Names: Jan and Katja Hasselbaum

Home base: Waldgirmes, Germany

Live Like a German Vacation Apartment: Hideaway on the Lahn River, Waldgirmes Comments: We know the Kraft family now for more than 25 years, and live in Waldgirmes near-by. Their apartment is a great place to stay. We always enjoy when the Kraft’s are visiting, and we can get together at their place to have a fun time. If you want to live like a German during your vacation, this is the place to stay!

Names: Dr. Gary Banner and DJ Rassech

Home base: Gilroy, California

Live Like a German Vacation Apartment: Hidaway on the Lahn River, Waldgirmes

Comments: We were visiting the Kraft family in August 2007 during our trip in Germany. They invited us over in Waldgirmes for coffee and cake, and we enjoyed our time there. They gave us a complete tour of the apartment --  it looks really great! In particular we liked the European style furniture, hardwood floors, and the overall stylish decoration. Hope we can visit again in 2008!

Names: Frank and Melanie Itter

Home base: Mönstadt, Germany

Live Like a German Vacation Apartment: Hideaway on the Lahn River, Waldgirmes Comments: We know the Krafts for more than 25 years and we are very close friends. Although we live  several thousand miles away our friendship never suffered. We see each other regularly during their stays in Germany, and use the Internet or the good old phone to communicate often.

Their apartment is located in a quite area in Waldgirmes. It is spacious, nice, and has everything one needs for a good vacation. You can comfortably live there with 4-5 persons. Need to point out the nice backyard (we always enjoy it there, see pictures to the right!)

The village is a small, but has a very good infrastructure. It is located between the two neighboring towns Wetzlar and Giessen. Its central location makes it an ideal starting point for exploring the area. Here are some tips: Visit the old Roman fort “Saalburg” located on the Taunus ridge northwest of Bad Homburg. Also, there are many castles, like “Castle Gleiberg”, “Castle Braunfels”, “Castle Cleeberg”, and many more. Exploring big cities is also a good option (e.g., like Frankfurt, Cologne, Wiesbaden, Koblenz, and Trier).

In terms of local activities Waldgirmes has lots to offer too: nice trails for hiking and mountain biking, tennis, and soccer. Since the Lahn river is nearby you can do canoe tours too. To sum up: Just a great area located centrally in the heart of Germany!

Names: Thomas and Sabine Hengst

Home base: Nauborn, Germany

Comments: We have known Reiner and his wife Bettina for more than 15 years. We are good friends and I always enjoy their hospitality in Waldgirmes or California. Bettina has a great taste in terms of interior design, which you can see in the vacation apartment at Goethestrasse 5. The place has been completely remodeled in 2006. Its interior has high standards and is arranged lovely. We know that, because we visit there every time when the Kraft’s are in Germany.

Travel Tips: Overall we can highly recommend the areas of Wetzlar and Waldgirmes for your Germany vacation. Beautiful forests and lakes invite you for hiking and long bicycle rides. The nearby towns of Braunfels and Wetzlar are great for sightseeing and exploring their old historic downtowns. The distance to Frankfurt is only 70 km. Frankfurt itself has a big city flair and offers you a rich historic and cultural activities to see.

Note: As a special highlight Thomas started to offer personall diving classes for Reiner and Bettina’s guests  according to PADI. Also as a pharmacist Thomas can help with any medication needs and advice quickly (see more details on ‘Health’ section within the Waldgirmes destination guide.)

Names: The Dey Family

Home base: Nebraska, U.S.

Visited Germany: 10 days, May 2008

Live Like a German Vacation Apartment: Hideaway on the Lahn River, Waldgirmes

Comments: Reiner and Bettina, You have a great place to stay. I want you to know that Inge was very gracious and prepared a great authentic German meal complete with homemade wine. Germany appears to be a great country and the village of Waldgirmes is very clean, quiet, and friendly as was the rest of the country. We traveled to the Bremen area to visit our relatives (distant) in Ober Octenhausen and stayed there 2 days. The autobahn is quite unique and well maintained. Why are the roads so clean and well kept compared to US?

If you need recommendations for your apartment at Goethestrasse 5 please feel free to use us as references. Once again, I hope to return to Germany someday and would like to rent apartment again if available.

Live Like a German recently got awarded with VRWD’s prestigious editors choice. VRWD editors select only exceptional vacation rental listings from VRWD.com to be featured in the Editor’s Choice spotlight.  Listings that are well written, have high ratings and great reviews receive top consideration into being awarded the Editor’s Choice designation.

Story: Wouldn’t it be nice to experience Germany like the locals do? The Kraft family offers vacationers information on how to do just that. Their mission is to provide travelers with an authentic vacation in Germany by immersing you in German culture.

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The Dey family enjoys an authentic German dinner at the vacation apartment in Waldgirmes.

Names: The O’Reilly Family

Home base: Dublin, Ireland

Visited Germany: 2 weeks, July / August 2008

Live Like a German Vacation Apartment: Hideaway on the Lahn River, Waldgirmes

Comments: We loved the apartment - it really is a home away from home. Waldgirmes is a very beautiful place - we had some great fun exploring it and the surrounding area. My kids loved the playroom but they kept getting distracted from the toys to look at the horses in the beautiful meadow just outside the apartment.

After returning to Dublin we were only back a couple of days and already we were missing Waldgirmes! We had a wonderful holiday and totally loved the apartment. We loved your website and found it extremely useful.  We would have no hesitations in recommending a "Live Like a German"  holiday - in fact that's all our friends are hearing about since our return.

The O'Reilly Family