Apartment Rentals: Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Sooner or later, you start to think about renting an apartment, flat, condominium, house or castle. You want to stay put for a while. The more you consider the idea, the more appealing it becomes. You will cook your own meals, visiting quaint markets each day to gather rich cheeses, marvelous baked goods, exotic meats and wonderfully fresh produce. You will take daytrips in a rental car or on the train. You will sit for hours at a neighborhood sidewalk café and become a regular. You will eat breakfast outdoors each morning on your apartment’s balcony which has a lake or mountain view, preferably both. You will save money.
It sounds good and it can happen — if you are careful.
Let’s start with the saving money part. You can rent a studio apartment
in our three countries for as little as $250 per week for two persons.
But more realistic numbers are $350 to $500 and up. To get the most for
your money, avoid package deals and large rental agencies.
Case in point: On a residential street in Interlaken is the Swiss Inn, an
unimpressive, rambling family-operated, apartment/hotel. A couple of
years ago we visited it but concluded it wasn’t something we could
recommend to Gemütlichkeit readers. This month, in the ‘special offers’
section of Switzerland Tourism’s website (www.myswitzerland.com),
Swiss Inn is offering one-week apartment packages for $575 per person.
The deal includes seven nights in an apartment, roundtrip rail from
Zürich plus 50% off on other rail travel (the Swiss Card), and two days
rental of a ‘Smart Car,’ a cute but tiny vehicle made by Mercedes Benz.
There are a couple of other minor amenities such as free coffee or tea
in your room and arriving customers are met at the
Interlaken
rail station. Doesn’t sound bad, $1150 per week for two people and you
get a car for two days and some rail transportation.
A closer look, however, calls this deal
into question. According to prices found on the Interlaken Tourist
Office’s website —
www.interlakentourism.ch — three-room
apartments (the Swiss Inn offer is two rooms) can be rented for around
700 Sfr. ($449) per week. Add a Swiss Card for the rail component at
$110 per person and you’ve spent $669 for two persons. Rent a subcompact
car (larger than the ‘Smart Car’) for three days in Interlaken for $115 and the total
tab is $784. By constructing the package yourself, you’ve saved 32% and
are driving a better car for three days instead of two.
Finding a Place to Rent
Ideally, you will select a rental property
after personally viewing several. You either do this on the first day or
two after arrival in Europe or in planning for a
future trip. Choosing a property and immediately moving in is possible,
of course, only when there are vacancies. Winter in popular Alpine
towns, and summer in resort towns such as in Austria’s lake
district, are likely to be the most difficult without advance
reservations.
Rental Agencies Personally choosing a rental property, however, may not be possible and you are left to make a decision based on pictures, your own intuition, and the advice and recommendations of others.
Though most North American vacation renters use an agency, we recommend
they be part of that process only under one condition; the booking agent
fully understands your needs and has personally inspected the property
in question. Given that one condition is met, renting through an agent
is probably worth the additional cost versus booking directly with the
property owner. Almost by definition, that condition excludes big
agencies such as Interhome, the world’s largest. The company lists
thousands of properties throughout
In addition, you will pay top dollar to rent through a company such as Interhome. Your money will be divided among the agency, the property owner, and perhaps one or two property management firms. Small agencies are better for a couple of reasons: the person you deal with is more likely to have personally seen the properties offered and there are fewer middle men. Such agencies typically add 25% to the price set by the property owner. Still, it’s worth it if you get what you’re looking for.
A great example of a small agency you can trust is At Home in France
(see ad in this month’s advertising insert). This is a small company
whose owners spend six weeks each September and October in
So let’s assume you don’t have a rental agent you can trust (Gemütlichkeit
knows of none), and for whatever reason you need to book sight unseen.
You must rely on intuition, the Internet, written descriptions, and
pictures. Since you also want a good price you want to deal directly
with property owners.
Using the Internet
Where do you start? The Internet has
thousands of web sites offering self-catering rentals in our three
countries. Many sites are owner-operated and full of pictures. The
problem is finding them. Rental agencies pay search engines to have
their sites appear at the top of the lists that result when using
general search phrases such as “apartment rental Austria“ or
“self-catering Switzerland.” You often will have to scroll far down the
list to find individual properties. If you don’t know the specific names
of properties, use a phrase like “ferienwohnungen
To get the most from the Internet you need the names of individual properties in the region or town where you want to stay.
Using Tourist Offices
Such information — often in the form of
fairly elaborate, full color catalogs or brochures — is available from
local tourist offices. But first, of course, you need to know how to
contact them. You can start by writing or emailing the
With this information in hand you can contact the local tourist offices and ask for a listing of vacation rentals.
Making the Choice
Once you have lists of properties supplied by town or regional tourist offices, you can begin to create a short-list from which to pick a vacation rental. Choose a few properties that seem to fit your requirements and price range.
Your next stop is the Internet. Let’s say the first possibility on your
short-list is Haus Heimhof in
If you like what you see, you will want to contact the owner. Usually
you can do so via email right from the property’s website. You can also
communicate via regular mail which, of course, is much slower but
preferred by many Europeans. Fax is also acceptable. It is probably not
a good idea to telephone.
Below are some further notes on renting self-catering accommodations in our three countries:
• Apartments or flats in private homes are the most common rentals. Often they are one floor (usually top floor or basement) converted into a self-contained apartment. Complete privacy is typical and one rarely hears the home’s other occupants. Usual amenities: one or two bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen/dining room that may also include a couple of easy chairs. Rarely found: separate living room, dishwasher, washing machine. Often found: TV and telephone.