In September we are taking the train from Venice to Munich and are looking for a reasonably priced hotel close to main Munich train station. Checking Trivago.com and Booking.com - not seeing much (other than hostels) under $175-$200 per night.
Any suggestions or help? Thanks. Ted
ted,
I normally stay at Hotel Royal, which is an easy walk from the Munich Hbf. The streets outside the hotel are a bit "colourful" but I don't find that to be a problem as the hotel is great.
I always stay at the Eden Hotel Wolff which is directly across from the main RR station.
Very nice place, good staff and first-rate restaurant.
September 16 is the opening of Oktoberfest 2017 and hotel prices SKYROCKET during that time.
Is there any reason for it to near the main train station (Hauptbahnhof)? Most trains from Italy to Munich will stop at the East train Station (Ost Bahnhof) in the Haidhausen area before they reach the main train station. This is a much nicer area than near the train station with with several reasonable hotels nearby (I always use the MotelOne Ost).
DJ
If you'll be there during (or shortly before) Oktoberfest expect to pay inflated prices for hotel rooms. You may have to do a lot of searching to find reasonable rates at that time and you may have to move your search away from city center to more outlying areas. How long were you planning on staying in Munich and were you planning on Oktoberfest? Maybe you can ask for suggestions of other towns to stay in the area. I know several options have been mentioned here on the forum in the past.
EDIT This forum post was not about Oktoberfest but it does have some ideas for other areas to stay: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/places-to-stay-near-munich
We were in Munich a few weeks ago and stayed at the Courtyard City Center. It was a great location that was a three minute walk from the train station and eight minute walk to Marienplatz. We liked the variety of ethnic restaurants right around the hotel and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We don't always like to stay at chain hotels, but we're very apply that we stayed at this one.
If you are coming in late and just want a place to sleep before catching the train the next day, I think Ken's suggestion, Hotel Royal, is an excellent one. If you have a little bit of time and want to see some of Munich, then I would suggest you stay at Pension Lindner. Lindner is located just a few blocks from Marienplatz. If you think Marienplatz is too far a walk from the Hbf, there is an S-Bahn almost every minute from the Marienplatz station to the Hbf (3 minutes, 2,80€/person or less).
If you haven't already purchased your ticket to Venice, specify from Marienplatz with a change at the Hbf. The price is the same and includes the S-Bahn to the Hbf.
As for what you could find on Trivago and Booking, I'm not surprised. Booking is just a reservation handler and takes a commission (15%, I believe), and Trivago is just a clearing house for the same reservation handlers. I never use booking websites. I've found that the most economical places don't usually use them. If a property does, they might, for example, only offer their most expensive, "deluxe rooms", rooms you probably would not take if you could book directly. In the case of Royal and Lindner, I did find prices on Booking that were close to or the same as from the properties directly, but, whereas breakfast was included in the price at the hotels own site, it was a $20 (for 2 people) add-on on the booking site.
Thanks to all of you for insightful ideas. Particularly I did not know Oktoberfest started Sept 16. Just in checking one hotel near the station I saw on Trivago - on Sept 14 and 15 is $207 per night. During Ocktoberfest it is $267 per night and earlier in Sept it is just $107.
So, one thing I'll most likely do it flip-flop our itinerary and make Germany at the beginning (before Oktoberfest) and head to Venice and Florence and let the Germans drink away the days without my wife and me!!
I also will check into these hotel recommendations. Thanks!
We were in Munich a couple of summers ago and had the same problem. Couldn't find decent lodging for a price in our budget. We ended up booking an apartment on AirBnB outside of Munich and rode the trains into town each day. It worked out well for us and allowed us to stay within budget.
We went at the beginning of our trip to avoid Oktoberfest. Highly recommend Hotel Uhland; it's a doable walk from the Hauptbahnhof -- at least from our perspective.
Uhland is in a nice neighborhood south of the Bahnhof, adjacent to the Octoberfest gounds. A very nice place but, IMO, a little too nice (and expensive) for a one-night stay.
ted,
Hotel Uhland is also an excellent choice but I didn't suggest it as it's not exactly close to the train station and it's in the opposite direction from Marienplatz and other main sites. As I recall, it's about a 15 minute walk from the the Hbf. With a hotel close to the train station, there's lots of transportation available and it's within walking distance to Marienplatz.
