Hotel Rastanlage Gudow Nord

The breakfast was decent for 10 euros per person, which is about what you'd expect for the price. The room itself was clean, but dated. It was winter, the heat was off and the window was open. I get wanting to air out an old place, but they could at least have shut the window and turned on the heating so it might reach 17 Celsius. Thankfully, we had blankets in the car. There was no toilet paper, and even though the motel looked empty, with no cars out front or along the sides of the highway, we were put in a room facing the road. It was really noisy. Check-in was a bit of a mess. The receptionist was nice, but he only spoke German and couldn't find our Booking.com reservation. He tried to sell us a room from the offer on the desk, then gave us a different price in the end. The machine for checking cash wouldn't accept any of the euros we had, so we had to pay by card. The motel is about 600 m from the reception building. That part was fine, but first he gave us the wrong room number, then the key card didn't work. The third key finally worked and the room number was right. To his credit, he ran over to the motel and checked things with us in person.

After a day on the road, it had what I needed: quiet, clean rooms facing away from the road, hot water in the shower, and heating that worked. There were some German channels on a decent-sized HD Samsung TV, too. Prices were reasonable. Access is awkward because of roadworks on the highway near the hotel. The routes are reversed, so watch out.

The place was clean and quiet, and the parking lot wasn't as packed as most in Germany.

The room was a little worn, and you have to go some distance to reach reception. Still, the service was nice, and it's a good spot for a simple, cheaper overnight stay.