Lodging Question for Trip to Germany in first two weeks of August

Do you speak German a little? No? If not that will limit you possibilities a bit.

As for places on the Rhein, I think Rick has a pretty good selection for Bacharach and St Goar, ?. In my experience almost everyone in that area spoke English (except for the 30ish couple that I rented a privatzimmer from in Boppard). But, except for them, I had to fight to speak German on the Rhein. I don't know if Rick recommends it, but I know some people have stayed in St Goar at Hotel am Markt and been quite happy. When I was in Bacharach, I saw, but didn't stay at Im Malerwinkel. I was impressed with the beautiful setting. I might try that.

Same goes with Rothenburg and Reutte. I think people on the Wall might have some good suggestions.

Other than Rick's guidebooks and other people on the Wall, if you want to find accommodations in Germany, go to www.[town_name].de. Look for something that looks like "hotels", or "Unterkünfte", or "Übernachten". If they give an email address, try writing to them in English.

"Our question is about finding hotels, bed & breakfasts, etc... We... obviously don't want to find ourselves in a bind somewhere with no more places to stay. Would we be relatively sure of finding a place as we travel or is it best to at least have some reservations made for some of these destinations?"

I think your trip will be much happier if you reserve in advance.

1) "Family" rooms or quads are scarce. You'll need 2 rooms at B&B's but many B&B's have only 1-2-3 rooms total, which may mean finding an establishment that is totally empty or staying in separate places. Not good odds.

2) You'll probably find somewhere, but you may waste a lot of time looking for a place, or may have to settle for somewhere on the periphery or out of town; driving to/from that place will waste $ and vacation time too, and it may not be what you're looking for.

3) Finding a place when one or more of you is tired, hungry, etc. is pretty stressful.

4) Tourist offices these days won't always call around and book for you - they're more like a telephone book than an agent.

5) Germany does have a lot of vacation apartments - that's how most German families travel. I've used them on many occasions and they are a good value and generally wonderful - lots of room for 4 people to unwind, an equipped kitchen for snacks, etc. - but these are generally booked in advance and seldom available on a drop-in basis.

Here's a webpage of apartments for St. Goar on the Rhine - I've stayed in Walter Huppertz "Rheinblick" apartment and it was lovely. Most Rhine and Mosel towns have similar accommodations:

www.st-goar.de/586-1-fewos.html

6) It's a good feeling to know in advance what you're paying, where your place is, and to be able to drop your bags once you arrive, then go have fun.

Tim, I agree strongly with the suggestions offered by Russ. Given that you'll be travelling in August, it would probably be a really good idea to pre-book your lodgings. "Playing it by ear" at that time of year might not work too well. As mentioned it's a good idea to have some idea not only of what area of town you'll be staying, but also the price range.

Check Rick's Germany book for B&B or budget Hotel suggestions. You might find that many of the places are almost booked. As you'll have a car, also check to see which places have parking available.

Good luck and happy travels!

In the larger cities hotel rooms are pretty well booked during the week due to business travelers. August certainly doesn't count as high season for business travelers so you should be ok. But you'll definitely get better rates if you book your hotels at least a week or so in advance via www.hrs.com or www.hotel.de or www.ehotel.de. On your drive from Munich to Berlin a stop at Nuremberg, sidetrip to Bamberg, a stop at Erfurt or Leipzig or a short sidetrip to Lutherstadt Wittenberg (wittenberg.de) where Martin Luther initiated the "protestant movement" would make sense...

We traveled in April a couple years ago and made reservations one day in advance by calling the hotel or using hrs.com already mentioned. We had researched possibilities before we went and had phone numbers, etc.

You appear to be driving. This will give you flexibility when you stay in small towns, you can drive around and look for room available signs (Zimmer frei). In larger cities the car will only be a hinderance.

You might even consider doing Reutte before Munich and then dumping the car for the rest of the trip. Train stations are close to the middle of town in Munich and Salzburg and near a wealth of hotels. (I am unfamiliar with Berlin.) Hrs.com will give you the distance to each hotel from the train station.

Regards, Gary

Burg Stahleck on the Rhine is a castle turned into hostel. They gave us a family room last time we were there. Hostels aren't as much of a bargain for a group but they are still competitive. Be sure to get reservations, it's always full.

Institute San Sebastian in Salzburg is a women's college but they rent out rooms that are essentially hostel rooms. I've stayed a couple of times and liked it.

Pension Poeschel in Rhotenburg was also fine.

I traveled last summer to all of the places you have mentioned (it was a wonderful trip!). I went to Reutte before Munich though. I traveled with three teenagers, but I made all of our reservations prior to leaving. We had great accommodations in all places. We got a quad room, which in every town was huge(except Munich). In Bacharach we stayed at Pension Lettie, in Rothenburg we stayed at Gasthof Goldener Greifen, in Munich at 1st Creatif Hotel Elephant (my least favorite stay of all), in Reutte at Hotel Das Beck, and in Salzburg at Renaissance Salzburg Congress Center Hotel (used travel points for this stay), and in Berlin at Express By Holiday Inn- BERLIN CITY CENTRE (typical Holiday Inn- again used travel points). I preferred our stays in the smaller towns more than the typical hotels in the larger cities. All were clean, breakfasts great, locations perfect. We traveled by train except we rented a car for three days in the Reutte area. Hope this helps some.

have some reservations planned ahead or you may be shocked by the price you may have to pay. your in high season.

Tremendous "Thank You!!" to everyone who helped us out with this question. It's obvious the consensus is to book ahead at this time of year. We're starting to make reservations this evening with the recommendations in Rick's book along with the recommendations here.

I was in so. germany the first week of June...I booked most of my hotels before and did not regret it.....but one day I left open in case my husband wanted to stay near the town he was born in.....well! we spent so much time in different parts of town (you have to give yourself time for the distractions of just wanting to see new things you don't anticipate) that we got on the road late, and tried to get a room by Konstanz (Lake Constance/Bodensee) late in day...7pm. Everything we saw was booked....we actually had to rely on the GPS system we had just gotten....you could ask for hotels in a town (who knew?) and had to drive by sooo many of them (it does not give you the quality of all of them) and we found a good one on our 4th listing try. But if we had just gone around driving......our marriage might have suffered :^) Point is, try and find a place early in the day if you want to do it this way...or early afternoon, and then explore. In August it will be much worse for what I have heard - more tourists.
At least get yourself a list of B&B's or hotels that interest you and their phone #'s off the computer before you go...on the approximate route you will take....and GPS is not a bad thing at all! have fun!