Been coming up with sub-optimal results searching for hotels in Munich.
Any Potsdam like (or not like) places 10-30 minutes by s-bahn/DB from the city center? Pleasant quieter upscale places with nice amenities and easy transfer in and out of the city core.
We've been to Munich 8 or 10 times in our lives, so not too worried about being right in the center. If we were we like the triangle between Au-Haidhausen, the Deutsches Museum, and the Viktualienmarkt.
Thanks!
I noticed one suburb, but it's one with tragic historic echoes: Dachau, the site of a concentration camp. Some 44,000 people died there.
I visited the Dachau camp in 2004 with my brother. We noticed the town is pleasant.
I have also visited the most notorious camp of them all two times: Auschwitz. The town also seemed pleasant. Some people refuse to stay there for obvious reasons.
I have not been here, but would like to visit. I believe Freising gets good mentions on this forum.
Since you are coming up dry, the obvious question is - what are your dates ?
We stayed in Freising and enjoyed it.
Here's a post from earlier this month that has some ideas in it. I know there are a lot more on the forum, so you might want to search a bit as well.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/oktoberfest-sep-2023
If I decided to stay somewhere other than in Munich itself , which is my regular habit, across from the Munich Hbf, , I would choose Rosenheim as the small place.
If it were to be another city accessible by train, RB or ICE, then I would choose Ulm or Ingolstadt.
As Mardee mentioned there are some Munich suburbs that have a direct S-Bahn connection to downtown Munich:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_S-Bahn#/media/File:Karte_der_S-Bahn_M%C3%BCnchen.svg
If you choose Herrsching, you are right on Lake Ammer. If you choose Starnberg or Tutzing you are right on Lake Starnberg. Freising has been mentiond and Dachau which are nice as well.
Or how about Tegernsee? A beautiful hotel right on the lake? There is a good train connection from Munich as well as to Landsberg, Augsburg, Rosenheim or Ingolstadt.
And I definitely want to mention 'Wasserburg am Inn'. This is so adorable and unfortunately I don't read anything about it here in the forum. You can also reach it very quickly and easily from Munich by train.
https://www.wasserburg.de/en/sightseeing/impressions
So much good advice, and particular thanks to Mignon!
Tracking down some options. Maybe I should make a spreadsheet so I can make a darn choice at some point. I'm not sure if I'm kidding or not 🤔😁
Freising is a great choice! It's cute, has its own sites like the Weihenstephan, and has easy access to downtown. You can get either the S-Bahn, or more comfortably, the regional train--the latter taking you to the Hbf in about 20-25 minutes IIRC. It's also easy to get to the airport if that is a factor.
Freising is also our favorite short stay near Munich. We like the Domberg and the walk up to Weihenstephan Brewery for sights. The Wirthaus Weissbräu Huber has good food and atmosphere. Bayerischer Hof Freising hotel has good amenities.
about 10km east of central Munich is Feldkirchen. Very easy by S-Bahn. Quiet little place. Not spectacularly gorgeous but very nice, Very convenient to the Messe too.
I like the Bauer Hotel - several visits there - which is convenient to both the station and for driving. Just off both the A99 and A94 so you can get pretty much anywhere..
Traveling during Oktoberfest and subsequently had to move out of the center myself. We have reservations in Freising at the Hotel Gasthof Maisberger. Located directly next to a station on the Sbahn.
Maisberger and Bauer both look great, right in my wheelhouse thank you.
But I ended up back in Munich. Hotel Kraft, across from the medical school a little bit west of Sendlinger Tor. Around 140 a room night with breakfast.
I might still keep poking around for an apartment, but Kraft ought to do the trick.
I like the Bauer Hotel
About 2-3 times a year we meet there with friends for dinner. I like it and since I live in the district Munich-Trudering it is not too far from my home.
@Hank
First I was shocked when I read Schillerstraße but Hotel Kraft is already in the area where I consider it really ok. I find Schillerstraße directly in front of the Central Station creepy to be honest :-)
Your hotel is located in the unofficially called 'hospital district' of Munich because you find several hospitals and medical teaching facilities of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University.
If you continue walking down Schillerstraße in the direction of Nußbaumstraße you will come to a beautiful area packed with old villas. Along the Nußbaumstraße and Beethovenstraße in the direction of Theresienwiese is a wonderful walk.
Incidentally you find on that walk for sure one of the most old-fashioned, in a positive sense, hotels in Munich (Hotel Mariandl) and at the same building is the Café am Beethovenplatz. The address is Goethestraße 51. It is really worth taking a break there.
But I would still be happy if you take a short trip to 'Wasserburg am Inn'. Maybe you'll inspire more American tourists to go there :-) I like it a lot. From Munich Central it is a one-hour train ride (change trains once).
I've stayed in Freising twice before taking the bus to the airport in the morning for a flight out. There seem to be a lot of place for overnight accommodations in Freising.
One time I walked up to Weihenstephan and had a nice late afternoon and evening meal in the biergarten there.
It's easy to get into Munich from the Freising Bahnhof. The S-Bahn take about 45 minutes, but there are regular trains that take less than a half hour. The trains end at the Hbf. If you want to go to Marienplatz, take the S-Bahn.
@Hank
First I was shocked when I read Schillerstraße but Hotel Kraft is
already in the area where I consider it really ok. I find
Schillerstraße directly in front of the Central Station creepy to be
honest :-)
Mignon I know! I'm not so familiar with Munich as you are, so I had to look on Google Street View to make sure we weren't in the Grill houses and sex shops zone. Two long blocks and 300 meters away from the last strip club.
Your hotel is located in the unofficially called 'hospital district'
of Munich because you find several hospitals and medical teaching
facilities of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University.
I don't love what I'm seeing of the Hospital district right around our hotel. It's fine but really a faceless boring couple of square blocks mostly without shops or restaurants and lacking identity or personality. What I do like, for the price, is the look of the rooms and beds at the Kraft, the nice looking breakfast, the good reviews about quiet, good AC, and helpful 24 hour front desk, and free cancellation for not a lot more money. It's a utilitarian choice in a faceless residential zone. The med school across the road does have some nice looking buildings too.
But now that I have an acceptable option booked, I'm going to check every once in a while if something a little closer to some interesting amenities in a slightly more commercial area opens up. I'd take a similar hotel for a similar price near the river in Au-Haidhausen, or not to far from the shopping area in Schwabing.
@Hank
I like the 'hospital district' and only a view meters away from your hotel it is beautiful. And it is close to Sendlinger Tor which means your are almost down town.
Maybe what I wrote was misleading - sorry. Several of the university buildings and hospitals are in beautiful old houses. I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with staying at this hotel.
Oh no not misleading, I appreciate all of the information. And I was curious why Google Street view stopped. Not allowed on campus I see.
Hotel Kraft is almost surrounded by the university campus, which is great. And it's graduate students in that area, which is also good. I see a lot of bicycles in the streets which is always good too. Sometimes it's nice not staying directly in the hotel zones.
I did a search for amenities around the hotel, and there are some nice looking places to eat and good bakeries around Sendlinger Tor within 200 meters of the hotel. Not touristy places, more workaday which we like.
And one crazy Japanese souffle fluffy pancake place that looks pretty unique. The girls will love it!
We are excited for Munich!
Lot's of good suggestions here.
If I'm not staying in Haidhausen then I usually stay in Tegernsee (especially in the spring/summer).
@Mignon, yes, Wasserburg am Inn is not recommended enough (although I've recommended it a few times). Good connections and a nice little town. You can even ride a bike there from Munich (i've done half the route in the past) ! https://www.radlland-bayern.de/routen/panoramaweg-isar-inn/
DJ
And I was curious why Google Street view stopped. Not allowed on campus I see.
Germany is very strict on personal privacy and Streetview is forbidden in much of the country. Some of Munich is an exception where there is some Streetview but not everywhere...
Germany is very strict on personal privacy and Streetview is forbidden in much of the country.
Why there is no possibility to see Street View in this special case is quite simple and has nothing to do with the law. No unauthorized cars are allowed to drive through this street. And that's why the google car doesn't drive through.
but there are other restrictions elsewhere in the country aren't there, Mignon? Could you clarify if it is a regional restriction or by community or national. For example, just east of Munich is Feldkirchen where there is no Streetview. But Munich there is....
but there are other restrictions elsewhere in the country aren't there, Mignon?
Nigel until now I wasn't even aware that there was a topic with it. I only use Street View in big cities and that's why I never noticed that it doesn't exist anywhere else in Germany.
I know that what you see is out dated and that it is/was possible to make your house unrecognizable.
Here's what I found on Wikipedia about it (google translated):
In August 2010 google announced that the map service would be provided for the 20 largest cities in Germany at the time: Berlin, Bielefeld, Bochum, Bonn, Bremen, Dortmund, Dresden, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne, Leipzig, Mannheim, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Wuppertal.
From August 2010 one could request that one's own house be made unrecognizable before publication. This objection period ended in October 2010. Even after Street View has been published, contradictions are possible.
In 2010 google announced that it would not expand or update the area covered by Street View in Germany.
In October 2019 Welt am Sonntag reported that there were discussions between google and the Hamburg data protection authority to clarify the current legal situation. Up for discussion is whether the legal right to pixelation still applies and whether another authority might be responsible now that google now has its European headquarters in Ireland. Apparently, after more than ten years in Germany, google is planning to update its images or expand the Street View program.
From 2020 to 2022 Street View cars were on the road again in Germany (I can confirm this because one even stood in my driveway what I thought was pretty rude because it is definitely private property). This fuels speculation that the service will return to Germany, but according to google the new image data will only be used to update the map services, and there are "no plans" to publish the images.
Street view is generally not looked upon kindly here. Even in places where it exists, you will notice that many houses are blurred out.
This article has a pretty astounding image at the top of where Street View is and isn't.
https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/germany-street-view/
