Wanderlust: Why the Germans love hiking and the great outdoors | Meet the Germans 

When you are in the middle of nowhere in Scandinavia 200km between you and the next settlement, there is still a chance of 99% to meet a perfectly equipped German, who is on a hike.

"And then the Germans did what the Germans do best:" " *theygotorganized* "

That snacking on sausages thing is so authentic! Recently lived in the US for a couple months and when I whipped out a little sausage snack during a studying session, my mates were like "Wow... that is the most German thing I've ever seen."

Don't forget that while being physically active at fresh air you can saufen wie blöd!

It's true....the hiking paths in Germany are well marked. Germans love hiking

I was hiking in the forest here in my own country Sweden, and was on my way back to a bus stop going in to town. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a nice elderly couple in a huge RV (Wohnmobil) stopped and offered me and my girlfriend a lift. Turns out, they were German! Absolutely amazing people!

I can confirm this and damn I want to go wandern now

You missed one important fact: The greeting etiquette! When you just stroll or roam through a park, beach, shore or other touristy area, you don't greet strangers. But as soon as you are on a hiking path, it is expected you greet other hikers. As if you are a sworn-in secret community :D This is especially funny, when you have a mixed trip like along a lake and a short way uphill to a castle ruin. Down at the lake, no conversation to strangers - through the forest: "hello-hello" to everyone!

German haute couture: JACK WOLFSKIN.

The Einkehr is the biggest motivation for a german Wanderer

How is this for a weird flex: I actually recognised the specific area she was hiking in (Siebengebirge near Bonn), just by the nature of the terrain and the look of the trees. Only on the second viewing did I notice the fact that she had a map of that region, and the fact that the railway she was exiting was the Drachenfelsbahn. And I've only been there twice, years ago!

To be fair.. Germany has so much variety when it comes to nature and the woods so it is not really surprising that one feels the urge to hike and walk through them. And all the markings can help to got not completely lost. It is fun. Get outside and walk/hike. Rediscovere a part of nature. It even might help getting rid of city stress

I really enjoyed this episode but did anyone else get mildly infuriated at how she wore her backpack without closing the straps? Do that while hiking and your back will hate you haha

I'm from Germany and pretty much everything she says is true 🤔😂!

I've run into German hikers many hours from any other person at Glacier National Park. They are everywhere.

This is so true, I am German, I often just walk through the forest, sometimes off the paths, explore the area, enjoy the nature. And during vacations we often went hiking on mountains or on beaches (in Austria, Norway, Sweden) and often encountered other Germans.

I've gotten into a stage ..... Where she comes in my dreams and guide me all through it in German

Reise, Reise! My grandfather who was German from Bremen,was working at the docks and noticed a pair of Alsatian shepherd dogs with address bound for the Philippines in the 1930's.He wrote a letter to this address and got invited to join them in Mindanao. And the rest as they say,is history.

You bring back fond memories of when I lived in Berlin. Within 5 minutes of stepping out of my flat I was in the Grunewald. I could walk along by the Havel for hours. Sometimes I'd walk all the way to Wannsee.

We have the same tradition here in Norway. And i love it and we also have amazing nature to do it in. :)

In this chapter i m more german than a german. I hike also for visiting historical buildings and even adventurous ruins! With top gears. But I love forest bathing the best. That’s something my dad taught me when I was a kid, and was my #1 childhood Sunday activity.

You could easily add Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Slovenia to the list. People of pretty much all Alpine countries are bonkers about their nature hikes. Bus stops on Sunday mornings hosting people with trekking poles NOT waiting on a bus, but a ride to the base of a mountain. Such a beautiful tradtion. Cheers!

I love hiking, especially in the nearby Siebengebirge (as Rachel did). And I'm not even German, but from across the pond.

If I go for a hike I've "earned" my Spezi and my Schweizerwurstsalat! Nothing tastes better after a hike in the sunshine!

I'm learning German, a few weeks into A1 and these video series helps to make sense of some things.

Great edits! And so true, I've hiked in 3 continents and I've always encountered fellow hiking Germans on the trail. Can't escape them!

When I (a German) was on holidays in New York two years ago we went „wandern“ north of NY around the Hudson River area. I was very surprised and also disappointed to see that most of the nature there wasn’t accessible via hiking paths or trails... We found a nice parking spot there in the middle of the Forrest but even there weren’t any paths starting from that point. In Germany throughout all of the woods there are paths, trails, or „streets“ for pedestrians and cyclists. At the end we walked parts of the Appalachian trail in NY but even this trail hadn’t got that many signs to be able to follow it properly...

Yep, nature lovers. Ive hiked fr0m France to Australia to Nepal. Always meet germans... the original romantics, along with the british aristocrats who invented the sport of mountaineering.

Austria left the chat

I didn't know about the German love of hiking being that I'm American and come across Germans very rarely. I'm half German, though, and have loved hiking all of my life. This is the coolest news! Thank you for the video!

I am sitting in front of my computer all day long, but sometimes i upgrade and join reality outdoors. It's Hyper-HD® resolution in 3D at 90,000 fps with infinite RTX, Full-Surround-Sound™, forced feedback, and even Fragrances™!! And all that for a very low price. Some places even have OXIGEN® and OLES Background-Lighting (Original Light-Emitting Sun).

Good episode - I've always had this internal urge to go hiking to clear my mind.

More significant than Romanticism, I would say that the industrialization and the urbanization arising in the 1800s made the natural environment a rare(r) commodity and, thus, much more valuable. Romanticism was partly a consequence of the diminishment of nature rather than a spur towards immersion into nature (of course, Romanticism was also a revolt against the rationalism of the French Revolution).

I’m loving this series. Very interesting.

Germans really love to Hike. . .that is what i have noticed. . . and the trails have so much Marks. . . i love it also. . .when the weather is really good. . . .Saturdays and Sundays the forest is really full. . .

It's so amazing how detailed this show is :)

I was visiting Nuremberg and found a full blown exhibition at the city’s museum about, you guessed it, hiking. I remember thinking it was such an odd topic but it all made sense after the visit.

Just discovered these videos and I am addicted. Rachel is beautiful but so down to earth. Great topics and editing too.

Not to mention the German’s love for Geocaching!

Such an awesome series!

That is all so true. "Wandern" is by far the best thing to do. Always and everywhere.

Once I went for a walk in a garden. A perfectly geographically flat garden. I saw two perfectly fit young persons with walking sticks. I was like, what the hell? They were Germans.

Spazierengehen in Hamburg an der Elbe. Ich habe es in meiner Kindheit gehasst. (Jahrgang 63) Im Sonntagsoutfit, vor den anderen paradieren. Nur nicht schmutzig werden und an jedem Spielplatz vorbei. Habe erst von meinem Mann mit 25 + gelernt was Wandern im Wald bedeutet. Jetzt mag ich es.

Volunteering at Mount St Helens, after Canadians, the Germans. So happy to meet up with them.

A few years back we did a circular one week tour in the Black Forest in June. The weather was fair. At Triberg where we started there were several shops selling hiking gear. The paths were very well marked and it was very pleasant. The only surprising thing was... a total lack of hikers. The hotels where we stayed were deserted. At the weekend there were people milling around parking areas, but hardly anyone was hiking.

I really love Rachel's videos on here.

I am German and I love this video. Great work DW Euromaxx. Just for some people who like to know. We make these tracks because we don't want everybody running all trough our beautiful an precious nature, to be destroyed by these careless people.

Haha very nice to see that as german who use too hike frequently. I thought the US has many parks where they do the same. Hiking brings me down to earth. We also like hiking with family or our friends

The production quality is fkn insane!

Hiking in Mallorca ist also very beautiful. Last time i was there i meet just germans on the hiking path and all greet

0:34 damn this is some next-level editing!

I was stationed in Augsburg in the '80s. My wife and I Volksmarched aprox. 1500 km.

That sausage toss was really impressive!

Ohh! I love hiking too. Look forward to come to Germany and hike through the trails there.

I love walking and listening to music 😍❤️

Guten Tag aus Kalifornien!

Great video! Thank you!

0:35 Just slowed down the playbackspeed to see if its cutted or you have a twin sister. Its really well cutted.

0:43 - hey it's Castle Drachenburg!

I once met a germany lady hiking in the middle of the jungle at tioman island malaysia alone..i myself during that time did a geological mapping with my team. She either super brave lady or just another typical german

3:17 You forgot the most popular drink in Germany, the Apfelsaftschorle.

Yep can confirm. I used to walk mountains in Scotland a lot and have bumped into a good few Germans. Infact, a German unfortunately fell off Ben Nevis (tallest mountain in UK) last year and died.

Siebengebirge, Drachenfels, Wiese unterhalb Gaststätte "Felders"... ❤️ Tolle Gegend!

0:34 . That was pretty awesome.

I did a long hiking trip just 2 days ago. Afterwards i was completely sunburned and my muscles still hurt. Good Times.

Jaaaa, I would like to move NOW. It is so lovely for the body and soul.

Watching this video brought lots of memory, I’ve got to find me German man to do the outdoors activities 😊

We did a week's circular hike in the Black Forest in June starting from Triberg. We saw many shops selling hiking gear, but apart from one day which was busy, we saw almost no hikers and the hotels we stayed at were almost deserted. A shame because it was very beautiful.

best thing to do outside!! I love my german forest

Excellent editing

You nailed it, girl! We germans love hiking because then we can "einkehren ". And no hiking tour without a little bottle of "schnaps" 😉

Hiking is fantastic. We do it in a religious basis: Fátima, Saint James and Lurdes

And instead of carving "I was here" into the bark of some poor tree with your jungle knife in the middle of nowhere, they use Hiking-Apps with offline maps and tracking function to share their trips with the world (and not to get lost in the wilderness, despite all those signs everywhere). I personally love hiking, too, especially in one of the German "Bannwald" areas - Natural forest, completely let to its own for decades. Real "jungle" in Germany.

Yep .. absolutely! Also, just South of the Border, the Swiss suffer from the same affliction 😊.

I am a german and I hate hiking, but the rest of my family loves it !

Amazing vid!

Nice video. Love it. Rachel doing great.

i'd never imagine watching a video about hiking... at all... but with rachel talking about it... it's a whole different story. (heck she could talk about tea - northern german vs british and i would love to watch and listen... some sort of guilty pleasure? - i guess it is, i wouldn't even tell my friends ^^)

This is so true, Germans looooove Alaska. Now it all makes sense.

Smooth transition at 0:34 😍

THE most important thing when you go hiking: Good shoes and lots of water. And a good Backpack (for the water). And enough food. And a raincoat. Maybe a walking stick. A map might come in useful, but usually they hang around everywhere.

that was some good editing @0:34 .. well done

Three years ago, at the entrance to the Lost Gardens of Heligan, the nice cashier lady asked us if we were from the Netherlands, we told her no, from Germany. She was asking because we didn't wear any funtional hiking gear and boots. She then encouraged us to check her on her assumption that every German tourist wears this kind of clothing. She was right. I personally hate this kind of gear. Not because I look like a German but everybody looks the same.

The song they are playing at start is "Das Wandern is Der Müllers lust."

As an American from the state of Colorado but living in Germany, I often get a little chuckle out of seeing Germans who look like they spent hours or days preparing for a trek on Mt. Everest, but are really just having what I would describe as an easy 5km walk. The Germans: "We have planned this for 3 weeks. We have a proper balance of protein, carbohydrates, and electrolytes and we have calculated exactly how many calories we will burn so we can know exactly how much food we need. We have our trekking sticks, the perfect combination of removable clothing layers, a map, a compass, a planned route with an emergency plan...now we can go for this 45 minute walk." American from Colorado: "Hmm...I'm bored and I have 4 hours to kill before dinner. I'll take an spontaneous 20km run straight up and down the side of a jagged a 4,000m high mountain. Oh, I better prepare...nah, I have 0,5L of water and a protein bar, I'm good." But all jokes aside, so far I am finding Germany really is a great place with TONS of hiking and biking trails that make it easy to get out and get that frische Luft.

A word of advice for merrily wandering Germans coming to Australia: 1. Australia is seriously big, and the distance from place to place can be significant. So, if you find yourself in a medical difficulty, getting you to a hospital, or a doctor/paramedic to you, may take a long time (and a 'long time' also includes 'too long'); 2. everything in Australia can kill you. While there are probably one or two people to avoid, everything else, if annoyed (and it doesn't take much) will try and take you down, including ants, wasps, spiders, various plants, bigger marsupials, smaller marsupials, definitely snakes (Australians are quite proud of the fact that of the top 10 most venomous snakes in--the--world, 8 are Australian), you can probably ignore the small birds (at your peril) but the two big birds, the emu and its cousin, the cassowary, are able to open you up like a tin of sardines. Swimming in the ocean can be a little too exciting given the prevalence of deadly jellyfish, deadly small fish, and many deadly large fish (you know, like sharks). Oh, and Australian sea snake, for there is indeed such a beast, is *the* most venomous snake in the word! However, in fresh or salt water, nothing will turn you into Menschwurst(?) quicker than a crocodile. 'Crocs' are no joke, and are as cunning as they are hungry; and, finally - if the inhabitants don't get you, the sun may, be it in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland all of the year, or in the rest of Oz during the hotter months. Australia is the skin cancer capital of the world for people of northern European ancestry. The problem with melanomas is that it can be 15 or 20 or 35 years before the skin cancer turns lethal. In Australia, particularly in the northern States, most GPs (General Practicianers, or Family Doctors) are reasonably well skilled at spotting worrying blemishes and sending you off to the Specialist. The other benefit in Australia in this regard, and especially in Queensland, is having a lot of that sort of Specialist. The 'sun problem' for Besucher is that such Specialists, in their home countries, tend to be a very rare commodity. AND there you have it, definitely not a message from the Australian Tourist Board, but a series of things to bear in mind when you visit, if you visit, the Great Southern Land (and that's Australia, not New Zealand!). Be mindful. Be safe. Enjoy and come back. 😊

I love these short pieces far better than anything on the ponderous BBC

I go walking a lot in the Scottish Highlands and if you meet anyone there who is from outside the UK ten to one it is a German. German companies also manufacture a lot of the walking equipment we buy and Dachstein and Jack Wolfskin are household names. But if you want the best pair of boots it has to be a pair of Zamberlans from Italy. I believe still made from leather from Pittards in Somerset, from cows which have spent their lives in the soft West Country rain. And I have just looked out the window and it is still raining. Raining at breakfast time and still raining approaching mid-afternoon!

I may not be German, (I'm Belgian, actually) but the Wanderlust is something that can stretch even beyonf German borders. I'm infested with the Wanderlust, and walk almost every evening in my hometown... And dream of bigger hikes...

This is something I definitely need to do when I go back to Deutschland.

I laughed lot about the part about the german students in Douglas Adams' "Last chance to see".

Oh I love her

nice hiking. stay safe... new friend here from malaysia.😊

Just need to tell you I enjoyed this video!

You can spot Germans a mile away when out on the trails! 😂 Rachel's depiction is so spot on lol

I was hiking the East Coast Trail in Newfoundland and came across a german. The catch was that both our english is, contrary to popular belief, quite good and sounds native. So we stood there in soaking rain for about twenty minutes talking english until we noticed our mistake :D Another time, that was in Labrador-City: I lived there for a few months and had work in a restaurant - people from all over town came to see the german who was hiking in the winter through northern canada. Yes. We are insane. Yes indeed.

Einkehren is the most important part of wandern

Please do an episode North German traditions of Boseln and Kohlfahrt.

northern spain is a great hike....could take days though....

You should have displayed some of the area where you shot that clip. Drachenfels has a lot to show on camera^^