Hi,
I encountered this forum searching for holiday apartments or houses in Heidelberg. We are actually thinking about buying a nice old property in or near the center, furnishing it and renting it to tourists or foreigners who want to stay for a longer while.
I tried to figure out how is the interest in visiting Heidelberg. Sure, there are a lot of tourists in Heidelberg - but I suppose the majority are day-tourists.
Surfing the web I received the impression that there are however foreigners who go to HD to live there for a while and also tourist who are interested in an alternative to a hotel.
The most actual available holiday apartments I found are not very attractive. I wouldn%26#39;t rent them.
Well, my question is how the people in this forum think about renting an tastefully furnished apartment in Heidelberg.
- Would you prefer a private apartment to a hotel?
- Would you search the internet for a holiday home? Where would you search?
- Which location would you prefer? The old city center or the districts Neuenheim, Weststadt, Handschuhsheim? (In the city center it can be loud at night.)
- How much would you pay? Example: The only holiday apartment I would acutal rent in Heidelberg cost 225 € for a week (2 rooms, 40 square meters).
- Would a parking lot be essential for you?
- How do you consider the interest in Heidelberg in your country?
Would be really nice to receive answers to any of these questions. :-)
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Hi! First off, it is so nice to have someone who lives in HD here! I hope you will post more!
I will give you my own reactions to your proposal:
I think a vacation home idea in HD is very good. However, in terms of Americans, we rarely think of it. We are so used to hotel/motel idea. Many Americans like the %26quot;safety%26quot; and %26quot;services%26quot; of hotels. We are not used to holiday rentals and don%26#39;t use them much in USA except for a cabin in the woods maybe.
I like Neuenheim/Handschusheim (great views!). Weststadt also for its convenience, but I like Neuenheim or Handschusheim a bit better. If you do it, the attractiveness and convenience of these locations should be stressed.
I think the price tho might be high - with the Euro/Dollar exchange rate and all. I don%26#39;t know how it compares to HD hotel prices.
Parking would be good, but not essential.
Keep us informed and keep posting!.
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225€ a week is expensive?????? That%26#39;s a little over 32€ a night, dirt cheap for what you%26#39;re getting, an actual apartment rather than a small hotel or hostel room.
The real problem with renting such a place is the ignorance of most tourists, most wouldn%26#39;t even think about renting such a place. They simply want to scurry wildly about the country seeing what they believe are %26quot;must sees%26quot;, traveling long distances to spend a few hours in places overcrowded with other foreign tourists. They don%26#39;t realize there is enough excellent things to see and do around almost anywhere in Germany to last several weeks, Heidelberg certainly being one.
It%26#39;s not like the US where it is largely a cultural wasteland and you have to drive long distances to see things related to culture, and many are pretty poor sights compared to European standards.
Many speak about saving money on their travels, and then insist upon expensive travel every day. And with that low apartment rate, you will then have money to spend on other things, such as excellent food, the opera, buying some nice things, etc. And you can save quite a bit of money grocery shopping and fixing some of your own meals or drinkling inexpensive good wine or beer from that store. I attempt to try to change these travel habits, but it is a lost cause. I found out years ago the most enjoyable way to visit Europoe is to spend a week at an apartment and see and ENJOY the many excellent things nearby. (If you must, then travel wildly about for a week before your next apartment stay, kind of the best of both worlds.) Matter of fact, almost all of my favorite places in Europe are places that I%26#39;ve spent at least a week, and many of these were a far cry from typical tourist destinations and many American tourists have never even heard of.
One thing about vacation rentals, you can also use an agency such as Interhome to represent your property. Their rental fees are high, and although you get to keep half of the money, you probably will get as much as if you rent it yourself without all the hassles of advertising and handling money transactions in foreign currencies.
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Well I must apologize since i thought you meant 225/day, not per week. At that price per week, it is really appealing.
BTW: We have similar issues with tourists to NYC who want most to see Empire State Building (huge lines), Statue of Liberty (takes hours with travel, security lines, etc, suburban shopping malls (!). Places a real NYer would never visit.
Interestingly, many European tourists on the NYC board ask about vacation rentals in NYC, but we have very few. Most are %26quot;illegal%26quot; (going outside NYC rental laws) and other than a few other areas (Outer Banks, NC, Santa Fe, NM) there are few vacation rentals available, or have at least a week minimum.
MP: Its a bit unfair to call US a %26quot;cultural wasteland%26quot; although I think I know what you mean. I think US makes a great road trip place where you can find tiny places all over. Even the %26quot;boring%26quot; areas can have an appeal. Have you read %26quot;Blue Highways%26quot;
www.allreaders.com/Topics/info_27011.asp
But back to Heidelberg: I do think the challenge will be advertising; I would stay there!
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%26quot;MP: Its a bit unfair to call US a %26quot;cultural wasteland%26quot; although I think I know what you mean. I think US makes a great road trip place where you can find tiny places all over. Even the %26quot;boring%26quot; areas can have an appeal. Have you read %26quot;Blue Highways%26quot;%26quot;
First, I%26#39;ve never read Blue Highways, or if I have, I don%26#39;t remember it.
Being an American and having traveled all over the US extensively for over 50 years, it is a cultural wasteland when compared to Europe. Where are all of those great old towns, churches, palaces, castles, opera houses, etc. etc. If the %26quot;nothing%26quot; church in my German wife%26#39;s home village were in the US, it would be a cultural and architectural marvel, instead of just another typical Baroque church for her area of Germany.
I love driving around the western US, and always make it a point to visit anything that has some cultural significance, such as the one room school house in Capitol Reef National Park in Utah, the old Mormon fort at Pipe Springs National Monument in Arizona, or Ganado Trading Post National Historic Site also in Arizona. And these places are not really great places to visit, although interesting. But you drive hundreds of miles without anything similar to see although the scenery is excellent.
In the US, the oldest things are the pueblos and cliff dwellings, which are contemperaneous with many older placess in Germany. It%26#39;s usually no thrill to me to visit places from the 1800s, although some can be interesting and some possibly excellent.
Even Williamsburg%26#39;s House of Burgesses dates from I believe the 1920s, and no one really advertises that, hardly an actual historic building but something modern although built in the same style. Much like many sights in Germany%26#39;s large cities.
Things in the US are getting better about preserving cultural heritage. I would always marvel as a teenager at discovering a historical marker around my hometown in Illinois. Although historical events may have happened, they were never publicized later. Now many years later, my hometown has a nice recreated village recreating life in the 1800s, and also a nice musuem with local historical things which I found quite interesting, being from there, but my German wife couldn%26#39;t really enjoy. Something pleasant to visit, but hardly anything for which to make an international trip.
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Very interested. Please reply with questions and details. Possibilty of swapping units here in US. This area has a STRONG Germanic heritage from the Palatinate region. Please verify for yourself, Western Berks County, Pennsylvania, US. Township names are Heidelberg, South Heidelberg, North Heidelberg and Lower Heidelberg. All surrounding counties have similarly named boroughs and/or townships, (Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh). Special interest to you may be the community of Ephrata and its Cloister in Lancaster County and the links to Heidelberg and the Palatinate going back to the 1700%26#39;s.
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My strong suggestion is that you keep your opinions about the %26quot;values%26quot; and %26quot;cultural%26quot; opportunities of those to whom you HOPE to rent in check or your business may fail pretty quickly.
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I did not notice that the original poster expressed any opinion on values or culture.
Aprilis, my wife and I enjoy staying at Ferienwohnung, and Heidelberg is one of our favorite places in Germany. So we would definitely consider a place like yours. Following are answers to your questions.
Would you prefer a private apartment to a hotel? We prefer a private apartment with full kitchen facilities.
Would you search the internet for a holiday home? Where would you search? I usually find information online. I search google for “Ferienwohnung” and the place we want to stay.
Which location would you prefer? The old city center or the districts Neuenheim, Weststadt, Handschuhsheim? (In the city center it can be loud at night.) Both locations have their benefits, but I suspect more people would be interested in the city center.
How much would you pay? Example: The only holiday apartment I would acutal rent in Heidelberg cost 225 € for a week (2 rooms, 40 square meters). We only rent two bedroom apartments (we have children) and usually pay between 40 and 60 € per night.
Would a parking lot be essential for you? Yes
How do you consider the interest in Heidelberg in your country? It is difficult to determine. Unfortunately, I do not think Germany gets as much attention as it should when Americans are considering a trip to Europe.
I would also add that the following amenities are a must for our family: linens must be provided (hard to lug from the U.S.), internet access, and a shower (some Ferienwohnung only have bath tubs). Access to a washer and a dryer can also help determine where we will stay if we have multiple choices.
Good Luck and let us know what you decide.
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