Traveling with 4 adults and 3 children in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Prague

In Europe hotel rooms are proportionally more expensive per person and breakfast is usually included.

Some strategies might be to email some smaller hotels and ask if they have a double room and a family room for four. You might also ask each small hotel proprietor if they have an apartment to rent. We found booking.com to be easy to use to filter for larger group rooms.

You could also look on vrbo for private apartments to rent.

If you are staying outside of major metropolitan centers, the town's website can be a good source of family friendly hotels and apartments.

However with a group of 7 you will not get many kid breaks on food and lodging. Transportation, if you are traveling by train, that's where you'll see some significant breaks for groups and especially families.

I have been to all 4 of the places you mention. Of the 4, I was glad we were on a RS tour when we visited Switzerland as it is one of the most expensive countries we have visited in our 13 years of going to Europe - Norway so far has been the most expensive. Glad you are using RS information at he usually recommends fairly priced places to stay and eat.

Unfortunately.. Switzerland as Charlie says is VERY pricey.
No matter how you look at it.. you are trying to find accomadation for 7 people.. that's not cheap. I figure 100 euros per two people is a normal budget to moderate price for most places ( of course Switzerland will be higher and Prague may be a bit lower.. but averaging it out) ..
So.. you are basically looking at spending 300-350 euros a night.
I would stop looking at the RS books and get on a booking site like booking.com for hotels. Set a budget and work from there..

Perhaps short term apartment rentals. .but I wouldn't bother for stays of less then 5 nights myself.

Of course rates are generally quoted for rooms with two people in them.. not three or four. You have to book triple and quad rooms.. and of course since many small hotels only have a few of those types of rooms.. they are pricier.

We have a poster here who is quite experienced with Germany.. his name is Lee.. hopefully he sees this and can suggest some cheaper places to stay..

I have been to Switzerland twice.. and frankly.. its a beautiful but expensive country.. I would keep visit there shorter if money is an issue..

I second the suggestion of looking for apartments. Another option is to look for family hotels (Familienhotel) on the net. They will have a bigger selection of family suites. In Switzerland you can start with this list. One example I found there was the Muchetta family hotel in Davos (nice mountain village relatively close to Austria and Germany) that has a suite that should house your entire party for only 95 CHF/night in low season (mid June to mid July).

Rooms with 3-4 beds will be very snug and likely uncomfortably so. You CAN rent apartments for as few as 2-3 nights in Germany in many cases, usually with a small Zuschlag (supplement) for short stays (often called a cleaning fee, which is what it really is for the owners... for them, two 3-night stays means two cleanings vs. 1 cleaning for a 6-night stay.)

Places for 7+ are somewhat scarce; you still might need two apartments together. Look for owners like Walter Huppertz in St. Goar, Germany, who operates a 3-apartment operation in Germany's Rhine Valley:
LORELEY APARTMENTS

If you had some more specific DESTINATIONS in your post for G-A-S, you might get better tips.

You should also check hostels if that is an option. Some of them have family rooms. Maybe someone else can suggest one and let you know what was their experience staying in one.

Hi Paula,

That's too general a question for anyone to really give help with.

Where are you looking to stay, meaning towns? The countries are quite large and prices vary greatly between staying in a city (as Salzburg) or nearby (Berchtesgaden or St. Gilgen).

Here are two place's we love staying near Berchtesgaden (30 min. from Salzburg):

http://mayringerlehen.de/englisch/index.php

http://www.friedwiese.de/enska/isl.htm

While the Friedwiese doesn't have apartments, for the room prices, and discounts for all the kids, you could get a couple of rooms.
Both places include buffet breakfasts with the room price.

Paul

When traveling with a non-standard group (really anything other than 2 adults in one room), I've had the best luck calling hotels directly, telling them what I need (describe the group and number of nights) and asking what they can offer. I've ended up sometimes in an apartment that's owned by the hotel, sometimes in two rooms and sometimes in suites. When they suggest what they have that might work, I ask the price. If it sounds like it works and the price is reasonable, I book it.

Your best bet for a group that size might be to research a 2BR (or larger) rental apartment or house on sites like VRBO and Homeaway - we've had good luck with both when traveling internationally. You'll have a lot more room for your group versus trying to shoehorn everyone into hotel rooms, with the added advantage of being able to self cater and prep a lot of your own meals...a significant cost saver over having to dine out all the time. The maximum savings will be realized for stays of 5-7 nights, but even shorter stays might be more cost-effective than hotels or B&B's...and significantly more comfortable (IMHO).