General travel information for Germany
Continent: Europe
Geographical location: Central Central Europe
Highest elevation: Zugspitze (2962 m above sea level)
Longest river: Rhine (865 km in Germany)
Form of government: Parliamentary Federal Republic System of
Government: Parliamentary democracy
Languages: German, regional Low German, Danish, Frisian
Neighboring countries: Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland
Capital: Berlin
Area: About 357,600 km²
Residents: About 83,167,000 people (2016)
Population density: About 233 residents per km²
Religions: Approx. 60% Christians (Roman Catholic 29, Protestant 27%, Free Churches and Orthodox 4%) approx. 5.5% Muslims, 3.7% Orthodox Christians, 0.5% other religions
Currency: Euro
Travel climate: Mostly Central Europe’s moderate climatic zone
Time zone: UTC + 1, (March to October) UTC + 2
Area code: +49
Country code: DE, DEU, 276
Electricity: In Germany, type C and F sockets are used. The mains voltage is 230 V with a 50 Hz change interval.
- Check a2zdirectory for old history of Germany and agooddir for modern history of Germany.
Travel climate in Germany
Germany belongs entirely to the moderate climatic zone of Central Europe in the area of the west wind zone and is located in the transition area between the Atlantic maritime climate in Western Europe and the continental climate in Eastern Europe. The climate in Germany is influenced among other things by the Gulf Stream, which raises the average temperature level for the latitude. On the coasts, the hinterland inland and as far as the Cologne Bay, a maritime climate type dominates with smaller temperature differences between summer and winter, while to the south-east, especially in eastern Bavaria and in eastern Germany, there is a clear continental influence with warmer summers and cold winters. However, with easterly winds in winter, up to the North Sea islands, permafrost periods of several days can occur. just as, conversely, a pronounced westerly wind situation in eastern Bavaria in winter results in temperatures well above 0 ° C. The mean annual average temperature across Germany is approx. 8.2 ° C, the mean monthly average temperatures are between −0.5 ° C in January and 16.9 ° C in July. Germany’s sunniest regions are on the northern and southern edges of the country. Germany-wide front runners in terms of sunshine are the West Pomeranian islands of Rügen and Usedom. The overall high temperature level in Germany is bought at the cost of a high proportion of cloudiness in the winter half-year, because especially from November to February, i.e. the months with very low sun with correspondingly weak solar radiation and short day lengths, only cloudiness can prevent longer phases of cooling. The combination of
The mean annual precipitation is around 790 millimeters, while the mean monthly precipitation is between 49 millimeters in February and 85 millimeters in June. In recent decades, as a result of global warming in Germany and worldwide, there has been a general trend towards higher temperatures and lower precipitation.
National parks and nature conservation in Germany
The preservation of nature is a public task in Germany and a state goal anchored in Art. 20a of the Basic Law. Nature conservation is regulated in the Federal Nature Conservation Act. 16 national parks, 19 biosphere reserves, 105 nature parks and a large number of nature reserves, landscape protection areas and natural monuments serve to protect nature. The area of the 16 national parks in Germany is approx. 10500 km² including the marine areas of the North and Baltic Seas. The total area of the 8,833 nature reserves in Germany, including the 12 nautical mile zone in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, is approx. 26,275 km², roughly 6.3% of the land area of Germany. The 16 national parks in Germany include from north to south:
- Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park,
- Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park,
- Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park,
- Jasmund National Park,
- Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park,
- Müritz National Park,
- Lower Oder Valley National Park,
- Harz National Park,
- Saxon Switzerland National Park,
- Hainich National Park,
- Eifel National Park,
- Kellerwald-Edersee National Park,
- Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park,
- Black Forest National Park,
- Bavarian Forest National Park,
- Berchtesgaden National Park
Cities and regions in Germany
The Federal Republic of Germany consists of the 13 federal states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia as well as the three city-states of Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg. In terms of landscape, Germany distinguishes between a large number of landscape regions such as the Ammerland, the Emsland, the Wangerland, Friesland, East Frisia, the Rhineland, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Lüneburg Heath, the Lausitz, the Weserbergland, the Eifel, the Ruhr area, the Rheingau Rheinhessen, the Bavarian Forest, Franconia, Franconian Switzerland, or the Palatinate are differentiated.
In Germany there are 81 large cities with over 100,000 residents, 14 of them with more than 500,000 residents. For historical reasons, these are predominantly in the west and south-west of Germany and are concentrated along the Rhine. The five largest cities in Germany include the capital Berlin with approx. 3.6 million residents, Hamburg with approx. 1.84 million residents, Munich with approx. 1.47 million residents, Cologne with approx. 1.1 million residents and Frankfurt am Main with approx. 750,000 residents.
Holidays in Germany
January 1 New Year
January 6 New Year (add. Holiday)
In Apr. Good Friday
in Apr. Easter Monday
27 April Day of Uprising
May 1 Labor Day
in May Ascension
in May / June Whit Monday
October 3rd day of German Unity
December 25th, Christmas Day
December 26th, Christmas Day
Medical information for Germany
For legal reasons, we as a tour operator are not allowed to communicate any binding medical information for Germany and therefore refer to the information provided by the Federal Ministry of Health, the Robert Koch Institute and the German Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health.
Travel advice for Germany
You can obtain current travel and safety information, information on entering and leaving the country, as well as special criminal information and recommendations for your stay in Germany from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany and, as a rule, from the German embassy in your home country.