In Berlin, Germany`s largest city, there are more than 2,000 beds to rent in private homes, with rates beginning at $14 a room.
For young travelers on limited budgets, Berlin also has three hotels that offer low-cost lodgings to student-style travelers.
Bed and breakfast accommodations throughout Germany are inspected regularly by local tourist boards. Homes with available rooms post a sign displaying the words ”Zimmer Frei” (”room free,” available for rent).
Most of the accommodations are in small towns and villages, where families have an extra room for two because their children have grown and left home.
The German National Tourist Office (GNTO) says you don`t need reservations for this type of accommodation. Your best bet is to visit the local tourist information offices, where you will be supplied with details on several local homes with rooms. You can inspect the rooms without obligation to stay.
The GNTO publishes a free 63-page brochure, ”Bed and Breakfast in Germany `91/`92,” which lists tourist information offices and the price range for single and double B&B accommodations in the area, and indicates other local services and activities of interest to visitors. For copies, contact the German National Tourist Office, 747 3rd Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017;
212-308-3300.
Three Berlin hotels focus on the needs of young visitors, offering bed and breakfast lodgings for as low as $15.50 to $18.50 a person a night. Some single and double rooms are available, but at the rates quoted you can expect to be in a single-sex multi-bed room, usually for four, with a shared washroom.
Usually, youth hotels are a little more expensive than youth hostels, but they offer the advantages of 24-hour receptions and their own bars and discos where you can meet other travelers, and include breakfasts.
The Studentenhotel Berlin, Meininger Strasse 10, is in what used to be West Berlin. It`s the head office for all three hotels, so you can arrange a room at any of them through this location.
It offers beds for 160 travelers in rooms shared by two to four people. Separate washrooms are on each floor. You won`t find a restaurant, but there is a television and billiards room.
It`s close to the town hall, a 10-minute walk to Ku-dam (known as one of Europe`s greatest boulevards) and a 20-minute trip to Brandenburg Gate, formerly the door to East Berlin.
Jugendhotel Amtierpark is at Franz-Mett-Strasse 7, in what once was East Berlin. It`s near a vast park known as Tiergarten. (The name means ”animals garden,” or zoo, and originated when the area was the gateway to Berlin and was overflowing with animals.)
The hotel has 250 rooms, from singles to multi-bed facilities. All have private washrooms; some have their own showers. The hotel has its own restaurant, bar and disco. It`s about a 15-minute trip by subway from the downtown area.
Touristenhaus Grunau, Dahmestrasse 6, on the banks of the Spree River, is the smallest of the hotels. It has 37 rooms which accommodate two or more people. It`s a quiet location with its own club room, restaurant and disco. You can reach the city center in 10 minutes on the local train.
