The German rail timetable changes once a year, at the Fahrplanwechsel in December. The date is set by European law: the second Saturday in December, at midnight. Requests for train paths close up to twelve months before the change. Deutsche Bahn usually publishes the next year’s timetable in mid-October. A second change in June is possible where an adjustment is needed after the winter. When storms or strikes disrupt service across regions, Deutsche Bahn runs an Ersatzfahrplan, a substitute timetable.
The Waste Calendar
German municipalities publish a waste calendar, the Abfallkalender, for each year. The Regensburg calendar for 2026 explains how to use it. Look up your street, note the district numbers for residual waste, paper and recycling, and read the dates off the monthly pages. A changed collection day is marked with the letter Ä. The bins must be out by 6 a.m. on collection day and no more than 24 hours before. Residual waste bins may stand no more than 10 meters from the truck’s regular stopping place. Fulda’s waste information for 2026 lists, holiday by holiday, which collection of residual and organic waste moves to which day.
Daycare Before Birth
Since 2013, every child in Germany aged one or older has had a legal right to a place in daycare. Stiftung Warentest still advises parents to register their need with the youth welfare office and to visit daycare centers sogar schon vor der Geburt, even before the birth. A pregnancy checklist in the magazine Apotheken Umschau Eltern tells parents to find out how places are allocated in their state. The same list warns that midwives are often booked out long in advance. A partner who wants parental leave from the day of birth must notify the employer at least seven weeks before the due date.
Summer Holidays Fixed Years Ahead
On 13 December 2021, the conference of education ministers fixed the start and end of the summer holidays in all 16 states for the years 2025 to 2030. Five groups of states rotate, so that the holidays are staggered across the country. The reasons given included Planungssicherheit, planning certainty, for schools, families and tourism. In this system, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg come last, because of their Pentecost holidays. By August 2026, negotiations on the dates from 2031 were under way. Several states want to end the special position of the two southern states. Bavaria’s premier Markus Söder replied: Auf keinen Fall. Wir ändern die Ferien nicht. (No way. We are not changing the holidays.)
A Week Cancelled
In April 2025, the newly elected Bundestag was due to sit in the week of 8 April. The CDU, CSU and SPD were negotiating a coalition, and they used their majority in the preliminary Council of Elders to cancel the sitting week. All opposition groups protested. The news service beck-aktuell noted that it rarely happens that the very mixed opposition agrees. The AfD’s chief whip, Bernd Baumann, called the decision unverantwortlich, irresponsible.
The Sitting Week
The Bundestag works in Sitzungswochen, sitting weeks, at least 20 a year. The Council of Elders sets their dates early, for the following year. The agendas, by contrast, are agreed shortly before each week. Every sitting week has the same shape. On Tuesday afternoon the parliamentary groups meet. On Wednesday the committees meet. Plenary sessions run all day on Thursday and until the afternoon on Friday. The second chamber, the Bundesrat, keeps its own rhythm. It meets in public session every three weeks, on a Friday, except during the summer break.
Wednesday Morning
The federal cabinet meets every Wednesday in the Chancellery, with the chancellor in the chair. The Bundestag builds its week around this. In sitting weeks, members question the government on Wednesday afternoon, after the cabinet meeting, and the session opens with reports on topics from that morning. On 3 August 2016, Chancellor Angela Merkel was on vacation. The Wednesday cabinet met anyway, with Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel in the chair. Fewer ministers than usual sat at the table, and the meeting lasted about three quarters of an hour.
Jour Fixe
der Jour fixe — from French, a fixed day. Duden defines it as a meeting of a fixed group of people that takes place regularly, often on a set weekday. Its spelling note gives unser Jour fixe jeden Dienstagabend, our jour fixe every Tuesday evening. Its usage example is die Mitglieder haben sich schon über zu viele Jours fixes beschwert, the members have already complained about too many jours fixes.
turnusmäßig — as the rotation says. Duden defines der Turnus as a recurrence or order fixed in advance.
Holidays Are Booked Early
In a survey published in March 2025, the Foundation for Future Studies asked 3,000 Germans how they book their holidays. Eleven percent said they decide spontaneously and book at the last minute. Nearly nine in ten decide against a spontaneous booking. Among young adults, 19 percent book spontaneously. Among families, 9 percent do. The foundation explained that outside young adulthood, people rely on Planungssicherheit, the security of a plan. In 2020, in a survey by the same foundation, 77 percent said they would like to do spontaneously whatever they feel like doing.
Retirement at 67, Scheduled Years Ahead
A law of April 2007 provided that Germans would retire later. The standard retirement age was to rise from 65 to 67, step by step from 2012 to 2029. The law contains a table, year of birth by year of birth. Someone born in 1947 reaches the standard retirement age at 65 years and one month. Someone born in 1958 reaches it at 66. Someone born in 1963 reaches it at 66 years and ten months. Everyone born in 1964 or later retires at 67. Each person could look up their date years in advance.