My wife and I are planning to take the train south from Hamburg to Goslar in the Harz Mountains in October and stay for a few days, renting a car, and exploring the area. Does anyone have a "zimmer frei" they can recommend?

In lieu of anyone here having a recommendation for Goslar (heck, most people on this site don't even know where the Harz is), I would suggest you go to www.goslar.de/tourismus.htm. Click on "Hotels, Pensionen, Ferienwohnungen", then click on "Suche" under Hotels, Pensionen und Privatvermietungen. If you then click on "Alle anzeigen" without inserting anything in the fields, you will get a listing of all the accommodations.

What are called Privatzimmer (rooms in private homes) can generally be identified by the word "Haus" in the title. Small Gasthäuser will be about the same. Note that Goslar is not a place frequented by a lot of Americans, so the people offering Privatzimmer are not likely to speak English.

There is no such thing as a "Zimmer frei". The correct description is a Privatzimmer, or just a Zimmer. Zimmer is a room; frei means that it is available. "Zimmer frei" is not a thing. It is a statement that they have a room to rent and it is available. (When you take it, it becomes a "Zimmer belegt".) Saying you stayed in a Zimmer frei is like traveling in the U.S. and saying that you stayed in "vacancies".

There is a lot of bus service in the Harz, and using it would cost a lot less per day than renting a car. There are some websites for the Harz area, including Harz.de, Harzinfo.de, Nationalpark-harz.de. You can find maps and towns there, then look up the connections on bahn.de.

Larry has given you sound advice on finding accommodation in Goslar.

However if you find the German language a bit daunting you can either (1) simply turn up to the Goslar Tourist Office the day you arrive (coming from Hamburg you should easily get there by early afternoon) and be directed to suitable accommodation, October not being a hot month for tourism or (2) pre-book the car, and having picked it up take a few spins around the town and check out any places with "Zimmer frei" signs out. In the unlikely event that you find nothing in Goslar try Bad Harzburg which is only a few km further on.

I would certainly encourage you to take a hire car, given that there is a lot to see in the Harz and you have only a few days at your disposal.

Harzer

It's considerably cooler in october in the Harz than in the surrounding north german plains. Nature is a few weeks ahead. I experienced lots of snow in Goslar in late october. Not usually, but possible.

Thanks for all your good information and guidance. True, I find the German language a bit tricky. But that's part of the fun of exploring new places, new ways of thinking, and thus gaining experience.

You might want to stay in Wernigerode. In addition to an interesting castle, it is the starting point for the narrow gauge railroad to the top of the Brocken, the highest mountain in northern Germany and the inspiration for Maussoursky's night on Bald Mountain.

My wife and I returned a month ago from Germany where we spent a week in the Harz gebiet. We stayed two nights each in Quendlinburg, Wernigerode and Goslar. Of the three my favorite would be Wernigerode. Nice town, picturesque castle and the train to the mountain top. We took the train and then hiked back to Drei Annen for a very pleasant day. We stayed at Hotel Am Anger, a nice and friendly place. A five minute walk from the train station. Treat yourself.