Average Cost of Gasthaus/Pension in Germany and Austria?

I second the recomendation of booking.com. They have a lot of small hotels that are not on other websites.

If you want to stay in small villages, I don't think you will find the lowest rates on ANY booking website, including booking.com, HRS, Venere, etc.

In small towns in Germany, there are a lot of small, family run Pensionen, Gasthäuser, and Privatzimmer, that charge too little to afford the booking website's commission. You will usually only find these accommodations by using the town's own website, often www. town_name.com.

Sometimes places will have a Dreibettzimmer, other times they can place a rollaway in a Dobbelzimmer.

I would strongly advise making reservations in advance. If you just roll into town late afternoon, the best places will likely be taken and you will be left with what no one else wanted (usually the properties handled by booking websites).

Lee's advice is sound. The local tourist office websites have lists and webpages with the best deals in small towns, generally. Some of these private owners have their own websites too, where you can book directly, sometimes in English. Low prices, no booking fees, no advance payment required, these are usually the rule. There aren't many triples around but a double and a single isn't going to cost much more.

Where are you traveling? The Black Forest towns tend to be very reasonable. My single rooms there have been under 20 Euros with breakfast.

As an example, here's a Bed and Breakfast offering triple for about 50 Euros in Bühl-Eisental, a little town in the BF not far from Baden-Baden; the owners have their own website in English.

http://www.huber-eisental.de/html/guest_house.html

As with many B&B operators, you get the best price if you stay 3 days; a surcharge of several Euros often applies if you stay fewer.

Alternatively, you might enjoy an apartment. Here's one run by the Harter family in the village of Albbruck, as an example. Full kitchen, 39 Euros/night for the 3 of you. Like this one, apartment owners usually add a cleaning fee onto the total bill:

http://www.ferienwohnung.harter.de/index1.html

Contact the town TI office directly, and you'll almost always get someone who can help you in English. They know their towns and accommodation best and can advise you on location, etc.

One more thing about the Black Forest villages - hosts issue a "Konus" card to guests which allows you to use trains and buses for outings around the BF at no charge during your stay.

Russ's point about the Konus card is important. I stayed three nights in the Black Forest in a town called Bad Herrenalb. My Privatzimmer cost me €25/nt with an additional Kurtax of €2. With the Kurtax I got a Konus card. The first day I took the bus round trip to Baden-Baden (a €6,40 value). The next day I went round trip by bus, streetcar, and train to Calw (home of Herman "Steppenwolf" Hesse)(at least a €17 value). The last day used the Konus card for part of my trip into Karlsruhe by streetcar (only a €1,10 value). So I got travel worth about €25 for €6.

Incidently, the town website for Bad Herrenalb list 135 properties, not all in town. Booking.com lists 13 properties, some also not in town.

I paid €25/nt for a single Privatzimmer I found on the town website. The least expensive place on Booking was out of town for €29/nt. The least expensive place in town (only 2 rooms available) with Booking was €33/nt. After that they had places at €49 & €50/nt. All three places were more (2) or the same price (1) on Booking as on the town website. No wonder Booking doesn't give you the actual website of the accommodations; they don't want you to know what you might otherwise have paid.

On a recent (Oct 07) trip around Bavaria I stayed 11 nights in small towns for an average of €34/nt for an Einzelzimmer. A Dreibettzimmer (or even a Doppelzimmer plus Einzelzimmer) should not cost three times as much, so I would say that €100/nt is a good estimate, perhaps a little on the high side.

I found, in general, that Bavaria was a little more expensive than, for example, the Black Forest, but still pretty economical.

I assume you are driving--not taking the train. Therefore, as Lee indicated, you can find "zimmer frei's" in small villages, or on the outskirts of larger cities (like Munich) for a lot less $$. I have found that in Austria, private zimmers will charge for the room (will add more for another person), whereas in Germany they generally charge per person for the room. We also travel as a family of three and often the "zimmer frei" will not be able to accommodate us. So, it does take some time to find lodging. We try to start looking late afternoon. Most zimmers will not answer their doors when it approaches dark. Hope this info helps. PM me for lodging info if you know what towns/cities you will be visiting. Have fun making lifetime memories!

Wow! Thanks everyone for the great information. I guess I'll be looking at village web sites.

Here's our itinerary, all high tourist areas:

Fly into Frankfurt
Stay near Rudesheim am Rhein first night
Stay near Rothenburg ob der Tauber second night
Stay near Fuessen third night
Down into Italy for a couple of days
back to Salzburg
A night at Schloss Mittersill (Great castle in the middle of Austria)
A night around Ulm
then our last night around Heidelberg (Lived there in the Army in the 80's)

If anyone knows of any good Pensions or Gasthauses to stay in around any of these locations, I would very much appreciate the info.

Thanks!
-David

Well, I think you need Liegewagen on a night train, not Dreibettzimmer. With that itinerary, you'll have to choose between sightseeing and sleeping.

You need to spend more than 2 nights in Italy if you're bothering to go there. At a minimum, drop Ruedesheim and go straight to Rothenburg on Day 1.