You have arrived safely in Siegen and have more or less taken care of the most important things. Here we have listed a few points for you that might come up during your stay in Siegen or are simply "good to know".
Important: In Germany, stores are generally closed on Sundays!
The "Shopping" section includes a number of different stores. Below you will find information on a number of categories of retail outlets.
(Grocery) Shopping
Discounters generally offer a basic selection of food, household goods and hygiene products at low prices as well as non-food items that are only available for a short time as part of sales promotions. Discounters that can be found at numerous locations in and around Siegen include:
" Aldi
" Lidl
" Norma
" Penny
Even though many stores nowadays offer a wide range of organic products, most products are still conventionally grown.
" Denn's offers a full range of organic food, including fruit and vegetables, as well as a small selection of zero-waste products.
" The association fairwertbar e.V. has a store where it distributes goods that are no longer for sale but are still suitable for consumption in return for donations. The opening hours are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. You can find more information on the association's website.
Even though hygiene, health and beauty products are sold in supermarkets, there are a number of stores that offer a larger selection of such products. They often also offer a small selection of organic foods. You can also find some of these chains in Siegen:
" dm
" Müller
" Rossmann
" Pharmacies can be found here.
Bread is an important part of German culture. In fact, it has been declared an intangible cultural heritageby UNESCO. by UNESCO. Germans are very proud of their bread and bakeries can be found almost everywhere. Typical of the Siegerland region is the Siegerländer Schwarzbrot and the potato breads Riewekooche (with raw potatoes) and Bäckel (with cooked potatoes). Due to the large number of different bakeries in the region, we will not list them all. However, there are usually bakeries in shopping centers and also attached to larger supermarkets.
For those looking for a piece of home or simply want to try something new, there are also a few international stores in and around Siegen. Of course, larger supermarkets also have a few international products on offer, but the selection is often small and the prices relatively high.
" Asian & African supermarkets: Dang Asia Lebensmittel (Siegen, Oberstadt), Asia Markt (Siegen, city center), Asian & African Shop (Weidenau), Asia-Afro-Lebensmittel (Weidenau, near Kaufland)
" Arab & Turkish supermarkets: Aksiyon Markt (Weidenau, Haardter Berg), Bahar Market (Siegen, city center), City Markt (Siegen, Leimbachstr.), Mahmutoglu Market (Geisweid)
" Eastern European supermarkets: Majak Market (Siegen, near Siegerlandhalle), Mix Market (Fludersbach), Polish Delicatessen (Weidenau, near Kaufland)
Living
If your home is unfurnished and you are looking for inexpensive furniture, searching the second-hand market could be a good alternative. Second-hand furniture can be found at flea markets in Siegen, atthe At Home Factory
in Siegen-Eiserfeld or on the Internet on platforms such as classified ads
are offered. There is also the option of posting in a Telegram group
to be informed about items to be given away, often including furniture, in Siegen and the surrounding area. Of course, you can also sell things you no longer need at flea markets (or online) to earn a little extra money. Everything you need to know about flea markets, what to look out for and where to find them can be found here.
We strongly recommend that you take out personal liability insurance if you are moving to Siegen for a longer period of time. Personal liability insurance protects you financially in the event that you accidentally damage another person or their property/property. Depending on what has been damaged, you could be liable to pay large sums of money. The insurance, for which you only have to pay a small monthly premium, protects you, i.e. covers the costs up to a certain amount. For this reason, landlords sometimes expect you to have personal liability insurance when you move in. You can find more information here.
You can find an overview of the insurance policies on offer and a comparison of prices here.
If you rent an apartment, you usually have to find an electricity provider yourself and pay the costs. The contracts usually have a minimum term of one year, but there are tariffs that are slightly more expensive and can be terminated monthly. Some providers of green electricity are:
" Q.ENERGY EcoFlex online
" Greenpeace Energy
" grünstrom pur
" LichtBlick
" Polarstern
" SVB - Siegener Versorgungsbetriebe
Some providers also work with businesses and offer vouchers or a discount if you switch to them. You can find an example here.
If you know of any other offers, please let us know.
The so-called broadcasting fee is essentially a television and radio license for public broadcasting. You will most likely receive a letter from the ARD ZDF Deutschlandradio Beitragsservice after you have contacted the Citizens' Office. It is very important that you do not ignore it. You can find more information here.
In addition to suitable cables and the right router, Internet access in a new home requires a tariff that is as cheap and fast as possible. Internet tariffs are often offered together with landline connections and differentiated according to Internet connections. The most common connections in Germany are:
" DSL (Telekom, Vodafone, 1&1, PYUR)
" Cable (Vodafone)
" Fiber (Deutsche Glasfaser, PYUR, 1&1)
" LTE (Congstar)
Depending on the provider and connection, it can take up to four weeks for the Internet to be installed and set up. So it doesn't hurt to get information early on, either from the providers themselves or, even better, from comparison portals such as verifox
or check24.
Other helpful information
In Germany, it is still customary to pay in cash. Even though all larger supermarkets and stores as well as restaurants and cafés now accept card payment, there are some stores (especially smaller ones) where only cash payment is possible. Even on buses you can only buy tickets with cash. It is therefore always a good idea to carry some cash with you. Please note, however, that the bank charges a fee when withdrawing cash from another bank's ATM. Information on opening a bank account can be found here.
If you are coming to Siegen for a longer period of time, we recommend purchasing a German cell phone SIM card. There are a number of options here. Some providers (including stores such as Aldi or Lidl) offer a prepaid SIM card that you can top up and pay for as required. Many of the providers nowadays also offer packages that can be purchased monthly and allow a certain amount of data volume, calls and texts. The advantage of this type of SIM card is that you are not tied to a contract and can simply pay nothing for a month if you travel to another country, for example.
Another option is contracts that have a notice period of one month. You pay the same amount every month and the money is automatically debited from your account. This is a simple option, albeit somewhat less flexible. Nevertheless, you can cancel the contract quickly if necessary.
A third option in Germany is a contract that comes with a cell phone. These contracts are usually relatively expensive per month, as you pay for the cell phone as well as for the data volume and the telephone tariff. It should also be noted that these contracts often have a minimum term of two years.
As you may have noticed, waste separation is an important topic in Germany. You can find a detailed overview of the correct disposal of various materials here.
This website has multilingual instructions on waste separation in Germany.
If you need more general information on waste separation and the disposal of special waste, you can read it in English here.
We would also like to provide you with this link to provide you with the times and locations of the hazardous waste mobile in Siegen if you need this information.
