Other budget accommodation
Hotels and hostels are not the only budget accommodation options in Germany. There are various types of traditional guesthouses, a large and developing sector of Apartments & self-catering accommodation, private rooms bookable online or through some tourist offices, a camping industry that caters to hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, and holiday experiences on German farms.
Guesthouses
Also a private concern, the Gästehaus (also Gasthof, or sometimes Landhaus when away from towns) can have the function of an inn or tavern (Gaststätte or Wirtshaus) while offering rooms and breakfast. In the south, Gästehäuser can be very traditional in style and atmosphere, with landscapes or folk paintings and local cuisine. They tend to charge lower rates than hotels, but the name can sometimes conceal a more up-market establishment with full restaurant service. Check before booking.
Some establishments describe themselves as B&Bs, but never assume the breakfast is included in the headline price. Check websites (where available) carefully or inquire. Many accept cash payment only or charge fees of the order of €5-6 for payments by credit card.
Apartments & self-catering
Holiday apartments (Ferienwohnungen, colloquially FeWo) for families and groups with full facilities including a kitchen can be had for rates similar to two or three-star hotels. Apartments can be cost-effective for couples or families even for a few days, though usually the rate per day is cheaper over longer periods.
The commonly levied post-stay cleaning fee (Endreinigung), typically of the order of €20 or €30 per apartment, is important to factor into overall cost, especially over short stays.
Generally apartments would be booked by the week or month. But some, labelled Apartmenthotels, are part of hotel establishments and still offer breakfast.
Short-term apartment listings for properties in private ownership are many and are especially attractive options for the big cities. The Germany-based Wimdu site, deutsche-pensionen.de, the US-based Roomorama portal (which provides links to other accommodation sites), vrbo.com, and the various national homepages of Airbnb, have plenty to browse and choose from. Housing Anywhere is searchable in German and English.
The site mitwohnzentrale-franken.de – not a national portal – is searchable in English and offers monthly rental rates, often for shared accommodation. The Oh-Berlin website offers searchable Berlin properties with daily charges as well as pension, B&B and hostel options. The Coming Home site covers rentals in and around Berlin and Potsdam.
The local or regional accommodation agency for rooms or shared apartments (Mitwohnzentrale) can be found by internet searches, sometimes with the help of tourist offices. Searching 'Mitwohnzentrale' with the destination will bring up options to examine but this will also be best used by German-speakers, who can better grapple with terms and conditions.
Private rooms
These can be even less expensive than a pension but can still offer breakfast. It’s easiest to check on the choices at the Zimmervermittlung – some houses only accept guests this way – but signs to look for are 'Zimmer', 'Zimmer frei' or 'Fremdenzimmer'. Note also pension.de, which has many room listings, in Hotels garnis & pensions section above.
Camping & caravan parks
The German enthusiasm for the outdoors is catered for by more than 2000 camping and caravan parks, more numerous in western parts. Sites generally offer access to communal bathrooms and kitchens, many offer kiosks and sometimes the facilities are extremely good, including restaurants and some quite elaborate swimming pools. Most charges for a car, caravan and family in high season are in the €30 range or higher. Many parks also offer self-contained holiday cabins (Ferienhäuser).
The Netherlands-based ACSI collects information about European camping sites and through the Eurocampings site the websites of hundreds of German camping grounds can be reached. PiNCAMP is the Europe-wide campsite booking portal of Germany’s national automobile organisation ADAC, but users will have to rely on browser translations from German.
Farm accommodation
Farm stays are being marketed as an experience in themselves, especially for families, offering accommodation in traditional buildings in a farming atmosphere, some including hands-on experiences for children. At the landreise.de website are more than 3000 listings of farm holiday locations with basic information, links to individual websites and contact details. The landsichten.de site translates quite well in browsers and covers concerns offering stays in manor houses, even small castles. The Berlin-based marketer's name is a mouthful: Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft für Urlaub auf dem Bauernhof und Landtourismus in Deutschland. The movement is especially strong in Niedersachsen under the banner of AG Urlaub & Freizeit auf dem Lande, whose listings can be reached through the Landsichten home page.
So-called hay hotels – basically barn accommodation for travellers packing a sleeping bag – are being promoted as budget accommodation. A night with basic breakfast can be competitive with hostel dormitories.
