Small town Germany

Oh, btw, I will be traveling the Castle Road area most of the time while there.

Has been an ongoing discussion re whether or not to reserve accommodations ahead. Boils down to what are you going to feel most comfortable with: Disadvantage of booking ahead is it commits you to doing some itinerary planning now and commits you, sort of, to a certain itinerary altho reservations can usually be canceled without penalty if you give them notice. Disadvantage of NOT booking ahead is that you have to be prepared to spend a certain undeterminable amount of time and energy every afternoon stopping seeing and doing the things you came to see, to focus on getting a place to sleep for the night. April is not July or August so accommodations will be easier to get. Part of it depends on whether you have a car or not, how many people in your group, and how flexible they are about not knowing where they will sleep each night. Often you don't have the choice re price and quality that you would have if you book ahead.

Hi Rob,
We always plan ahead and book rooms before leaving, even in small towns (which is what we usually stay in). An alternative would be to make a short list of places you've checked out on the internet before leaving and take the list with you. April shouldn't be hard without reservations, but make sure the places you have in mind will be open.

Paul

Hi Rob, If you do not want to make all your hotel reservations before you travel to Germany, I recommend telephone for a reservation at the hotels two or three days before you arrive there.

The disadvantages of making reservations is that it ties you down or results in forfeited deposits/guarantees and it limits your options.

The disadvantage of not making reservations are that you may not have a place to stay (not likely unless a special event) but more likely is not a good or desirable place.

So plan your trip loosely. don't make reservations but check on availability by email ahead of time in case of a special event. Find places you like. Write down name, email, phone, price, etc. When you know for sure you are going there a few days before or even on your last day in the previous town, call ahead. It is much quicker as you will have your list of best choices. If you have a cell phone with country phone number, you can call while waiting in line at a site or while eating lunch so as not to waste time.

In April, you should not have problems finding a decent desirable place anywhere unless there is a special event. Better yet, you are flexible with a car.

A complete, detailed itinerary is a sign of good planning, that you have researched your options and know what you want to see. Lacking that, I don't know how you can make efficient use of your time. With that you should have no problem committing to accommodations in order to get the best deals.

Since you are staying in small towns, I assume you are looking for the ultimate cultural experience and will also choose small family run places. In my experience (12 weeks this century alone) you can find these online. It seems every town has a website www.[townname].de. On it you can usually find a list of accommodation, with prices and email addresses.

One more thing. Small family run hotel and pensions in smaller towns are less likely to accommodate "English-only" quests. Often you can tell by their websites. On the other hand, by German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA) requirements, any establishment with at least three stars must have at least someone on the staff who speaks English.

Thanks for all of the advice. I'm not looking for 5 star establishments, just clean and friendly. Do you think I will have good luck just happening along a small town and finding the local hotel suitable?

I'm from the south too, and "friendly" is a big thing with me. I've never had any trouble in Germany as long as I try with my pitiful German to communicate first, then they always respond in English. To that end, I go to the www.cityname.de website, and email the apartments and B&B's and see who emails me back and sounds like someone I would like to talk to. Personally, I am too type A to travel with no reservations -- it would freak me out. I have a much better time during the day if I know where I'm sleeping that night. I'll give up some flexibility and have all the planning work done before I am on vacation.

On one of my first trips to Germany this decade, I thought I might need to stay a day longer at one town so I didn't have confirmed reservations for a couple of days. I used the tourist office.

First town: the T/A was in town, cosiderable distance from the train station. The bus driver gave me the wrong directions. After an hour, I finally found the T/A, and they directed me to a hotel. It was fine, but I have no idea what else might have been available.

Second town: the T/A was right there in the station. They directed me to a not-too-distant hotel. Again, it was fine. A couple of years later I came back to the same town. I made reservations in advance online. That place was less expensive and closer, and I liked it better.

I've not winged it since. Going without reservations worked in the off season, but I prefer to find accommodations at home, at my leisure, before I go, when I can compare price, location, features, rather than end up with whatever I stumble across or wherever the T/A wants to put me.

I have always been able to find accomodations.

I had to skip a castle hostel on the Rhine once because it was full, so I got a reservation there before my next trip.

On opening day of Octoberfest, I had a little trouble finding a place because I didn't start looking until the afternoon. Ultimately, I found a very nice pension.

I don't plan my trips well enough to know where I'll stop each night. I call ahead about 10 each morning (to Rick's recommendedations) for where I will be that night. I let them know where I am and when I will arrive and promise to call if I'm delayed. Often I have to call more than one place, but I have never gone homeless.

I travel shoulder season. I might be more concerned if I traveled during summer.

You should have no problem ... especially if you are willing to drive to the next town.

1) Someone commented that small family owned pensions are less likely to accommodate English speaking guests. I disagree. You may have some difficulty communicating, but that doesn't mean that you cannot make this work. Take a German dictionary. Write down the dates (use European date format) you want to stay. Some of the best places that I stayed were places where the owners spoke little English.
2) Hotels in the Rick Steves book are often booked way in advance due to his popularity. Take another guidebook along (e.g. Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, etc.). You can always call the morning that you plan to arrive to see if they have availability.
3) The Tourist Offices are a great source for places to stay.
4) Don't be afraid to go to a place that says "Zimmer Frei" and just see what they have available.

Have a great trip!

This last trip was my fourth time to Germany. First trip was a 12 day tour then on my own. Glad I did it that way, fell in love with Bavaria and went where the wind took me. Have done it that way ever since. Next trip was my Honeymoon. We only booked the last night by the airport and went where the wind took us.
I guess it depends on how adventurous you are. We have been there in march once, September twice and November once.
Sometimes not knowing where you are is a good thing. My fist trip I was in Southern Bavaria and stopped for the night in a hotel I had no idea where. I awoke the next morning to a beautiful view of the Alps. The innkeeper didn't speak English and I don't speak German, but I wouldn't have traded that stay for anything.
P.S. Outside of that first tour all my trips have been by car. Big cities or small.

If you know where you are going to stay the first couple of nights you might want to make a reservation for a room. With the jet lag factor you may not want to hunt for a room for the first couple of nights. After that you could just wing it especially with a car. I have never had a problem getting a room in the area from the Rhine on down through Bavaria and Austria. Sometimes we would not decide to stop until late in the day (even past 8 p.m. a couple of times but I don't recommend waiting that late) and still found a room and this was in May and June. We look for B&B's, pensions and small hotels. With a car you can find something. We have used RS's guide book and sometimes even called one of his recomendations while on the way if we knew what town we would be staying in. Pack light and take a gps. A gps is worth the investment for driving in Europe. Have fun.

Ive done it both ways and admit that winging it is nice.Very flexible.However the downside is that the good places are taken and you take what is left.I like reserving because I get the best places at the best prices.

As the others have mentioned (and I'm sure you know), there are pros & cons for booking ahead. While April is not as busy as July/Aug., it's somewhat the beginning of "the shoulder season". I've noticed that especially in the last few years LOTS of people travel during those times of the year.

The big disadvantage of booking ahead is loss of spontaneity. If you don't have a specific Itinerary and have the freedom to change towns, then "winging it" is certainly an option. However, I prefer the certainty of having a bed when I arrive in a new town rather than wasting valuable touring time looking for a place. That way I'm assured of the class of lodging I prefer, in the area of town that I want to stay.

I learned a valuable lesson several years ago when I arrived in the U.K. without a reservation. I was tired & jet lagged and ended up having to take what was available (which was considerably over my budget). Having something booked for at least the first few nights is important!

Thanks again to everyone for the response!

We are in the process of planning a trip to Germany and are also staying out of the big cities. Have you considered renting an apartment-Lots of times they have nightly rates, or give discounts for multiple nights. This site had a ton of rentals availiable and the owners of each we inquired about got back to us within a day.

http://www.homeaway.com

The first time we were there we used the Tourist office as previously mentioned and it worked pretty slick-The did all the work and didn't need to waste time trying to find a good deal. Good Luck

I much prefer to go through the individual town website, www.[town name].de. Every time I compare that method to one of these booking website I find that the booking website has far less selection and no better price. In the case of Homeaway, I looked at the Black Forest. There were not many town represented, but I found one with which I was knowledgeable. They had only one Ferienwohnung listed whereas the town website had almost 50 equivalent places. For the one place shown on Homeaway, the price was the same but Homeaway wanted a 5 day minimum; the town website showed no minimum.

Bottom line: you can try booking websites but don't depend on them. Try the town website as well.