Has anyone stayed in Berlin at Boutique Hotel i31 or Monbijou Berlin?
Hard to tell which is better, location seems to be about the same......
Our itinerary is as follows 2 nights Munich--bus to Prague, 2 nights Prague, 2 nights Dresden, 3 nights Berlin.
Thank you.
Too many 2 night stops. That really just gives you one full day in that city. I would delete at least one stop and add the days to 2 other stops.
Two full days is very short time for Berlin.
Location is by far not the same. Second is much closer to sights of eastern center.
I recommend to have a look at hotel ratings on Tripadvisor or Booking.com for detailed reviews.
Kathy:
It looks like you are planning nine days in Germany. For this trip, I would skip Munich and Prague. You can easily spend three full days in Dresden and six full days in Berlin. Keep in mind that Dresden is a two-hour plus train ride from Berlin. Also, when you are in Berlin, please allow at least a singular day to visit Potsdam.
From Berlin, Potsdam is a shorter local train ride than you would have traveling from Santa Clara to San Francisco; i.e., I seem to remember it is about a 45-minute local train ride. Potsdam has Sansoucci, which has two palaces (i.e., the original Schloss and the New Palais, both worth visiting -- plus beautiful grounds and other structures which I did not get a chance to explore. Also, Potsdam is a city loaded with WWII history, which I did not have time to explore.
As for Berlin, there is so much to see and do in Berlin: German History Museum; the Charlottenburg Palace; the Reichstag Tour, Building and glass dome; Museum Island (which you really need two days for); a visit to KadeWe, Berlin Dom; etc. Berlin is a beautiful and interesting city. If you have time, renting a bike is a great idea or taking a bike tour.
Sorry I don't have info or opinions on your hotels. Please look up my trip report on the Rick Steve Trip Reports forums. I posted my recent trip in six parts.
Enjoy!
Our itinerary is as follows 2 nights Munich--bus to Prague, 2 nights
Prague, 2 nights Dresden, 3 nights Berlin.
Slow down. 4 cities is too much for just 9 days or so. 2 nights means just one day of sightseeing, and you always lose at least half a day when you move from one city to the next.
I would recommend to see only two cities. Berlin and Dresden/Prague/Munich complement each other very well. Berlin is a modern metropolis, Prague is "Old Europe", and both Munich and Dresden are great for day trips and offer a bit of everything (world-class museums, castles and palaces, mountains, small towns etc.).
I would suggest you skip Prague and focus on Germany. Munich is my favorite.
Thank you all for your replies. We have a flight into Munich, so we can't cut that out. We have been to Munich a couple of times, and we are just going back for a short visit, due to the fact we love Munich, and couldn't just skip it . It seems easy to take the bus to Prague, so we have decided to skip Dresden. We will add more time to Berlin and Prague. I know this is not enough time, hopefully we get to go back. The hotel in Berlin is still an issue. I've read the reviews, and just need to make a decision. I was just hoping someone had stayed at one of them. Thanks for your help
Hello Kathy,
Like always, the posters on the RS Travel Forum have great information based upon their myriad of experiences. I know I have learned a great deal regarding the planning of my bucket list trip this summer and I know I have been torn between some of the choices that posters have presented as I have been reading posts for over a year now. I presume you may have done the same Kathy.
But when it comes to the "style of travel", if you will, the best advice I might offer is that you travel the way that works best for you. For my wife and I, we have made our travel decisions (limited though they may be) upon the type of travelers that we are to try to insure the best possible experience that we could have and, I believe, this has been the most beneficial advice we have gotten from this forum.
For example, we know that we love cities - museums, history, cultural centers, food, etc. - and we know we like to have a "base" to work from when we are in a new city. We like to be in the center of things and work our way "out" into surrounding neighborhoods - the longer we are in the same place the more comfortable we feel. If a city doesn't have enough for us to do, see, or experience for us to be there for three days we seriously have to consider whether or not we should be going there. For us, spending just a day or two in a city and then packing up and moving on just doesn't appeal to us. I guess you could say that the excitement of visiting multiple places creates more anxiety than perhaps it is worth. For us there's enough travel angst in traveling itself when the goal of travel is to relax somewhat and actually be on vacation. We envy those confident and adventurous travelers who can pack up and move but that's not us.
This is why our trip this summer starts in Oslo (6 nights), Berlin (6 nights), Frieburg/the Black Forest (3 nights), Nuremberg (2 nights) and a Danube river cruise (the room goes to the sites!). In Berlin we will be staying at the Melia on Friedrichstrasse and the Spree River - right in the middle of the city, right near the main train station, right next to Museum Island. The prices are comparable with the other hotels in the Mitte and might be a place you could consider.
