Can anyone recommend a solid mid-range hotel in Munich?

Definitely return the car as soon as you get into the city, you won’t need it in central Munich, and driving/parking in the old town is more hassle than it’s worth.

If you’re focusing on Alter Peter, Englischer Garten, and just wandering around the old town, you’ll want to stay as central as possible, basically around Marienplatz, Sendlinger Tor, or Karlsplatz. From there, everything is walkable.

Under $250/night in mid-June is realistic, but book early. You could consider Hotel Eder, which is a small, friendly hotel in a great location just a short walk from the Old Town.

Check out Motel One. They are in various locations and offer a comfortable bed, and nice showers. AC too, if needed.

We stayed at Hotel Concorde (https://www.concorde-muenchen.de/) which is a quick walk to Marienplatz. The hotel itself is on a quiet street and had a nice breakfast spread.

Thanks for the recommendations. Helped a lot. I went with Hotel Schlicker. Around $200 a night.

To drive in the Munich area you need an Umweltplakette (emission sticker) on the windscreen. If the car was rented in Germany it will have one. If it was rented in a different country it probably won't.

Will the car be rented in Germany.?

The car will be rented in Italy.

The plan is to return the car when we drive into the city, then go to the hotel. We'll want to drop the car off at an agency near the hotel.

you won't be able to do that legally with a car rented in Italy. You can return the car outside the Munich area or stay at a hotel outside the city - perhaps east of town with easy autobahn access and good U-Bahn and S-Bahn access into Munich.

Be sure that you've declared your border crossing and foreign country return - have you accounted for the very high foreign return fee?

To legally drive in Germany you must have the right driving permission - easiest by IDP with your home license.

You will need an Austrian Vignette for the bit between Italy and Germany.

"you won't be able to do that legally with a car rented in Italy. You can return the car outside the Munich area or stay at a hotel outside the city - perhaps east of town with easy autobahn access and good U-Bahn and S-Bahn access into Munich."

Hunh??? Why not?

"Be sure that you've declared your border crossing and foreign country return - have you accounted for the very high foreign return fee?"

What does this mean? How exactly do I "declare" border crossing and foreign country return? Are you talking about when I cross the border between Germany and Austria?

several European countries take various routes towards trying to reduce vehicle pollution and congestion in certain regions or cities.

Italy has ZTLs, France has Crit'Air, UK cities have licencing or daily fees, Belgium requires registration and fees, Netherlands has environmental zones.

Germany has environmental zones, and has developed its environmental permit, called an Umweltplakette, which must be displayed on the windscreen, and in certain areas including Munich only vehicles displaying the correct Umweltplakette (red, yellow, or green) may enter those zones. If your car had been rented in Germany it would have had a correct Umweltplakette. A car rented in Italy will not. It is therefor illegal to drive it in Munich. It is patrolled. When you are caught it is expensive. Hence my proposed solutions. I drive my personal car to Germany frequently and I have gone through the procedure of getting an Umweltplakette for my car but that takes time and money so reltals won't.

What does this mean? How exactly do I "declare" border crossing and foreign country return? Are you talking about when I cross the border between Germany and Austria?

You tell the rental company which countries you will be in in the contract and pay the extra fees.

The out of country return fee is charged because a rental company can only rent vehicles registered in the country where they are. If you take an Italian car through intermediate countries and leave it in a remote country, the company can't rent it again until it has come home. It needs to be transported back, which involves staff and vehicles; and it is losing potential rentals for several days while that's happening. That's all a cost for the company so you have to pay them, often many hundreds of Euro, to do that.

I've been told that they really don't police moving vehicles. We'll be driving straight to the parking garage where rental cars are dropped off. If we get a ticket, we'll deal with it. I can afford 100 euros.