REVEALED: The most popular domestic travel destinations in Germany

With their long sandy beaches and easy accessibility by train, Germany’s two seaside destinations remain at the top of the popularity scale for domestic travellers. 

Six of the ten most booked destinations for German residents are situated in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, according to a new analysis of domestic booking figures from the Institute of the German Economy (IW). 

The most popular holiday region is the district of Vorpommern-Rügen with more than 1.5 million overnight stays by people in Germany in 2022.

READ ALSO: North Sea or Baltic Sea? How to decide between Germany’s two coasts

But the Harz - a low mountain range which stretches through the states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia - is also a booming holiday region for German residents. 

More than 570,000 overnight stays were booked there last year via the online platforms Airbnb, Booking, Expedia and Tripadvisor - a third more than in the pre-Corona year of 2019.

"Perhaps the Germans have rediscovered their love for their homeland and the forest," IW economist Christian Rusche told German news site t-online. 

A key reason for this could be that many Germans wanted to see the forest in the Harz Mountains for themselves after reports about forest dieback due to the bark beetles.

In addition, the mountain range is comparatively cheap for holidaymakers - as opposed to the crowded coasts.

The IW used data from the European statistics authority Eurostat, to which the four holiday websites submitted the corresponding overnight stay figures.

READ ALSO: Five lesser known destinations to visit in Germany this summer

Fewer travelling to Berlin

If travel patterns of international guests are also taken into account, Berlin comes in first place with almost 2.6 million Übernachtungen (overnight stays).

This is despite the fact that the capital has dipped in popularity as a tourist destination: Compared to 2019, Berlin has recorded a 38 percent decline in bookings in the IW analysis. Cologne experienced a dip of 50 percent.

However, fewer people came to the Bundesrepublik from other countries overall, as bookings fell by 18 percent in 2022. 

"Some of the foreign travellers, especially the Chinese and the Russians are completely missing from the statistics because they could not travel to Germany," said Rusche.

China, for example, still had tough Covid-19 travel restrictions last year. Only since last week has it allowed group travel to Germany again. 

And due to the European sanctions packages, Russians receive fewer visas for Europe. In addition, there are many uncertainties due to the war in Ukraine, which have deterred foreigners from travelling to Germany at all, said Rutsch.

More Germans travelling again

Still, following a couple of tough pandemic years, many German residents are keen on taking holidays again. In 2022, Germans took around 192 trips, according to Germany’s Statistical Office. That was 22 percent more than in 2021, but 13 percent less than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019. 

The number of holidays abroad increased particularly strongly: 87 million Reisen (trips) outside of Germany meant an increase of 78 percent compared to the previous year. Neighbouring Austria, as well Italy and Spain, were the top destinations for Germans travelling abroad.

However, the number of international trips remained 13 percent below the pre-Covid level in 2019. The number of domestic trips increased by four percent last year compared to 2021, but was still 16 percent lower than the pre-crisis level.

Still, inflation has hit many in Germany hard, with more than one in five people reporting in July that they can’t afford a weeklong holiday - even within the country itself. 

READ ALSO: Where (and why) Germans are choosing to go on holiday by car this year