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. .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sUh5I6kx1w

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!

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.
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.