Place to stay - MUNICH

What's your budget? We really like Platzl Hotel - it's in the OLDE TOWN, close to everything. Great breakfast. We always book directly on their website.

Get the RS GuideBook for Munich. If you stay in the OLDE TOWN area - it's very walkable, 2 great cathedrals, a huge outdoor market. If you want to do a day trip to Dachau Concentration camp - its very worthwhile. If you want a guide, check out bighattours.com - he does a great history tour, Third Reich Tour, Dachau Tour.

Second the Platzl recommendation. It was lovely, awesome breakfast and a great location. (Not very cheap though).

I like the Motel One chain and they have several locations in Munich.

For Frankfurt, I have a ton of posts on here about thing to see and do there. Depends on your interests and when you will be here, as there are a lot of festivals happening all year round.

I stayed at Motel One in Munich and splurged on a balcony. The breakfast isn't much but it's clean, in a good area and right by the U-bahn.

I stayed at Motel One Sendlinger Tor and liked it quite a bit. I've stayed at Motel One in 6 or 7 cities. They offer a solid, consistently-good product.

Just returned from a two night stay at the Hotel Metropol in Munich and can highly recommend. The price was very reasonable.
It is small and boutique like Near the train station and walking 15/20 min to Marienplatz and the Old Town sights. They have an elevator, parking, helpful staff, nice rooms and the included breakfast was excellent.

I didn't realize that hotels near Munich central station were so popular. Yes is practical and maybe they are also good hotels.
But as a local I really have a hard time with that. Why don't you treat yourself to a hotel in a nice area? Almost all of Munich is optimally connected by public transport and a hotel at the central station is not a must.
The area around the train station is currently not only noisy because of the construction site, it is ugly, dirty and an area where I just want to walk through quickly and not stay longer than necessary.

That's how I feel as a Munich resident, but of course everyone books their hotel where they want :-) This is just my personal view of this area.

Here’s another vote for the Platzl. It’s lovely and the breakfast is awesome.

We really didn’t like the area around the train station at all. Lots of construction and I found it to be pretty seedy. I hesitate to even write that but the area gets recommended a lot on this site and I want to offer an alternate view. We were just there in April - took the train in, took the train out 4 days later - it’s nowhere I’d choose a hotel when there’s other options. Just my two cents.

So I am rethinking my booked hotel by the train station, Excelsior. Any other suggestions besides Platz which reviewers say because of construction is very noisy.

@Valerie

Thanks seedy is the word I was looking for.

However, I am sorry that it has gotten much worse in recent years. I had my first own apartment near Sendlinger Tor Platz and because the Turkish shops near the main train station always had the best vegetables, I shopped there. It wasn't chic back then either, but not as bad as it is today :-( So sad.

Of course I have never spent a night in these hotels, but the Ostbahnhof (East Train Station) is also an important train station in Munich (all trains to the south stop there and the airport S-Bahn too) and maybe you can check hotels there as well.

https://www.moma1890.com/en/ (necessary to book a quiet room)

The Werksviertel behind the Ostbahnhof is a new quarter. Here you can also meet the younger and more modern Munich. There is still construction going on here, but it's not nearly as annoying as at the main station.

https://www.gambinohotelwerksviertel.com/index.php/en/
https://www.adinahotels.com/en/apartments/munich/

In my favorite quarters Haidhausen or Lehel you would find some Hotels as well:

https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/mucchtw-hilton-munich-city/
https://www.jams-hotel.com/en/
https://www.unsoelds-hotel.de/unsoelds-factory-en/
https://splendid-dollmann.de/us/
https://www.booking.com/hotel/de/hotelopera.en-gb.html

I second those who say stay in the city center if possible. I would not recommend hotels near the main train station (even without the major construction project on going now). These are more geared to business travelers who need something close to the station or backpackers needed a cheap room. It is similar to staying near the airport in a major US city. There is nothing wrong with this area but there are more better locations for people on holiday.

If you can't find something in the city center, another areas is Haidhausen. Great neighborhood with lots of shops, restaurants and flower filled squares. I usually stay at Motel One Ost here but there are also many other hotels near Ostbahnhof and Rosenheimerplatz right on the SBahn line.

DJ

I haven't stayed yet but after reading many reviews and checking prices and areas etc. We settled on Hotel Schlicker which is very near to the square in Munich. Has AC as well which I considered Important. I liked the looks of Platzl as well but was a bit more expensive than I wanted to spend

I posted above about Hotel Platzl. We go to Germany for the Xmas Markets almost every December and we always fly back home from Munich because it's easy for us to fly direct Munich to home. So we always spend a couple nights in Munich yearly. We always take the train to Munich and then a cab to the old town/Marienplatz area to stay - the train station area is 'seedy' - the old town of Munich is wonderful, lots of character, squares, shops, restaurants, cathedrals, and we always feels safe. We, personally, wouldn't stay near the train station. There are LOTS of hotels around Marienplatz to choose from with all types of price ranges.

We were last there this past December. We stayed at both Hotel Lux as well as Hotel am Viktualienmarkt. Hotel Lux was fabulous! We loved everything about it. The only drawback for some might be that there is not an elevator. The HaV was nice too, but more of a sterile/modern feel to the entire hotel. The staff at both are wonderful. Breakfast at the Lux was exceptional, and cooked to order. The buffet at HaV was pretty standard.

Which hotel to stay in will probably depend to some extent on how close you want to be to Marienplatz and other sights. The RS Germany guidebook has lots of good recommendations.

One hotel that I really like is Hotel Uhland, which is about a 10-15 minute walk from the Munich Hbf - https://hotel-uhland.de/en/ . It's located on a nice quiet street, the rooms are very comfortable and they serve a good breakfast. There's also a posh Sofiel Hotel right AT the train station (for those that can afford "posh").

On the last few trips, I've stayed at Hotel Royal, which is very close to the rail station - https://www.guestreservations.com/hotel-royal-munich/booking?s=aboutthehotel&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqN7Zv6SNgAMV1W1vBB1aDg9jEAAYASACEgJEwvD_BwE . It's located in an area that many would probably find "seedy", but I wasn't concerned with that. The hotel itself is very comfortable and they serve a fantastic breakfast. As I recall, there's no A/C but they provided a fan on request. I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.

@Ken

If you don't mind ok but I think it is important that people know that the are (and especially Schillerstraße where Hotel Royal is) is not cute clean Munich as one would expect it.

As said I would not recommend it and this is true for every big city in Europe I visited.

Hotel Uhland is located in a well situated neigborhood, where only during Oktoberfest in can get annoying :-)

We stayed at the Living Hotel Das Viktualienmarkt at Fruaenstrasse 4, by the vikutalienMarkt and a short walk to the Marienplatz. It was a great location and not seedy. A short walk from the S-bahn station at Marienplatz, lots of restaurants walkable to the major sites and close to a tram line.

Mignon,

As I mentioned in my original post, I recognize that Hotel Royal is in a somewhat "seedy" area, but that doesn't concern me in the least. I've worked in areas worse than that. Despite the surroundings on the street, the inside of the hotel is very nice, and the staff were great.

We've stayed in three places in Munchen.

One was some budget place by the train station that isn't worth discussing.

Another was Hotel Torbraü Tal. We stayed there to start our RS tour so I didn't pick it and don't know the price. It was very fancy and right by the Isa Tor.

When I book for us on another stay, I chose Pension am Jakobsplatz. I would recommend it. Chris was super helpful. Breakfast was acceptable. The small room had a shared bathroom but an in-room shower. And, it was affordable and incredibly conveniently located. We rarely spend real time in our room so as long as the bed is comfortable and the room is functional (it was) then we liked the place. Oh! And he had a small honor fridge of beer. :)

I'm sorry to report it is my understanding that Pension am Jakobsplatz has permanently closed. I contacted them in 2020 after learning that Pension Lindner was closing (both pensions were located in the same building). The contact person said Pension am Jakobsplatz was facing the same contract renewal with a greatly increased price. I hope to go past the building when I am in Munich this autumn to see what is in the building now (business or residence).

I hope I am wrong about this, but I think I'm right.

Traveler Girl

Schwabing, Haidhausen I would suggest.

I also like Hotel Torbraü. Great location within easy walking distance of Marienplatz and Viktualienmarkt. Right by Isartor and the S-bahn.

We spent 5 nights at the Hotel Concorde Munich in June. Good price. Clean. Lovely front desk staff. Decent sized rooms. AC. And a lovely breakfast buffet. Easy walk to the Marienplatz, but on a quiet street so you avoid much of the noise.

Another vote for Hotel Torbraü. We stayed in 2018 for 2 nights before switching to the Four Seasons for my husbands work. We enjoyed it more and wished we could have stayed there. Breakfast was excellent.

We really liked staying at Hotel Eder which is centrally located between the train station and the center. Great breakfast buffet and cozy rooms.