Visa card

Yes, for larger amounts, which can vary per country and even per shop. In most cases, amounts below 50 euro do not need the PIN, but sometimes the amount can be as low as 20 or 25 euro.
Also, after frequent transactions without PIN, a PIN can be requested. These are security measures, to protect the cardholder against fraudulent use.
This is my personal experience, using Mastercard and debit cards (all European) in Belgium, Germany, Austria and Italy.

If you have an American Visa card, more than likely you won't have a PIN assigned to it. If you go over the contactless limit, it will revert to a signature card.

same experiences here in the UK, but the limit is almost universally £100, with higher or no limit on Apple Pay.

What Frank said . There are a very few American issued Visa and Mastercards that do have a true PIN ( Andrews Federal Credit Union and Barclay Bank )

Thank you so much for all the prompt feedback. I'll check with my bank and see if I can be assigned a PIN for our Visa.

Be aware that having the bank assign you a PIN is likely not to be the answer you desire . . Generally using a PIN designed in that manner causes any transaction using it will post as a cash advance .

I was in Germany for a month last year (and rented a car for a portion of that time) and never once had to give a PIN. I wouldn't worry about it.

We traveled to Germany in December with Visa Cards. Hotels and Restaurants did not ask for the pin. Deutsche Bahn did want a pin to sell a ticket. I have no idea if the automat ticket machines have the tap feature.

We used the DBNavigatior app to buy train tickets in Germany, and it was a breeze! You set up an account linked to your credit card, no problem. However, the actual ticket machines at the train station wanted a pin, which we didn't have. Safe travels!