Germany may have a reputation for being a matter-of-fact destination, but it has some surprisingly quirky places to stay, if you know where to look.
We're talking tents hanging in trees for a sleepover unlike any other (although it's not ideal for anyone with limited bladder capacity), a hotel that pays tribute to the humble potato, and even a wolf enclosure.
The country is currently open to fully vaccinated Brits aged 12 and over for holidays (children are exempt), and with temperatures warming and the sunshine making an appearance, it's the perfect excuse to start planning holidays once more.
Check out our top pick of the weird and wonderful stays to be found in Germany...
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Tree tent, Allgäu
The Waldseilgarten Höllschlucht is an adventure park with treetops activities, similar to our Go Ape. It sits in the foothills of the Alps close to the Austrian border in the Allgäu, to the west of the popular town of Füssen, famous for its Neuschwanstein Castle.
Among the activities offered here are a couple of ways of sleeping in the trees, either on a platform around the trunk, or dangling in a flimsy-looking tree tent on a Portaledge, with ascent and descent by rope.
Not ideal for anyone with limited bladder capacity.
Platform sleeping costs £104pp a night, tree tenting £225, both including evening catering and breakfast. Find out more at waldseilgarten-hoellschlucht.de.
Eco-village, Saxony
Germans are famously fascinated by sustainability, with the country’s Green Party a major player in national politics.
No surprise, then, that it has very eco-minded communities, none more so than the pretty village of Schmilka, on the banks of the Elbe, south-east of Dresden.
Schmilka is in the Saxon Switzerland National Park, which means there are loads of walking trails, and it has its own river steamer stop.
Its houses, many offering accommodation, have solar, wind and water power, and the village bakery works with a wood-fuelled oven.
A double in the Hotel zur Mühle costs £158 including breakfast. Find out more at schmilka.de.
Potato Hotel, Lower Saxony
Northern Germany has a lot of productive farmland and this modest hotel on the Luneberg Heath, south-east of Hamburg, celebrates all the possible potatoey delights known to mankind. Everything is kartoffel-inspired, including the restaurant menu (potato soup, potato salad, potato goulash, even potato pudding) chased down by potato schnapps.
The wellness programme deploys spud-based lotions for their “antiseptic, moisturising and cell-renewing effects”. Each of the 35 rooms is named after a particular potato variety, and there are often sacks left outside the front door by the farmer next door.
Doubles from £92 a night including breakfast. Find out more at kartoffel-hotel.de.
Zeppelin hangar, Brandenburg
What is effectively a giant, superheated greenhouse around 40 miles south of Berlin has been repurposed as an all-year-round holiday resort, with sandy beaches, lagoons and palm trees.
Built originally as a base for a heavy-lifting airship project that didn’t get off the ground, it has been reborn as Tropical Islands, with a rainforest, a shopping street, and a ‘Tropical Sea’ the size of three Olympic swimming pools. And that’s just the inside bit – there are more water attractions outside. There are tents, cabins, or hotel-type rooms and at weekends, it can be lively until late.
Safari tents from £63pp a night, including breakfast and access to all attractions. Find out more at tropical-islands.de.
Watertower hotel, Cologne
Once upon a time it was Europe’s highest watertower, supplying drinking water to hundreds of thousands of households, but these days this 150-year-old repurposed property is one of the smartest places to stay in downtown Cologne.
Its curved walls, with beautiful old brickwork and portholes, mean that a lot of fixtures and fittings had to be specially designed, and it has just reopened after extensive renovation. The circular rooftop bar, which specialises in the products of German distilleries, has a magnificent view over the city.
Doubles from £95 a night, excluding breakfast. Find out more at wasserturm-hotel-cologne.com.
Wolf enclosure, Lower Saxony
A five-hectare enclosure in woodland located around 20 miles south-east of the northern city of Bremen is home to around a dozen Canadian and European grey wolves.
During the daytime the Wolfcenter Dörverden is a family attraction, with a visitor centre, restaurant, playground, and the chance to meet a couple of the cuddlier residents, Cosmo and Luna.
At night, though, when the crowds have gone, the privileged few can sit up on the roof of a ‘Tree Inn’, cabins on stilts overlooking the enclosure, and join in with the howling.
One night for two costs £393, including breakfast. Find out more at wolfcenter.de.
Hay hotel, Schleswig-Holstein
Many German farms, particularly in the north, offer holiday accommodation, mostly aimed at families. Sleeping in the hay barn is regularly part of that offer, although sometimes straw replaces hay, given the latter’s allergenic properties.
Sleeping bags are of course essential, and you probably wouldn’t want to do more than a couple of nights before returning to the comfort of sheets.
That is why a farm by the Baltic coast like Gut Sophienhof, which also has more conventional cabins, makes a safe bet.
Costs £50 for two people a night, including breakfast. Find out more at gutsophienhof.de.
Caravan hotel, Berlin
Nothing unusual about staying in a caravan, you might say.
But Berlin, a disruptor of a destination in so many ways, has reinvented the caravanning concept by placing an eccentric clutch of vintage mobile homes indoors, in a former factory in trendy Kreuzberg, and calling the result a hotel.
The downside is that bathrooms are communal, unless you’d prefer one of their factory loft rooms. There’s a café in the garden courtyard, so you don’t have to stay cooped up.
Caravans, which sleep two, cost from £57 a night, not including breakfast. Find out more at huettenpalast.de.
Monastery, Northern Bavaria
Many German monasteries are self-supporting commercial enterprises, with breweries, farms, restaurants and tours.
Kloster Kreuzberg, which is by Bischofsheim, east of Frankfurt, is one such.
It also has a substantial amount of guest accommodation, with no obligation on guests to be on any kind of spiritual journey; you could just be a hiker in the hills of the tip of northern Bavaria. Rooms are simple, the beer is good and meals are cheap.
Doubles from £34pp a night including breakfast. Find out more at kloster-kreuzberg.de.
Beach bed, Schleswig-Holstein
If you’d prefer your beach stay to be a bit more… real, then you can officially camp out on specific Baltic beaches (otherwise illegal) by hiring a specially adapted Strandkorb. These traditional wickerwork beach chairs, which can be turned to exclude the wind and face the sun, now have a new sibling in the form of sleeper Strandkorbs, effectively a double bed with a hood.
Fall asleep under the stars, with gentle waves as your lullaby, and the whole Baltic Sea for your bath. There’s usually some kind of adjacent toilet facility, so you don’t have to use the sea for everything.
From £50 a night. Find out more at sh-tourismus.de.
Brewery hotel, Bavaria
The Unesco-recognised town of Bamberg was once at the heart of the Holy Roman Empire, but these days it is particularly known for its nine breweries, still located within the city limits. Some are known for particular brews, such as Schlenkerla, whose rauchbier – smoky beer – tastes like smoky bacon.
And then there’s the Bambergator, brewed by Fässla which, at 8.5%, will knock you off your chair. Fässla’s labyrinth of rooms and courtyards also offers accommodation, and after an evening on the ‘gator, you’ll be grateful that all you have to do is crawl upstairs, singing as you go.
Doubles from £50 a night, without breakfast. Find out more at faessla.de.
Former Nazi resort, Rügen
The Colossus of Prora, once the largest building in the world, was a holiday resort built in the 1930s on the island of Rügen, a lovely white-sanded spot on Germany’s Baltic Coast.
Originally part of the Nazis’ ‘Strength Through Joy’ programme, the building was nearly three miles long when completed. During the post-war communist period it became a military base.
Today it is a mile shorter, and much of it is still disused, but parts have been converted to holiday apartments, museums, youth hostels and hotels. One such is the Dormero, a modern redevelopment which focuses on wellness and fitness.
Doubles from £97 a night, excluding breakfast. Find out more at dormero.de.
