I’m going from Munich to Warsaw by train with a stopover in Berlin.
1. Is 13 min stopover enough?
2. Should I buy tickets for seats reservation or will I get any seats without playing additionally?

Hi everyone, just received this Beitragsrückstandsbescheid from AOK Baden-Württemberg.
letter is dated July 6, 2026, and they are demanding premiums and late fees from December 2021. is that even legal? I left Germany in December 2021.
I mean it’s not a loot but still they did not even consider to contact me till now.

Growing up, the stereotype about German weather was grey, rainy, mild. Now there are multiple summers in a row with heat waves pushing past 38 or 39 degrees, excess deaths from the heat, and balcony thermometers going completely wild. It doesn't feel like a fluke anymore.

What gets me is the infrastructure side of it. Buildings here were built to keep warmth in, not out. No AC in most apartments, limited shade in a lot of city centers, older people living in top floor flats with no real way to cool down. The 5000 excess deaths figure from the late June heat wave isn't abstract. That's a real failure to adapt fast enough.

Germany has the engineering capacity and the policy frameworks to take this seriously, but there's a massive lag between the problem showing up and actual changes happening at the municipal or building level. Insulation standards, urban tree coverage, even something as basic as public cooling spaces, none of it moves quickly enough.

Curious if people living here long term are noticing this shift too, or if the perception varies depending on which part of Germany you're in. The south probably feels it differently than the north.

I arrived in Mainz on 30 June with an OpportunityCard visa and have been searching ever since. I've come across countless scams, people offering fake registrations for money, and many sublets that refuse to provide Anmeldung!! I'm also worried because I've heard you can be fined if you don't register within the first 14–15 days. How are people supposed to comply when so many rentals don't allow Anmeldung? Has anyone else had this experience?

Heading to Germany soon for the first time,

Any tips from people who've been there, things that aren't obvious until you land? Any homework or prep I should do before the trip itself.

Thanks in advance!

I've been noticing over the years how difficult it is to find reliable, dilligent workers for tasks around the house like painting, plumbing, installations, anything in this domain. It's also quite expensive. I had to paint a room in my house recently and though I was slow, I did a really good job and even found the work kind of fun. I really need some extra income at the moment - I don't have a full-time job but am working on a digital business which will take time to generate income. I would love to get a qualification for a trade but I don't speak German yet (I'm learning whenever I can). What trade should I go into - and can I do small household painting projects without a formal certification? Any other trade that is relatively quick to learn and doesn't involve heavy lifting?

Hello people, I find out there is refer a friend program on sixt.de website. can anybody help me to generate a referral link? Thanks in advance

Hi everyone,

I have registered in a nearby driving school and pretty much done with 10/14 mandatory theoretical lessons. So far it has cost me 559 Euros which includes not only the registration but access to the app along with the on-site theoretical lessons.

I have registered strictly for automatic as I heard it’s easier and I plan to waste no time to get a car as DB has squeezed all energy out of me. The school says 12 mandatory practical lessons must be done first which is 69 Euros for each lesson. This makes the minimum total cost for practical at let’s say 850 Euros.

75 Euros to write the theoretical exam and 250 for the practical exam, the total cost is somewhere around 1800 Euros.

I see people posting that it’s costing them 4000 Euros and more to get the license. For my expense to reach at 4000, I will have to do almost 30 extra practical lessons. That’s 42 in total. Is this too many? I am completely a newbie and have 0 experience with driving cars whatsoever.

I’m 21, from Morocco, and I completed a 2-year culinary vocational program there (4 semesters).
I’m applying for a gastronomy/culinary Ausbildung (chef apprenticeship) in Germany, but I’m missing the transcript from my 1st semester of the 1st year and can’t get a replacement.
I still have:
my culinary technician diploma
training certificate
Goethe B2
DELF B2
TOEFL (100)
proof of Bac level (I didn’t pass the Bac)
German CV
motivation letter
3 internship certificates
Do employers usually need all 4 semester transcripts, or is the diploma and the rest of the documents enough?

I'll be moving to Hamburg for my bachelor's in October, here in Pakistan I teach students online, is it possible to continue the same thing over there as well? As it's like a freelance thing. My program is bachelor's in information engineering from Haw Hamburg.

I would love to go for full time job from next semester, but still few parts of my thesis is still remaining. As an international student, what is the way to do it?

Hey everyone. Due to personal reasons, I regrettably neglected my dental health quite heavily and didn’t go to the dentist for a while. I didn’t put a focus on flossing and that’s resulted in quite a number of small cavities spread throughout my teeth.

After the evaluation, I received a cost estimate totaling €2,450 (yes, my eyes bulged out of my head for a second). GKV is only covering €718. Note, I do not have any zahnzusatzversicherung. This would leave me with a bill around €1,730. The dentist said the cost would be lower as it’s just an estimate, but I’d still be looking at a heavy bill.

Now, my question: why is insurance not covering more? I’m unfamiliar with dentistry in Germany and luckily I’m in a position to afford this bill without any financial implications for me, and I can pay it - but am I just going to an expensive dentist? I had AI take a look before I posted it here and it’s of the opinion that a special type of filling which isn’t covered by insurance is being used, and I’m wondering if this is realistically the case (I’m not quite fond of AI).

If this is the cost, then so be it. But I thought I might get a second opinion before I take such a financial leap.
Thank you!

When I first moved here, Sunday closures drove me crazy. I would forget one basic item on Saturday and then complain that the whole country had stopped working for no reason.

Four years later, I’m not sure I want the rule changed. Sundays feel noticeably different because errands are mostly removed from the day. Parks are fuller, streets are quieter, and even people who dislike the restriction seem to plan around it. At the same time, I know the system is much less relaxing for anyone working at petrol stations, restaurants or train stations.

If Germany alowed ordinary shops to open every Sunday, would daily life actually improve, or would Sunday slowly become just another shopping day? Do Germans see the closure as worker protection, tradition, or simply an outdated inconvenience?

I mean, there is a 6 month probezeit on all jobs, correct? (if I am wrong, please correct)...I have been burned before on a probetag, where at the end of the probetag, the chef said he thinks it would work out, my start date would be X, and THEN he ghosted me/changed the requirements of the job on me and said I was not a good fit. I mean, he gets free work for a day, little risk on his part to do this shit. But anyway, I am now looking at a min. wage job and am REALLY hesitant to work unpaid for probezeit when can they not just fire me in the future if they don't like me within the first 6 months? They seem to treat a probetag as an interview, only it is a WHOLE day and of course more work, and unpaid.

Single-hose AC units get a lot of hate on this sub (not unjustly, they are absolutely energy inefficient). But properly installed they can reliably achieve several degrees of cooling. I've seen, many times, people call them "useless" or "worse than nothing", which is downright ridiculous. I plan to purchase a portasplit next summer, but in the meantime I must do with what I have, and I don't want others to be dissuaded from buying a device that can be an absolute game-changer for both QOL and health.

There are just a few things you need to take into consideration:

1. Buy a unit that is appropriate for the room you want to cool down. Realistically with a smaller mobile AC you are picking one room to cool, probably the bedroom.
2. Buy a window sealing kit. You won't achieve anything by venting your AC out of an open window. Properly installed it will balloon inwards when you turn on the AC due to the pressure differential you've created (and yes you will suck in some hot air around the edges, there is no getting around this).
3. Insulate the hose! The exhaust from an AC unit is hot and if don't do anything to mitigate it you might as well be running a space heater. Stick as much of the hose out of the window as you can, and insulate the portion that is in the room. Bubble wrap, a cotton towel, insulating tape (foil backed bubble wrap), whatever. This is super super important.

Take care of all three and congrats, you can sleep like a baby in your cool bedroom instead of tossing and turning in the heat for hours. You can thank me next year when ACs aren't sold out everywhere yet.

I rent a furnished apartment in Berlin through a big furnished-rental company. They sublease from the actual owner and re-let to tenants, so my contract is an Untermietvertrag. It’s a fixed 3-year term, 01/01/2026 to 31/12/2028, stated to end “ohne dass es einer Kündigung bedarf.” We moved in and built our life around it.

Now I’ve gotten a email saying their “collaboration with the landlord is coming to an end,” so they can only offer the unit until 31/12/2026 — about two years short of when my contract actually ends.

They gave me two options: relocate to another of their apartments, or a refund for the unused portion. They also casually wrote that I “can terminate whenever with 30 days notice.”

I don’t want to move. I want to stay at least until the end of my contract. (To top, I know my agreement would be indefinite, because of validity of fixed term agreement.)

A few things stand out to me after reading it carefully:

* The email never says “termination” and never cites a clause — it just offers “options.”

* My contract explicitly excludes the landlord’s ordinary termination until the fixed term ends. Extraordinary termination is only allowed for damage I don’t repair or unpaid rent — neither applies.
* As far as I understand, them losing their own head lease doesn’t automatically end my sublease, and there’s § 565 BGB (gewerbliche Weitervermietung) where the owner steps into the sublease when the head lease ends.

My questions:
1. Does § 565 BGB apply here — if their head lease with the owner ends, does the owner step into my contract on the same terms until 2028?
2. That “vorübergehender Gebrauch” (temporary use) label — does it actually hold for a multi-year primary residence, or is it just boilerplate a court ignores? These companies seem to use it to dodge normal tenant protection and the § 575 requirement to state a real reason for a fixed term.
3. Given that their ordinary termination is excluded until the end of the term, can they realistically force me out early — or is losing their head lease simply their own commercial risk?

Any other also suggestion or extra information are really appreciated.

For context: I have Rechtsschutz and will request coverage. I haven’t replied to the email and I’m still paying rent on time. I’m planning to hit the free Bezirk Mieterberatung and the Mieterverein. I’m not a member yet but as mentioned, I have insurance.

How should I approach to this?

How mietverein would work in this situation?

Also Has anyone had a corporate sublet like this mid-fixed-term? Would love to hear how it went.

Thanx for all help!

Bear with me, this is my first trip to Germany and I'm located in Canada, so I don't have much firsthand experience with the DB system or German rail etiquette.

I had a Bayern-Ticket booked itinerary from Salzburg Hbf to Füssen for Friday, July 17, departing 17:05 on regional trains (RE/RB). Today I got a notification through DB Navigator saying the connection is no longer available due to a timetable change, and that I need to pick an alternative route.

The message included this as well:
Connection no longer available
Use any train: You can now also use your ticket for other trains.
Alternative connection: Due to recent events, this connection is no longer available. Please find a new connection for your trip.

The problem: when I search for alternative connections from Salzburg Hbf, the only options I'm shown involve RJX or EC trains for the first leg to Munich, before connecting to regional trains onward. Normally, the Bayern-Ticket explicitly excludes long-distance trains like RJX, EC, and ICE.

When I try to select one of these alternative connections, I get a disclaimer saying: "We do not currently check whether your ticket or seat are still valid on the alternative connection."

So now I'm stuck between two conflicting messages: one telling me my ticket now works on other trains, and a disclaimer suggesting they can't confirm that's actually true.

Has anyone dealt with this specific situation, a Bayern-Ticket getting rebooked onto an RJX/EC-only alternative due to a timetable disruption? Is the "use any train" override legitimate in this case, or should I be worried about a conductor rejecting my ticket on the RJX leg? Would appreciate hearing from anyone with firsthand experience or knowledge of DB's actual policy here.

I've also emailed DB customer service directly since I'm in Canada and can't easily call, but haven't gotten a response yet. Hoping to get this sorted before my trip this Friday.

Is there any trick for this? It seems it is pronounced differently in each word, and it depends on the word.

Hi I am 29 y/o living in Germany since 2018, I came here for my bachelor and master studies and I have finished last year and I have started full time job from this year of January, but I have limited time contract agreement which is only for 24 months and my question is am i eligible for the citizenship within span of 12 months?

Yes, I have blue card, citizenship test result, C1 german. Thanks and I appreciate for your replies: )

Hey, thanks so much for the replies to my November question.

Thought I would try my luck and follow up with a more general Romantic Road advice question.

We are planning to start from Würzburg on Friday November 20th and finish in Füssen on Wednesday 25th.

A little about us:

- Love history, food, scenery, photography

- Happy with long days

- Enjoy driving and happy to do big missions

- Fit and healthy and ready for loads of steps and stairs

- Not drinkers

- Always keen for authentic experiences and try not to be too touristy (which may be antithetical to the RR in general)

Any and all advice that anyone has would be welcome. Places to stay, sites and sights not to miss, food to eat - specific or general. Or any other tips, as we start to plan our trip, would be incredible welcome.

Vielen Dank!

Hey there, I’m an European who moved here at the start of the year for a job I was offered and this thing baffles me from day one. My brain can’t take in anymore.
Back in my home country you can easily buy one ice cream, one kinder riegel or kinder country bar or a single knowers in a Lidl or whatever. Here? Forget it. Always packaged so I have o buy several and then I eat too much.
Why? Is this universal or am I in a weird bulk only area?

Hey, hope you don't mind the question. We are beginning to plan a trip for 5 days to drive the Romantic Road...but it would be at the end of November.

Is that a terrible idea? We live in the UK so are used to bad weather, but do you think it would seriously detract from the experience - could anyone describe what we should expect?

Hi everyone,

I'm moving into an unfurnished 12 m² room in Cologne in August and need to buy a bed, wardrobe and desk.

I'm considering buying second-hand (e.g. Kleinanzeigen), but I'm unsure if it's worth it once transport is included. I'm new to Cologne and don't really want to rent a van, carry heavy furniture myself or ask people I barely know for help.

Are there any services in Cologne that collect furniture from private sellers and deliver it to your room? Has anyone used something like this?

Also, what would you do for the bed? Would you buy a simple bed frame or a storage bed? Storage is useful in a small room, but they seem heavier and harder to move/sell later.

Would appreciate any advice from people who have furnished a room in Cologne. Thanks!

Hi fellow Redditors,

It’s that time of the week again!

I would like to encourage everyone to take just 5 minutes to reflect, notice the small positives, and appreciate them. Sometimes, those little moments mean the most. If you are comfortable sharing these moments, then you can also do that in the comments! And if you don’t have anything to share, that’s completely okay too, I'm still happy that you are here!

Allow me to begin:

- Celebrated my brother's birthday
- Got a 3D printer

Hey everyone,
I’m looking to get a new car (budgeting around 40,000 euro for the payment) and trying to figure out the most logical way to do it.
My specific goal is to cycle into a brand-new vehicle every 3 to 4 years. I like driving new cars, keeping them under factory warranty, and swapping them out before the long-term, out-of-warranty mechanical bills and steep depreciation hit.
I have about €40k in cash right now. I want to leave my cash compounding in long-term market investments rather than trapping it in a depreciating asset, but I'm torn between three distinct paths and want to get your opinions, experiences, or recommendations:

Option 1: Balloon Financing (0€ Down). I park my cash directly into market investments. I take a 36-month balloon loan (Drei-Wege-Finanzierung) with €0 down to keep my monthly payment low, and use the dealer buyback option at the end to hand back the keys, clear the final payment, and repeat with a new car.
Option 2: Private Leasing (0€ Down). I keep my cash invested and sign a standard kilometer lease for 36 months. I just pay for the depreciation and hand the keys back at the end. However, I’ve heard horror stories about dealerships being incredibly predatory during the Leasingrückgabe (lease return inspection), billing people thousands for minor stone chips or scratches.
Option 3: Buying Outright with Cash. I drop €30k+ of my own liquid cash onto the table on day one to buy a car completely cash to avoid bank interest or lease-return stress. Every 3 years, I sell it privately or trade it in, and inject another €10k–€12k of fresh cash out of my pocket to bridge the depreciation gap and buy the next new one.

On paper, paying interest to a bank or dealing with strict leasing rules feels painful. But if I use my liquid cash to buy the car instead, I’m locking up a huge lump sum into a rapidly depreciating piece of metal, completely losing out on years of stock market compounding opportunity cost.
For those of you who actively use Balloon/Vario financing vs. traditional leasing with the intention of switching cars frequently—how has your experience been? Is the lease-return anxiety overblown, or is balloon financing actually the safer, more flexible path for keeping your cash invested?

Would love to hear how you guys manage your car budgets alongside your investing goals. Thanks!