the rear at high speed. Because you will be on the road with vehicles travelling at significantly different speeds you will need to be more vigilant than on other countries’ highways. Even if you intend to drive at high speeds, you must always return to the rightmost lane after overtaking - you may not stay in the left lanes just because you want to drive fast.
  • Do not overestimate your ability to drive at high speed. Driving fast safely takes not just considerable practice but significant concentration.
  • If there is a traffic jam, once traffic has slowed to a crawl, you should form an emergency corridor (“Rettungsgasse”) to allow emergency vehicles to pass between the leftmost lane and the remaining lanes. In other words: Cars in the left lane move left, all other cars move right (even onto the emergency lane). By law you have to form this corridor as soon as there is a traffic jam, but in some cases drivers only do so when they hear an emergency vehicle approaching - but by then it’s usually too late. Resist the temptation to use the corridor yourself, obviously - it’s not only a massive dick move, but if the police catch you, they will fine you.
  • The Autobahn is not a racetrack, do not use it as one. It is a normal highway (just like, for example, the interstate highways in the US), just with generous speed limits.

Advice

Make sure to avoid the environment zones (“Umweltzonen”) if car doesn’t have a green sticker (“Feinstaubplakette”) on your windscreen. These zones (in many city centers) are only accessible to cars with this sticker - if you drive or park in these zones without this sticker, you will be fined 40 €.

Additionally, if you are driving a diesel car, be aware that several German cities are mulling bans and restrictions on diesel cars in city centres. Things are constantly shifting, so check the latest situation in the cities you’re planning to driving to.

In general, avoid driving in city centers, as German city centers were not designed for cars. Park your car at a Park and Ride and switch to public transport, it will save you a lot of hassle. Parking spots near a tram, metro (U-Bahn) or a S-Bahn station are a good option for this.

Accidents

For any accident (except perhaps the most minor accidents, without the slightest damage/injury to any participant), always call the police (on the local non-emergency number unless there are injuries). The police will document the situation and determine whether one of the participants was at fault. Processing insurance (both medical and material damage) claims becomes much easier with a police report. If you want to be sure, document things yourself (e.g. taking pictures with your smartphone). Record the names and contact details of all participants (and witnesses), as well as any car number plates.

Alcohol and drugs

The legal limit for driving is 0.5‰, although you can already be held liable for erratic or dangerous driving with a blood alcohol level above 0.3‰. The limit for drivers below the age of 21 is 0.

The consequences for driving under the influence of alcohol are severe, and checks are frequent. Even first-time offenders can pay fines of around 1000 € and have their driver’s license taken away for several months. Repeat offenders can have their license revoked permanently, as well as facing fines proportional to their income and/or jail sentences.

The legal limit for driving after taking marijuana is 1 ng of THC per liter of blood (except in Bavaria, where it’s 2 ng/l). Exceeding this limit leads to a fine of at least 500 € and a driving ban for a month; the consequences for repeat offenders are more severe. Note that it can take between one and three months for the THC levels in your blood to drop below 1 ng after having smoked marijuana.

Traffic info

Carpooling

Sharing a ride with other people can be a good and cheap method of travelling. In the normal case you just share the fuel bill with all the people in the car, so that everyone has to pay less for the ride. There are also some people who try to earn some money with that, but this is in many cases moonlighting, so be careful. You should also make sure that the driver is a trustable person, I mean you drive in a strangers car, so if you have a bad feeling after talking with the driver choose another one.

Portals

By train

Trains are an excellent way to travel medium distances throughout Germany. For details, see the wiki page on train travel.

By long-distance coach / bus

The bus is a slower and cheaper alternative to the train for inter-city travel. Most inter-city buses are modern and comfortable (many have Wi-Fi), but will be slower than the train. There are a number of websites you can use to find connections:

Urban transport

S-Bahn, U-Bahn, Buses, and Trams

Nearly all cities in Germany have a well-developed network of urban public transport, consisting of a mixture of buses, light rail (S-Bahn), subways, trams, and (in a few cases) ferries. This is by far the easiest way to navigate around cities, and most cities have affordable daily and weekly tickets.

Taxis

Taxis are an expensive way of getting around cities, but if you value convenience and speed it may be an option. Most taxi companies have hotlines you can call to order a taxi to your location; many taxi operators also have smartphone apps. Hailing a taxi on the street is possible but not very reliable - you would be better off finding a taxi rank (e.g. near railway stations).

Taxis are heavily regulated and have calibrated meters, so you will be charged a fair price. Companies like Uber and Lyft do not operate in Germany, as they cannot comply with local transport laws.

Electric scooters

Electric scooters are becoming more popular for short trips within cities. There are about a dozen operators which let you rent a scooter through a smartphone app; you usually pay a one-off fee every time you rent a scooter, plus an additional fee per minute.

As far as the rules of the road go, electric scooters are treated similarly to bicycles: you may not ride on the sidewalk (unless there is a specific sign saying that bicycles are allowed) or in pedestrian areas. You must use bicycle paths if they are available, and otherwise ride on the road if they are not.

There is one exception to the above, and that relates to alcohol: as the scooters are self-propelled they count as “motor vehicle”, and therefore the same alcohol limits apply to electric scooters as they do to cars (the limits for bikes are higher). The limits are explained here, but broadly speaking:

  • Driving an electric scooter with more than 0.5 BAC results in a fine of 500-1500 €, plus a 1-month driving ban (loss of your driving license should you have one).
  • With more than 1.1 BAC you lose your license permanently. This is also treated as a crime (other lesser cases are treated as misdemeanours), so you will be fined a portion of your earnings, and this may have consequences for your visa status or your chances of ever getting German citizenship.

Apps

  • Öffi (App for public transport)
  • DB Navigator (App of Deutsche Bahn)
  • App of the local public transport provider

Internet and Telephone

Many discounters (e.g. Lidl, Aldi, Netto) have own-brand SIM cards which offer a set amount of mobile data, voice minutes, etc. You can also buy SIM cards online, at large electronics shops (e.g. MediaMarkt, Saturn), or at many kiosks, petrol stations, etc. Note that all pre-paid SIM cards must be activated with photo ID before it can be used, which can be a bit of a hassle for holders of certain passports (notably India and Pakistan).

The connectivity page explains German mobile networks and contracts in greater detail.