Shopping across the border

A tip you’ll hear a lot once you live here: go to dm in Perl. It’s just across the Moselle from Schengen, and people pop over for shampoo, toothpaste, washing powder, nappies and cleaning things. Others go to Trier, which has several dm shops in town. The Trier newspaper says the drugstores in Trier and the border towns are full of customers from Luxembourg.

The numbers back this up, but only for some things. Here’s what the official figures say, and what to know before you go.

Check before you go: Sundays and holidays

In Germany the shops are shut on Sundays and public holidays. Supermarkets and dm close by law. In Saarland (Perl, Saarbrücken) and Rhineland-Palatinate (Trier), the state’s shop-opening law only lets shops open Monday to Saturday. Bakeries, flower shops, newsagents and petrol stations may open for a few hours, and towns can allow up to four shopping Sundays a year. On 24 December, shops close at 14:00 at the latest.

Germany has public holidays that Luxembourg doesn’t, so you can find everything closed on a normal working day here. Most of them are Christian feast days.

Holiday	2026	2027	Perl (Saarland)	Trier (Rhineland-Palatinate)	Luxembourg
New Year’s Day	Thu 1 Jan	Fri 1 Jan	shut	shut	holiday
Good Friday	Fri 3 Apr	Fri 26 Mar	shut	shut	not a holiday
Easter Monday	Mon 6 Apr	Mon 29 Mar	shut	shut	holiday
1 May	Fri 1 May	Sat 1 May	shut	shut	holiday
Europe Day	Sat 9 May	Sun 9 May	not a holiday	not a holiday	holiday
Ascension	Thu 14 May	Thu 6 May	shut	shut	holiday
Whit Monday	Mon 25 May	Mon 17 May	shut	shut	holiday
Corpus Christi	Thu 4 Jun	Thu 27 May	shut	shut	not a holiday
National Day	Tue 23 Jun	Wed 23 Jun	not a holiday	not a holiday	holiday
Assumption	Sat 15 Aug	Sun 15 Aug	shut	not a holiday	holiday
German Unity Day	Sat 3 Oct	Sun 3 Oct	shut	shut	not a holiday
All Saints’ Day	Sun 1 Nov	Mon 1 Nov	shut	shut	holiday
Christmas Day	Fri 25 Dec	Sat 25 Dec	shut	shut	holiday
26 December	Sat 26 Dec	Sun 26 Dec	shut	shut	holiday

The ones to watch are in bold. Good Friday, Corpus Christi (a Catholic feast, always a Thursday in late May or June) and 3 October are holidays in both German states but not in Luxembourg. Assumption (15 August) is a holiday in Saarland, so Perl is shut, but not in Rhineland-Palatinate, so Trier opens as normal (in 2027 it falls on a Sunday, so everything is shut anyway). It works the other way too: Europe Day and National Day are normal days in Germany, so the shops there open as usual unless it’s a Sunday. And remember that any holiday falling on a Saturday still shuts German shops that day. This year, note that 26 December 2026 is a Saturday and German shops will be closed.

France and Belgium. French public holidays include 8 May, 14 July and 11 November, which aren’t holidays here. In Moselle (Thionville, Metz) 26 December is also a public holiday, and so is Good Friday in towns with a Protestant or shared church. In France, food shops may open on Sunday mornings until 13:00. Check each shop’s own page before a holiday.

What’s actually cheaper, and where

The best source is the Ministry of the Economy’s Étude 4 frontières. The 2026 edition compared prices from November 2025 for identical products (same barcode) in 25 supermarkets: 7 in Luxembourg and 18 within 30 to 50 km of the border in Germany, France and Belgium.

• Drugstore and household things (body care, make-up, toothpaste, cleaning products, washing powder): Germany comes out about 23% cheaper than Luxembourg on average. Only 14% of the products found in both countries were cheaper here.
• Everything together: Germany was about 7% cheaper than Luxembourg and France about 4% cheaper. Belgium was about 12% dearer.
• Drinks (water, juice, beer, wine, spirits): this is where Luxembourg does well. About half the drinks were cheaper here than in Germany, on average they were slightly cheaper here than in France (spirit-based aperitifs by about 16%, though water was cheaper in France), and much cheaper than in Belgium.

A few honest caveats from the study itself:

• It looked at supermarkets, not at dm or other drugstores. The 23% is for the drugstore shelves in German supermarkets around Trier.
• German shops don’t allow price checks in store, so the German figures come from till data. The ministry says this could partly explain why Germany looks so good.
• Fresh meat, fruit and vegetables sold by weight aren’t included, and it’s not a weighted shopping basket.
• It depends a lot on the shop. Four of the seven Luxembourg supermarkets were below the average for the whole region, and where the same chain has shops on both sides, the Luxembourg shop was cheaper in 6 out of 8 cases.

What residents actually do. A 2024 Ilres survey of 1,033 residents found that 55% buy hygiene and beauty products abroad and 67% buy clothes abroad, but only about 4 in 10 buy food outside Luxembourg. Of those buying hygiene and beauty products abroad, 78% said they mostly buy them in Germany, 12% in France and 5% in Belgium.

The wider picture. Eurostat’s 2025 figures (national averages, EU average = 100) look at it from a different angle:

	Luxembourg	Germany	France	Belgium
Food	123.5	102.7	107.9	104.5
Alcoholic drinks	102.0	85.9	100.9	112.7
Tobacco	87.5	116.1	191.1	144.4
Clothing	111.7	102.4	97.0	94.4

Luxembourg has the highest food prices in the EU. Tobacco, on the other hand, is much cheaper here than in any of the three neighbours. Alcohol is mixed: on national averages Germany is cheaper, but in the border supermarkets the ministry compared, about half the drinks were cheaper here.

What’s cheaper in Luxembourg

The traffic goes both ways. The same Ilres survey found that cross-border commuters come to Luxembourg above all to fill up their tanks. Things that are cheaper here:

• Fuel. On 19 October 2026 a litre of Euro-super 95 averaged €1.79 in Luxembourg, against €1.99 in Belgium, €2.18 in Germany and €2.23 in France. Diesel was €2.08 here, €2.27 in Germany, €2.35 in France and €2.35 in Belgium. These are national averages from the EU’s Weekly Oil Bulletin and change every week. Filling up before you cross is an easy saving.
• Tobacco, and many drinks (see above).

What about VAT?

Luxembourg’s standard VAT rate is 17%, against 19% in Germany and 20% in France. Luxembourg also has lower rates of 14%, 8% and 3% for some goods. So VAT alone doesn’t explain why German shampoo is cheaper. The ministry’s study doesn’t try to explain the gaps, but it lists taxes, rents, wages and suppliers’ territorial restrictions (brands making shops buy through set channels in each country) among the things that affect prices.

You pay the VAT of the country you buy in. There’s nothing to claim back and nothing to declare for normal shopping.

The dm shops nearest to Luxembourg

dm has 4,189 shops in 14 European countries, but none in Luxembourg, France or Belgium. The closest are just over the German border, and Perl is the nearest:

• Perl (Saarland, next to Schengen): three dm shops, at In der Dörrwiese 1-3, In der Dörrwiese 4 and Erlenweg 6. The Dörrwiese 1-3 shop opens 7:00 to 20:00, is closed on Sunday and has free parking.
• Trier: several dm shops, including Brotstraße 46-47 in the pedestrian centre (8:00 to 20:00 Wednesday to Friday and 9:00 to 20:00 on Saturday; closed Sunday). Rossmann, the other big German drugstore chain, is in Trier too.

Use dm’s own shop finder for the shop nearest your route, as hours vary.

Before you go

Shop hours. On weekdays and Saturdays, shops in Rhineland-Palatinate (Trier) may open 6:00 to 22:00 and in Saarland (Perl) 6:00 to 20:00. Each shop sets its own hours within that. For Sundays and holidays, see the box above. The Trier paper expected Luxembourg’s Europe Day holiday (9 May) to bring lots of shoppers over.

Border checks. Germany has temporary checks on its land borders, including with Luxembourg, until at least 15 March 2027. France has them from 1 November 2026 to 30 April 2027. In practice that has meant queues on some crossings at busy times. Take your ID card or passport.

Money and paying. Germany, France and Belgium all use the euro, so no exchange. Cards are widely taken (dm lists contactless payment), but cash is still common in Germany: in 2025 it was used for 45% of everyday payments. A little cash is handy for bakeries and markets.

Parking in Trier. The city’s seven central car parks are open 24 hours. They cost €1.20 for each started half hour, up to €18 a day Monday to Saturday and €3.60 on Sundays and holidays.

By bus instead of car. Public transport is free in Luxembourg, but only up to the border. For the rest you need a cross-border ticket: a RegioZone ticket costs €3 for 2 hours or €5 for a day. Since January 2026 you can’t buy them on the bus; use the CFL go app. Buses run, for example, to Trier (lines 302, 303 and 306), Perl and Nennig (402), Thionville (501, 503), Arlon (832, 950, 991) and Messancy (801). If you have a Deutschlandticket, it is valid on the RGTR commuter buses such as the 303. Second-class trains to Athus, Audun-le-Tiche and Volmerange-les-Mines are free.

What you can bring back

Within the EU you can buy as much as you like for your own use, with the tax already paid where you bought it. Luxembourg Customs uses the EU guide amounts to judge what counts as personal use:

• 800 cigarettes, 400 cigarillos, 200 cigars or 1 kg of tobacco
• 10 litres of spirits, 20 litres of fortified wine (port, sherry), 90 litres of wine (of which no more than 60 litres sparkling), 110 litres of beer

Above those amounts customs may ask you to show it’s for you and not for resale. If you’re under 17, stricter rules can apply.

Fuel: you can bring fuel into Luxembourg in your car’s normal tank plus a spare can of up to 10 litres. Going into Germany, German customs accept fuel in the tank plus up to 20 litres in reserve cans.

Is it worth the trip?

That depends on what’s on your list and where you live. If you’re near the border, or passing anyway, a drugstore run can save real money. If it’s a special trip, count the fuel, parking, time and the odd queue at the border, and it may come out about even for a small shop.

Buying here has its own advantages: it’s closer, Luxembourg comes out cheaper for drinks, tobacco and fuel, several local supermarkets are below the regional average, and your money stays with the shops and people around you. Many of us do a bit of both.