17 Things About Germany That May Leave Foreigners in Awe (2025)

• Inmany German cities you can doalot just byfoot (and almost everything bybike and public transport), and many districts are so“organized” that parents don’t need acar because kindergarten, elementary school, playgrounds, and supermarkets are often nearby. Inoticed abunch ofYouTubers talking about the subject of“walkable cities” inthe last years. @Unknown author/ Reddit
• All about people. Icame from Turkey asasoftware developer. Most ofthe people know that they are not going tostarve. But everybody isdoing their job and obeying the rules.
  It’s like everything flows perfectly, thanks topeople. For me, Germany isanother European country, but Germans add value tosociety, and asawhole, itcreates something bigger. @shokkul/ Reddit
• Itreally depends onhow open you are topseudo-friendliness and shallow small talk. Iprefer anhonest “not-interested” German attitude tothe shallow pseudo-friendly “Hey, how are you?” @RichardXV/ Reddit

• Ijust had ababy and wasso, soimpressed atthe holistic support Ireceived. Ihad amidwife, abirth preparation class, and amazing prenatal and postnatal medical care, all covered byinsurance. Iwas signed off from work from the 4th month onward, and nobody batted aneye. Then there’s Kindergeld, Elterngeld, and long maternity/parental leave. @whysweetpea/ Reddit
• The taxes are included inthe prices. Itsounds solittle, but it’s such abig life quality improvement tobeable toeasily calculate how much things cost. Add tothat the little tonotipping culture, and it’s just great. @Jicko1560/ Reddit
• I’ve just moved toFöhr and the gorgeous beaches, countryside scenery and people just cycling everywhere isamazing. It’s more common tocycle instead ofjumping inthe car. It’s like aholiday every day. @Relevant-Passenger19/ Reddit
• Festivals and the music scene. There are literally hundreds offestivals for any kind ofmusic. There are tons offree festivals: single day, multi day, and with orwithout camping. There are tons ofpaid festivals aswell. They range from asingle day tomultiple weeks.
  And itdoesn’t matter whether you like metal, punk, electronic music, hip hop orjazz, there isafestival for you. And festivals happen year round. There are indoor and outdoor festivals. And ifthere isn’t afestival, there will besome kind ofconcert inthe next bigger city. @GuKoBoat/ Reddit

• When it’s someone’s birthday, it’s actually customary for THEM totreat everyone ELSE tostuff. Like bringing cake into the office ortreating your friends toanight out.
  Also, most Germans, atminimum, react byfeeling really, really weird ifyou give them birthday wishes before their actual birthday. Tomany, there’s even asuperstition that doing sowill bring them very bad luck for some time tocome. @Voidcatsaregreat/ Reddit
• Bread. The life/work balance ispretty good here, although ifweever get the 4-day workweek, it’ll beperfect. Nice outdoors. Walkable cities. @Backwardspellcaster/ Reddit
• The food culture here isabsolutely amazing. Iam such afoodie and love trying different bakeries and restaurants. Ilove the availability offresh baked goods here. The people keep tothemselves inpublic but are friendly inthe event ofanencounter, andI really like this.
  The taxation here isnot ashigh aspeople think itis. The actual “income tax” islower here than inother places, but the added taxes such aspension and health insurance make itseem really high. But inreality, you would bepaying these things after the fact anyway, inother countries. @ZLGStarr / Reddit
• The fact thatI don’t need acar. Workers’ rights. Education istaken more seriously here. Ifind that they give much better advice inclothing shops, and they seem togenuinely want tohelp you.
  The quality ofcertain produce when you buy itwithin season. Never had ared-all-the-way-through strawberry untilI moved toGermany. @n***mtree13/ Reddit

• Tobehonest, Ilove how “most” people mind their own business. Everyone’s busy with what they doinlife, and noone bothers you for being who you are. Iam now onthe train with myAirPods listening to“Shake ItOff” byTaylor Swift, dancing with myhands and mouthing the lyrics becauseI feel happy today, while 3young men, apparently university students minding their own business and reading books.
  One ofthem was reading abook about empathy and humanity; they’re showing signs ofbeing bothered, and two ofthem smiled when wemade eye contact. Coming from acountry with lousy people who don’t mind their business and will always put their nose inyour stuff, Ifeel safe and free todowhatever Iwant. Ican’t say everyone inGermany islike that, but most ofthe people here are, soI’m happy with that! @yourdailydoseofd***/ Reddit
• Work time flexibility isathing, not just aword, and itleads myboss togive meavery wide freedom inhow toaccomplish mygoals and provide high-quality output. @frac_tal_tunes/ Reddit
• School system/starting out inajob asayoung person. All public schools are free, noexceptions. German schools give you diverse options for the type ofperson you are. Wehave 3main different school forms and all ofthem are made for different types ofsituations.
  Ifyou hate school and really don’t want togothrough all the classes till 13th grade and doyour Abitur (Abitur isbetter than high school graduate, but not acollege degree just yet) you can already doanAusbildung (apprenticeship) inany sector you want towork instarting class 9or 10. You get minimum wage and learn all the things tolearn.
  After 3–5years, you get hired, with some exceptions, full time after the apprenticeship isover. Icould get into studying and more, but mypoints are it’s free ormainly very cheap, and you have more ofastructured path that can help guide you toget ajob, especially with work from home now more and more available. @Ken_Brz/ Reddit

• Myhusband iscurrently intheER with our one-year-old and his crushed fingertip. Idon’t know what’s goingon, what they’re gonna dotofixit, etc. But Ido know one thing: the bill will be0€. Ireally appreciate this about our Healthcare system. @Batmom222/ Reddit
• Definitely the fact thatI can buy more than two orthree sorts ofbread ineven the smallest supermarket, especially whole grain bread. Also, fresh, full-grain bread rolls. @CrimsonNorseman/ Reddit
• The chill vibe. Iused tolive inSan Francisco. There, Iwas always “on”, meaning there’s this constant huzzle and buzzle that keeps you onyour feet 24/7. InGermany, weekends are weekends, and vacation isvacation. Much better work-life balance overall. @frango2408/ Reddit

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Batmom222 / Reddit