Germany
How to Get Around Germany
The country is a rail network with cities attached
Germany has no single dominant centre, and its transport reflects that: rather than a hub-and-spoke system feeding a capital, it is a dense mesh connecting a dozen roughly equal cities. Deutsche Bahn's ICE trains link Berlin, Munich and Hamburg in a few hours, and almost every town of any size is on a regional line. For most visitors a car is unnecessary until the itinerary leaves the network.
The two tickets, and why the choice matters
There are effectively two railways. The fast one wants booking ahead: ICE fares are cheapest at Sparpreis rates bought in advance and expensive walked up on the day. The slow one has a flat fare -- the Deutschlandticket costs EUR 63 a month and is valid nationwide on all buses, trams, light rail, underground and S-Bahn services, and on regional and regional-express trains in second class. It can be cancelled monthly. For a trip of two weeks or more that does not need high speed, it is usually cheaper than the individual tickets and it removes every fare decision at a stroke.
Driving
The Autobahn network is fast, free of tolls for cars and genuinely has unrestricted stretches, but a car is most useful for what the trains do not reach: the Mosel and Rhine wine villages, the Black Forest, the alpine roads, the smaller castles. Note the Umweltzone system -- many city centres admit only vehicles carrying an emissions sticker, and a hire car should have one, which is worth confirming rather than assuming.
Cities
Every substantial German city has a working tram, bus or U-Bahn network, usually with a day ticket and often with a zone system that a visitor will get wrong once. Tickets are validated before boarding, not on the train, and inspections are frequent and unsympathetic. This is one country where the Deutschlandticket also solves the local problem, because it covers the municipal networks as well as the regional trains.
Verified against Deutsche Bahn, September 2026.
Work out which railway you are using
ICE and IC services are the fast network and are priced like flights: the Sparpreis fare bought weeks ahead can be a fraction of the walk-up price for the same seat. Regional and regional-express services are the slow network and are covered entirely by the Deutschlandticket, at EUR 63 a month, nationwide, including buses, trams, light rail, underground and S-Bahn. A visitor staying a month, or two people staying two weeks and travelling regionally, should do that arithmetic before buying anything else. It cancels monthly, so it is not a year's commitment.
Validate before you board
On local transport the ticket is stamped or activated before boarding rather than checked on entry, there are no barriers, and inspectors work in plain clothes. The system runs on the assumption that you have done it. A Deutschlandticket removes the problem entirely, which is a second reason to consider it.
Low-emission zones
Many city centres are Umweltzonen and admit only vehicles displaying the right emissions sticker. Hire cars from German depots normally carry one; a car driven in from another country may not, and the fine arrives by post. Check before driving into a centre rather than after.
The country rewards going second
Because power and money were never concentrated in one capital, the second-rank cities hold first-rank collections: Dresden, Kassel, Munich, Cologne and Hamburg all have museums that would be a national institution elsewhere. A rail-based trip that treats Berlin as one stop among several gets far more out of Germany than one that treats it as the destination.