Hello,
I am from Australia and I am going to W:O:A 2015. I'm looking for somewhere to stay (all the places I've looked at are booked out). Can anyone help me out?
Babylonne
Any particular reason you feel you need a hotel? If this counts towards anything, I've found sleeping on the grounds of Wacken gave me the best night's sleep ever. I would wake up in the morning and not a single joint in my body hurt or made a noise (I wish I could say the same for other festivals).
I personally think it's a lot safer and more fun to camp anyway, especially if you plan on drinking a lot (you probably will when you see how cheap supermarket booze is over there). I've had nothing but good experiences at German festivals when I've found myself in trouble: complete strangers asking if I'm OK, carrying me to the dunny, helping me find my tent, tucking me into bed, making sure I'm having fun and not alone, making me comfortable while I pass out, cheering/applauding when I wake up, etc.
I've never had trouble with anything getting lost or stolen, but I'm vigilant and grade my belongings according to how much I can afford to lose them. Money belt for spare keys/credit cards/passport, zipped/buttoned pockets for phone/wallet/keys/electronic devices (I sleep with them there), pad locks on my bags, and getting acquainted with neighbours.
Wacken crowds are generally pretty awesome though. As an example, I went to visit Cologne this year before Wacken and on the way down, I saw at one station there were at least 5-10 police personnel and a police dog (some with riot gear) at each train door of a train full of soccer fans. Itzehoe had two police officers on the entire platform (we were made up of 100% Wacken attendees) when our train pulled up. I was kind of jealous of the police officers having a nice time watching bands in the tent stages
