One thing to look for in urban Germany is the apartment buildings which typically line the streets. These are on average 3 to 5 stories high, are painted drab colours and are located very close to the road and footpath. The German language is another clue into Germany although Austria, most of Switzerland and some small sections of Europe also speak German. The German language has many umlauts. These occur on ä, ü and ö. The letter ß is another giveaway for German and this letter only occurs in Germany and Austria, not Switzerland which uses ‘ss’ in its place. Another thing to remember in Germany is the internet suffix which is ‘.de’. Germany typically has really well maintained roads. The roads in some small parts of east Germany may have cracks or cracks filled in. The German cities of Frankfurt and Mannheim (as well as several others in the region) have these pink coloured edges around house and apartment windows. This is one of the best ways to identify these areas. This is a typical German village- white houses with triangular, brown or red slanted roofs and with quite a large amount of foliage. In Germany, brick houses are common in the north and north-west of the country. Germany has these bollards featuring a white, vertical strip on the front and two white dots on the rear. Thick concrete utility poles are fairly common around the east part of Germany. The far south of Germany is mountainous and resembles Austria and Switzerland. German is spoken across Germany and Austria. It’s also spoken in most of Switzerland, north Italy and a tiny speck of eastern Belgium. The language is fairly recognisable if you read it aloud. The umlaut appears regularly in German: ä, ü and ö. If you see the letter ß you are in Germany of Austria, not Switzerland which uses ‘ss’ in place of ß. Street signs in Germany are one of the best ways to determine which city you are in. This is because each city generally has different looking street signs. Hanover street signs have this style. Note the metal ring around the sign which helps distinguish it from Berlin signs. Cologne poles have silver street signs as pictured on the left. Street signs plastered on Cologne buildings are blue, like those on the right. Bremen has near identical street signs to Cologne. Munich street signs feature a blue background with white lettering and dark, almost square corner sections. Dortmund signs have this style which is similar to the Munich style. Leipzig has similar signs to Munich and Dortmund. Hamburg street signs feature a metal ring around the blue sign. Frankfurt street signs are blue with a thick, silver metal ring around the outside. Nuremberg street signs are black withe white lettering. They also feature the metal outer ring. Essen has blue street signs with a thick, silver border. Dusseldorf has dark street signs with a white, metal ring around them. Stuttgart has dark signs with white lettering. Dresden has fairly plain looking street signs. This same style of sign will also often appear on a building. Bonn street signs have a white background and thick, white outer section. Mannheim street signs typically appear on buildings, not on poles. They feature the blue background and white lettering. Additional resources to region guess in Germany

Germany uses these black and white bollards, with white and light-grey reflectors. The reflector will be orange on bollards next to intersections. They sometimes have plates containing the road number, and potentially other useful information. Many bollards also feature blue attachments on the side.

Many European countries have similar bollards, however most will have different coloured reflectors. Luxembourg uses almost identical bollards, but they have 3 bolts instead of 2 on the reflector.

The official language of Germany is German. The German language uses the special letters Ä, Ö, Ü and ß.

The other majority German-speaking countries with coverage are Switzerland and Austria. In addition, German is spoken in East Belgium and the Italian province of South Tyrol.

Most wooden poles in Germany will feature a rectangular white sticker.

Germany also has a wide variety of sign backs. Notably, you can commonly find black or dark grey sign backs, which are rather rare in Europe. Most signs will also feature a sticker with an upside-down red triangle on a black rectangle.

Italy, Romania and Albania also have black sign backs, however landscape should be sufficient to tell them apart.

Like Austria, Germany uses a wide variety of regional bus stops, all of which have the big yellow and green H symbol on them.

Mailboxes in Germany are bright yellow, and feature a black logo.

You will find an excessive amount of bollards on most roads in Germany. Around every 50 metres to be exact.

German town entry signs are yellow with black text and have a metallic frame, they can include the town and or city name on the top, the Municipality in the middle and the county on the bottom.

Germany uses these blue rectangular kilometre markers with slightly rounded edges and a white border.

In some rarer cases, they can be white too.

There are one-way traffic signs, with the word ‘Einbahnstraße’ written on them, are unique to Germany.

In Austria, there will be “EINBAHN” written on the sign.

Wind turbines are far more common throughout Germany than in any other European country.

Road Lines:

Germany uses all white lines. Shoulders will be solid, while the center line can be dashed. Smaller roads will be unmarked.

Road Signs:

German road signs are written with black characters on yellow background. A black border also surrounds signs.

Chevrons are red on a white background.

Electricity poles:

Electricity poles don’t follow any pattern. They can be any shape and size. Wooden, concrete, and metal poles can be found in all cities.

License plates:

Cars in Germany have European-style license plate, where the first few letters tell you where the car was registered.

Vegetation/Landscape:

Since Germany is mostly only covered in urban areas, you won’t get to see much of a landscape and vegetation. Some rural roads are covered like the two above.

Architecture:

City centers are usually built up with old multistory buildings from various historical eras.

In combination with old historical buildings, you will also find modern architecture. Large windows are a distinct factor for them.

Outskirts are usually reserved for residential buildings.

General look:

Germany has a lot of blurred houses, that’s why we call it “Blurmany”. Sky will also often look very overexposed, giving Germany a very unique look.
