General information

Please be aware that it is extremely difficult to find accommodation in Frankfurt and the prices are very high as Frankfurt is an attractive place to live, as it is an economically very busy city and space is limited. Goethe Welcome Centre does not charge for its service of assisting you to find suitable accommodation and we do not receive any brokerage from third parties. Therefore, we do not have any interest in arranging specific accommodation for you; we simply want to make sure that the accommodation fits your needs as far as possible.

Basically there are four accommodation options in Frankfurt:

1. A limited contingent of university guest-house apartments is available for researchers from abroad. It is necessary to book very early as the University guest-houses are usually booked out more than 9 to 12 months in advance.

2. We regularly search the private accommodation market in Frankfurt in order to find a suitable place for you to stay. However, for three reasons it is very difficult to be successful on the private accommodation market:

  • Landlords generally won't rent out apartments to someone they do not know, i.e. when you are not in Frankfurt, it is very difficult to be chosen, especially as there are generally more than 50 people that apply for attractive accommodation.
  • Landlords do not tend to rent apartments for only a couple of months: they are looking for someone who intends to rent an apartment on a permanent basis.
  • Most apartments offered on the private accommodation market are not furnished.

3. There is a large variety of hotels and inns in Frankfurt. The prices vary between 80 and 300 € per night. You can book some of them on a long-term basis for more economic rates.

4. Every once in a while the Goethe Welcome Centre receives exclusive offers for accommodation. We include these offers into GWC's accommodation database and will provide every researcher with two suitable proposals upon request.

Please note that the Goethe Welcome Centre cannot guarantee that it will find suitable accommodation for you. Moreover, please be aware that it can be extremely difficult to find accommodation in Frankfurt when looking for more than a single apartment and rental costs in Frankfurt are rather high. In many parts of Germany, it is quite common to spend 40% to 50% of your net salary on accommodation. For a furnished flat, you generally should calculate around 500€ - 750€ for a single flat, 800€ - 1000€ for a two room flat and 1000€ - 1.700€ for a three room flat.

Warning! Do not transfer any security deposit for accomodation before you have signed a contract or viewed the apartment/room. If you are unsure whether it is safe to transfer money, you should contact us before proceeding. Please be particularly cautious when asked to transfer money to a foreign country (not Germany)

We would like to emphasise that the Goethe Welcome Centre cannot sign any contracts and that you are contractually fully responsible for any lease and any reservation we make on your behalf. Please be aware that it is generally not possible to cancel a reservation or only under very specific conditions. Therefore, you are fully responsible for expenses related to reservations even if you ultimately decide not to come to Frankfurt or to arrive later.

If for  any reason you should face serious issues with your landlord you might ask the Tenant Association (Mieterbund) for help before resorting to legal action. The Mieterbund is an affordable option and they have English speaking lawyers.

In many cases, especially when you intend to stay for more than six months, we recommend looking for temporary accommodation for the first two to three months of your stay and we will assist you to find permanent accommodation once you are here.

Additionally, you need to keep in mind that voltage in Germany is 230V. You may need an adapter for electronic devices. You can purchase these in various electric shops.

Finally, please note that the Goethe Welcome Centre unfortunately has only limited capacity and resources to assist you to find accommodation. Therefore, we can only provide you with a limited number of offers (generally two). Given the difficult accommodation situation in Frankfurt we might not be able to comply with all detailed requests that you might have. Be assured, however, that we will do our best to find an adequate and comfortable place for you during your stay in Frankfurt.

Kontakt

Global Office
Goethe Welcome Centre

Campus Westend
Bauleitgebäude
60629 Frankfurt am Main

Researcher Advisor and Guest House Management

Ms. Isabelle de Porras

Campus Westend
Bauleitgebäude
Room 01

E-Mail: Porras(at)em.uni-frankfurt.de
Tel. +49-69-798-17193
Fax +49-69-798-763-17193

Office Hours: Wed.: 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. - or by appointment