Dresden and Golitz

Do you mean Goerlitz? Try www.hotel.de and the websites of the cities under Unterkunft/Accommodations.

I would try the listings on goerlitz.de first. In my experience, town website have a much better selection, particularly for economical places (which don't charge enough extra to pay the booking websites' commission). For example, goerlitz.de shows 36 places, excluding a hostel. Hotels.de shows only 19, some of which are 9-18 miles out of town. Also, with town website, you often get the property's URL and e-mail so you can contact them directly. Booking websites suppress that information to force you to book with them.

Re what Lee said: www.hotel.de does not suppress the address. It also gives you the opportunity to search for a place to stay near sights, railway stations, suburbs, exhibitions, etc.; it also links to a description of the hotel and you can book directly through the hotel.

Just as an FYI, city and town websites also charge a commission from the hotels, B&B'S, pensions, etc. that they list. They don't do this out of the goodness of their hearts. Personally, I like www.hrs.com, others like other hotel search engines and sometimes I just google "cheap hotels, town names".

In July we stayed at Hotel Kipping in Dresden and Hotel Bon Apart in Goerlitz. They were great places for us to stay and I will return to them in the future.

If you're going to use www.goerlitz.de, you had better brush up on your German, because even the English pages will return the booking engine auf Deutsch. If it were me, I would use the personal recommendations from the two previous posters who have actually been there, Rick's guidebook recommendations, other guidebook recommendations, and/or tripadvisor. I use tripadvisor more than any other source (and I validate personal recommendations there).

We have stayed at Hotel und Gasthof Dreibeiniger-Hund in Gorlitz, and were very pleased. Very friendly / helpful management, lots of character and a great breakfast. It's in Rick's Germany book. www.dreibeinigerhund.de

"If you're going to use www.goerlitz.de, you had better brush up on your German, because even the English pages will return the booking engine auf Deutsch." The whole point is that with Goerlitz.de you don't need to use the booking engine. Of 22 properties listed on goerlitz.de, 17 had email addresses included (hotel.de only had 10 listed in Goerlitz, none with an email address). And, goerlitz showed 14 properties that weren't shown on hotel.de. Twelve of those showed an email address; most had a URL. Goerlitz.de also listed 20 Pensionen, some, but not all, of which were duplicate listing as hotels. In addition there were 48 FeWo and 12 Privatzimmer. BTW, the above mentioned Dreibeiniger Hund and Bon Apart are listed on goerlitz.de but not on hotel.de. And, Anna, I never said they suppress the postal address. But I haven't used snail mail for reservations since 1988. I want an email address, and that's exactly what hotel.de doesn't show, even though the hotel has one.

Looks like another good recommendation from someone else who has actually been there. And Jill's hotel appears to be a good one, too. It's number 3 on tripadvisor with 4.5 stars and nothing but "excellent" and "very good" marks from customers. Good luck with your search!

It's been a few years ago, but we enjoyed www.mezcalero.de in Dresden.

We stayed at the Romantik Hotel-Tuchmacher in Gorlitz. It was nice and not too expensive. In Dresden we stayed at the Hilton-Used points to pay for it/ Good location.

If you can visit Bautzen half way between the two cities as well. Not only the Stasi prison is a must-see but also the walled old town and castle. IMO it makes Rothenburg look like a Disney town. The downtown Holiday Inn is in excellent location right across from the Reichenturm and Reichenstrasse and only a short walk from the famous (and really, really good) Wjelbik Sorbian restaurant!!

Michael, please don't take this as a challenge, but I am curious. Twice you mentioned "American style hotel" as if it were a positive. 1 What defines it an "American style hotel" - English speaking staff? Bacon and eggs for breakfast? Are you trying to pretend you are not in Europe? And 2 why is staying at an American style hotel important. Aren't you going to Europe to experience something different? Maybe I should make this a new thread.