Sylt: Having Difficulty Finding Accommodation in Mid July Through Early Aug
 

Apparently, it is late to find a room for two for 3 or 4 nights. I telephoned 8 hotels today ,since I was not getting e-mail responses. All were booked up, except for one and the price was exorbitant. I did try a website, but the English version was down. If you have a hotel that you can recommend , I would be most appreciative. A guesthouse or B&B would be fine, too. A website would be terrific, too. I,also asked each hotel that I telephoned for suggestions, but the suggestions were all booked!! Thanks

At least 150 to 200€ per night are normal during peak season for hotel rooms. What do you consider exorbitant?

Hi Annetti,

does it have to be Sylt? out of curiosity to know where Sylt is, i went to google maps, and there do seem to be a number of resorts in the area. it also had a very useful list of hotels, some of which seem to be the B&B/guest-house type, though they seemed to be about €150-200 per night [per room, not per person] so not cheap.

good luck in your search!

Hi; Try this- www.booking.com/hotel-sylt

There's really nothing to do there except for seeing other "wannabe rich" people or building castles in the sand. You'd have to pay me a lot of money to stay there. It's not even warm in summer. :-).

Can't you just go to Kitz instead, I mean since Kaiser Franz has left because he didn't like the local golf club (so they say), hotel rooms have become quite reasonable. Even Mausi isn't there anymore since she was in the Aussi jungle. Franz has moved to Salzburg and Bayern won't make the triple this year. :-(.

Does all this make sense to you? If so, go to Sylt! :D

Aaak, so expensive - on another thread I just posted that we thought we'd try one of the islands for an excursion - rethinking that now!

Lavandula

Maybe try Ruegen?

(1) Many hotels in Germany prefer to deal via FAX and don't repond to e-mail.

(2) Go to your local library (or Borders or Barnes & Nobel) and check the Red Michelin Deutschland Guide. Copy the hotels that look good to you and their FAX number, and contact them that way. I am a great believer in the Red Michelin guide and its evaluations. The Guide also gives the address of the local tourist office. Send them a FAX and ask them which hotels, Penionen (B&B's) have vacancies. Chances are good, that they even can make the reservation for you.

Sittiing in Tucson, AZ right now, I kind of share logos999's sentiment regarding temps.

logos999: 350 Euro seems exorbitant to me! Although, 150-200 euro is expensive, we were prepared for it, but 350 E translated into dollars is just out of sight for us!

annhig: it does not have to Sylt; it just comes up most often in our three tour books. There is so little written about the other resorts, so we went with the most famous one, but we are in no way adverse to finding another place to stay. It is just needs to be accessible by train since we won't have a car and before someone suggests we rent one, we really like a carFREE vacation. Do you have a website we can search? Thanks.

Woyzeck: Ruegen looks like we can get there by train, but it looks a bit further, however we will check it out. Thanks.

Thank you treplow.

Try www.checkfelix.com

Ruegen is a completely different animal compared to Sylt.
Ruegen is huge and you will most certainly not notice the certain "island" feeling you get on smaller islands, such as Sylt, where the water is never far away. The rough Nordsee is also much different from the calmer Baltic Sea.

If you want to combine Denmark and Germany and are based in Hamburg for your stay, Sylt would be a better choice. Alternatively take a look at the neighbouring island of Amrum - or the Sylt's Northern neighbour the island of Roem (from where you can take a ferry for a Sylt excursion).

Don't believe the uninformed pointless drivel spilled out by a certain Bavarian poster on Sylt arguing there is nothing to do. While the hillbillies may not relate well to water, wind and the elements, it is exactly Sylt's breathtaking nature that makes it popular with almost everyone who enjoys the sea, dunes, a beach and walks along the coast or the "Wattenmeer", the area of sea that gets exposed during the low-tide. There are a few nouveau-riche places on the island, but there are also rustic and down-to earth refuges and it certainly isn't a handicap in my book that there are civilised restaurants available for a nice dinner.

Ruegen is nice enough, don't get me wrong and it may be considered more mid-market, but it takes a long time to get to and when on the island you will not notice that it's an island. It's completely different.

For hotels check out http://www.hrs.de

And your best shot may be to get in touch with the local tourist office. There are lots of privately owned apartments that are let over the summer months that should be more within your price range.
They have an online booking engine, but it's in German only. Looking for "Ferienwohnung" (Apartment) brings up a gazillion of reasonably priced results.
http://en.sylt.de/accommodation/online-booking.html

And here's the link if you want to send them an e-mail:
http://www.sylt.de/kontakt/weitere-informationen.html

Flat and wet! Flat and wet! And expensive. And no yodeling or schuhplattler for tourists. And no decent schnitzels and only sour beer to drink.

And even "Die Ärzte" don't like Sylt. :D
And people from Berlin usually are known to like anything.

The beer is not sour, it's dry. Like a proper Pils should be - compared to the stale brew that you guys have to drink by the litre to forget that it tastes like water :-).

Thank god, no yodeling and thank god no Schuhplattler!

It is flat, too - which leads to unobstructed views (and uncluttered minds), something that cannot be said for other German regions...

And the locals can manage not to say a word for days in a row - oh, the tranquility!

I totally agree with hsv in all points.

However, if it does not have to be Sylt, there are more North Sea islands, also some that can be reached by public transport (train and ferry). Borkum, Juist, Norderney for sure; I am not familiar enough with the North Frisian islands to know how well the ferries there are connected to the train network. On the mainland, there are very few resorts with sandy beaches and solid tidelands that are safe and easy for walking: Cuxhaven and St. Peter-Ording. Most other places on the mainland have salt meadows and muddy tidelands which you can't explore on your own.
The big difference between North Sea and Baltic Sea is that the Baltic Sea has no (notable) tides and no tidelands, the beach is always the same. If you are into nature and tideland walking, the North Sea is more interesting. If you want beach life and swimming, the Baltic Sea will be better.
It is rather late now to book for summer peak season, but you might be more lucky elsewhere than on Sylt.

I spent a few days in Föhr last April and enjoyed it very much. Took a train from Hamburg to Dagebull, then the ferry to Wyk. Maybe my trip report dated May 22, 2009 will interest you.

I agree with almost everything what hsv and quokka said. Exception: You *will* notice on Rügen that it is an island. Especially in the southeast (the peninsula Mönchsgut) around Baabe and Göhren. I'd also think that the architecture on Rügen is more interesting and since it is larger there's more to do there other than the typical beach/seashore activities. Sure, the Baltic Sea is calmer and has no tide.

But since you'll be in the Hamburg area it makes more sense to go to Sylt.

hsv: I tried the site you recommended for Sylt; you were right; there were 27 pensions listed (b&Bs) and I wrote to most of them last night. This morning I received two answers, one a "no" and the second was somewhat ambiguous. I wrote back to the second one using my German phrase book. The price is 98 E and it looks pleasant, so my fingers are crossed. Your argument that Sylt feels more like an island than Rogen is fairly convincing, and Ingo's comment that we'll be closer from Hamburg makes sense. Thank you, Ingo.

Quokka, we are not totally closed to other options; we'll wait and see what happens on Sylt in the next couple days and then we will consider some other places.

Pvoyaguese: I'll check out your trip report after I submit this. Thank you.

I spent yesterday and today calling Rugen, searching for a room for this summer. No luck. The Hotel Charme's email came back undelivered and their telephone number is constantly busy.

On the plus side, we were offered a room at a pension in Vitte on the Island of Hiddensee, however we're not sure if there is enough to keep us busy for 3 days there. Opinions please?? Thanks.

Have you searched for a Ferienwohnung (vacation apartment)? You might have some luck there.

Here's a website for Rügen:

http://www.ostsee-reisen.de/ruegen/

There is some availability if you do a search on that site for Rügen. depending on your dates. Let us know if you need help with the German.

Thank you, Woyzeck for the offer of help with German. I use my phrase book when writing and can sort of figure out the answers using a translation website, but it's the telephone where we could really use some help!!

Any suggestions for another resort area that we can try???

If you cannot find anything on Sylt, either look into the neighbouring Danish island of Roem (Roemoe) or, if you indeed want to stay in Germany and consider the Baltic Sea (which is calmer, but has its own charms), take a look at the Fischland/Darss peninsula, just East of Rostock.
It's about an hour closer to Hamburg than Ruegen, although by train and bus it also takes 3.5 hours (still better than wasting half a day on the journey to Ruegen in my opinion).
Ahrenshoop labels itself as artsy and has very pleasant surroundings.
While not an island, the peninsula is quite narrow and you are never far from the water - either the open sea or the "Bodden", the enclosed backwaters on the landside of the peninsula.
There are other resort towns at the Baltic Sea much closer to Hamburg. The Western ones are fairly developed and tend to be crowded, which is not to say that they do not have their charms. Timmendorfer Strand at 45 min. distance from Hamburg is probably the favourite destination for younger people and is slightly more up-market than neighbouring destinations.

I would look into Timmendorfer Strand et al. mainly for daytrips, by the way. At such close distance it may not necessarily be worth spending top-of-the range EUR on accomodation if you can reach your destination in about 1 hour.
Fischland/Darss should be about a 3-day trip, though.
Again try
http://www.hrs.de
(switch to English in the upper right hand)
as it lets you search the surroundings, too.

hsv: Thank you once again. You have given us some great ideas for day trips.

We were able to book at the Lindner Hotel Windrose on Sylt. It is more money than I planned on and I am not sure about the location. Also, it looks like a huge corporate enterprise and I usually prefer independent hotels. However, if I can get my husband to agree, we might take it if its location is good. So, hsv and Fodorites, can you tell me if this hotel is worth the Euros and if its location is good? They are quoting us 564.30 Euro for 3 nights including breakfast. We will not have a car. Thanks again.

I don't know the hotel.
Lindner is a very mid-market chain in Germany. I stayed at one of their hotels once. It was clean and very ordinary. It wasn't on Sylt, though. If the one on Sylt is anything like my experience it is alright, but doesn't necessarily capture the spirit of the island.
Wenningstedt is pretty family oriented and very mid-market itself. It's not far from Westerland and the station and the red cliff close to Kampen in the other direction.
I guess overall it's alright - but is the hotel worth the money? I seriously cannot tell you without knowing the place.
I hope others can help out.

Thank you, hsv.

What about Hiddensee Island? We can stay at a small hotel in Vitte for 95 Euro. Would that be a better choice than the Lindner? Thanks.

Sylt is about 3 hours by train from Hamburg.
Hiddensee is about 6.5 hours by train from Hamburg. To me that is a lot of travel time that is pretty much wasted. Back and forth it accounts for a whole day. And actually with 6.5 hours on a train there isn't that much of a day left after your arrival (although the long summer days make it more bearable).
Hiddensee is too far for me - I cannot advise.
If I were you I'd go for Sylt at the North Sea or on the Baltic Coast the Fischland/Darss peninsula. Saves a lot of travel time and both are nice enough.

Thank you, hsv. I agree with you, Hiddensee is probably too far. I'll get my husband's take on it.

And Hiddensee is tiny. Sleepy. Indeed too far. Wouldn't be a good choice.

I had hoped you would be able to add some colour on Hiddensee, Ingo.

"Hoch stand der Sanddorn am Strand von Hiddensee..."

Thank you, hsv, Ingo and Woyzeck. WE have decided not to take the room in Hiddensee. My home exchange concurred that it would be too isolated. She also, gave me some telephone numbers and websites that I will try tomorrow. The search continues. . . I am optimistic.