Where to stay with kids in Germany

Family hotel picks in Germany

• 

  Isarvorstadt / Altstadt€€Mid-range

  Apartment near the Isar in central Munich

  A two-bedroom apartment costs less than two hotel rooms, adds a kitchen and a washing machine for a two-week trip, and puts the river path, the market and the science museum within walking distance so the transport day starts later.

  • Kitchen and washing machine
  • Walking distance to the Deutsches Museum and the old town
  • Tram and S-Bahn within a few minutes
  • River meadows and playgrounds along the Isar

  Fitting a family in

  Two-bedroom units sleep four to five without a rollaway. Listings described as one bedroom plus a sofa bed are the ones to check carefully, because many are studios in practice.

  Watch out. Many older blocks have a small lift or none at all, which matters on a fourth floor with a pushchair and suitcases. Rates across the whole city climb steeply during the mid-September to early-October festival weeks.

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• 

  Fuessen / Schwangau€€Mid-range

  Village guesthouse room below the castles

  Staying overnight below Neuschwanstein turns a five-hour round trip from Munich into a short walk to the first ticket slots of the morning, which is the difference between an easy castle day and an exhausting one.

  • Walking or short bus distance to the castle ticket centre
  • Family rooms and adjoining rooms are standard in this area
  • Breakfast usually included
  • Lake swimming and flat valley cycle paths nearby

  Fitting a family in

  Village guesthouses commonly offer a family room sleeping four, often with a separate small bedroom. Confirm whether a cot or third bed is charged per night.

  Watch out. These villages empty out after the last coach leaves and there is very little open in the evening. Many guesthouse kitchens stop serving early and take one closing day a week, so dinner has to be planned rather than found.

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• 

  Rust€€€Higher-end

  Themed resort hotel at the park gates

  A theme-park day is long at both ends, and staying at the gates removes the drive or the train-plus-shuttle when everyone is tired. The park-gate hotels also carry the early-entry arrangements that put a family on the first coasters before the day queues form.

  • Walking distance or a resort shuttle to the entrance
  • Early park entry on some room rates
  • Family rooms built for four as standard
  • Pools and evening entertainment on site

  Fitting a family in

  Four-person rooms with bunk or separate children's sleeping areas are the standard product here rather than an exception, which is unusual in Germany.

  Watch out. Rates at the gates rise sharply in the school holidays and the season peaks, and sell out months ahead. Rust itself has almost nothing besides the park, so a stay longer than two nights needs a car to reach the rest of the region.

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• 

  Titisee-Neustadt / Hinterzarten€Budget

  Farm apartment in the upland valleys

  A Ferienwohnung on a working farm is the cheapest way to house a family in the region, gives a kitchen for the days when restaurant hours do not line up with children, and usually comes with animals that occupy the first hour of every morning.

  • Self-catering kitchen and space to spread out
  • KONUS guest card covering regional trains and buses
  • Animals and outdoor space on site
  • Walking trails starting at the door

  Fitting a family in

  Apartments are typically two rooms plus a living area sleeping four to six, and are priced per unit rather than per person, which makes them cheaper the larger the family.

  Watch out. Many farm apartments only take Saturday-to-Saturday bookings in high summer, and a car is effectively required because the nearest bus may run a few times a day. Access lanes are steep and awkward in snow.

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• 

  Prenzlauer Berg€€Mid-range

  Period apartment in Prenzlauer Berg

  This is the district Berlin families actually live in, so the infrastructure is already there: playgrounds on most blocks, cafes that expect prams, supermarkets on every corner and a large park at the edge of it.

  • Playgrounds and Mauerpark within walking distance
  • Kitchen and washing machine
  • Tram and U-Bahn connections to the centre
  • Quiet courtyard-facing rooms in most blocks

  Fitting a family in

  Period apartments are large by city standards and two-bedroom units comfortably sleep four to five. Floor area is generally stated in the listing and is a more reliable guide here than the room count.

  Watch out. Fifth-floor walk-ups with no lift are common and are a serious problem with a pushchair, so the floor and the lift both need confirming. The cobbled side streets are hard going on small wheels.

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• 

  Mitte / Hauptbahnhof€€Mid-range

  Family room near the central station

  Berlin's distances are the thing that tires children out, and a room beside the main station cuts the transfer at both ends of the trip and puts the government quarter, Museum Island and the Brandenburg Gate within a walk or one stop.

  • Direct airport rail and long-distance connections
  • Walking distance to Museum Island and the Reichstag area
  • Hotels here more often have genuine four-person rooms
  • Tiergarten park on the doorstep

  Fitting a family in

  Larger hotels around the station list quadruple rooms and connecting doubles. Germany often counts a sofa bed in the maximum occupancy, so the bed configuration is worth confirming rather than the headline number.

  Watch out. The area around the station is functional rather than characterful, with little street life in the evening, so dinner usually means a tram or U-Bahn ride to another district.

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• 

  Bacharach / Oberwesel€€Mid-range

  Half-timbered guesthouse inside the town walls

  A small guesthouse in a walled riverside village means the boat pier, the station and dinner are all within a few minutes' walk, so a family can do the whole river day without a car and without carrying children back uphill at the end of it.

  • Walking distance to the boat pier and the station
  • Compact, flat, traffic-light village centre
  • Breakfast usually included
  • Castle and vineyard paths starting from the town

  Fitting a family in

  Family rooms sleeping four exist but are few per property and go early for summer weekends. Many of these buildings are centuries old, so rooms are irregular in shape and size.

  Watch out. Freight trains run along both banks through the night and the track passes within metres of the houses, so a room facing the river or a courtyard rather than the line matters more than the view. Very little is open after about 21:00.

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• 

  Koblenz Altstadt€€Mid-range

  Family room in the Koblenz old town

  Koblenz is the one place on this stretch with a city's range of food, shops and rainy-day options, and the cable car, the riverfront and trains along both banks all start within walking distance of the old town.

  • Cable car to the fortress within walking distance
  • Regional trains along both banks from one station
  • Pedestrianised squares with playgrounds and restaurants
  • More rooms available at short notice than the villages

  Fitting a family in

  Triples and quadruples are easier to find here than anywhere else in the valley, and connecting rooms are available at the larger properties.

  Watch out. Koblenz is a working city rather than a postcard village, and the famous castle stretch starts upstream, so a boat or train leg is needed every day. Old-town squares can be loud on summer weekend evenings.

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• 

  Binz / Sellin, Ruegen€€€Higher-end

  Holiday flat in a resort villa in Binz or Sellin

  East Ruegen has the highest concentration of holiday flats on the coast and they are priced per unit rather than per person, so a two-bedroom flat with a kitchen and a balcony costs less than two hotel rooms. The beach, the promenade, the restaurants and a steam-railway station are all within walking distance, which means several days can pass without touching the car.

  • Kitchen, washing machine and a balcony for wet swimming things
  • Beach and promenade within a short walk
  • Rasender Roland station in town
  • Supermarkets, bakeries and a pharmacy at street level

  Fitting a family in

  Two-bedroom flats sleep four to six and are quoted per unit. Bed linen, towels and the final clean are frequently charged on top, so the headline nightly rate is not the total.

  Watch out. High summer sells Saturday to Saturday only, books months ahead and carries the highest rates on the coast. The resort villas are period buildings with narrow staircases and often no lift, the promenade strip stays loud late into the evening in August, and the visitor tax is added per person per night at check-in.

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• 

  Prerow / Zingst / Ahrenshoop€€Mid-range

  Holiday house behind the dunes on the Darss

  The peninsula is built around bicycles rather than cars, and a house behind the dune forest puts the beach at the end of a path instead of across a main road. For a family that wants the sand without a resort strip, this is the quiet version of the same coast, and the cycle network reaches three villages and two shores from the door.

  • Cycle paths from the door to the beach and between the villages
  • Forest belt rather than a road between the house and the sea
  • Outdoor space, and a garden at most properties
  • Thatched village centres instead of a promenade

  Fitting a family in

  Two- and three-bedroom houses sleep four to six, are priced per unit, and often include bicycles or sit next door to a hire shop.

  Watch out. A single road serves the whole peninsula, so changeover days queue badly, and a car is still needed for anything beyond the villages. Each village has one small supermarket and a short list of kitchens, most of which close out of season, and Ahrenshoop is priced as an art-colony resort rather than a beach village.

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• 

  Warnemuende / Rostock€€Mid-range

  Family room near the Warnemuende beach and S-Bahn

  This is the one base on the coast a family can reach and use entirely by train: long-distance services into Rostock, an S-Bahn out to the beach, and the widest beach on the coast a few minutes' walk from the station. The harbour channel, the lighthouse and the ferries also give children something to watch on the days the wind rules out the sand.

  • S-Bahn to Rostock and onward long-distance trains
  • Wide guarded beach within a few minutes' walk
  • Harbour channel, lighthouse and ferries as the daily entertainment
  • Restaurants open year-round rather than for the season only

  Fitting a family in

  Hotels here list genuine family rooms and connecting doubles more often than the holiday-flat resorts do. German listings frequently count a sofa bed in the maximum occupancy, so the bed configuration is worth confirming rather than the headline number.

  Watch out. Cruise ships dock beside the old channel and put several thousand people onto the same promenade for a day at a time, and Rostock's own weekend crowds use the same beach. There is very little natural shade anywhere along it, and the visitor tax applies here as elsewhere on the coast.

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