Germany on brink of recession, says expert
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With many households feeling the sting of high inflation, some have decided to eschew a trip abroad this year in favour of a staycation in Germany.
There are loads of great reasons to do so: the €9 ticket deal is still running, and Germany has many beautiful locations to visit, from the Bavarian alps to the beaches of Sylt.
Unfortunately, Germany has been far from immune to price hikes in recent months – so you may find a day out at a beer-garden or a trip to the pool with friends a little pricier than last year.
Here’s a rundown of some popular summer activities and what they currently cost around the country.
Getting an ice-cream
There are few nicer things in life than a lovely scoop of ice-cream on a warm summer’s day, but don’t be surprised if your Eiskugel (ice cream scoop) sets you back a bit more than it did in 2021.
According to research conducted by Coupons magazine, the average cost of a single scoop ice-cream in Germany is currently €1.46. In the cheapest parlours, customers pay a pretty reasonable €1 per scoop – but in the most expensive areas, they can expect to pay double.
In the survey of 75 ice-cream parlours, Wuppertal emerged as the most affordable place to enjoy the sweet treat, with scoops of ice-cream costing an average of €1.20 in the North-Rhine Westphalian town. Nearby Bielefeld and Erfurt in Thuringia were also among the cheapest destinations for ice-cream.
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On the other side of the scale entirely were Munich and Stuttgart, where a single scoop costs a whooping €1.73 on average – and in some cases as much as €2. That means that families of four will have to spend the best part of €20 in the Bavarian capital if they want to buy a round of ice-creams on a hot day.
The recent price hikes are largely due to the rising cost of both milk and sugar – the two main ingredients in ice-cream.
Going to the pool
When the temperatures are soaring, cooling off in an outdoor swimming pool is the best way to spend an afternoon. But are the prices of tickets in 2022 enough to make you break a sweat?
Digital property manager Objego set out to discover just that with a survey of 300 outdoor pools (or Freibäder) in Germany. According to Objego’s research, children and teenagers pay an average of €2.37 for a dip in the pool, while adults pay around €4.57 on average for their tickets.
A teenage boy jumps into the pool in a Hamburg Freibad. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Julian Weber
Oddly enough, the usual East-West dynamic is completely reversed when it comes to outdoor pools.
In the city-state of Bremen, children and teenagers can swim for just €1 – which we think is an absolute bargain.
However in Cottbus – which is normally one of the cheapest parts of Germany – adults have to pay an average of €6 to cool off in the water. In the most expensive Freibad, adult tickets cost an eye-watering €9.25. At those prices, they’d better have some pretty awesome waterslides.
Sitting in a beer garden
Summer in Germany and beer gardens go together like Sauerkraut and Wurst, but it’s also nice if the hangover doesn’t extend to your wallet as well.
Luckily, Bild has checked out the prices of the most popular 10 beer gardens in Germany. These were selected by Falstaff, a community of beer and wine drinkers.
According to their research, the cheapest place to have cold one is Bräustüberl at Bavaria’s Tegernsee, where a half-litre of Helles costs just €3.10. Also on the affordable side were Skopis Elbgarten in Coswig, Saxony, and Bräustüberl Maxlrain in Bavaria’s Tuntenhausen. At both beer gardens, a half-litre of beer costs a mere €3.60.
In contrast, a house beer from the Berlin BRLO beer garden will set you back €5.50, and a beer at Liebevoll in der Auermühle, a beer garden in Ratingen, comes with a dizzying €5.80 price-tag.
Booking holiday accommodation
Finding a place to stay can be one of the biggest outlays of any holiday, and this year the prices are soaring due to high demand.
“Holidays in Germany are in demand as hardly ever before,” travel expert Heike Müller told Bild. “Thus, with the great demand for holidays in Germany, the occupancy figures of holiday flats and holiday homes are also high. At the start of the summer holidays in Saxony, about 90 percent of the accommodation in Saxon Switzerland is already fully booked.”
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Bild commissioned a review of the cost of an overnight stay in holiday accommodation from holiday home search portal Holidu. These were the results:
The most expensive places to stay overnight
1. Sylt: €187
2. Tegernsee: €185
3. Garmisch-Partenkirchen: €183
4. North Sea Islands: €175
5. North-Frisian Islands: €138
6. Rügen: €132
7. Baltic Sea Islands: €131
8. Baltic Sea Coast: €131
9. Bodensee: €131
10. Oberallgäu: €131
People walk along the beach in Westerland, Sylt. Sylt is the most expensive place to book a holiday home. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Bockwoldt
The least expensive places to stay overnight
1. Bavarian Forest: €78
2. Ore Mountains: €79
3. Westerwald: €79
4. Hunsrück: €80
5. Rhön: €81
6. Saarland: €84
7. Oberfranken: €85
8. Altmark: €85
9. Thuringian Rhön: €86
10. Franconian Switzerland: €86