My family of 3 will be traveling to Bavaria in March for Spring Break. We are trying to firm up several reservations and I must admit that I am stumped in some situations.
1. How are hotel rooms priced when there is a child under 10 in the party of 3? Do you pay for 3 people or for 2? In the US children are generally free. Is that not the case in Germany?

2. What exactly is a Länder ticket? Would we need to buy three per day? I'm stumped, thinking of just renting a car and avoiding the confusion of trains.

3. If we rent a car, where are the better deals? Rent from Hertz in advance or just go to the counters at the airport and compare or what?

4. What will my picky 8 yr old eat? She doesn't eat red meat at all and really despises potatos. She's more of a fresh vegetables and chicken kind of kid. And yes to some people this is a discipline problem but that isn't covered in the context of this discussion - KWIM?

Thanks in advance!

MsSTP

MsSTP:

I will chime in on point # 3 . You should try to get a 'range' of prices from various car agency on line. Walking up to the counter after a 7 hour flight will put you at the mercy of the agent!

Try AutoEurope, which is an agent for various companies in Europe. They usually get good points from this board.

Hi MsSTP

In the "search this forum" box above, type in "laender ticket" and hit search. It will bring up a list of threads where previous posters have asked and answered questions on the laender ticket.

Enjoy your trip - Bavaria is very nice.

We stayed in the Sonne Hotel in Fuessen. My only problem with it was the size of the bathroom was tiny.

Hello MsSTP

Regarding your question #1 - It is not the case in Germany, or in Europe for that matter, that children are necessarily free - or that the room can even accommodate a third person, child or adult.

Many rooms are with twin beds or a double bed only, with no room for an extra person.

When making your reservation, be very clear with the hotels about how many people, including children, you are bringing. Sometimes there is a "family" room, which might be a room with a double bed and a sofabed or a trundle bed for children.

However, some hotels are quite family friendly. When my children were young, we found the Novotel (in the Accor Hotel chain) very accommodating for children. The rooms were large by European standards (sometimes even two double beds), and there was also a day bed with a trundle underneath, so the rooms easily slept a family of 4. And to top it off, children under 12 ate for free!

I don't know if they've got any hotels where you're going, but you might check them out:

http://www.accorhotels.com

Happy Travels!

Wow! Quick replies - thanks all! I will try to firm up our car reservations today. I am just having a hard time believing Hertz is the cheapest since that is never the case for US travel. I've traveled overseas before but only in Asia and Latin America on business. This is my first European trip. Very excited!

The small rooms thing is making the hotel quandary make more sense. When you search on Expedia it says things like, "Exceeds max adults" or "Minimum child age is 18" - very confusing.

I am checking out accorhotels.com right now! AWESOME -- thanks!

As for what your daughter will eat..

the Germans eat a lot of pork, which your daughter may prefer over red meat. You may also find chicken schnitzel in most places. Their food is not that much different to other western countries, such as the US or Australia, so it shouldn't be any more an issue in Germany than at home.

As for the Hotel Sonne in Fuessen, which I mentioned previously. The went through a major renovation in 2006 and we're finishing off as we arrived there. They have 3 standards of rooms. We had the cheapest ("Via Claudia&quot. The bathroom was tiny. However, looking at the photos on their website it would seem the 2 better classes of rooms have bigger bathrooms too.

Fuessen is at the end of the rail line. The hotel is a 200 metre walk and sits at the end of the pedestrian mall of the small town. There is a regular bus service from the train station to take you on a 15 minute drive to the village of Schwangau, where you can visit the famous Neuschwanstein Castle.

http://www.schwangau.de/home-558.html

http://www.neuschwanstein.de/english/index.htm

Rothenburg ob der Tauber may be a little out of the way, but if you can get there, do. It's touristy, but still quaint. It is a well preserved medieval walled town. I've been twice and really liked it.

Good advice re AutoEurope which is a wholesaler. Also, prices may vary depending on your pick-up point; airports and train stations can cost more.

Another thing...you really do NOT need a car if you are staying IN Munich for any time period as public transport is easy to use and parking can be a problem. For traveling outside, more likely needed but that also depends on exactly where you want to go.

The trains are far less "confusing" once you know how to do it and there are many here who can give you very specific and useful advice so don't hesitate to ask those questions.

As to the child and the food...I assume this means she doesn't like fast food such as Mickey D's, etc. but there are plenty of ethnic and other places in Munich anyway where you can get food "alternatives"

With the greatest of respect for you, I find a hungry child tends to be less picky sometimes.

Have a great trip.

Thanks! Keep the gems coming! We're set up for Rothenburg, Munich and Salzburg. Trying to figure out Mittenwald and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. We'll definitely go to the castles. My husband is in charge of activities and navigation. I just do reservations.

MsSTP

Just how far "under 10" is the child?

Different services, e.g. hotels, trains, have different cut off ages for free and for half price.

You probably need a child seat for the car. Children under certain ages must ride in the back seat.

I've never had much confusion with trains, especially not in Germany. Confusion will come in when you try to drive and park in German cities.

Germany is definitely a meat and potatoes country. But the roasted chicken in Germany is delicious. Fish is common. There is a quick service German chain restaurant which specializes in fish. "Nordzee" might be the name.

Oh yeah - one more question - My husband is 6'4" - will he have problems with doors and cars? We know he fits in VW Jettas. Not so sure about the Opals.

Thanks in advance

MsSTP

She is 8. I've already checked on the carseat issues- we can use her Britax Starriser Comfy booster there as it was also marketed in Germany so we'll haul it with us. We still use one in the US as she is very lightweight.

I am all for using train service rather than driving but my husband prefers having a car and all that entails.

MsSTP

I love the architecture of Salzburg. The pastel coloured buildings and baroque domes. If you're into either Mozart or the Sound of Music, there will be extra things to do, otherwise a stroll through the Mirabell Gardens can be nice (and free), although possibly boring for an 8 y.o. You can get great views of the surrounding area from the castle.

We stayed at the Markus Sittikus hotel which was about 10-15 minute casual walk from the city centre (past the Mirabell Gardens). It was one of the better hotels we stayed in.

"Länder" mean states in Germany. A Länder Ticket allows you to travel throughout a single state on a discount. Up to five people travel on a single ticket under 30 euros. It is a bargain for a family.

"We're set up for Rothenburg, Munich and Salzburg. Trying to figure out Mittenwald and Garmisch- Partenkirchen."

All of these places are accessible with a Bayern-Ticket. You just have to use local trains and leave after 9am if you are traveling on a weekday.

Train travel is one of the joys of vacationing in Germany for me, but it is not to everyone's tastes. There is a small learning curve but you can always ask questions at the ticket counter. I have found using trains less of a hassle than renting a car.

Regards, Gary

Cars -

Firstly, remember that the Europeans generally drive cars which are both physically smaller and have smaller engines than in the US (I assume that is where you're from).

In regards to the Opels, I've had a look on their website. In Australia we share a number of the Opel chasis in our Holden range, only we have larger engines in ours.

The Agila is teeny; the Corsa is also small. Avoid these. I wouldn't go any smaller than a 4 door Astra, but you may want to move up to a Vectra. The Antara is a medium sized 4WD (I think you call them SUVs). Well, in Australia it is medium sized, but may well be small in US standards. On the website, the Meriva looks a bit like a people-mover but seems to be placed as though it is smaller than the Astra. The Zafira is a medium sized people-mover. The Signum looks like a medium to large sized wagon.

So, if you went for an Opel I would suggest a 4 door Astra, a Vectra or an Antara. But remember, a lot of old cities in Europe have small streets. Although the Autobahns have no upper speed limit, which can be a bit scary.

Don't be afraid to use the trains in Bavaria. They're fast, reliable, relaxing, and much less expensive than renting a car. I've spent 12 weeks in Germany in the last seven years and not once did I need a car to get anywhere I wanted to go. Last October I went from Munich airport to Oberammergau and then followed the Romantic Road to Würzburg, one week, all by public transportation. I got several quotes for car rentals, including the one considered the best on this website - $272 for a small compact. With fuel (Via Michelin) the trip would have cost $350. I did it by train and bus for $126.

The Bayern-Ticket is the Länder-Ticket for Bavaria. With it your whole family (up to five people) can travel all day (after 9 AM weekdays) until 3 AM on all regional trains in Bavaria. Last year it cost €27; tickets general go up on Jan 1, but I haven't seen any increase today. They still show €27.

Learn to use the Bahn website (reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en)to get schedules. For help with trains see my website at www.geocities.com/reise_deutschland.

Most German restaurants will have items for little ones. Often its chicken fingers and french fries. They have great salads (Gemischtesalat), not just iceberg lettuce and a few extras like tomato and cucumber like American restaurants but shredded carrots, coleslaw, corn maybe, cucumber, lots of veggies in them. For starch she might like Späztle, a small dumpling made by cooking pieces of dough in boiling water and served with butter. Käsespätzle is their version of mac and cheese, Spätzle covered with melted Swiss style (Allgäuer) cheese, often with fried onions mixed in.

Don't just resort to chain hotels. First, you won't often find them in small towns. Second, they will cost too much. For the richer cultural experience, check out hotels on small town websites, generally www.[town name].de. There is often some English. Look for "Hotels" or "Unterkünfte" or "Übernachten". Some hotels will have websites in English, even if the town website is all German. A few hotels will have rooms for more than two (Mehrbettzimmer). Hotels that accommodate an additional child in the room will generally charge about half price for a child under 14 in a rollaway bed (Zustellbett). Most German hotels will charge something for an extra person in the room because a big part of the expense is per person - breakfast (Frühstück), which is included in the price, and washing linen and towels.

Hi,
We recently rented a car from Frankfurt airport to Munich airport for $412 for 12 days. We booked through
www.gemut.com
and wound up with an Avis car from the Avis counter. They also have an "800" phone # to reserve through and where you can ask questions.
In '06 we reserved through
www.travelocity.com
and had no problems either. Great price and they were also very helpful on the phone when I had a few questions.

As for cars, we had an Opel Meriva (4 door hatchback) twice recently and while it's roomy for 4 people, it lacked lauggage space... and we are only 2 people. We had 2 large suitcases and 3 carry on size bags and one had to go in the back seat.
Thought this may help, as I saw the Meriva mentioned above.

As for non red meat food, I wouldn't worry. The chicken, turkey, pasta, pizza and salads we had are all very good.

Paul

Hi again,
Just thought I'd mention an inexpensive, yet nice, place in Mittenwald. We stayed here 2 times, but not in the apartment. Very nice owners and a very good location just a few minutes walk from the pedestrian zone.

www.schwalbennestl.de

The website is in German, yet you can reserve/correspond in English.

Paul

I traveled with three teenagers this past July to Germany and Austria. I followed the advice of many people here and we found smaller family run places to stay in. I asked for family rooms to accomodate all four of us. The rooms, for the most part, were huge! Only when we stayed in Munich and Berlin did we get smaller rooms...more like hotels in the US. We stayed in those hotels because we had points to use from hotel chains. I preferred the smaller hotels in the smaller towns! My son is "selective" in his food choices. Thank goodness he prefers meat and potatoes, but we tried a variety of food- not just typical German foods, and found all to be good. We traveled by train except for three days when I rented a car while in the Fuessen/Reutte area. We had no problems doing either, although I preferred train travel because I, too, could enjoy the sights instead of having to drive the road. Larryincolorado's site was a big help in using the train system. Once we did it we had no further problems understanding the tickets, etc. Enjoy your trip!