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Holiday in Southern Germany later on in the year. Not been before and was interested to know what the trading laws were like. Is it like France where things are closed at lunch and on Sundays, or is it more like it is here?
We'll be arriving on a Sunday and need to know whether to take provisions or if we'll be able to find a supermarket or something to stock up.
danke
Everything is closed Sunday apart from garages, and bakers open in the morning.
Small sole traders tend to shut at lunch for an hour or two, but are open into the evening.
Thanks, just what I wanted to know. Similar to France by the sounds of it.
Would you find restaurants open on a Sunday?
Yep restaurants would normally be open.
Also be careful of credit cards, it's not like the UK where every shop etc. accepts them.
Quite a few supermarkets only accept the local German cards.
Always check if you don't have enough cash on you, I've been caught out in a restaurant we stopped at in a town for lunch, had a 30min walk to get cash to pay the bill while the missus sat and waited.
Was that quite recent? I thought they were a bit more widely accepted nowadays.
Most, if not all chains will accept credit cards, but Germans don't use credit cards half as much as the UK, so not all shops want to take on the costs involved.
Last time I was over there, most shops shut about midday on Saturday, and that included major towns like Stuttgart. I found it best to ensure you have both Visa and Mastercard as there seemed to be some places that will only accept one or the other.
Great place , fantastic folk , good grub , a 1950's attitude to shop opening ( no bad thing) , but always politicaly just to the right of ghengis khan !
Great place , fantastic folk , good grub , a 1950's attitude to shop opening ( no bad thing) , but always politicaly just to the right of ghengis khan !
Great place , fantastic folk , good grub , a 1950's attitude to shop opening ( no bad thing)
Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. Should be a nice drive down as well, through Belgium and south to Bavaria.
Was that quite recent? I thought they were a bit more widely accepted nowadays.
Yes, last summer, we actually had more issues last summer than we ever had previously.
It seems pretty common for people to carry around quite large amounts of cash, so don't feel bad about paying for dinner etc. with a 100euro note!
Re credit cards, you'll mostly be alright in supermarkets, garages, large stores with Visa/Visa debit, but Maestro/Switch isn't at all widely accepted. You can forget about using cards in bars, most restaurants and small independent shops. I've lived there for 3 years and haven't seen cards becoming more commonplace. If you're going to Bavaria (my understanding though I've never been) the only shops open on Sun will be garages. In a decent sized town there should be restaurants open.
Thanks for the advice. We'll be taking mostly cash, and using the card for diesel. Just nice to know these things.
Go to Podestien, lovely old town, lovely old town.
cards, yup been caught out myself, take Euros with you, much better, resaurants in the outer lying areas in Bavaria are still really rural with a local community spirit, restaurants I've been to open when they want to rather than stick to some timetable. Most I know open on Sunday eves, though this area is heavily family orientated so expect a few closed doors whilst they spend time with their own families.
Bakers open in the morning mind, so you can get bread easy enough, some "super"markets open about 11ish, local markets are open and tend to be in the center of towns and of course you'll find something to eat there, certainly if you are a meat eater.
You could try the service stations on the motorways, not that expensive all things considered, but do what I do, take Euros and stop off in the first local twon you spot, head for the center and go seek out the market.
Bavaria.... stunning place.
great stuff, thanks.