I am German and had DD in Germany, DS in Scotland.
Germany has three options: homebirth, "Geburtshaus" (=midwife-led unit), hospital. Hospitals are the default option. The Geburtshaus is quite hotel-like and you only go there to give birth, then leave a couple hours later. Costs aren't completely covered by insurance, most have to pay around €200 to give birth there. Some places wave this for low-income parents. There is an overnight fee in hospitals, usually in the lower two digits. Hospitals are very CS-happy and prone to intervention from what I gather. Also chronic issues with consent and BF advice tends to be from the 50s. Much of German newborn care is still influenced by Johanna Haarer, who wrote advice books in Nazi Germany and until the 1960s. The gist was, the greatest danger is to spoil a newborn and turn it into a little tyrann. Obviously, there is a shift away from this now but these ideas were still common place in the 50s/60s (i.e. current grandparent generation).
Homebirths are less common because barely any midwife can afford to pay the insurance for it. They increased it drastically a couple of years ago and would have liked to do away with homebirths all together.
All births, including CS, have to be attended by a midwife by law. Old, white, usually male surgeons have recently tried to overthrow that, because why would you possible care about the mother during a CS...
You have to book your own midwife for pre- and postnatal care but she can visit you however often you want. Some midwifes only do prenatal or only postnatal care or only do homebirths - some do any combination of this. In some cases, hospitals have "Beleghebammen" who have a contract with hospitals and can supervise births there. In that case, you are the one who picks and hires them and will already know your midwife prior to giving birth. If you don't have a Beleghebamme, you get whoever is on duty.
I find most German midwifes a little to keen on globuli and accupuncture but mine was not too miffed when I told her I am not into it. Because of the midwife shortage, they have to be booked the moment the test is positive. I mean this in the most literal sense. Otherwise you have to see your gyno for every check-up and they are usually oversubscribed (=2h waits were not uncommon). If you want a homebirth and go over your due date, you have to attend a gyno appointment three days after your due date in order for the midwifes insurance to cover it. There are no real guidelines for this and plenty of cases in which women were forced to consent to exams they were not comfortable with in order to be "allowed" to give birth at home. Essentially, the system is designed around hospital births.
After the birth, there are a couple of compulsary appointments at the pediatrician to ensure baby is doing fine. They continue into teenage years and you will get an offical reminder from your local health institute if you miss it. They might also send SS around if someone missed a few to check on the child's welfare. Insurance covers classes for mums after birth, which primarily aim to strengthen the pelvic floor and close your tummy muscles without leaving a gap. The general rule is to spend two weeks in bed after giving birth and then slowly ease into things. It is one year paid parental leave + 2 months if the father takes some, too. Additionally, you can take another 2 years unpaid leave. Your employer has to honour your contract afterwards, so even if you stay home for three years, they have to accept you back. The clock starts over with every child but the money in year one is based on your income of the last 12 months, so if you don't go back between kids, you lose money. If the company has 15+ people, they are legally obliged to offer your part-time work.
Finding a nursery is a nightmare though. You have to register the moment you've got the birth certificate if you want to go back after one year and if you want to go back sooner and need a nursery, you're screwed. On the upside, it is about €200-€300 per month and child, all inclusive and full-time.
Overall, I found the Scotland version much more relaxed. I had homebirths with both and enjoyed the hand-off approach over here much more. I did pay for the Harmony test with both children in remember that some of that cost with DD was refunded by my German insurance but not much. I only wanted that + the standard ultrasounds so didn't mind not having to go and see someone every two weeks. There is a lot more pregnancy faff in Germany and we have a weird thing with herbal teas, which need to be drunk from pregnancy week x to week y. From what friends said, it is much easier to get a CS or PDA in Germany. They also seem to favour a CS over a complicated instrumental vaginal delivery in Germany. Postnatal care is much better, too. Most couples pay for a family room but if you don't, you will be in a room with max. one other person. Room-in is standard now. Some hospitals have G&A but weirdly only seem to offer this for stiches, not for the birth - no idea why.
Someone mentioned the pain thing earlier: It is less that we think that childbirth should be painful, it is more that the German view on pain in general seems to be very different to the UK-perspective. For example, we have all grown up being taught that paracetamol and ibuprofen are bad for our kidneys and to avoid painkillers if at all possible. Pain is part of life and usually tells you that there is something wrong, that needs addressed. If there is a forseeable timelimit on it, e.g. "oh, I have got a headache because I didn't drink enough water today" we don't react with a painkiller but will instead rehydrate. If that is your daily reality, then you know that pain is nothing to be afraid of, it is just part of life and will pass. Of course we use meds if things get too rough but not nearly as quickly as I regularly see it happen here in the UK. I do think it makes a difference in how we approach birth. On average, there seems to be less fear of the pain and less uncertainty of whether we'll be able to manage. Nothin to do with wanting women to suffer.