Accommodations on the go

The words of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith comes to mind...Dream on! Kidding/not kidding. Consider that early May is in season. You won't be avoiding busy tourist season; you'll be in it. I guess it depends on how much time you want to spend worrying about finding accommodations on a daily basis for 4 people. Not always easy. Are you willing to book 2 rooms? Perhaps an airnb? Surely you would eventually find something other than your car with your flexibility for smaller towns, but how much more do you value rambling than stressing out over trying to find accommodations last minute so frequently.

I'd likely book accommodations that can be cancelled up to 24 hours prior (if it's possible) and make adjustments accordingly, rather than having nothing on the books. But, then again I'm a planner.

Also, in case you hadn't considered it, definitely double check the fees involved in dropping off your car in a different country than where you picked it up. Driving within the different countries is fine, but the drop off rate can be pricey. I'd check several companies.

Sounds like a wonderful trip! Enjoy!

Unfortunately the days of just winging it are sadly over. I can not imagine going anywhere in Europe without hotel reservations. Will you find something maybe. But will it be where you want to be? I find that not only did we need hotel reservations we really needed dinner reservations on two recent trips to Europe. Do you really want to be stressed about finding a place to stay? Also if you want to do the normal tourist things so does everyone else and you need reservations for most of those places too.

Look up what’s available for tonight or tomorrow night in some of the possible small towns you’re considering. Whatever is available right now is probably similar to what you will find in early May. Then do a search for the same locations for 2 months from now. This will help you decide what is available if you’re trying to reserve something last-minute vs. at least a few months out.

If you’re wanting to do a lot of the touristy things, you probably will have a decent idea of where you will be before you’re leaving on your trip anyway. We loved our stays in Salzburg, but we also enjoyed staying a few nights in small St. Wolfgang on the nearby lake & mountain setting. You could still be at those types of settings with something special reserved ahead of time, too. In fact, I reserve refundable small hotels six months ahead because I want those special experiences that I love in the smaller towns where the inventory of possible lodging is much smaller.

Sounds like you will be traveling just after Easter kicks off the tourist season. I feel like you do about sleeping in the car, a very good reason for booking in advance. But I also feel like you do about being on a tight schedule, so I try to consolidate my sightseeing. In other words, I will typically select sightseeing destinations that "cluster together" adequately such that I can stay in ONE apartment/room in one location for a few days - and from there visit 2-3 of destinations on day-trip outings. This way I not only have fewer places to book with less packing up / unpacking, but I am also not committed to a strict travel schedule every day... if it rains on one of my 3-4 days in Town X, I can reschedule for an "indoor" destination that day and put off that river cruise or hike for another day.

If I'm basing myself in Munich for a few days, for example, then my other destinations might be Augsburg, Nuremberg, Landshut, Regensburg, Nördlingen, Herrenchiemsee, or places similarly close by.

The 6 cities you have named are indeed pretty far apart for clustering. So you'd be committing to a tight travel schedule by booking those specific places in advance. How many days did you have in mind? That is a lot of ground travel. If your time is limited, I am not convinced that Munich is necessarily an imperative for seeing Germany, or that Salzburg or Prague is necessary for one's first visit to Europe. After all, there's a whole lot of Germany you would be leaving in the dust to reach these places, and it might end up a blur.

I could very easily see a shorter loop through Germany that might include some or all of the following... Aachen, Cologne, Koblenz/Rhine, Stuttgart (auto museums?), Heidelberg, the Black Forest, The German Wine Route, and some of the Half-timbered House Route... then Alsace, France and Strasbourg... a nice springboard for reaching Paris.

Like KD, I am a planner, so I wouldn't be comfortable with this. The only time I wouldn't book ahead is if I was driving across the US. There are enough hotels along US highways that It shouldn't be a big deal. But I would have a booking for any big city or National Park destination.
If you do this, Please come back and give us a trip report. I would love to know how it works out!
I also was wondering how you are managing your car. Are you planning on keeping the same car for the entire trip between Amsterdam, through Germany and then to Prague? I assume you would fly between Prague and Paris.

We are a family of 4 and I can tell you that is going to be your biggest challenge. European hotels almost never have two queen beds, as is common in the US. If a room sleeps 4, it will be on a double bed (which could be anything from a US full to a king) and a sofa bed. Be prepared to get two rooms.

If you aren’t too concerned about price and don’t have a long list of requirements for the hotel (private bath, etc), you’ll find someplace to sleep. As Jean said, try booking something tonight in a small town along the route and see if there is anything adequate.

It's quite a long way from Giessen to Salzburg, you must not be going there for mainly tourist reasons.

Accommodations on the go can still be done, depends on your specific criteria, I would rather reserve since I am picky but it depends on your budget and level of luxury.

In Germany you can get good decent accommodations when you have the flexibility of a car, eg, for Koblenz you don't have stay in the city but rather a small place such as Bad Ems or Limburg, as well in Augsburg as suggested above, most likely cheaper too than what you might find in Munich.

With a car I would have picked spending the time in North Germany, in Schleswig-Holstein and into Mecklenburg, numerous lovely, serene, scenic and culturally revealing towns can be visited and explored in those regions.

I live ca. 1hr north of Gießen.

Here a nice Hotel and Restaurant on the Lahn River near Wetzlar 15km west of Gießen 20 min by car

Naunheimer Mühle

An old mill turned into a Hotel with a good Restaurant

Also a nice places to visit near Gießen :

Kloster Arnsburg

A monastery near Lich 20km south of Gießen 20 min by car

Hotel nearby

Landhaus Klosterwald

10 min walk/ 5 min by car from the monastery

Don't rent a car in the Netherlands and drive to Germany, then to Paris. Take a train from Amsterdam to your first location in Germany and then rent a car. Drop the car in your last stop in Germany and take a train to Paris. If you venture into Austria or Czech, be aware of the need for vignettes if you get on a motorway, and the need for an IDP.

https://portal.gov.cz/en/sluzby-vs/motorway-vignettes-electronic-vignettes-S5400
https://www.asfinag.at/en/toll/vignette/

An IDP is also required in Germany. Our friend from Berlin will quote the law on request.

Regarding uwe04's comments - that's just the sort of place we have stayed in the past, and will do again in the future.

I use the website and app of HRS. It is a German site and does a fair bit in German on the site, but easy to follow. Predominantly for business travellers but very useful for people like me, and I think andee515 to find short notice, decent, usually reasonably inexpensive small hotels which allow cars, often at no extra charge.

I've been disappointed only once ever, at a place in the countryside of Luxembourg, and I probably - almost certainly - misread the listing, so no fault of HRS. There is always somewhere in these smaller towns, either in or nearby.

One of my favourite discoveries through HRS is Kurhaushotel in the hamlet of Bad Salzhausen near Nidda. 34 km southeast of Gießen, beyond Lich, half an hour in the car. There is a train station through the kurpark and woods. Great breakfast, parrot in the lobby, fab staff, lovely location. For tonight they have 3 rooms available, including one through HRS for €111.60 including free parking and excellent breakfast in a large room (they are all large). No a/c, but never needed it, and big windows which open right out. And who wouldn't love a parrot in the lobby? (a big one, the parrot, and the lobby, the parrot house next to the grand piano).

Forgot - they also give you a discount card for the municipal baths across the road. That's why there's a "Bad" in the name.

Just an example, YMMV.

I don't recommend winging it on lodgings. Better to research where you plan to visit, what you plan to see and where you stay.

This last trip in Germany I winged it regarding accommodations a few of times, they were successful in that I knew the hotel would not be booked up on the day of my arrival, twice in Karlsruhe, once in Frankfurt.

I also know what I am doing by taking chances of this sort in high season. I just went to the preferred hotel in both cities near the train station and got the rooms for under 75 Euro, ie basically as a "walk-in."

I'm OK with the wing it perspective if you are. I have done this a few days in advance while in Germany and traveling with a flexible itinerary, but never day of booking.

The biggest downsides are, first, this will consume part of your day to get online and see what you can find and then book it. This may be an easy 5 minutes; this may be a frustrating hour. Second, what you find my be either more money or less quality than you prefer. Are you willng to risk this?

Also, there was a post about an IDP. Not needed in Germany if you have a valid US license. https://de.usembassy.gov/driving-in-germany/ Don't know about Netherlands or France.