Need travel advice for Munich

There is a lot of pro-train propaganda on this website but you still get to see much more in a much more efficient way by car. That would also allow you to stay in a town outside of Munich where parking is free and where you wouldn't depend on the schedule of the last train in the evening etc. Driving in Germany is as easy as driving in the States. For your trips into Munich you could still take the subway or S-Bahn. Since most of your places of interest are South of Munich it's wise to pick a place South of the city with easy access to the two freeways A8 and/or A95. For example there is a Holiday-Inn and an NH Hotel in Unterhaching. I occasionally stay at the Holiday-Inn because it's close to the freeway, also close to the city, there is a train station nearby as well as a few restaurants. There is free parking around the hotel (they also have pay-underground-parking)... Also the area near the Neue Messe (fairgrounds) is excellent and if there aren't any trade shows you get very nice hotels for pretty reasonable prices. And it's only a short underground ride to the city center. Do not chose Erding or any place near the airport. You'll be stuck in a lot of traffic every day plus it's an extra 45 minutes drive to the sights...

Why on earth would someone want a car if your trip is centered in Munich? It is easy and cheap to reach Salzburg, Austria by train from Munich for a day trip, and you can reach Berchtesgaden easily from Salzburg as well. It is quite far from Munich, I would only stay in Berchtesgaden if you're more interested in a relaxing country-oriented trip of hiking and that sort of thing. If you want to see Munich, stay IN Munich. There are a ton of hotels at reasonable prices, a bunch of people here will give you recommendations. The Hotel Hahn was clean, comfortable, and traditional, and their basic room rate is 75 euro/night. It's available the first week of May.

Ness, Which Hotels have you tried so far, and what price range are you looking at? Also, do you have a copy of the Germany Guidebook? There are lots of good Hotels listed there. IMHO, your best bet is to stay in Munich and use that as a "home base" for exploring Berchtesgaden or other areas. A few Hotels you might have a look at: > www.hotel-uhland.de/enwelcome.html > www.hotel-royal.de/pages/hotel > www.hotel-eder.de/pages/main-e.html > www.hotel-monaco.de/ The rail network in Germany is excellent, so (IMO) that's by far the easiest method. The transit in Munich (S-Bahn and Metro) and Trams are also fantastic. Good luck and happy travels!

I have stayed at the Hotel Uhland last year and the year before. It is a lovely small hotel. The owners are so very helpful.
It is such an easy access to the train station and the old city of Munich. You can walk to both. I loved Munich!!!

Stayed at the Hotel Uhland in May two years ago and it was splendid. Transit station close by, we walked to the Viktualien Market and back, maybe 10 minutes each way. We had an automobile as we were touring a good part of Bavaria and central Germany and parking was available at this hotel. Of course the car did not move while we were in Munich!

I would recommed the Hotel Uhland as well. I am staying there the first week of May, but it may be sold out due to the Fruhlingsfest going on. I stayed at the Hotel am Viktualienmarkt and would recommed it as well. It is well away from the fest grounds and may have rooms available.

Gary Mc, "A problem with contacting individual hotels is that you do not know who has anything available." I contacted an "individual Hotel" in Munich a few days ago to make a booking for September. I got a reply very quickly, and the room is now booked. That's the same method I've used on previous visits to Munich, and I've never had any problems booking directly with the Hotels. I wasn't aware of HRS.com but not sure why it would be necessary to use them, especially if the cost is higher. Cheers!

A problem with contacting individual hotels is that you do not know who has anything available. I find it much easier to use HRS.com. It will show only hotels with rooms still available, sorted by price or location. Hotel Bristol and Hotel Blauer Bock have been good stays for us in Munich. Still, I start with HRS.com. We lived in Germany and had our own car. We drove into Munich, once. Once was enough. Now we are returning to Germany to travel about once a year. The train has been much easier and cheaper for us. We have stayed in Freising north of town in the Hotel zur Gred and the Bayerischer Hof. It has decent train service into town but I would still prefer to stay in Munich if those are the sights that you want to see. Salzburg has already been mentioned as a day trip possibility. I would suggest it is worth a couple overnights and you might find cheaper rooms there. I would say the same for Regensburg north of Munich if medieval cities appeal to you.

We stayed at the Hotel Uhland last May and really enjoyed it (going back in October). We also went on a tour to Salzburg that we booked through the TI at the train station. You'll have a great time!

Have you looked for lodging in the surrounding suburbs ? We stayed in Taufkirchen at a US chain hotel. 5 minute walk to train station, 20 minute ride into town. You won't need a car, especially for Munich. But you might want a car for side trips. Only you can decide that.

"A problem with contacting individual hotels is that you do not know who has anything available. I find it much easier to use HRS.com." But you pay a price for "easier". The problem with any booking site is their high commission prevents a lot of the more economical places from listing with them. Unfortunately, in the case of Munich, HRS has already captured the town website, so it is very difficult to find places without them. When in Munich, I stay in a hotel in an eastern suburb, which I have used since 1987, and I contact them directly. They charge $71 for a single room w/ breakfast. The best I can get near there from HRS is $89. A few weeks ago, I finish making arrangements for a trip in May. I'm staying in 7 towns. I found places to stay in those towns and emailed them directly. In only one town did I not get reservations at my first choice. My average price per night, EZ with breakfast, will be less than €32. I think the savings from direct contact is worth the effort.

The cost for a specific hotel is not usually higher, or a least not much higher. It's probably a contractual thing. But I have found hotels listed on booking website offering lower priced package specials from their websites that are not offered on booking sites. But the main thing is that the commissions (15% or higher) charged by booking website discourages the more economically priced properties from participating. I regularly find 2 to 3 times as many properties listed with email address on a town website as I find on the booking websites (none usually with email addresses), and they tend to be the less expensive places.

For some small towns I have used the town website and other sources to find hotels. I find the process more cumbersome and not necessarily more economical in the types of hotels that I am searching. For large towns, I have tried it both ways. The HRS price has generally been similar to the hotels website. Plus I have more information (location, price, ratings, whether or not a credit card is required to reserve) about more hotels at my finger tips. I also prefer the HRS reservation process. If you are running into booked hotels as this OP was, it still makes sense to me to look at a greater range of options which you can get on a booking website. You can see at a glance what is available. Still, it is everyone's individual choice. Regards,

The types of places that Lee tends to stay at aren't generally represented on sites like booking.com or HRS.com. That said, I tend to use booking.com because I'm interested in stuff that's a little closer to what we think of as a typical hotel room in the U.S. (living here I have no need to overdose on Germanity when I stay at hotels, I just want comfortable, clean, well-located, and cheap) and I've found booking.com to give me the same or better deal than the hotel's website every single time. But because you only have to go to one website, it's fast and easy. The user comments built into the website are nice for alerting you to possible issues with the property (tho I usually doublecheck on TripAdvisor too)

thanks everyone for your responses! I have looked into some of the hotels but unfortunately they are booked. I will try adjusting my visit time to hopefully get a room.

Ness, One thing you might try is to try booking a room on the Hotel Royal website, entering the specific dates that you want. You may get a message that states "booking not possible - check our partner Hotels". When you click on the "partner Hotel" link, a list of 14 more Hotels will be displayed. I have no specifics on any of them, but you can check their respective websites and see if any would fit your criteria. Good luck!

I understand that some prefer not to use booking sites for various reasons. But seeing that May 1 is rapidly approaching, it might make sense to use a booking site just to see who has rooms available. Then if you want to haggle over price, you can contact the hotel directly. I have been a regular user of booking.com since I discovered it a few years ago. It does list quite a few smaller places, you can plot them all on a map and start to narrow down your choices. There are rooms still available, so don't give up!

At the risk of sounding like an old man, as my sister described me 50 years ago: Let's avoid the stereotypes. All sorts of people vacation in Europe from the U.S. If you only look for a certain type, that is what you will find. On this site, I would say they are a small and distinct minority, but those, too, have a right to live the way they want.

On the "overdosing on Germanity".....in Berlin I would call that the old "Berliner Milieu" which contributes to the atmosphere of the Pension which offers no AC, no on-line booking, no internet access, no elevator, no phone in your room, where paying in cash is really, really desirable by the owner, where the WC/shower are down the hallway, where you really have keys, not a card key with a stripe, and where you can still get that traditional German breakfast.....just like 40 years ago.

Hello My Husband and I will be in Munich in June of next year. I am looking for a 1 bedroom apartment with a kitchen, close to the center of town. I have booked many such apartments in many European cities over the last couple of years BUT I cannot find anything in Munich. Any suggestions? Thanks
Joni

try apartment hunting at wimdu.com. I used this for Vienna. I shopped Munich too but decided on a hotel