air conditioning
 

How necessary is air conditioning in the hotel I book for Berlin in July? Many hotels do not have it listed. I am from Florida and concerned because you cannot sleep in summer without A/C due to the humidity.

It really depends. How do you feel about staying in a hotel with no A/C when it is 85-90°F outside? One cannot predict the actual weather on your travel dates. Before this current hot spell, it was actually quite cool.

That being said, I would err on the side of caution and go for the A/C knowing that it probably won't make your room super cold.

lots of people will tell you that you don't need it in Berlin, but the July we were there it was stinking hot and we were glad of it.

sorry it's so long ago I've forgotten where we stayed!

It is not Florida humid, so don't worry about that.

It's 90 right now in Mittelfranken and it is not unbearable.

Hello
Ac question comes quite often.
My view on AC is the following :
- you are European, usually you don't need AC
- you are US, you usually need an AC

You are US AND you ask if you need it -> you need it.

BTW it is 38 in Bruxelles right now and the same in Paris.
Most tourists are claiming they can't breathe...
I was in Paris and slept with the window open, which is very rare for me - alt least be ready to use earplugs !
Berlin can be hotter than Paris as it is more continental weather.

Ps : I have never bothered with Fahrenheits, but I think 38 C is above 100 F : x 9/5 + 32 no ? Anyway 38 C is hot, it is feverish for your body...
F, miles, gallons, ounces, pounds, stones... I'm surprised you talk in months and not in moons :-)

@pariswat
Not only tourists are claiming they can't breathe. I can't either and it's *only* 33C in Antwerp. This is because of the high ozone concentration in the air which is absolutely unhealthy.
I'm glad we have A/C in our house.

@4QueenBee
Do look for a hotel with A/C.

just come to Cornwall!

overcast and 19C - perfect.

It really depends on the weather, which you cannot predict. If you were there this past week, looks like you would need AC, by the time I get there week after next maybe not.

What I have done is book hotels with AC that I can cancel without penalty if I choose. It's true that there aren't many to choose from if you're looking at the budget end. I booked the Motel One at Leipziger Platz and will probably keep it even if I don't need AC as the location looks good for getting around.

The last 4 times I was in Berlin in July, I was very happy to be in a hotel with AC. Right now, temps in Germany are hitting 100°F. It is not comfortable here. All of the stores have run out of fans and people are just plain miserable.

Book a place with AC. If you don't need it, you don't have to use it as most hotels have windows that open.

Ok, I don't get this at all, either.

Yes, it's been about 90 or 100 deg here in Garmisch, and I (obviously) don't have air conditioning. I just close the shutters during the day to shut out the sun and open the windows at night to get the cool air into the apartment. I truly don't need a/c and wouldn't even think of looking for it, even travelling in July.

s

s, I agree for towns in the countryside. Like Garmisch. Or where I live. But not for big cities - like Berlin. It's unbearable there. It doesn't cool off much at night. Cool air? LOL

Ok, so add a fan. Or two. Bam. Done.

Again, I wouldn't even think of asking for a/c, yes, even in a big European city.

Doesn't cool off at night??? According to wetter.de, Berlin will be 22 deg C at night tonight. Monday night it will be 17 C and Tuesday night it will be 14 C. Cool enough, lol. Especially if you keep the shutters closed during the day.

Honestly.

s

LOL, now this is something we cannot agree upon, it seems. In the end everyone must decide for themselves. I admit I'm used to really cool nights.

But cooling off at night? Have a look at this site for example: http://wetterstationen.meteomedia.de...ahl=vorhersage (Berlin-Kreuzberg)

It's not the point what the minimum temperature is - that's in the morning, about sunrise. But did you have a look at the temperature at *night* - and I mean before the weather change arrives in the next days? For example at midnight? Still 27, 28 C! Even worse last night - it was 27 C at 3 am. Is that cool enough to sleep? Not for me.

Keeping the shutters closed during the day ... 1) Are there shutters at your hotel window? 2) Will the maid keep the shutters closed? Do you want to go back at noon to check?

I.

It is not Florida humid, so don't worry about that.

Sorry, but I disagree with that one. Humidity is humidity regardless of where it is and even if it does get "cool at night" that doesn't mean it also gets dry at night.

How many hotels in Germany are run by people/companies who have decided to install air conditioning in a city where "it is not needed?" Does that sound like some sort of sound business practice? No, I didn't think so, either.

I live in Florida and I've been to Berlin and other parts of Germany when it is hot and humid and I wouldn't consider staying on some property that wasn't <B>air conditioned</B> with heat in the winter and cooling in the summer.

swandav2000
You remind me of my granddad, dad and my husband.
Gramps and pops are no longer amoung the living
But hubby does not relish (throwing money out the window and poision into the atomishere )

I don't happen to like air conditioning but in big cities like Berlin, I need to close the windows because I am sensitive to noise, and even earplugs are not enough in a city as busy as Berlin.

I also agree with the observation that hotel service people will often leave the curtains open after cleaning the room, and it can make the room an oven. Also, most hotel rooms have no cross ventilation.

<i>Doesn't cool off at night??? </i>

In theory yes but night is also when the buildings release the heat from the day. It's the harsh reality of living in a city

Heck, even though I live in a village, it didn't get comfortable enough to open the windows until around 1:00 AM this morning and with the fans pulling air through the house, but at 8:00AM when we had to button the house back up, it was only cooled to 25°C.

This too: In big cities like Berlin, unless you wear a sleep mask, closing the curtains is usually the only way to make the room dark at night. Too many bright lights outside, and of course the rising sun will wake you too. Hotel room curtains are usually pretty effective in shutting out most air flow as well as light. They are not like shutters.

s, I agree for towns in the countryside. Like Garmisch. Or where I live. But not for big cities - like Berlin. It's unbearable there. It doesn't cool off much at night. >>

the July we were in Berlin, it was still hot at 11pm - I remember walking back to the hotel after being at the Opera [not air-conditioned] and it was steaming. without the a/c I don't think that we'd have slept a wink.

Yes, we always look for air conditioning for summer travel in cities, which trap heat in a way that places in the country don't. And the low temps are meaningless. For example, Basel was supposed to have a low of 20 degrees last night. From a high of 38, it had "cooled" to 29 when we went to bed at 1 am. I got up at 5 am to open the terrace door and let the cooler air in -- that's usually the coolest time of the day and it was still 22 degrees. A few hours later, we were back up to 30 (it's 36 now). We have AC at home and are grateful for it!

A city hotel room that has carpeted floors, gets afternoon sun, and has no AC is an oven in summer heat. And it will stay uncomfortably warm well after dark.

FWIW, we really liked the Hyatt in Berlin. You get AC and a top floor pool. And you're across the street from an air-conditioned mall. No problems beating the heat there!

We live in Charleston SC.
So I run the AC.
Hubby just has to deal with it.
We have a large older home,But the kids are grown so I only keep our area cool

ok but Charleston, SC had the humidity element that most of Europe has the good fortune to not have. If Continental Europe was a humid as the US East Coast in Summer, then they would have invented A/C 200 years ago, if not more.

There is much more new construction in the US that facilitated adopting air conditioning. It is much harder to retrofit centuries-old European buildings, or to fashion air conditioners to fit into non-standard windows -- or upgrading home electrical systems to handle air conditioners, etc etc.

It has been plenty hot in Italy in summer for as long as anybody can remember, and Italians have excelled in machinery making. The reasons Italians have not adopted air conditioning is not because they don't get overheated in hot humid weather (of which there is plenty).

Also, it is a moot point because Europe has been experiencing more intense heat waves than it did 200 years ago, bringing a lot more misery to its cities (where it formerly was more the custom for people with money to decamp for summer to a cooler house).

A lot of opposition to air conditioning is just ideological (instead of those of us who just get neck problems if we sleep under a lousy downblowing unit in a hotel).

Added thought:

To quickly see the speciousness of the argument that "we would have invented air conditioning 200 years ago if our climates required it", think about how long it took many northern European areas to get widespread installation of central heating in the cities especially. It was clearly needed in winter time due to freezing temps and constant cold and damp, yet overcoming the difficulties of providing it took time in some areas. Still in many places in Europe the high cost of fuel leaves many people without heat where they work or live.

(where it formerly was more the custom for people with money to decamp for summer to a cooler house).

Yes, it was quite a fashion, around the time of Louis XIV.

"(where it formerly was more the custom for people with money to decamp for summer to a cooler house).

Yes, it was quite a fashion, around the time of Louis XIV."

Nonsense.

Exhibit A: The 1% with multiple houses.

Exhibit B: English aristocracy with country houses. Death duties didn't become a burden until the 20th century. Also the fashion for Brighton in the early 19th century.

Exhibit C: In the reverse (temperature) direction, the English exodus to the south of France, both the Pyrenees and the Riviera, in the winters in the late 19th century.

Also, not in Europe, but there was a significant exodus of well-off Floridians to the North Carolinian mountains during the summers before air-conditioning, and to some extent I think there still is.

While retrofitting European houses with central AC may be difficult and expensive, the neat wall-mounted units you see all across Asia shouldn't be that difficult to install. And ceiling fans would make a big difference too. I have central air, but I don't set it at the temperatures you sometimes encounter in the US (i.e. freezing) and I run fans as well.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that the heat wave will be over before I arrive in Europe in the middle of the month, but I am very glad that most (alas, not all) of my July and August accommodation has AC.

FWIW, we really liked the Hyatt in Berlin. You get AC and a top floor pool. And you're across the street from an air-conditioned mall. No problems beating the heat there!>>

museums are good for that too. Perhaps that's why we spent so long in them!

I have seen suggestions for hanging wet sheets up at windows to filter the hot air, but never had to try it, thank goodness as I live in an old stone house where in the summer it is often warmer outside the house than in and even in the hottest weather we can find at least one cool room. Cornish builders all had the same idea - long thin houses made of the local stone [granite] with south-facing living rooms and the kitchen at the back, with the shortest side facing west, which is where the wind and rain mostly come from. When we bought this house it leaked like a sieve [windows and roofs] and it's taken us 18 years to make it water-tight - despite last night's deluges, we had no leaks this morning.

Rarely however have we had to deal with temps over 30C though - perhaps twice since we've been here.

We still decamp to a cooler place when it's hot. We're packing our bags right now.

and it goes without saying that no-one has AC in their houses.

some offices have it - one of the quirks of our local very modern court building is that it has A/C but it's controlled from Bristol, about 200 kms away.

Sparkchaser is right about humidy.
My uncle went to the mountains of North Carolina every summer due to breathing problems
His main home was in Charlotte NC.
The summer in Charlotte seemed even worse than Charleston because the air is still and heavy with humidy
In Charleston we get the coastal breeze but we suffer that humidy

SaylerT -- lol! Hope you enjoyed your granddad and pops despite their peculiarities! Yup, it does seem ironic to react to higher temps that were caused by poisons in the air by spewing more poisons into the air. Well . . . hopefully factories and other large, polluting industries will find a way to reduce the damage or clean up the damage so that we can continue to live our comfortable lives.

People, we are not talking about Dubai or Miami or Fiji in August. This is northern/western Europe, where you might be uncomfortable for a few days.

And, yes, it really works if you close your shutters or curtains during the day and open your windows/balcony doors at night; it cooled down my place at least 20 deg. cooler than outside. Of course, my apartment was like a small cave during the day, lol, because it was so dark inside.

If a maid opened the curtains in my hotel room . . . s/he would only do it one time, I promise you. And I really can't imagine why one would do that -- presumably s/he isn't an idiot and is dealing with the same high temps & sun problem in his/her own home.

s

S, I am speaking from experience about the maid opening curtains in my hotel room. Next day it was a different maid. :(

And I don't even want to begin explaining again the difference between a small town in the countryside like Garmisch, at the foot of the mountains, and a big, overbuilt city like Berlin ...

Ingo, take your concerns to the manager, or the housekeeping staff. Truly, it would only happen one time. Maybe you are too nice . . .

Again, not sure what you think the difference is between a small town and a city. If the temperature is 14 deg, then it's 14 deg. No matter where the heat is coming from (sun or buildings), it's still 14 deg.

s

Yeah, but it NEVER is 14 deg in a big city after a hot day.

Hmmm. wetter.de says differently.

We'll just disagree.

s

BTW, what are you doing playing here on a work day?? Get back to work!!

sis

Yup, we have to disagree on this, I guess :(

But ... wetter.de? Did you check the more detailed (and trustworthy) website I posted above? Or weatherunderground.com?

I *am* at work, hehe ;-)

My husband was there during a heat wave and he said it was very hot. No fan to be found. I have been to Germany in October and it was hot but the windows open made it cool but also noisy so bring a pair of earplugs. Depends on your location. It does cool off at night but make sure you aren't on a main road with noise.

>>>"While retrofitting European houses with central AC may be difficult and expensive, the neat wall-mounted units you see all across Asia shouldn't be that difficult to install. "<<<

Yes, but they are a recent invention, and they are being installed all over Italy in recent years. I was responding to the idea that if air conditioning had been needed in Europe it would have been invented 200 years ago. Even 20 years ago, after it was in place elsewhere, it was not easy to adapt within Europe without further modifications.

And to further elaborate on European's behavior in the past during hot weather: Not only did many people who could afford it make a point of spending the hottest months out of the cities in cooler places, it was quite acceptable to close up shop completely for July and August, or to close up for long portions of the afternoon. They slept on the roofs of buildings during heat waves, not in small rooms with one window.

It is just a myth that air conditioning is an unnecessary luxury for travelers in European cities in summer.

Strongly disagree, sandralist. IMO air conditioning IS an unnecessary luxury in European cities.

s