The culture difference between the United States and Germany is quite the shock. The pace, the food, the transportation, everything is very different from how we do it in the States. Having spent a total of six months in Germany, I figured I’d make this app guide to hopefully make it at least a little bit easier for anyone that’s planning on spending some time in Germany whether it’s short or long term.

DB (Deutsche Bahn)

Deutsche Bahn is the train network that connects just about the entirety of Germany. It’s mainly for longer-distance train travel, but can occasionally be used for certain inter-city trips. This will be the app you want to use if you’re traveling from one city to the next, or need one specific ticket for a single train ride from one station to another.

Google Translate

If you don’t speak German, this app is going to be a life saver. Most people in Germany speak English, but the camera feature on Google Translate will be a huge help when trying to read product labels, menus and other text.

Local Train App

Each city in Germany seems to use a different app for local train travel. In Stuttgart, I used VVS Mobil. In Cologne, I used KVB-App. I definitely recommend researching which app your city uses and downloading it before you get there. You can get train passes, single tickets, or whatever else you might need to travel around within the city you’re in. This will especially be useful to have when you first arrive in the city and need to find your way to where you’re staying.

WG-Gesucht

WG-Gesucht (‘Shared apartment search’ in English) is, from my experience, the best app to find an apartment in Germany.

In Germany, at least for younger people not able to afford a house yet, it is incredibly popular for people to rent out the rooms in an apartment as opposed to one person renting the entire unit. It’s very common for the inhabitants of the rooms to come and go, with some renters staying longer and others staying only a few months.

So, Germans will post rooms for rent on this app. The prices and time frames vary, but you can usually find very reasonably-priced rooms for however long you need to rent them out. Some hosts on the app rent out their room while they’re out of town for a weekend, and some rent out their room while they’re away for months at a time. From my experience, there are usually loads of different options to choose from at any given time.

There’s also a chat feature in the app where you can message the hosts, and I recommend setting up a video call with them prior to renting so you can feel out the vibes.

I rented out a room in a guy’s apartment for a month through this app, and it worked out great. We had a video call beforehand to see if we would get along, and the app made the whole process a breeze. I highly recommend this app if you’re interested in saving some money on rent and don’t mind having a few roommates.

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Thank you for reading! I hope this post makes it at least a little easier for you to adjust to life in Germany and takes some weight off of your shoulders, because I definitely could’ve used it when I first got there. If this post was helpful, be sure to drop a like and hit the follow button for a new post every Wednesday at 12pm MST! While you’re at it, hit those social media icons to follow the Boarding Pass Blog’s socials for more travel content.

Have a great week!