Germany

Germany is the largest economy in the European Union and one of the most-visited Schengen destinations from Georgia, both for tourism and for business, medical and education travel. The country runs from the Baltic and North Sea coasts in the north to the Bavarian Alps in the south, and divides culturally into the Protestant industrial north, the wine-and-river center along the Rhine and Moselle, and the Catholic Alpine south. Georgian travelers are well represented in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich for both diaspora work and study, with Goethe Institute and DAAD language and university exchange flows running steadily.

Berlin and Munich are the two anchor cities. Berlin holds the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall Memorial along Bernauer Strasse, the East Side Gallery, Museum Island with the Pergamon and Neues Museum, and the Holocaust Memorial. Munich, the Bavarian capital, holds the Marienplatz with the Glockenspiel, the Englischer Garten, the Residenz and the BMW Welt and Museum, plus the Oktoberfest grounds at Theresienwiese. From Munich, the day-trip range covers Neuschwanstein Castle, the Bavarian Alps around Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Dachau memorial. Other major stops include the Rhine Valley with Cologne Cathedral and the Lorelei rock, Hamburg with the Speicherstadt and Elbphilharmonie, Dresden with the rebuilt Frauenkirche, and the Black Forest for hiking and spa towns.

The best windows are May to September. June through August are warm and long-daylight, late September into early October covers Oktoberfest in Munich, and December covers the famous Christmas markets in Nuremberg, Dresden and Cologne. Winter in the south brings ski tourism around Garmisch and Berchtesgaden.

The currency is the euro (EUR). German is the language, English is good in Berlin, Hamburg and Munich but patchier in smaller cities. Cash is still preferred at bakeries, small restaurants and some hotels, so carry euros. Deutsche Bahn ICE trains link Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne and Munich in 4 to 6 hours, and the Deutschland-Ticket monthly pass covers all regional trains and local transit for a flat fare.

Flying from Georgia, Lufthansa, Wizz Air, LOT, Pegasus and Turkish Airlines connect Tbilisi (TBS) and Kutaisi (KUT) to Frankfurt (FRA), Munich (MUC), Berlin (BER), Dortmund (DTM, Wizz Air from KUT) and Memmingen (FMM, Wizz Air from KUT). Total travel time is roughly 4 to 7 hours including connections, and Wizz Air from Kutaisi to Memmingen is one of the only direct options. Round-trip fares from Georgia typically run 600 to 1,800 GEL, with the cheapest tickets on the Wizz Air Kutaisi to Memmingen and Dortmund routes.