Report from Germany

Happy to hear this news. The more people can travel, the more people will get their vaccines. We are in Croatia and my cousin and her husband are meeting us here next week. The only reason she got vaccinated was because she had to for our trip. I told her they wouldn’t just accept a negative test. We aren’t in a tourist city, with family for now, but will write a report when we start traveling around.

Thank you for posting!

Thank you for posting! I'd love to hear more as you go... we're scheduled to fly into Frankfurt in December and we're on the fence about going (more worried about if we have to quarantine and have our dogs stay in boarding for longer).

Thanks !! Great news, especially on masks being worn and the CDC checked. "mask compliant"... For what we call " mandated "
they call it, "Pflicht zum Tragen ." Exactly.

Your observations dovetail on what I have heard from those living in North Germany.

In SF having your CDC checked upon entering a restaurant or bar is mandated. There have been instances where the staff didn't ask me for the CDC . In those cases I voluntarily showed it to them anyway, some want to see your ID along with the CDC card....no problem.

I got the J & J vaccine (not my choice, just got the 1st available vaccine I could get). Are they not accepting certain vaccines? Are you finding that you need reservations to enter museums and such due to covid?

Thanks for this great news. Ticketed for FRA for Nov 24 and staying optimistic. If you venture into Salzburg, let us know how things are there.

J & J vaccine is also being used in Germany, so it is accepted. As is AstraZeneca.
Most museums are not crowded, but you need to check their website to see if they want a reservation and what they are asking for to enter. They keep their websites updated really well.
Restaurants in Frankfurt are being pretty strict about checking your status. They often have signs in the front entrance that you wait to be seated and that they are asking for the 3 Gs - Geimpft, Genesen, Getestet (Vaccinated, Recovered, Tested) Talk is going on that they want to reduce it to just vaccinated and recovered as the free testing is going away soon.

All vaccines from the USA are accepted. There is a list on the German health site. I don't know about other countries. I did not need to pick a specifiic time to enter anywhere like a museum or restaurant in Munich. There are few tourists. I did in Nuremberg for the Nazi documentation center. I am headed there today.
Today, there are free testing places by the main squares. Masks available in the drugstores. So are tests. Masks on all public transportation and indoors.

Thanks for this info, Nonnie and others. I'm headed to Berlin via FRA in a month with my CDC card and a supply of KN95s. Most of the museums there are requiring timed entry, so my next move is figuring out which and when. Hope you find time to report more as your trip goes on. Have a great time!

We took the train from Munich to Nuremberg. Only train tickets checked, not vaccine cards. Here, masks indoors. No one wearing them outdoors. A German woman in a bakery asked if we were from England. When I replied we were from America she said "welcome back." Then a group of Germans agreed to let a tour leader conduct an otherwise German tour in English just for our sakes.
Again, CDC cards checked at every site. The Luca app has saved us having to fill out contact tracing forms everywhere. I think those are just used in Bavaria.
Hotels are checking CDC cards. Breakfast rooms have tables spaced far apart and we have had to sign up for when we would eat. They are keeping the numbers down at breakfast.
Will post more when we get to Salzburg.

Ending my third week in Germany. I never did download the Luca app. As stated above, the alternative is to fill out a half-sheet form with your name and home address. I was required to do that all over Germany—from Munich to Hamburg and places in between (not just Bavaria)—at some hotels, restaurants and museums. It only takes a few seconds. I get the feeling these establishments are doing this to comply with some rule; it’s clear to me they would much prefer not to bother their customers with it.

Thank you for the report, OP. I’m hoping to go to Germany in November fingers crossed.
Did you need your original CDC vax card? Any idea if a (laminated) copy would suffice? Trying to avoid traveling with the original if possible. I saw a physical copy of it was necessary, unclear if had to be OG. Thanks.

To Simon. Yes, it is the rules. Businesses are required to keep contact details for a certain amount of weeks. That is why the Luca app is easier. We all got tired of filling out those forms!
If you go to a restaurant to eat and someone dining there the same night and time as you, came down with Covid, they would then contact you so you could get tested or go into quarantine.

Jesqullen, I laminated my original card before it was an issue. I don’t know about a copy. I do know they are looking at the type and date of vaccine. If they are confused, it’s because we write dates differently.

The official government website says that photos of original documents are not allowed, so I imagine that a copy could also potentially lead to problems. See here.

Yep, thank you Azra and Nonnie, says right there: “ Note that a photo of a proof in paper form is not sufficient.” So I’ll just treat it like my passport and keep it as safe as possible.
Nonnie, I didn’t laminate the original because of potential booster, but I’ll definitely carry it in a ziploc or what not. Hope you enjoy your trip and thanks again! 😀

CDC cards checked at every site. The Luca app has saved us having to
fill out contact tracing forms everywhere. I think those are just used
in Bavaria.

1. I don't recall any museum or restaurant in Berlin asking to see proof of vaccination, thought I ate inside at only 2 restaurants (apparently is not needed if eating outside per my B&B host). I ate at one restaurant late at night, and I was the only guest. The other asked if I was vaccinated but did not ask for proof. The latter asked for completion of a tracing form but not the former. A museum in Potsdam was the only museum that asked for completion of the tracing form.
2. The one place that wanted proof of immunization was the venue for an outdoor concert in Chemnitz. I offered the CDC card. The guy was very suspicious of it, saying, "How do I know what this is?" He really wanted to see proof of vaccines in the Luca app; I had the app but did not have my immunizations uploaded. If you go to a pharmacy, the pharmacist will enter your immunizations into the German database and give you an EU immunization certificate for each vaccine; there is a QR code that can be used to upload the record to the two preferred German apps (which I could not download to my US phone -- kept getting "not available in your country" messages) or to the Luca app. I did this after only narrowly gaining admission to the concert with my CDC card, but never needed it after the concert.

My trip date was Aug 26 through Sept 6, if it helps with determining the relevance of my comments.

We left Nuremberg and are in Salzburg. While there are few tourists in Munich and Nuremberg, the same can't be said for Salzburg. Tourists are everywhere.
We needed CDC cards to check into the hotel and eat outdoors. Not at anytime here or in Germany was the CDC card checked against my passport. They just want to see the card.
We took the train here from Nuremberg. They only looked at our tickets not our CDC card on either train.
I have a feeling that what the health minister says for any country and what real people are doing may be different. Everyone wearing KN95 or N95 masks indoors.

I get the feeling these establishments are doing this to comply with
some rule; it’s clear to me they would much prefer not to bother their
customers with it.

It's more like these establishments themselves would much prefer not to bother with it. :-)

The rule behind that is this. The customers' contact information has to be taken down and stored for three weeks or so (and then destroyed), so that in case of an outbreak, the health agencies (Gesundheitsamt) can contact you. They will then need to know how close you were to the contagious person and how much time you spent with them. Depending on the results of that, they may decide to have you quarantined. Been there, done that.

The apps: I am not sure if the apps will work with vaccination information from other countries but you may want to give it a try if you don't want to produce the original document. Try the "Corona-Warn-App" or "CovPass" for that.

Nonnie,

Can you tell me how much the N95s are in the shops in Germany? Trying to decide if it's more cost-effective to buy them in Germany when we get there (we'll have some for the airplane, etc).

Thank you!

Rainy in Vienna. Crowd numbers increased in Salzburg and Vienna but still way down. Austrians have been so welcoming. Some tour groups are definitely here. Members only seem to be wearing masks when the Austrians demand them. I don't take tours but I sure wouldn't without everyone being vaccinated. Perhaps they are but other people in the hotels are at risk since tour people haven't been masked. Children's field trip student stuff all masked.
All museums open with no prior appointment needed. Crowds still minimal.
CDC cards checked everywhere, even outside. They definitely want to see the type of vaccine. On our 15 minute walk from the tram to our hotel we pass three testing sites. Some places charge, some are free. Seems the PCR are free even for tourists, rapid from 29-39€.
Masks required indoors but not at hotels.
Austrians wear our KN95s. They are in the drugstores.
We started in Munich and have scheduled our return test in Vienna. We took the train from Munich to Salzburg then to Vienna. Everyone masked. Tickets were checked on trains but not our CDC cards.
The joy of this trip has been the sights and the lack of crowds.

Jennifer, the KN 95s were 1.95€ at the DM. Haven't seen N95s on anyone.

1.95€ for two.