Train Centered Accomodations. How to Locate Train Stations

One thing I do to familiarize myself with major train stations in a new city is to go to Google maps, make sure the Transit is turned on, look up the city on the map, follow the train symbols and black train tracks to the main train station. After I’ve located the main tracks and station I do a search for Hotels and the ones near the station show up.

Another way to locate hotels near train stations is to go to Booking.com, look up the city and dates you’re interested in, Search, then look at the Map view. Again you can see the black tracks and where the stations are located. Read reviews for the hotels at the Booking.com site.

Once I have a couple of hotels identified, I go to the hotels’ website and book through their website.

A 10 minute walk from many but not all train stations will get you close to city centers.

Google maps. Zoom in and it will show the location of the train station as well as nearby hotels.
I like to do that as well, but there are times when you have to through it out the window.
Case in point, "Italian Lakes Region". You need to nail that down a little better. The train station in Como for trains coming from Milano Centrale arrive at San Giovanni station. Its up on the side of a hill, there are a few hotels down below, but wouldn't you rather be close to the water? Varenna, on the far side of the lake has several hotels near the train station with hourly trains going to/from Milano Centrale for onward travel to Lauterbrunnen.

For the life of me, I don't see the attraction of Offenburg. Why not take a short train ride to Genggenbach? Freiburg is OK, its a university town with good transport options and a very big old church.

I use the site Booking dot com to book hotels and lodgings in Europe. They show you lodgings on a map, and you can see the train station on the map. I usually use trains in Europe too and often want to stay near a train station, so I use this map feature all the time.

The trick sometimes is figuring out which station in a town with more than one is the main station. But you can usually figure this out pretty easily.

Thank you Mona and Sam,

10 minutes of walking will hopefully get us far away from the noise of the stations, yet be close enough to not wear us out as we haul luggage (albeit light luggage)! If this "happy medium" is not achievable than I suppose we will have to look at taxis or uber type services.

Sam, Gengenbach is definitely a candidate and as you mention likely a better one than Offenberg. We have not made a final decision on this region. We would like to visit Strasbourg and possibly Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg. The Chateau visit will depend on whether or not we can find a good option for a medieval castle in the close to our destination in Germany, in which case we will not visit the Chateau.
Regarding Italian Lakes; yes we would like to stay close to the water and this will determine the train station we use, or if we will be finding additional transport (taxi, bus, shuttle) from the train station to the accommodation.

Thank you!

Chateau Haut Koenigsbourg is nice and well worth the trip. Rent a car for the day for that one. There is another castle ruin below Haut Koenigsbourg that has a birds-of-prey demonstration in the afternoons in October.
https://www.voleriedesaigles.com/en/park-and-display/free-flight-display

Not to be argumentative, but generally speaking I think its better to pick accommodation location for your stay in the city and not for the location of the train station. Upon arrival you have the chore of reaching your accommodation with luggage. Take a taxi if you must. For the day trips, you won't be carrying that much I suspects. For me I choose accommodation location that provides me with the most opportunities for enjoyment in the evenings. I can do a 15 or 20 minute walk for a day trip but cant replace that great neighborhood after a day of sightseeing.

Mister E makes a very good point. There are a couple of factors that inform our hotel location choice further from a train station. In several cities we’ve stayed the area around the train station isn’t the most pleasant area to walk around at night while going out for dinner, entertainment or an evening stroll. None of your cities mentioned fall into that exact category. Another factor is physical limitations like the train station up or down the hill from the city/town you want to explore. Some of the Lake Como towns, Varenna especially, where it would be better off to stay down at the lake level where you take the ferry for sightseeing around the lake.

Honestly, in Germany you'd probably want to stay farther away from the station. Germany has great public transit to their Hauptbahnhofs so pick a hotel you like.

I also look at metro stops, trams, etc. and their direct line to the main train station. You'll find many quiet hotels only a 10 minute ride on public transportation and hotel costs will sometimes be less expensive than right in the heart of the train station area.

My first thought when I arrive in a new town is to dump my suitcase, so I do tend to favor hotels not far from the train station. I have learned, though, that interesting, good-value restaurant options may not be plentiful in such areas. I don't mind if the neighborhood looks a bit scruffy, but I do mind not having multiple good restaurants to choose from.

I'm trying to be more flexible about the location of my hotels now. I can't bring myself to use taxis except under unusual circumstances, but I'm prepared to use public transportation or just roll my suitcase a considerable distance if it puts me in a more enjoyable neighborhood. I've started really thinking about how long I'll be in a city; the longer the stay, the more willing I am to consider the one- or two-time use of a taxi--not that I've done it more than 3 or 4 times!

In larger cities I try to find out which districts are popular with the locals and where the connection to public transport is great at the same time. It's important to me that it's an area where I like to sit in a street café and observe life around me. Simply an area where it is beautiful, where I can find restaurants and where I would also like to go for a walk.

It's not always easy to find out but it is not impossible. And with the help of this forum it's no longer difficult :-)

I use information from guide books (Rough Guide) as well as booking.com to find out which hotels, if any, are located close to the train stations.

In Germany I almost always pick a hotel or Pension near the Hauptbahnhof, say, within 2-3 mins walk as in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Munich, Hamburg, Minden, Magdeburg, Dresden, Kiel, etc. likewise with Vienna, Strasbourg, Metz, London (Kings Cross), and Paris. Berlin is the exception.

The main reason is to avoid having to rely on public transport with luggage in tow or the unnecessary expense of a taxi.

Our friend the Man in Seat 61 often mentions hotels that are near train stations, if you look for the station info. You could also go to the station's official website and snoop around.

As noted that area around the station is not always the nicest, apparently that's the deal in Rome.

All I’ve ever done is travel by train; I never, ever rent a car. What I do is use Google maps to locate the train station upon which I am arriving & search for hotels/inns at the times in which I want to stay near a train station. Once I see a few that pique my interest, I research them.

Using google, type in “Freiburg train station”. Click on the map. Then in the search bar at the top, type “hotel”. You should see the location of all the hotels nearby. Zoom out as many blocks as you are comfortable walking.

Hi, I just travel by train in Europe. My method for finding the correct train station I want in a city is to go to www.Rome2rio.com and enter the main cathedral in the city as the destination. Then I select train as my transportation option. It will give me the name of the train station when there’s multiple ones in a city and also tell me how many minutes to walk to the cathedral, so I know if it’s walking distance.

Since some of my trips are solo, I always want my hotel to be in the center of the sites I want to see and where good restaurants are handy. And it’s great to take a 15-minute break mid-afternoon back in my room. I’m fine walking 5-15 minutes to the train station and do pay for a couple of taxis per trip where either it’s too far, or the streets are too busy for walking.

I usually don't stay directly AT the train station, since often the area around big train stations in Europe tends to be pretty seedy. But I often want to stay NEAR the station - maybe a 5-10 min walk away. In some cities, the best area may be further away from the station than that. Yes, I do sometimes use buses or local trains to get to my lodgings from the train station too - depends on the city. Another reason I sometimes like to be closer to the station because I may be using the city as a base for day trips by train. If I'm too far away to walk, then it's an extra complication to take a bus or tram back and forth.