Simmerath - Hurtgen Forest / close to Belgian border

[Wapping]

Hotel Kragemann.

I stayed for four nights, making a tour of the Hurtgen Forest battle fields.

A comfortable, modern hotel. All of the properties in the Hurtgen are new (post 1950’s) as all the towns and villages were smashed to oblivion during what was the largest single battle on German soil on the west side of Germany.

Good WiFi

Good parking

Friendly staff

Note: The restaurant / bar is closed on Sunday after 15:00. Plenty of choice in the town.

Hotel Kragemann in Simmerath - jetzt online buchen

Das charmante Hotel Kragemann in Simmerath steht für Qualität, echte Gastfreundschaft und liegt zwischen Monschau, Rursee und dem Nationalpark Eifel.

www.kragemann.de

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Hotel Kragemann.

I stayed for four nights, making a tour of the Hurtgen Forest battle fields.

A comfortable, modern hotel. All of the properties in the Hurtgen are new (post 1950’s) as all the towns and villages were smashed to oblivion during what was the largest single battle on the west side of Germany on German soil.

Good WiFi

Good psrking

Friendly staff

Note: The restaurant / bar is closed on Sunday after 15:00. Plenty of choice in the town.

Hotel Kragemann in Simmerath - jetzt online buchen

Das charmante Hotel Kragemann in Simmerath steht für Qualität, echte Gastfreundschaft und liegt zwischen Monschau, Rursee und dem Nationalpark Eifel.

www.kragemann.de

Been to Simmerath a few times
Will bookmark that

 

[Wapping]

I chose the town and the hotel on a whim. The town, because its position suited what I wanted to see and do in the Hurtgen area. The hotel because it looked OK. I was pretty sure they’d not throw stones at me, when I arrived on a motorcycle. They didn’t and all was well.

 

[Wapping]

The restaurant I used on the Saturday night of my stay, was:

Home / Schröders Eck, Simmerath, Restaurant, Eifel, Essen, Speisen, Gaststätte, Speisekarte

schroeders-eck.com

About 100 metres from the hotel’s front door. It is popular and busy. I had already gone in and reserved my table for the Saturday night, as I’d noticed the place was very busy. Being rural Germany, the locals seem to eat very early.

Those of a nervous disposition, might prefer to head to:

Biker Ranch Eifel – Der Bikertreff der Eifel

Biker Ranch Eifel Dein Restaurant Bikertreff Veranstaltungsort in der Eifel Unsere Öffnungszeiten Die Küche schließt in: Stunden Minuten Sekunden Montag 09:00 - 21:30 Dienstag Geschlossen Mittwoch 09:00 - 21:30 Donnerstag 09:00 - 21:30 Freitag 09:00 - 21:30 Samstag 09:00 - 21:30 Sonntag 09:00 -...

biker-ranch-eifel.de

I bet it’s fookin’ ace, mate.

 

[Posh Pete]

We're heading over to Freiburg in September. That hotel will be a handy stop off en route back to Ijmuiden.

Thanks Richard.

 

[Wapping]

The breakfast buffet is good and they’ll do you eggs and bacon, in addition.

The hotel’s restaurant (so I discovered) is chiefly a pretty good wine bar, though they also have draft / bottled beers, including zero alcohol. Being a wine bar, its menu is a bit limited. But what they turn out is of decent enough quality. Nobody is ever going to starve in Germany.

Would I use the hotel again? Yes, for an overnight stop or, say, two nights. I want at some point to go back to the Hurtgen Forest to finish off the sites I didn’t get to see. Maybe I’ll chose another town or village, just to ring a change or I’ll happily go back to Simmerath and / or the same hotel. We shall see.

On the ‘other hotels’ front. A local bod told me:

A. This ‘pension’ hotel in the little village of Simonskall is good value:

Hotel Pension Haus Sonneneck

Wunderschön im idyllischen Simonskall in der Gemeinde Hürtgenwald liegt die Pension Haus Sonneneck.

www.sonneneck-simonskall.de

B. That this place in the same village is good but more expensive:

Meetings, Holidays And Wellness In The Eifel National Park | 4-Sterne Landhotel Kallbach

Enjoy your stay in our family-run country Landhotel Kallbach, beautifully situated at the Eifel National Park in Kalltal. 55 sophisticated rooms, 4 luxurious suites and 4 vacation apartments await you.

www.kallbach.de

The little Kall ‘river’ (it’s not more than a stream really) flows to the rear of the village. The Kall river valley played a significant and very strategic role in the bloody fighting that raged across the area for three to four months,

Simonskall is interesting (if you like that kind of thing) as it has a fully restored German medical bunker, open on the first Sunday of each month during the summer, entry ticket via the very good ‘44 museum in Vossenack. It also has two (and these are very, very rare) old houses, which survived the onslaught.

At the museum, I learned why these very few houses survived. The Simonskall village (held by the Germans) lies at the bottom of the valley. The American artillery couldn’t elevate their guns to the correct angle to fire over a ridge, only sufficiently to obliterate one side of the street. The other side of the street sort of survived. A twenty foot or so ‘Chance of war’, I guess.

The oldest building is the narrow white three storied place, part of the village’s tourist office.

Hospital Bunker Simonskall - Simonskall - TracesOfWar.com

www.tracesofwar.com

It is easy to be dramatic over war. But, the destroyed villages and towns in the Hurtgen Forest match those of the ‘destroyed villages’ of Verdun and Ypres. Death and total destruction over an area of about 50 square miles.

 

[crumbles]

The restaurant I used on the Saturday night of my stay, was:

Home / Schröders Eck, Simmerath, Restaurant, Eifel, Essen, Speisen, Gaststätte, Speisekarte

schroeders-eck.com

About 100 metres from the hotel’s front door. It is popular and busy. I had already gone in and reserved my table for the Saturday night, as I’d noticed the place was very busy. Being rural Germany, the locals seem to eat very early.

Those of a nervous disposition, might prefer to head to:

Biker Ranch Eifel – Der Bikertreff der Eifel

Biker Ranch Eifel Dein Restaurant Bikertreff Veranstaltungsort in der Eifel Unsere Öffnungszeiten Die Küche schließt in: Stunden Minuten Sekunden Montag 09:00 - 21:30 Dienstag Geschlossen Mittwoch 09:00 - 21:30 Donnerstag 09:00 - 21:30 Freitag 09:00 - 21:30 Samstag 09:00 - 21:30 Sonntag 09:00 -...

biker-ranch-eifel.de

View attachment 435155

I bet it’s fookin’ ace, mate.

Went past Sunday afternoon, 5/10/25
And thought blimey I have seen that place before...
Tuesday not a soul....