Lodging

If you are unsure whether you will attend the Fall 2013 meeting, you should check with the hotel for their policy on cancellations during this time (Oct 7th - 12th), as you may be able to book now and receive a refund if you are ultimately unable to attend.

Other Accomodations

Munich City Youth Hostel 72 beds in 6 rooms blocked List of hostels in the area H’Otello MPQ Guesthouse - contact Ramona Hirlehei VERY limited availability Bed and Breakfast/Guesthouse Search Page

General Advice

1. München is not a great place for cheap hotels. But if you just imagine you were booking a hotel in Paris rather than in Bielefeld, you may end up being pleasantly surprised by what you get.
2. It gets terribly expensive during fairs and exhibitions and by terribly expensive I mean terribly expensive and there will be a big fair during the collaboration meeting. Expect to end up paying several hundreds of Euros per night for a simple hotel if you book too late. So, go book your hotel now! Check the details for cancellations and you should be fine to secure rooms for every member of your group that might go to the meeting.
3. Most of the more affordable hotels are around the train station. It’s not the nicest area of München, and you will occasionally see complaints about that in hotel reviews. But: it is ok, I have stayed there many times and it has never been a problem to get to my hotel. Just don’t expect to find great food around there (but then I am super-picky) and don’t necessarily plan on hanging out on the street between the dubious nightclubs after dark (but it’s ok to walk to your hotel) and you will appreciate to be quite centrally situated.
4. Be careful when choosing your hotel if you cannot live without wifi; hotels in München are a bit behind the rest of the world and it is often expensive or not even possible to have an internet connection in your room.
5. Choose a central location or try to be close to the U2. Near the meeting place is good, near the train station is ok, Schwabing is good and near Marienplatz is also good. Areas are Maxvorstadt (that’s where the university is), Ludwigsvorstadt (that’s where the train station is), Schwabing and Altstadt-Lehel (Marienplatz etc). I would try not go further away from the center.

Personal Reviews

Reviews by Sirin Odrowski

All impressions are personal and there is no guarantee that my taste is in any way similar to yours. Prices are for the period of the meeting; most of these hotels were actually cheaper when I stayed there. Most of these hotels have only few rooms for the time of the meeting, so try to be fast if you want one of them. Some of these hotels do not show any availability during the meeting at the moment. They might be blocked for the fair, so it might worth to check again later if you didn’t make your booking now – but you should book now!!!

Hotel Achterbahn

between around 50 (four person per room) and 90 (single room) Euros per night and person A small and somehow stylish but simple hotel. It is very close to an U-Bahn station and not far from the train station (but already outside the nightclub etc district). It should be no big deal to get to the meeting or to any other central place in München from there. Very clean and quiet room, modern bathroom and the people there are very nice. The description says that wifi is available in public areas but that refers to the cafe attached to the hotel, i.e. there is no wifi when the cafe is closed. The beds are bit hard but I would still stay there again just for the breakfast. For only 5 Euros extra, you’ll get a breakfast at their cafe, including juice and coffee (not only filtered coffee but something real). You’ll have a choice between different options (also Weisswurst if you like them), and the omelette with feta cheese is really good. However, breakfast is made to order and the cafe opens at 8, so you might have to make a compromise between breakfast and the first talks of the meeting.

Hotel Amenity-Arirang

The room was the largest I had so far in München and it was clean and nice. The staff are friendly but it’s not very centrally located and you should only use it if do not find anything else (and that’s why I was there too). There are only few options for food around, and I don’t recommend the small place next door (the people at the hotel do recommend it) where they will look at you as if you were an alien and the food is also not very nice. For some reason, there are some reviews of this hotel which claim they had a Korean breakfast buffet but to me it looked pretty much like a standard German breakfast buffet (but of course I have never been to Korea, so who knows, they might just have German breakfast there). Good internet connection and within walking distance of an U-Bahn station.

Hotel Blue

The single rooms are quite small (and blue). It’s close to the train station and wireless was included in the price. Free tea and coffee at any time. Ok.

Hotel Cocoon Stachus

(around 220 Euros per night in a double room) I stayed at their other branch in München but this one is more central (but in the red light district). I paid less than half of the price when I was there and I would say it was ok for that price. I had a good internet connection and the room was clean and everything. The hotels have their own design scheme (a lot of orange and green and a cow, see below), being supposedly very comfortable and are aimed at younger people. I didn’t try the breakfast. One thing to note is that rooms should only be shared with reasonably good friends – the shower is integrated into the room and the view into the shower is only partially obscured by a big cow-eating-grass print on the glass around the shower.

Hotel Dolomit

(around 130 Euros/night in a double room) Very close to the train station, slightly noisy from the street but the room was fine. I didn’t have breakfast there, so I cannot say anything about that. I thought the bed was comfortable. There are plenty of options to grab a quick breakfast around the train station. Internet was available but not included in the price of the room (but not expensive). Altogether a good option, nothing exciting but clean and there was really nothing to complain about.

Hotel Bayernland

Within walking distance from the train station, quite old-fashioned but I liked it there. Breakfast was good with different choices of juice and the room was comfortable. Wireless was not available at that time. I would like to stay at this hotel again since I liked the people and the style.

Hotel Goethe

Again very close to the train station. Normally a cheap and really simple hotel. The mattress was much to hard for me but apart from that it was ok. Clean, and the wireless worked. I really liked the breakfast which had besides the usual Brötchen and Müsli also Olives and Feta cheese (the owners are of Turkish descent).

Hotel Seibel

(around 180 Euros per night in double room) Directly next to Theresienwiese, a couple of minutes walking to the next U-Bahn station. I thought it was quite good. Breakfast was good too, and my room was really large. It is possible to have an internet connection in the room but not easy (you have to sign up for some service and pay and it is not cheap).

Motel One

A chain of design hotels (all with the same design) with three locations in München. I was at the one close to Donnersbergerbrücke which is not very convenient but close enough to the S-Bahn, so not bad. Don’t try to walk from the train station, I did and it’s too far for a pleasant walk. There is another branch more in the center, you might want to check out that one. Don’t go to the one in Garching, that’s too far outside! The room was nice, I liked the design, the internet connection was fast and it’s all new and shiny. Breakfast is not included in the price but is worth the extra money (though you can taste that the eggs are really cheap eggs). I would stay there again.

Superior Hotel Bristol

(200 Euros per night in a double room) Convenient location very close to Sendlinger Tor and in a small, quiet street. A solid choice but nothing special. The breakfast was ok but not exciting and the room was clean and not as small as others. I hated that the illumination of the facade was shining into my room at night and kept changing its color all the time, so I could not sleep until they switched it off quite late in the night. Apart from that nothing to complain about. Close to a good but slightly expensive vegan restaurant (and they don’t even sell alcohol in that restaurant!). Wireless was good. 

Pensions

You can check for them here – the page is in German but you might be able to navigate it nevertheless: scroll down and you will see a list of names and prices. Check the web pages of the pensions that look good to you. In most cases, you will have to send a mail to inquire if they have a room available or you might even want to call. Most of these places are not registered in web sites like booking.com, so they might still have rooms when everything else is booked out. They should also be cheaper than hotels even if there is a big fair going on. Some of these places have reviews on TripAdvisor, so can check there if they are any good.

Pension am Kaiserplatz

(Link, 35 – 52 Euros per night for a single room, 52-67 Euros per night for a double room) It’s run by a cute old lady and her son and daughter-in-law and the location is really really good. It’s within easy walking distance of Münchener Freiheit and there are also a lot of restaurants and shops around. Most of the rooms have shared bathrooms (which are very clean and it’s a small place so you don’t share with a lot of people), and since it is run by an old-lady, its interior design is a bit old-fashioned. Breakfast is served in the room. Wifi is working without problems. I would stay there again, and it’s cheap compared to hotels. For reservations it’s better to call since they don’t seem to check their mails too often. I guess the old lady doesn’t speak English but her son and daughter-in-law might. Or you can ask a German speaker for assistance or just have a bit of patience and try per mail. You have to pay in cash.