Travel Insurance to Germany

Each year, over 2 million Britons visit Germany.

Germany has a lot to offer from Rhine river cruises and the traditional Oktoberfest and Christmas markets, to the cultural hotbed of Berlin and the thrill of skiing or snowboarding in the Alps.

There are over 200 companies in the UK who organise trips to Germany.

Here are some suggestions for sightseeing trips in 12 popular destinations...

Berlin
The Brandenburg Gate

Cologne
Cologne Cathedral and The Museum of Chocolate

Dortmund
The landmark Florianturm TV tower (219.6 metres high) and its revolving restaurant.

Frankfurt
The Old Opera, the Stadel Museum, the Schirn Museum and the "Museumsufer" on the museum embankment along the river Main.

Gelsenkirchen
The 14th Century Luttinghof mansion, the city's oldest historical building, and the Schloss Berge palace set in 73 hectares of parkland.

Hanover
Hanover Zoo

Hamburg
The Reeperbahn for nightlife

Kaiserlautern
The 13th Century Stiftskirche Gothic church

Leipzig
St Thomas Church, last resting place of Johann Sebastian Bach

Munich
The magnificent Pinakothek art gallery

Nuremberg
The Toy Museum

Stuttgart
The Mercedes-Benz Museum

Medical and Health

Where to Get Information

Contact any insurance company in the area where you're staying, such as Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse (AOK) and the Ersatzkasse (substitute health insurance fund). But ... they're usually closed at the weekend.

Doctors, Dentists & Prescriptions

Before you can get medical treatment, you must present your E111 form to your insurance company to get a settlement form (Abrechnungsschein).

Take the form to one of the insurance company's approved doctors. You'll get free treatment from these doctors. The same applies for dental treatment, although here you should get a recording form (Erfassungsschein) not a settlement form.

If you can't get hold of a form in advance, go straight to one of the approved doctors and present your E111.

The doctor will send you an invoice if he doesn't get the settlement form from you within 10 days.

If you do have to pay, get a receipt showing a breakdown of the charges.

If you manage to get hold of a settlement form from your insurance company and give it to the doctor before the end of the quarter in which you were treated, the doctor must reimburse you.

For dental treatment, if you don't have a recording form then the dentist can demand payment straightaway.

If you manage to get hold of a recording form from the insurance company and present it to the dentist within 10 days of first receiving treatment, the dentist is obliged to reimburse you.

Medicines prescribed by the doctor are available from any pharmacy in exchange for the prescription.

You'll be liable for a prescription charge depending on the size of the prescription. The costs are non-refundable.

For over-the-counter drugs and medicines, such as painkillers and cough mixtures, you'll get charged full price.

Hospital Treatment

If the doctor decides that you need to go into hospital, you'll be given a statement (Verordnung über Krankenhauspflege) to pass on to your insurance company.

If your company agrees that an urgent admission is necessary, you'll be given a further form, the Kostenübernahmeschein. This states that your insurance company will meet the treatment costs for general nursing care.

Give this form to the hospital authorities on admission.

For the first 14 days of hospital in-patient treatment, you'll have to pay a fixed daily hospital charge, which won't be reimbursed. Patients aged 18 and under don't have to pay.

If you're admitted to hospital in an emergency obviously you won't be able to get a statement in advance.

Instead pass your E111 to the hospital authorities and ask them to get it for you. Association of National Tourist Offices in the United Kingdom.

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