Country Information

A typical breakfast consists of a boiled egg, bread rolls with jam, honey, cold meat and cheese slices, juices and coffee. The archetypal German snack is cooked sausage (wurst) with a bread roll. In restaurants, a salad plate will often be produced before a main course, whether or not a starter has been ordered; it is not a side dish, waiting staff will expect this to be eaten before the meal is brought. There is an emphasis on meat, potatoes and noodles, but fish dishes are also popular. International restaurants, such as Chinese, Greek and Turkish, are found widely.

Things to know: Bars can either have table service and/or counter service, although often drinks consumed are simply marked on a beer mat to be paid for on leaving.

National specialities:
• Bratwurst (grilled sausage).
• Eisbein mit sauerkraut (leg of pork) and mashed potatoes.
• Schwäbische maultaschen (large savoury ravioli from Stuttgart).
• Eierpfannkuchen (pancakes).
• Schwarzwälder kirschtorte (Black Forest gateau).

National drinks:
• Beer of many varied kinds.
• Ebbelelwoi (apple wine – principally in Hessen).
• Schnapps (available in hundreds of varieties).
• Kirschwasser (cherry spirit, principally from the Black Forest).
• Rhineland wines.

Legal drinking age: 18.

Tipping: It is customary to tip taxi drivers, hairdressers, cloakroom attendants, bar and restaurant staff; a 10% tip is standard.

Germany’s nightlife spans the full spectrum from high culture to tankard-clinking shindigs. In all the country’s larger towns and cities, visitors will have the choice between theatre, opera (Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Dresden's Semperoper and the National Theatre in Munich being some of the most famous names), bars with live music, and a varied roster of nightclubs. The country is particularly renowned for its electronic music scene, one of the largest of its kind in the world. Hip-hop and heavy metal also have large followings.

Berlin, in particular, is famous for its large selection of after-hours venues - the up-all-night spirit of the Cabaret years still burns strong. Traditional folk music is found mostly in rural areas. There are numerous bierkellers in the south while small wine cellars are common in the Rhineland Palatinate, Franconia and Baden region. Hamburg's Reeperbahn is the country's best known centre for ‘adult' entertainment.

Germany offers the range and variety one would expect from such a large, developed country – if you want it, you’ll find it – but special purchases include precision optical equipment such as binoculars and cameras, porcelain, handmade crystal, silver, steelware, Solingen knives, leatherwear, sports equipment, toys from Nuremberg and Bavarian Loden cloth. Special purchases in eastern Germany include musical instruments, wooden carved toys from the Erzgebirge Mountains and Meissen china (the workshops in Meissen are open to the public). Cuckoo clocks, contrary to popular myth, did not originate in Switzerland, but in the Black Forest region.

Shopping hours: Most large shops are open Mon-Fri 0900-2000 and Sat 0900-2000. All shops, except a few bakeries, are closed on Sunday.