Germany

The Entry/Exit System (EES) rolled out across the Schengen external border from 12 October 2025 and reached full operation on 10 April 2026. For non-EU short-stay travellers it replaces the inked passport stamp with a biometric record — four fingerprints and a facial image, logged electronically on each entry and exit, which is also what now counts your 90-in-180 days. First registration adds a few minutes at the booth; it is quicker once your file exists.

The ETIAS authorisation is a different, later thing, and it is not required as of October 2026 — the EU abandoned its "last quarter of 2026" target in mid-2026 and now points to 2027, with several months’ notice promised first. When it arrives it will cost €20, last three years or until the passport expires, and carry no fee for travellers under 18 or over 70 (who still must hold one).

Do not pay for "EES" or "ETIAS" on a third-party website in 2026 — EES needs no application at all, and ETIAS is not open yet, so any site charging for one now is a scam. ETIAS, when it launches, will be sold only through the official EU portal.

Behind the wheel, two German specifics. The Autobahn still has no general speed limit on roughly 70% of its length — an advisory 130 km/h — though about 30% carries posted or variable limits, and the government has again ruled out a blanket cap. And every city centre is a low-emission zone: a foreign-registered car needs a green Umweltplakette windscreen sticker (about €12.50 from a TÜV station or online) to enter legally, or it is a €100 fine.

Neuschwanstein is the one to book. Ludwig II’s fairy-tale castle is entry-by-timed-tour only, roughly 30 minutes, and the online slots sell out — turn up without one in summer and you may not get in. Hohenschwangau below it and the other royal palaces are easier (see beating the crowds). In Berlin the Reichstag dome is free but needs advance online registration with your name, date of birth and a matching photo ID, and Museum Island is best pre-booked — though its most famous house, the Pergamon, is closed until June 2027.

The free routes still exist where you look: the Reichstag dome costs nothing (just register ahead), Cologne’s cathedral stays free if you enter to pray by the north door, and the Upper Middle Rhine castles are best simply seen from the river or the train rather than toured. Note a dome maintenance closure 19–30 October 2026 (the roof terrace stays open).

A week does one region, or two neighbours, well. The natural pairings are Munich with the Alps and the castles, Cologne with the Rhine, and Dresden with Leipzig across Saxony. The Romantic Road threads south from Würzburg to Füssen and ends, conveniently, right at Neuschwanstein.

Aim for summer (June–August) for the mountains, the Rhine and the beer gardens, with May and September milder and quieter. The two headline events are worth a trip in their own right — and need rooms booked months ahead, because prices jump and beds vanish. Oktoberfest runs 16 days ending on the first Sunday of October (19 September–4 October in 2026), so it is mostly September; it is free to enter, though table reservations in the big tents go far in advance.

The Christmas markets are the winter draw — Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt and Dresden’s Striezelmarkt (running since 1434) both open on 25–27 November 2026 and close on the 24th, with Cologne, Munich and dozens more in the same window. For Carnival, Rosenmontag (16 February 2026) is the peak, loudest in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz. One practical note: German states stagger their six-week summer school holidays, which spreads the Autobahn and resort load rather than concentrating it.

The headline sights concentrate the crowds, so trade down a rung and the day improves:

• Neuschwanstein is mobbedSkiptreating it as the only castleGoHohenschwangau right below it (furnished inside, same ticket office) or Linderhof — the one palace Ludwig II saw finished
• Oktoberfest is too much, or too dearSkipthe full Munich crushGoStuttgart’s Cannstatter Volksfest — the world’s second-biggest beer festival (25 Sep–11 Oct 2026), cheaper and far less international
• Rothenburg is a coach scrum by daySkipa midday day-tripGostaying overnight (it empties when the coaches leave), or Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen — walled, medieval and quiet
• The Romantic Rhine is packed at the LoreleySkipthe busiest St. Goar stretchGothe Moselle — Cochem’s castle town and half-timbered Bernkastel-Kues, the same steep-vineyard scenery with fewer crowds

The one to actively route around is Berlin’s Museum Island: book a timed ticket, and know that the Pergamon — the Ishtar Gate and the great altar — is closed until June 2027 (and not fully reopened before about 2037). The "Pergamon: Das Panorama" show runs opposite in the meantime, and the Bode-Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie and the Gemäldegalerie are the quieter picks.

Germany is cheaper than its wealth suggests, especially for eating and for getting around: a bakery lunch, a beer-garden meal and a day of regional trains all cost little, and the Deutschland-Ticket turns a week of city transport into roughly €15. Hotels in Berlin and Munich are where the money goes, and the city bed tax adds to that — Berlin’s 7.5% being the steepest, most others around 5%.

Pay attention to cash: card acceptance has improved in cities, but plenty of bakeries, Imbiss stands, kiosks and small restaurants still take only cash, and nobody is obliged to accept a card. Draw euro notes and keep some on you — it is the single most common practical stumble first-time visitors make here.

Two can leave you hungry or stranded. Shops and supermarkets close on Sundays and public holidays by law (bakeries keep limited morning hours; station, airport and petrol-station shops are the exceptions), so do your food shopping by Saturday. And the Pfand deposit means your bottles and cans are worth money back — €0.25 on most single-use ones — returned at the supermarket machine for a voucher, not thrown away.

On manners: tipping is a round-up or about 5–10%, and you state the total you want to pay as the server takes the money rather than leaving coins on the table. Crossing on a red pedestrian light is frowned on (and fineable), especially near children; Ruhezeit quiet hours (22:00–06:00, and all day Sunday) mean no drilling or loud music; and recycling is taken seriously, with bins separated by type. Tap water is safe — ask for Leitungswasser, as restaurants default to bottled.

Germany is very safe, with low violent-crime risk for visitors. The main nuisance is pickpocketing in crowds and at the big transport hubs — Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Cologne’s main station and the square around the Dom — and at the Christmas markets and Oktoberfest. Keep your bag zipped and your valuables secure in a crush.