Trips With Kids

Guide to Germany with kids

We duck through the round hatches of a British submarine when suddenly an alarm goes off over the speakers, so real that one of the kids believed for a moment it was serious. That's how we remember Rügen, which we visited in July 2016 on our way to a cycling trip on Bornholm. You can watch the whole trip on our playlist Niemcy 2016 - Rugia.

For us Germany is the next-door neighbour we often drive through, but it is also worth a trip of its own. In 2014 we went on a day trip from Poznań to Berlin Zoo, and in August that year we drove across northern Germany to Denmark, finding an old drawbridge along the way (Route from Poland to Denmark).

On Rügen we saw the house on the pier in Sellin, a submarine in Sassnitz, the cliffs of Jasmund National Park and the abandoned giant of Prora in a single day, and the next morning we sailed to Bornholm (Bornholm bicycle trip - Day 1). Films from a later trip through Germany are on the playlist Niemcy / Francja / Szwajcaria 2024.

Germany with kids at a glance

  • Our trips: a day trip to Berlin Zoo with another family and a drive across northern Germany to Denmark in 2014, and a Saturday on Rügen before the ferry to Bornholm in July 2016.
  • Getting there: we drove to Berlin from Poznań on the A2 motorway, and to Denmark through the Kołbaskowo border crossing and then the German A20 and A7 motorways. You reach Rügen over the Rügenbrücke bridge, and in summer there can be long traffic jams before the island.
  • Where we stayed: before the Bornholm ferry we slept in our car at a motorhome parking area by the port in Sassnitz, for EUR 5 a night (in 2016). In the morning we still had time for a swim in the sea.
  • Who it's for: kids who love animals, ships and mysterious places. Everyone enjoyed the submarine and the zoo, while the story of Prora is more for older children.
  • How much time: one day is not enough to see all of Berlin Zoo and the aquarium. On Rügen we saw the main sights in one day, but the submarine alone took us almost two hours.

Practical info

Documents for children

  • EU citizens can enter Germany with a valid passport or national ID card.
  • Every child needs their own passport or ID card. A driving licence or a bank card is not a travel document.
  • Germany carries out temporary checks at all its land borders, notified until 15 March 2027, so keep the whole family's documents at hand (as of November 2026).

Money and road tolls

Germany uses the euro. The motorway toll applies only to vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, so you can drive a passenger car without a vignette (as of November 2026).

Berlin low-emission zone

You can only drive into central Berlin, inside the S-Bahn ring, with a green environmental sticker, and this also applies to foreign-registered cars. Visitors can order the sticker online from the Berlin vehicle registration office by sending a scan of the car's registration document, so do it well before the trip (as of November 2026). In 2014 we left the car at the Steglitzer Kreisel car park, open 24 hours, for EUR 2.50 a day and took the U9 underground line to the zoo in 10 minutes.

Ferries from Germany to Denmark

  • Sassnitz - Rønne on Bornholm: the crossing takes 3 hours 20 minutes (as of November 2026). In 2016 the Saturday ferry was already full when we tried to book, so in summer buy tickets early.
  • Long-term parking by the terminal in Sassnitz cost us EUR 12 for up to 30 days (in 2016), and it's better to buy food for the trip in Germany, because prices in Denmark are higher.
  • Puttgarden - Rødby: 45 minutes, Rostock - Gedser: about 2 hours, check-in at least 15 minutes before departure (as of November 2026).

Best time to go

Rügen is a favourite holiday spot for Germans, so on a July weekend we were already stuck in traffic on the motorway. The main road on the island, the B96, was jammed too, so we took side roads for part of the way. Berlin Zoo's opening hours change during the year, so check them before you go.

Best places in Germany for kids

Berlin

Berlin Zoo and Aquarium

One of the oldest zoos in Europe, so big that you can't see it all in one day with kids. What we remember most:

  • elephants, gorillas, hippos and bats in the nocturnal animals house,
  • jellyfish and a huge ant colony behind glass in the aquarium,
  • the Tierkinderzoo petting area, where you can stroke goats and sheep,
  • a large playground for children.

The kids were most excited about the panda, which wasn't there at the time. Giant pandas came back to Berlin in 2017. Read more in Berlin ZOO.

Rügen: Sellin and Prora

Rügenbrücke bridge and Putbus

You reach Germany's largest island over the tall Rügenbrücke bridge, and you can see what the drive looks like in our film. To avoid the traffic we went through Putbus, whose main square is a big roundabout surrounded by buildings. Read more in Rügen Island.

House on the pier in Sellin

A restaurant built on a pier, famous from postcards, with a beach full of wicker beach chairs below the cliff. At the end of the pier there is a diving gondola that takes you down to the seabed. We preferred to watch it come back up. See Visit to Sellin's house on the pier.

Prora, the giant on the Baltic

A 4.5 km long building, put up in the 1930s as a holiday resort for 20,000 people and never finished. When we were there, most blocks stood empty with broken windows, and we walked along them on a wide, wild beach. Since 2016 more and more parts have been turned into apartments and a hotel. Read more in Prora - Abandoned Nazi resort.

Rügen: Sassnitz and Jasmund National Park

HMS Otus submarine in Sassnitz

A Cold War British submarine that you explore on your own, from the torpedo room to the control room.

The kids saw how a periscope works, which they knew from "Penguins of Madagascar", and the alarm sound from the film "Das Boot" was so real that someone got scared for a moment. We didn't want to leave for almost two hours. See HMS Otus - the submarine in Sassnitz.

Jasmund National Park and the chalk cliffs

We cycled down to the Königsstuhl visitor centre through a UNESCO-listed beech forest, because the road is closed to cars.

The stairs down the Victoriasicht cliff were closed after a rockfall, so we enjoyed the views from the top. Today there is a Skywalk viewing platform hanging over the Königsstuhl cliff next to the centre (as of November 2026). Watch our film from the park and read Jasmund National Park.

Sassnitz harbour and the ferry to Bornholm

A night in the car among motorhomes, a morning swim in the sea and our bikes with a trailer rolling onto the ferry through the car terminal. On board we found out that Danish and Norwegian kroner had got mixed up in our wallet, and you can watch the whole first day in our film. See Bornholm bicycle trip - Day 1.

Schleswig-Holstein on the way to Denmark

Lindaunis drawbridge

Escaping a 30 km traffic jam near Schleswig, we came across a historic drawbridge over the Schlei inlet by pure chance (see it in our film). Today the bridge is closed to cars and trains, and a new crossing is being built next to it (as of November 2026). We describe the whole drive in Route from Poland to Denmark.

All posts: Germany

Last updated: November 2026