By chance we found the perfect Gasthaus in Germany.

It was a perfect Fall day to go on a four day jaunt to what was formerly known as Eastern Germany. Silke, her brother Mike and I set out on a road trip from Schweinfurt to Dresden. Our first day brought us to the little town of Annaberg-Buchholz in Saxon.

It was already late in the day when we arrived and we started to look for a place to stay. This would be our base point and the rest of the time we would venture out on day trips from this location. We had driven through Annaberg-Buchholz and actually thought about turning around to go back, but we didn’t know how far the next town would be (this was before we had GPS on our phones).

Booking.com

Now, I don’t speak a lot of German, but when we pulled up to the stop sign and I turned to look at the building that sat just outside of town, I was pretty confident I knew what I was looking at. The sign on the building caught everyone’s attention and we pulled in to check the place out. The sign read Landgasthaus – Morgensonne.

What does Gasthaus mean in English?

The German word Gasthaus means tavern in English. A Gasthaus provides a room for entertaining guests and a Gastwirt will sell drinks such as beer, wine, snaps and soft drinks, and offer a local food menu. Often the owner of a Gasthaus will also rent out rooms to travelers. A small Gasthaus is usually owned and run by a local family. A Landgasthaus is a small hotel in a rural setting.

The Perfect Gasthaus in Germany

The owner of the Landgasthaus Morgensonne greeted us at the door and welcomed us inside. There were rooms available and we were still in time for dinner. Silke wanted to check the rooms out before we decided to stay and he took this in stride by grabbing the keys and leading us upstairs. The rooms looked alright to me. I was tired and hungry so I really thought it seemed a little over board to make such a request.

Silke gave the room a quick gaze and stuck her head in the bathroom. Everything looked alright to her as well, as she quickly took the offered rooms. While Silke filled out the paper work I followed Mike back out to the car to collect our things. I made the comment about having to see the rooms seemed a little ‘over the top’.

He explained that not all the guest houses in Germany have rooms with their own bath rooms.

Silke was making sure this amenity was intact. I tried to envision staying at the Holiday Inn back in the states and everyone on the same floor had to share the bathroom. Now I was ‘with the program’. We went to check out the town the first night we were in Annaberg-Buchholz.

Our room at the Gasthaus

When we got back to the Gasthaus we found the owner, Frank, reading a paper in the lounge area.

He looked up and saw it was us and quickly had three beers sitting in front of us. Both Silke and Mike speak fluent English and German. I spoke only English and Frank only spoke German. This made for an interesting conversation as either Silke or Mike would have to translate one way or the other to explain what was being said.

It was easy for me to sit back and watch all three of them converse casually like they were all long lost relatives. What I had to keep reminding myself was that we had all just met him only a few hours earlier.

The second night we stayed in and ate at the guest house.

Frank turned out to be quite the chef. His meals were thoughtfully put together and served with the finesse of a world class restaurant. I tried the Mexican Schnitzel. This was something that I had the last time we visited Germany and mainly consists of mixed garden vegetables with the Schnitzel.

Everyone agreed that what they had ordered was spot on and we all slept well that night. The meal, a few drinks and card games kept us up pretty late.

Get our Jager Schnitzel Recipe

No matter how late we stayed up, Frank was always there to greet us in the morning with a fresh pot of coffee and breakfast waiting for us. We were definitely on vacation!

Frank, the owner of the Guesthaus, always asked where we were off to for the day.

He would nod in agreement with our choice and point out things to do and see while we were there. Frank and I were never able to communicate directly with each other, but I soon began to value his opinion on these matters. A life time resident to the area, his input could make or break our itinerary in a minute.

All good things must come to an end and it was time for us to make our way back to Schweinfurt. It felt like saying good bye to a long lost relative when we finally packed the car up and parted ways. What started out as a chance encounter turned out to be much more then any of us could have imagined.

We would like to thank Frank for the generous hospitality, wonderful food and drinks.

We truly enjoyed our stay at his Gasthaus in Germany and would like to recommend anyone who finds themselves in the area to check out this unique and tranquil hotel. Visit their website for more German travel tips, pictures, room prices and fun stories:

Landgasthaus Morgensonne in Annaberg-Buchholz

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