8 Germany special 9

Section:GDN TL PaGe:8 Edition Date:160723 Edition:01 Zone:
Sent at 21/7/2016 18:43
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Section:GDN TL PaGe:9 Edition Date:160723 Edition:01 Zone:
The Guardian | Saturday 23 July 2016
8
travel
Sent at 21/7/2016 18:43
cYanmaGentaYellowblack
The Guardian | Saturday 23 July 2016
Germany special
Literary Berlin
Don’t think it’s all over
Berlin, a new book by Paul Sullivan and
Marcel Krueger, is a literary travel guide.
It celebrates the places famous writers
frequented, as well as the areas artists
live in today. Out 25 Aug, lbtauris.com
Germany’s football museum, which
opened last year in Dortmund, has an
exhibition marking 50 years since the
England v West Germany World Cup final.
31 July-15 January, fussballmuseum.de
9
Vintage caravans, treehouse chic, a view of the
Alps or the Baltic … Ben Lerwill chooses 20
affordable, alternative places to stay in Germany
Gute nacht …
City
5 Former monastery Cologne
Cologne’s Belgian Quarter is arguably
its most fashionable and cosmopolitan.
Having escaped wartime bombing,
it’s also one of the prettiest, and home
to Hopper Hotel Et Cetera, a smart
boutique hotel. The property was
once a monastery: the floor-to-ceiling
altarpiece mural in the restaurant is a
nod to the fact that the space was once
a chapel. Rooms are bright and sleek. A
suite with roof terrace costs from €160.
• Doubles from €130 room-only,
hopper.de
1 Industrial chic Berlin
The name Hüttenpalast – which
translates loosely as “hut palace” –
gives some idea of what to expect
from Berlin’s most idiosyncratic
accommodation option. It’s a former
vacuum cleaner factory in the hip
Neukölln district and offers “rooms” in
a range of converted vintage caravans
and repurposed huts in an indoor
setting among fake grass and fairy-lit
silver birches. If you’re keen on a
bit more space, there are standard
rooms too.
• Caravans/cabins from €69, double
rooms from €74, huettenpalast.de
6 Riverside granary Mannheim
This city is best-known as the home of
big-brand industry, but it’s not without
its selling points: its rich cultural scene
saw it named a Unesco City of Music
in 2014. Speicher7 is a converted
riverside granary, where perks include
a yoga and meditation room and a
cocktail bar. Try a Mannheim mule: dry
Bavarian gin with ginger beer and lime.
• Doubles from €155 room only,
speicher7.com
2 Historic townhouse Leipzig
Saxony’s second city once had the poet
Goethe in raptures, and its more recent
“New Berlin” tag shows its appeal
is enduring. The stylish 20-room
Fregehaus hotel is in a 16th-century
townhouse and makes a great base: it’s
just steps from the Museum of Fine
Arts. Rooms, on four floors around a
courtyard, are smart without being
overblown.
• Double s from €86 room-only,
hotel-fregehaus.de
8
11
Readers’ tips
Brauhauses and
bars in Germany
See the full list of tips
on German bars at
theguardian.com/travel
10
9
North Sea
13
12
8 Hamptons-style house Sylt
19
Berlin
1
Germany
5
2 Leipzig
17
16
14
15
Cologne
3 Frankfurt
19 Tipi and cabins Uelzen
▲ On the
waterfront …
Speicher7, in
Mannheim
the south-west corner of the island,
Haus Achtern Diek is a bright, caringly
run six-room guesthouse in a prime
seaside location.
• Doubles from €60 B&B, achterndiekgold-fehmarn.de
� Wild wood …
Robins Nest,
Witzenhausen
(top) and Haus
Achtern Diek,
Fehmarn
10 Maritime manor house
Ahrenshoop
Coast
4 Hamburg
4 All-vegan B&B Hamburg
Open since early 2015, Hamburg’s first
all-vegan bed and breakfast, Green
Haven, has only three rooms (one of
them a single), as well as a trailer for
two and an apartment for three. Owner
Christiane has gone big on charm –
most of the furniture is upcycled – and
there’s a large living room. Breakfasts
are an extra €5, although organic
supermarket Alantura is a five-minute
walk away for self-caterers. It’s in the
Wandsbek district, eight minutes by
train from central Hamburg.
• Doubles from €53.50 room-only,
vegan-in-hamburg.de
Ignore the unprepossessing name
of the Shittlerhaus. This family-run
apartment hotel is at the foot of the
Allgäu Alps in the south-west, and its
panoramic setting is complemented
by seven classy apartments and one
smaller guest room. It’s been in the
same family – yes, the Schittlers – since
opening in 1953, but feels far from
dated. The local peaks are great for
both summer hiking and winter sports.
Munich is about two hours away by car.
• Apartments for two from €52 roomonly, plus €10 a night for each extra
guest, schittlerhaus.de
Czech Rep
20
6 Mannheim
The windswept North Sea island of
Sylt is part of the Frisian archipelago
on the Danish border, and the 10-room
Long Island House hotel is a place to
hunker down for a few days of beach
walks, sun loungers and lazy breakfast
buffets. There’s a vintage, Hamptons
feel to the property, hence the name.
There’s also a large garden, but if
the weather turns nippy: the rooms
all have heated floors. The island is
reached by train from Hamburg.
• Doubles from €136 B&B, sylthotel.de
9 Island guesthouse Fehmarn
France
Munich
7
18
200 miles
Winning tip
Strandperle beach bar, Hamburg
Set on the banks of the river
Elbe, this is a fantastic place to sit back
in a deckchair and watch huge ships
pass by. Part of the fun is the journey
to the bar. Go to the Landungsbrücken
in the harbour and take the 62 ferry to
Ovelgonne, then walk along the sandy
shores of the Elbe. There are light
snacks and full meals at reasonable
prices – try the currywurst or fish rolls.
• strandperle-hamburg.de
James Arnold
Austria
The relaxed island of Fehmarn, off
Schleswig-Holstein’s Baltic coast, is
statistically one of the sunniest spots
in the country. At only half the size of
the Isle of Wight, it’s no mass-market
getaway, but attracts windsurfers and
birdwatchers in healthy numbers. In
BRLO Brwhouse, Berlin
Opened last month, this new beer
garden, formed from a series of sea
containers, is an extension to the
BRLO brewery, which is also on site.
It serves their four types of craft beers
on draught, and a selection of freshly
cooked food. It is in one of Berlin’s
newer parks and is only a 10-minute
walk from Potsdamer Platz. For families
with young kids, there’s plenty to keep
them busy while you enjoy a cold beer.
• brlo-brwhouse.de
lancedowds
Meierei Brauhaus, Potsdam
This beer hall and garden on Lake
Jungfernsee is in a former dairy. The
owner, Jurgen, will show you around
the brewery before you settle in for
the main attraction: enjoying the
refreshing, fruity, light beers. The beer
garden, overlooking the lake, provides
spectacular views.
• meierei-potsdam.de
HMJackson
Webster Brauhaus, Duisburg
A great brauhaus in the heart of
Since taking it over in late 2014, the
owners of Landhaus Esperort, an old
coastal manor house, have turned it
into the kind of cosy sanctuary that a
north European seaside break cries out
for. The rooms have a tasteful maritime
feel, and there’s a steam bath and
Finnish sauna. Ahrenshoop, a fishing
settlement on the Fischland-DarssZingst peninsula, became an artists’
colony in the late 1800s and still draws
an alternative crowd.
• Doubles from €90 B&B, landhausesperort.de
11 Thatched house Föhr
An all-suite hotel on the North Sea
island of Föhr, Rackmers Hof occupies
a thatched house built in 1845. All
its suites have kitchens and garden
terraces, and a small spa offers saunas
Duisburg, they brew their own beers on
the premises (the original copper brew
kettles are in the middle of the bar, the
modern vats downstairs), which go
well with the amazing food on offer
(I recommend the Holstein schnitzel).
• webster-brauhaus.de
benking18
Möbel Olfe, Berlin
This bar, near Kottbusser Tor in
Kreuzberg, is a crazy experience,
starting with the furniture stuck to
the ceiling (it used to be a furniture
and massages. Public spaces are
decorated with modern art by island
artists. Föhr itself, which has 15km
of sandy beaches, is reached by a
45-minute ferry from Dagebüll.
• Two-person suites from €70 B&B,
rackmers.de
12 Cool apartments Usedom
PHOTOGRAPHS: JAN BROCKHAUS; MORITZ.CHRISTOPH.ULLRICH;
A prime location in Munich doesn’t
have to mean within staggering
distance of the Hofbräuhaus. Familyrun Hotel Stadt Rosenheim is some
distance from the main tourist
honeypots, but still has a plum address
almost opposite the Ostbahnhof
transport hub in Haidhausen, a
residential district full of cafes, bars
and independent shops. It has 51
modern rooms in a neo-renaissance
building. Free soft drinks and a localproduce breakfast add to the attraction.
• Doubles from €117 room only,
hotel-stadt-rosenheim.de
triangular-panelled sphere suspended
from the canopy. The larger houses
sleep four, and the cabin eight. It’s all
in the grounds of a 15th-century castle,
and hanging rope bridges help give the
place a feel of the Ewok forest from
Star Wars.
• From €150 for a two-person “tree
ball”, robins-nest.de
18 The hills are alive Oberstdorf
7 Design hotel Munich
3 Design suites Frankfurt
The Libertine Lindenberg in the city’s
unrushed Alt-Sachsenhausen district
is a new, well-priced all-suite hotel
that feels genuinely different. It does
away with the traditional reception
desk – who needs ’em? – and focuses on
home-from-home design, hand-made
furnishings and a communal living
room-cum-cafe. Suites range from one
to three bedrooms, with short-term
guests welcome. There’s even an inhouse recording studio. It’s well placed
for enjoying the neighbourhood’s
numerous hostelries, known for
apfelwein (“apple wine” – essentially
German cider).
• One-bedroom suites from €79,
das-lindenberg.de/libertine
▲ Water boys …
Uhlenköper
Camp, Uelzen
(top) and
Rackmers Hof,
Föhr
A three-storey fin-de-siècle building
reborn as roomy apartments with
minimalist decor and exposed beams,
Villa Albatros is a modish option on
the Baltic island of Usedom, once
a favourite of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Its
sweeping beaches are still peered over
by grandiose resort buildings, and its
eastern half is actually in Poland.
• Apartments for two from €90 roomonly, villaalbatros.de
13 Island life Hiddensee
There’s nothing fancy about Pension
zur Post: rooms are fresh, clean and
well-priced, and it runs yoga and
meditation workshops. The real draw
is its location. Car-free Hiddensee
island is all wind-blasted heathland
and lighthouse-dotted beachscapes.
There are numerous bike-hire outlets,
store) and the fact it’s slap-bang in the
middle of a housing estate. Although
gay, and at the scruffier/bearier end
of the gay spectrum, it’s open to all.
The floor-to-ceiling windows make it
great for people watching, although it
gets so busy you may end up squashed
against them. The bar’s irreverence is
contagious – when the smoking ban
came in, they hosted a smoker’s party
in a tent outside, but people soon went
back to smoking inside anyway.
• moebel-olfe.de
neonoir
though don’t expect to be pedalling all
day – the island is just 18km long, by
less than two wide.
• Doubles from €60 room-only,
ostseeurlaub-hiddensee-zurpost.de
Speicher7 is
a converted
riverside
Country
granary in
14 Castle hotel Rothenburg
Mannheim, On the edge of Rothenburg’s hilly old
town, the 15-room Burg-Hotel has
which was
spectacular views across the vineyards
named a
and woods of the Tauber valley.
Unesco City Rooms, on five floors, are spacious
and individually designed, and many
of Music
have four-poster beds. The breakfast
in 2014
room sits 80 metres above the valley
floor, adding extra pep to your morning
coffee. There is a small wellness area.
• Doubles from €125 room-only,
burghotel.eu
15 Cyclists’ pension and hostel
Bad Berka
The green Thuringia countryside is
veined with bike paths, and cyclists
are well served by Velo Inn, an 11room guesthouse 13km from Weimar.
It offers guided cycle-touring, as well
as a rental service and a bike garage.
Strandperle beach bar, Hamburg
Shuttle transfers to a trail along the
Saale river can also be arranged. Rooms
are comfortable and practical, and the
area also has some fine hiking routes.
• Doubles from €60 room-only,
veloinn.de
More online
16 Log cabins Sauerland
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most
populous state in the country, not
that you’d guess it at Hof Keppel,
a child-friendly working farm in the
wooded Sauerland region. Guest
accommodation is in elegantly rustic
log cabins. Kids can meet the animals
and collect eggs; adults can enjoy local
hiking trails or relax on the veranda.
• From £365 for three nights, sleeps six,
featherdown.co.uk
17 Tree-top houses
Witzenhausen
Germany has a surprising number of
baumhaushotels (treehouse hotels),
and this one in north-east Hesse
is one of the more eye-catching.
Open since 2014, Baumhotel Robins
Nest comprises three wooden
treetop houses, a stilted cabin and a
geometrically pleasing “tree ball” – a
Schlenkerla, Bamberg
We spent an afternoon visiting the
traditional brewhouses of this world
heritage town in Bavaria. If you
only have time to visit one, make it
Schlenkerla. Authentic rauchbier (made
from smoked malt) is served in this
atmospheric 17th-century building in
the shadow of Bamberg’s Romanesque
cathedral. Drink it with a traditional
Bavarian breakfast of weisswurst (white
pudding), pretzels and sweet mustard.
• schlenkerla.de
ID3586836
Berlin nightlife
See our in-depth
reports on Berlin’s
unique club scene –
and where to grab
the best post-rave
kebab
theguardian.com/
travel/berlin
Uhlenköper Camp in Lower Saxony
is green in more ways than one. The
shower block, restaurant and on-site
shop run on solar power, while the
well-sized swimming pool is chlorinefree. While there is space for tents
and campervans, it also offers a sixperson tipi and two “sleep barrels”
– cylindrical wooden cabins for
families of up to four. The surrounding
countryside is particularly impressive
in August and September, when its
abundant beds of heather blush a
glowing purple. Kayaks can be hired
for trips on the nearby river.
• Tipis from €60, uhlenkoeper-camp.de
20 Spa hotel Bad Sobernheim
Less than 90 minutes from the finance
towers of Frankfurt, the 50-room
BollAnts im Park isn’t cheap – but
you’ll soon see why. To describe it as a
high-end spa hotel would be to rather
do it down. Not content with having
2,000 square metres of saunas, pools
and treatment suites, it also has a
dreamy valley setting, broad gardens
and three top-notch restaurants, one of
which has a Michelin star. Yoga retreats
are offered too.
• Doubles from €144, bollandts.de
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