I planned the trip that will cover Germany, Belgium and France. I am aware that there are environmental zones in those countries and I need the correct badge for my car to enter them.
So my question is do I need to buy a badge for each country separately or one (German for example) is enough for all countries? And if one is applied then which one is better to have?
In Belgium, there is only one environmental zone today (November 2017) - center of Antwerpen.
There is no badge for it but unless you drive a car with Belgian or Dutch licence plates you have to register it before driving into this zone (licence plates are automatically controlled with cameras). (Source, More information )
In France, there are environmental zones in Paris, Lyon and Grenoble. To drive into those zones you need a French Crit'Air badge. A German Umweltplakette is not valid in France. You can buy Crit'Air on its official page of French government
In Germany you don't need this green badge in every town. Forget about the yellow and the red badge if you plan to buy one, almost all restricted places want to see the green one. Plan your trip well and try to avoid those cities for which you need the badge and you have some money left for a nice meal. Uh ! Btw. 5€ is only valid at certain shops in Germany. From abroad you have to pay around €20
