Send a letter or a parcel to Germany

Easily and quickly send a letter or parcel to Germany with Royal Mail

If you need to send a parcel to Germany or post letters or postcards to friends and family members, here’s how to work out how much postage to Germany costs, what you can and can’t send and how long your mail will take to arrive.

How much does it cost to send a parcel to Germany?

We offer four services for sending mail to Germany, starting from just £2.20 for letters using our International Economy or International Standard services.

To compare the cost of sending a letter or parcel to Germany, click on the downward arrow in each of the boxes listing our services below

Top tips to get the right postage cost for Germany: 

• Make sure you have your letter or parcel’s dimensions
• Make sure you know your letter or parcel’s weight

You’ll then be able to see at a glance how much each service will cost, along with each service’s features and options.

Items you can’t post to Germany

Prohibitions and restrictions vary from country to country, so please check the criteria carefully

• Perishable goods or foods, such as fresh fruit and frozen or chilled foodstuffs.
• Alcoholic beverages containing more than 70% ABV, such as spirits
• Aerosols
• Biological samples
• Compressed air and/or empty cylinders
• Drugs
• Hazardous items, including aerosols, lighters, fireworks, Christmas crackers, or flammable/explosive items
• Weapons, including replica weapons
• Poisonous liquids, such as pesticides

Read the full list of items you can’t post to Germany on our Prohibited and Restricted Items list. 

Can I send a passport to Germany?

Germany requires that all passports must be shipped with a CN22 and electronic customs declaration, dependent upon your method of booking your postage.

Guidelines when sending letters and parcels to Germany

We prohibit and restrict certain categories of items when sending parcels to Germany.

Each letter or parcel sent around the world must follow the Universal Postal Union (UPU) rules applicable to letter post and postal parcels, regarding prohibited and restricted items. To identify whether your item is allowed, please visit Article 19 which contains a detailed list of items that are not admitted in the International mail flow.

The destination country also set their own rules around which items are prohibited and/or restricted.

Further information can also be found on the German customs and government websites.

Please note: Specific Country restrictions and changes may be enforced at short notice, so for any clarification please contact the destination country’s trade, postal and customs authorities as appropriate. Royal Mail have no control over UPU and Country specific restrictions regarding prohibited and restricted items and it is your responsibility to check whether your items are allowed.

How to send a letter or parcel to Germany with Royal Mail

• Make sure your letter or parcel is securely sealed - our packaging requirements will help you make sure your parcel is secure
• Check from our list above that you haven’t included any prohibited items which you can’t send to Germany
• Make sure you’ve addressed your mail correctly - we’ve provided more guidelines on how to correctly address parcels and letters to Germany below
• You’ll need to fill out a customs declaration in order to give details about the goods that are being imported or exported

Click ‘Buy online’ to purchase postage online

Addressing a letter or parcel to a German address

If you’re unsure how to address a letter or parcel being posted to Germany, here’s how you format the address: 

• Put the house number after the street name
• Put the 5 digit postcode before the town name
• Write ‘GERMANY’ in caps under the address

Here’s an example of how to format a German address:

Mr P Kunde

Langestr. 12

04103 LEIPZIG

GERMANY

Customs requirements when sending mail to Germany

The UK is no longer part of the EU’s single market, and customs union and differing rules apply. 

Items imported to the EU with a value of €22 or less became liable for VAT. Our guide to IOSS and PDDP tools and services can help you send goods to EU countries more effectively, taking care of VAT and customs duties prior to delivery.

Customs requirements for businesses sending post to Germany

If you are a business customer sending items worth more than €150 to Germany, we offer a Postal Delivery Duties Paid Solution (PDDP) to a limited, but growing list of EU destinations.

How long does it take to send a parcel to Germany?

It depends on which service you use.

Our International Tracked & Signed  and International Tracked services aim to deliver parcels and letters to Germany  in 3-4 working days, whereas our International Economy service takes up to 15 days.

Tips for sending mail to Germany

• Use a trusted shipping solution - such as Click and Drop - to ensure you provide the correct electronic customs data
• Make sure your customs data and customs declaration contains a clear description of your parcel’s contents, written in English
• To help customs clearance, please provide recipient contact details (your email address and/or phone number) so that recipients are contactable if any information is missing or incorrect
• Contact details should be provided within the electronic customs data or in the case of a CN23 on the physical declaration. To ensure this information is protected, do not write these contact details separately on the outside item.
• If possible, please include the postage cost and the parcel’s weight in the electronic customs data
• Ensure your parcel’s contents are not excisable or valued over €1000
• For all untracked items, ensure that an S10 compliant barcode label has been applied.