Which German airports do not require a transit visa for a layover

Please note that the possibility of visa-free transit depends not only on the airport but also on the fulfillment of all the following conditions:

— The next flight is not within the Schengen states.

Allowed: You fly Moscow — Munich — New York

Not allowed: You fly Moscow — Munich — Paris — New York

— You do not need to check in for the next flight. That is, you received your boarding pass for the next flight at the airport of initial departure, for example, in Moscow.

— You do not need to collect your luggage and check it in again for the next flight. As a rule, luggage does not need to be collected and re-checked if you purchased a single airline ticket, not two separate ones, or if both flights are operated by the same airline, or if there is an agreement between the airlines. You can check with the airline you are flying with whether you need to collect your luggage.

— You do not need to go through passport control for other reasons, for example, when transferring from one terminal to another or staying overnight in a hotel.

24-hour visa-free transit is possible in:

— Frankfurt am Main

— Munich

Visa-free transit during daytime hours:

— Hamburg

— Cologne/Bonn from 4:30 AM to 11:00 PM

— Düsseldorf  from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM

That is, you arrive and depart from the airport on the same calendar day. If your flight to Düsseldorf arrived at 8:00 PM and you depart at 7:00 AM, you will need to obtain a Schengen visa for transit purposes. 

At night, the transit zone in these airports is not operational.

Another airport where visa-free transit is possible is Berlin — Tegel. However, the right to visa-free transit is exclusively for passengers of Air Berlin.

Upon arrival at Tegel, you need to go to the «Transfer» desk and show your boarding passes for the next flight. Airport staff will put you in a small minibus and take you to the transit terminal. It consists of several small rooms with sofas, a waiting area, a children's play room, and restrooms.

The transit terminal is very small, there's nothing to do there, and for food, there are only a couple of vending machines with snacks and coffee.

Read about what food you can carry on a plane and how here.

If you arrive at any other German airport, or have an overnight layover, or simply want to explore the city, or go on a short excursion, then you need to obtain a Schengen visa.