Hey guys,

My girlfriend and I will be travelling through Germany over the month of December and we need recommendations for hotels in specifically, Dresden and Berlin. We're not looking for award winning palaces of luxury, but somewhere nice and quaint and quite central (of course in addition to cleanliness and room size). We're willing to pay up to 150 euros for a night, but like I said we're really not keen on anywhere overly stuck up because we're students. I've looked through tripadvisor but all the top hotels seem to be quite grand with all the trimmings of first class luxury, which I doubt we'll feel comfortable in. With that said, I'm happy to be disproved.

So yes, any and all ideas will be appreciated. Thanks!

www.hotels.de is a great site for Germany. They often offer 'specials' that slash the price of really decent places, particularly if you are booking close in time. Berlin simply has an overabundance of capacity. Back in the World Cup days a couple years back, you couldn't get anything in Berlin under $200. Now, you can get really decent places for a fraction of that. That website is easy to book and has very flexible cancellation policies, in case you find something even closer in that is even better (www.bookings.nl is another good place to look, but hotels.de tends to cover most bases). Another good option for Berlin is Priceline - - look at www.biddingfortravel.com so see recent successful Berlin bids - - they are also low and highly advantageous, simply because Berlin has too much supply.

When we went to Dresden earlier this year we stayed in Aparthotels an der Frauenkirche. You probably don't need quite as much space as we did but we thought they were excellent value for money and incredibly close to the sights. We stayed in the Muenzgasse apartments and they were very well appointed even though they were said to be the least so of the three sets of apartments. Also accommodation in Dresden was much better value than other parts of Germany, we thought. You might consider using www.booking.com which allows you to reserve rooms and pay at the end of your stay; other booking sites may ask you to pay in full at the time of reservation.

Lavandula

Dresden:

Agree with lavandula on Aparthotels an der Frauenkirche. Very central location. Prices tend to go up for Christmas market season, though.

Other options:
Pension am Zwinger www.pension-zwinger.de
About 10 minutes walk to the Christmas markets, quieter location, excellent reviews and good value also.

Hotel Martha Hospiz www.hotel-martha-hospiz.de
Highly recommended if you want to stay in a hotel. Very charming, very nice neighbourhood, quiet location across the river in the so called Neustadt which is not really "new". 5 minutes walk to the next Christmas market, 10-15 minutes walk (or tram) across Augustus bridge to the old town and markets. And also only a 5-10 minutes walk to the nightlife district northeast of Alberplatz circus - pubs, clubs, discos, restaurants etc.

Book soon, it's peak season.

For Berlin, I can personally recommend the Sol Melia on Friedrichstrasse. The hotel is rather new and is just down the road (along the Spree) from Museum Island.

The Friedrichstrasse Bahnhof is across the street.

The Friedrichstrasse is a high street so there are plenty of coffee places, drug stores, newsstands, etc along the way.

You can walk down to Checkpoint Charlie, walk to the Brandenburger Tor and Reichstag Building, and walk over to the Christmas Market near the Opera House on Unter den Linden from the hotel.

Don't forget to grab a gluewine (gluhwein) from one of the street vendors whilst in Berlin at Christmas.

Tschuss,
Pippy

Hi Rosencrantz -

following Ingo's suggestion we stayed at the Martha-hospitz [link above] and were very pleased with it. Very simple, friendly, clean, and comfortable. about €100 per night including breakfast.

it's in the Neustadt but only 10 mins walk from the Altstadt and very convenient for driving in and out of the city. The parking deal was particularly good- only €5 for the day [and night in a nearby car park] rather than the €16 they normally charge. We liked the opportunity to see the Neustadt too [neu only in the sense that it was built in the C18 rather than being ancient like the Altstadt] and enjoyed staying over there away from the hurly-burly.

BTW, you don't mention Potsdam. Do try to get there if you can, ideally for a day or two, but if not then as a day-trip. the Sans-soucci palace alone is worth the trip. i can give you a recommendation for somewhere to stay there too, or click on my screen-name for my TR.

Have a great trip!

First of all, thanks so much for the replies, guys. Really, really appreciate them.

Anyway my girlfriend and I are thinking of a little extravagance (since we would have saved on a lot of money from staying in inns and hotels on the earlier parts of the trip) and we were thinking of "Schloss Eckberg". Do you guys know much about this place? I realise that this is a complete turnaround from what I had initially written, and I apologise for that.

Rosen

Quite a turnaround, indeed

Schloss Eckberg's location is wonderful but a bit away from the sights and Christmas markets, although it is only a 5 minutes walk from the hotel to the tram stop. This tram (#11) runs every ten minutes until about 7 pm, 15 minutes in the evenings and every 30 minutes at night. Takes 10 minutes to the nightlife district (Neustadt) and 20 minutes to the old town with the major attractions. So it's not too inconvenient, I'd say.

Please note that Schloss Eckberg has two types of accommodation: The Schloss (castle) itself and the Kavalierhaus, 100 yards away in the park and less fancy. For the real treat pick the rooms in the castle. Restaurant is very good (chef changed a while ago which was a good thing), located in the castle - so for (very good) breakfast you have to walk there through the park.

I was there just last weekend - gorgeous fall weather! - and enjoyed yummy lunch in their garden restaurant overlooking the river and city. A great place.

well, €200 odd per night for a double room in the palace [oops, meant the castle] including what I suspect is a very good breakfast, isn't that much for staying in a fairytale!

IMO to get the best out of these sorts of places you really need to stay 2 nights, otherwise you don't get the full benefit of the facilities.

if you were going to pick one place for a splurge, this might as well be it!

I say, go for it.

Yea Schloss does sound very good, but its location may be a deal breaker. We don't drive you see, which puts us in a bit of a disadvantage, and a 20 minute journey sort of lies in the void between "too far" and "near enough"; not an easy decision to make...

If we do stay there, we'll go for the kavalierhaus I think. The castle rooms seem a tad too exorbitant

Not to drive is actually an advantage. Driving and parking in any German/European city is a nightmare, especially in December when everyone seems to head to the Christmas markets. Once you have taken public transportation a couple of times you'll find it easy and convenient.

I.