Holiday homes in Germany?

[Changebagsandgladrags]

Can anyone recommend somewhere to search for holiday homes in Germany? I've had a look at Homeaway.co.uk but not sure how reputable they are.

Any other advice? Looking for somewhere kind of in the middle. Will be going to Berlin first and making our way back to London by train. But want a week somewhere beautiful...(eg lakes, hills or forest)

a nice a good region between berlin and london is the "Harz". a good site for holiday lets is casamundo.de a bit like 'rightmove' for holiday lets. it's in german, though. but many people speak at least basic english if you want to write an email.

There are loads of holiday homes in Garmisch Partenkirchen. If your German is good enough (or you are handy with Google translate) then it should be easy to book and they are very reasonably priced as we went in the summer but they are mostly used for skiing. Loads of places to hike, we got there by train and had no issues. Also able to use the Bavaria travelcard to cut down on the cost of trains (we went from Garmisch on a train through the Alps into Austria and out again right to the northern edge of Bavaria (on the way to Frankfurt) before we had to buy another ticket).

Chalets were basic but okay. Lots of restaurants and quiet nightlife - bars and some free open air music, which was lovely and totally unexpected: a big band with people dancing. It was breathtakingly beautiful with a lake, mountain and forests.

We went Berlin-Garmisch-Frankfurt-Amsterdam-UK by train/boat.

Yes, I'd been looking at Harz, that's my number one, looks lovely, Brocken railway etc etc. Plus, quite easy to get there by train. Off to check out casamundo.de...

Garmisch Partenkirchen, maybe a bit too far south, would involve some really long train journeys. But I fancy Bavaria on the next trip, so will keep it in mind.

Like the idea of ski chalets in summer. Will keep that in mind for future reference, thanks!

Depending on your German we always use www.fewo-direkt.de. Never for a villa in Germany though.

How old are your children? Farmstays holidays are very popular but often booked up far in advance.

I have booked (I think) Quedlingburg. Which then gives us a long journey home, so also thinking of Wuppertal.

My experience is that you get along with english since the germans seem to be learning it at school ;) I would recommend a visit to Berlin. Been there twice and it is just an amazing city. Have a look here www.ferienwohnung-24-berlin.com/english.htm

Interhome ?

Landal.com have some nice sites in northern Germany. We stayed a week at Sonnenberg in the Moselle valley and that was very nice.

We are toying with staying on the Baltic Coast after a trip to Berlin. It looks amazing on the Island of Ruegen:

www.ruegen-abc.de/

We'll be driving up, but the train actually goes onto the Island and stops at the main resort.

It's got a kind of Cape Cod feel to it, sand and grassy wild dunes.

Oh and Hitlers Holiday camp (well it would be interesting at the very least)...