If you’ve been there or live there, I’d love to hear your perspective. I’m going for the first time to visit my daughter, who lives with her German boyfriend near Munich in a town called Grunwald. I’m coming from Michigan. The question’s intentionally broad since I’m curious about everything: must-try experiences, daily life, culture, etc.
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German here. These are some cultural and day-to-day differences compared to the US:
- Sundays are officially a day of rest and so most shops and businesses are closed that day, with several exceptions like high priority stuff, restaurants, tourism/event-related stuff and so on. But you can’t go to a regular supermarket or expect a package delivery on a Sunday. Although some sundays are also different, it’s like an “event” where regular shops open sometimes. But that’s rare.
- Cash is still very widely used (and you also should generally use it even if it’s less convenient because it’s probably the most privacy-preserving payment option), but other payment options are also available almost everywhere
- There are tiny fees of around 1 € you probably need to pay when e.g. going to a public toilet or using a shopping cart (but for the cart, you get it back when returning the cart). You also need to pay extra for bags, or bring your own.
- Tip culture is very different, Germans usually pay very small tips compared to the US and no one expects you to, but in restaurants it’s common to tip something like 2 € for a bill of 25 € for example. Or you simply round up the number to avoid the hassle of small coins.
- Prices always include taxes already
- Water isn’t free and usually you can’t order tap water, although tap water is drinkable generally
- You can drink alcohol with fully visible labels/bottles in public
- For bottles and cans, there’s a “Pfand” which is like an extra deposit. So a bottle of water usually costs slightly more, but when it’s empty you can return it to get the extra deposit value back. It’s to encourage recycling.
- Germans are more reserved in public and might do less small talk, and are usually more direct, but that doesn’t mean they’re unfriendly. This also applies to customer service! Personally I like this more than obviously fake and exaggerated politeness.
- You should be more quiet in or near residential areas between like 10pm and 7am
- Punctuality is highly valued, this is actually not exaggerated or a myth. Public transport might not wait for you if you’re 1-2min late. People will assume that something’s wrong when you’re a couple of minutes late to an appointment. Although there is one well-known exception: trains aren’t always punctual or reliable. But other public transport usually is.
- Highways have no speed limits in parts but you still probably shouldn’t drive much faster than 130 km/h. Pass other cars only on the left lanes, never on the right lanes. Also don’t drive on bike lanes.
- Basically all streets or public spaces are safe to walk around. Also children don’t need supervision.
- Most Germans have very good English skills, except maybe very old generations
As a Canadian visiting Munich with only very basic phrasebook German, virtually everything was English Compatible, and I had nearly no problems. The biggest problem I did have was that one night we got takeout from a Thai restaurant (don’t ask…) and the people at the Thai restaurant spoke German, and presumably Thai, but not English. These were the only people in Munich we encountered that didn’t speak English, but that seems fair to me since presumably German is already not their first language.
And the second was that we went to a grocery store that apparently only had Self Checkouts or something, and we didn’t understand the protocol for how the line divided between the checkout machines, so we were shouted at for not taking machine 7 when it was our turn. Again, our fault, but the shouter didn’t know we didn’t speak German, and so shouted in German, and I didn’t put together right away that what they were shouting meant “7” in the context, but in the end it worked out and we all lived.
The last problem I had was just the general vague sense of shittyness I feel about myself anytime I visit somewhere without speaking their language, but the Munich trip was kind of a surprise addition to a France trip for logistical reasons, and I had no time to study. But none of the people there made me feel that, it’s just a me thing.
- Most Germans have very good English skills, except maybe very old generations
Anecdotally, nearly every German I’ve ever talked to - in real life or online - has had better English skills than the average native speaker. Their secondary language education is genuinely impressive.
If OP is from the US and visiting a city, they also should definitely try public transit or cycling here :)
I don’t find Germans reserved at all. Maybe it’s because I live in BW? I see spontaneous conversations between strangers all the time. On the train, sitting on a bench in town, during a hike, even on a parking lot (like today, a lady started a conversation about my Brandenburg license plate).
It’s just a tendency, not a hard rule.
If you only ever had white bread to eat, try other sorts of bread.
In terms of culture, as a German it seems German culture is similar to American culture, just less extreme. Also less small talk with strangers, if that is indeed a thing in America.
Seconding the bread for sure. German bread (especially rye) is a real treat, and most larger supermarkets have bakeries in them. A good rye + proper, fatty butter… perfection.
I’m just learning from this thread that we Americans have a reputation for small talk with strangers. For what it’s worth, it’s not really true in my experience. I never have cashiers or people I’m sitting next to on the bus try to engage me in conversation. Though it is true that smiling while interacting with people is considered polite.
Its a regional thing, in some parts of the US it is very common.
I’m also from the Midwest and I lived in Munich for a year. It’s a lovely place. The groceries were cheaper and fresher/better quality, the food was great, public transit was incredibly useful (I’m not sure how it fares in/to Grunwald, but the transit in Munich is quite extensive). People are friendly, and if you’re used to ‘Scandinavian friendliness’ in Michigan then you may feel right at home, lol. At least near the city, most neighborhoods are fairly walkable and have nice neighborhood shops, cafes, etc.
If you’ve been to Aldi in the US at all, definitely check out a German Aldi. It’s next level and amazing. Fresh sliced bread, falafel, mango lassi… I miss it.
Can I ask how your daughter managed to move there? Is she there for study/work? I wish I could’ve figured out a way to stay longer!
Germany is a collection of regions and former midieval fiefdoms that pretty much all hate each other. Munich and surroundings is representative of Munich, not the whole country. But a lot of the stereotypical things Americans think of when thinking of Germany will be there. Most of the South was occupied by US forces post WW2 and all the lederhosen, Oktoberfest, and Neuschwanstein Castle should feel just right for you. And that pisses off the Germans in the rest of the country like telling a Texan their BBQ is trash.
Somebody said Germans aren’t into smalltalk. That’s probably true by comparison to the average American but by comparison to their countrymen in the North they are positively chatty in Bavaria.
Bring cash or research at least two ways to get your hands on it while in the country. Just in case one method fails. A lot of places do not accept credit cards and that will probably extend to US debit cards that run on a cc system.
And yes, especially intercity trains are a clustereff of neglect and wear and tear and timetables are not to be trusted at all.
Don’t rent a car and just floor it on the autobahn. Take it at 120kph/75mph first for an hour before you put your pedal to the metal. Get a feel for the road and the rules first because Germans love a rule. And it decreases your chance of hitting a concrete pillar. No speed limit areas tend to be between cities, not on the built up areas. Know that speeding tickets will be charged after the fact or they will follow you by mail.
The staring people refer to here may be, to a large extent, that if there are no Chinese tourists in the area, American ones will be the loudest ones around, carrying their cute little fear of dehydration made manifest water bottles around. You look funny to us and we can’t help it. Don’t buy bottled water, tap is fine to drink. But there aren’t drinking fountains around. A lot of drinks in bottles and cans charge a deposit fee you’ll get back when you return the empty container to the supermarket - your kid will know the drill.
If you’re planning to cross borders be prepared for actual border checks. Our version of ICE crackdowns is making the federal police force delay EU cross border traffic with pretty much EU-illegal ID checks. We spend absolute millions of Euros, accruing a gazillion hours of overtime to catch two illegal immigrants or thereabouts. Political theater with waiting times for all.
I live in Germany, if you have a specific question I can try to answer.
In general there are a lot of stereotypes about Germans, but most of them aren’t correct.
- Germans are efficient. Nope.
- Germans have no humour. Nope.
- Germans are unfriendly. Nope.
- Trains are on time. Nope.
Some are slow to warm up to strangers.
Many places only take cash still, though that is slowly getting better.
People do stare, not sure if that is specifically a German thing.
One thing that might be useful for you to know, coming from America. Many Germans get irritated by stereotypical American over sharing.
Be prepared to have your opinions on Trump probed.
And regarding experiences, most towns are older than America. Where I live they recently celebrated 800 years of age. There’s a lot of history to explore.
It would probably be better to get experience ideas from your daughter, since the area will be oozing with history and things to see.
Pfff, those are rookie numbers. 1250 over here! 😉
Damn you beat the 1210 of the city I was born in :(
Not to mention the lame 1171 of the city I currently live in.
When driving through the swabian alps you can often see banners for upcoming celebrations of clubs / associations mostly for music and they are usually way over 600 years old.
Oversharing not appreciated, but opinions on Trump probed. Gonna be some conflict there.
Questions for someone going to Gamescon next week. Anything I should do or know as a Canadian?
Wear something identifying you as Canadian and people will treat you nicer. Though Cologne in general and Gamescom specifically should be very open minded to all cultures anyways.
Dont mistake “Kölsch” for actual beer.
You must try:
- a Biergarten
- a swim in the river Isar (only in hot weather, and only where it’s allowed)
- the public parks in the city (new york central park is just a joke)
- climb up the stairs of a church tower and enjoy the view, preferably the ‘Alter Peter’
- public transport in Munich, especially the trams
- window shopping in the Maximilianstrasse
If you go to Neuschwanstein, take your time and enjoy a whole day there, first do some hiking in the area around, 2-3 hours, then walk up to the castle itself, and afterwards a little boat trip on the lake Forggensee nearby.
Prepare to get hundreds of multiple-paragraph replies. If there’s one thing Germans love, then it’s telling non-Germans about Germany. Source: am German.
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People say Bavaria is the Texas of Germany.
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I never heard of Grünwald before, but my limited and very short research came to the conclusion that it is not very representative of the rest of Germany.
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You greet a Bavarian with “Grüß Gott” (good luck pronouncing that one correctly) or “Servus”.
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Obviously you should try every kind of beer and food you see.
Point 1 is only true for the bavarian countryside far away from big cities though. Munich itself is actually quite progressive. Not as left as Berlin for sure, but as a berliner in munich i was quite surprised that my prejudices about conservative bavarians didnt hold at all.
Munich has a lot oft industry and company headquaters. Most people have a good job and a gold life. Thats something i felt in the City as well. The people have fewer problems than in other areas, enjoy Cafés and bars , and speak less about politics than in other german cities (although they do habe opinions and vote). In the one Hand i like this athomsphere of people enjoying their lives in the other Hand i find it quite strange not to speak about the daily events.
Also poverty does exists its just not as visible AS in other german cities. People themselves Seen to hide it as long aS they can. And the real poor people linke homless people are checked by the bavarian police so offen that they avoid the City center. Of course the City looks “nicer” this way but to me thats just in humann. Many people dont know this and are shocked when they come to other german cities with More homeless people visible. They tend to say " wow munich is much better - no poor people". Thats not true. they exist but are forced to hide vor go to other cities.
I’ve personally never been to Texas and it’s a long time since I went to Bavaria, but doesn’t that description of Munich vs the surrounding countryside more or less work for Houston vs the surrounding countryside?
I don’t think it’s even necessarily a left vs right political thing either, both regions also just have quite distinct and independent cultural traditions from the rest of the country
Good point. I dont know anything about the cities in Texas. :D
You greet a Bavarian with “Grüß Gott” (good luck pronouncing that one correctly) or “Servus”.
First word rhymes with “goose”, second is pronounced as it looks? That’s what my decades-rusty language skills are telling me, at least.
“Gruß” rhymes with “Goose”, yes. But you have to pronounce the Ü in “Grüß”. U and Ü are not the same letter. I cant think of any phonetic example in the english language to explain how to ponounce it.
The second word you can just pronounce like the english word “Got”, yes.
Ü is fairly simple to “construct”. The tongue position is like in “ee” (like in geese), but the lips are pointed like in “oo” (like goose).
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American who did a road trip through Germany for the first time about a month ago (I’m based in France).
It’s great. Great roads, great food, great beer, friendly people, cheaper prices. German seems extremely hard but almost everyone I ran into spoke good English. Grocery stores had interesting products but seemed maybe a bit on the expensive side compared to France. It’s highly regional, so my feedback applies to Baden-Württemberg only. My understanding is that each state is pretty different. In some way, it felt a little like being in an extremely nice part of the US in some alternate reality where gore won in 2000 and built bicycle infrastructure and public transport and fixed the infrastructure.
German seems extremely hard
I always wonder where that sentiment comes from. Sure, the Grammar is a bit more complex than in English, but afaik it’s still considerably simpler than say Polish.
Plus,they’re fairly closely related, given that they’re both Germanic languages. The writing system is the same, German spelling actually makes sense most of the time, etc. Sure, English imported lots of vocabulary from Romanic languages that German does not have, but learning vocabulary is imho one of the easier aspect of language learning.
Consequently, the FSI classifies German as a category II language, ranging from I (including i.e. Dutch) to IV (which contains Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Arabic), I being the easiest and IV the hardest.
The Chinese writing system alone is enough to discourage people from learning the language up to a fluent level…
I’m from the UK and have visited much of Europe at one time or another. I’ve been to Munich a couple of times.
Germany is one of the countries where I would say I experience the least culture shock - people in general seem to have very similar attitudes and social mores to folks back home.
To make a few generalisations: Public transport is good (but many journeys are walkable). Food is hearty and decently varied in the big cities. People are reserved but pleasant.
Go hiking! It’s many Germans’ favorite pastime and we have well-signposted hiking trails everywhere. In Grünwald you’re quite close to the Bavarian alps and lakes, really beautiful areas.
Germans have quite a different way of communicating compared to Americans. Small talk with strangers is not as common. Don’t take it as rudeness if the supermarket cashier doesn’t really smile or ask about your day. People are quite direct. If you ask someone how they are, be prepared for an honest reply.
Germans have many dialects and Bavaria is known for having quite a heavy one. If you know some German, you might still have some problems understanding people in Bavaria.
Public transport is good, but not Japan- or Switzerland-good. When going on a trip, take possible delays into account. Don’t rely on a 5 minute connection in Mannheim HBf.
Try all the sausages. Seriously. Every butcher has a different recipe. Whenever I’m somewhere in Germany I haven’t been before, I try a local Bratwurst.
My son lives in that neck of the woods. I can ask him for specific recommendations if you like? Sounds like you’ll have local guides though.
I really like Germany myself. I have a tiny smattering of German and I felt folks liked my bad attempts to use it so maybe get a few phrases together and numbers etc. Good food. Great beer. Nice people. Fairly chill everywhere.
In general as a tourist it’s a good idea in Germany to use public transport (and walking) to get around in big cities. They do have a decent u-bahn in Munich (subway) so maybe check out the maps for that before you go.
Hope you have fun! Is this your first time coming to Europe? Or just Germany specifically?
Sure, and thanks. Yes, first time to both Europe & Germany. Never had money to leave the States before.
Well, welcome to Europe so! I hope you have a great time.
Yeah definitely try to overcome the discomfort of using the trains / subway. Once you’ve done it once it becomes easy and they’re a great way to get around.
In general I like to do the tourist walking tours in big European cities. You get to see around, meet a bunch of others and get a feel for the city plus get little nuggets of history etc all for very little money.
I’ll check with the young lad about specific recommendations and get back to you.
How long are you coming for?
I went over to the Christmas markets for a week, a few years back. As a result, I did not meet any Germans and am unable to answer the question.
You were on a Christmas market and met no Germans there? What kind of sorcery is this?
It was a bad joke about most of the stalls being run by (lovely and very generous) immigrants and the rest of the markets being tourists!
In reality everyone we met was lovely. The food was to die for. And it snowed. 10/10 trip honestly and looking forward to going back soon!
That went completely over my head :D
Which did you visit so far and have you decided which will be next?
We went to Stuttgart, Baden Baden, and then took a long car trip to Munich. We stopped at some little towns here and there too but I don’t remember all the names. And we crossed into Luxembourg briefly if I recall correctly.
I’d recommend all of them but the Baden natural spa is something to behold and the town itself it impossibly beautiful in places.
Next time will likely be the north end of the country. I’d love to go to Hanover as my mother lived there as a child while her father was on assignment post-war.
That sounds like a nice trip. You skipped my home, when you toured through the South, but Stuttgart is fine (in winter). After going to the North, you may want to look into parts of Eastern Germany like the Erzgebirge though you should stay in the touristy areas there if you have a darker skin color and / or are part of the lgbtqi+ community. This area is as beautiful as it’s backwards.
I’ve added it to the starred map! Thanks!
In this case: welcome to Southern Germany (soon). We have lots of nature, mountains and beer.
Depending on what your are interested in there may be different things of interest:
- Not that far from Munich is Augsburg, beautiful city with very old buildings. The Fuggerstadt is also very interesting. If you are visiting in August/September you may go to the Plärrer
- You are also pretty close to Legoland which is in Günzburg (buy tickets online and add early as possible, they are usually cheaper then)
- If you go in November there are Christmas markets (the one in Ulm in front of the Münster is kind of impressive though small, Nürnberg is awesome but full) and winter Tollwood in Munich
- Nice seas and hiking locations all around Munich
If you have some more time and maybe want to leave Munich for a few days I’d recommend to either visit the lake of Constance for a few days (Bregenz, Pfänder, Seebühne, … all very impressive and interesting) or go towards Austria and maybe visit Castle Neu Schwanstein (go on a weekday and bring some time with you).
Regarding food I totally agree with the others: look for a nice bakery/cafe and try some bread and cake. Try beers from Augustiner and Chiemseer, Hacker Pschorr is not that good imho.
If you find the time and are interested try to visit the city center on a market day (usually Saturday and maybe Wednesday not sure for Munich).
