Asam Hotel
(Editor's Choice)

Munich’s newest hotel, the Asam, is a treat, and while pricey, offers good value in its category. A family-run hotel in the heart of the old town, the Asam is in a meticulously renovated pre-war building on peaceful Josephspitalstrasse, one short block south of the Kaufingerstrasse, the Fussgänger Zone – the pedestrian shopping street that connects Marienplatz with Karlsplatz (Stachus) and the Main Railway Station.

The hotel was literally just opening its doors when we visited in mid-September, and we toured the rooms with the owners, who happily showed off several of the 25 sumptuous, large and airy singles, doubles and suites. All are quiet and nicely appointed.

Many of the rooms have luxurious, enormous bathtubs, large closets and separate toilet and bathrooms. Many face the rear garden, with a view of trees and church steeples.

There are nonsmoking rooms, and the breakfast room – with an outside patio for warmer months –will soon be converted to a restaurant serving Italian and French-influenced continental cuisine.

• Daily Rates: Singles €120, doubles €146 to € 159 double, suites €192 to € 217
  
• Contact: Hotel Asam, Josephspitalstrasse 3, 80331 München, tel. +49/089/230 9700, fax 230 970 97, email info@hotel-asam.de, www.hotel-asam.de
• Rating: Quality 17/20, Value 15/20

Hotel Olympic

One of Munich’s unsung treasures, this small (38 rooms) delight is right in one of Munich’s up and coming neighborhoods, between Sendlinger Tor Platz and Gärtner Platz. Before Schwabing was Schwabing, it was like this area, with interesting but reasonably priced little stores and boutiques, cafes and food shops. Despite its fabulous central location most of the rooms in this family-run hotel are dead quiet, thanks to the hotel’s being flanked by leafy gardens.

All of the rooms are furnished somewhat differently. The doubles and small suites are excellent value for the money, with airy rooms, spotless bathrooms (many with shower only) and comfortable and tasteful furniture. But singles are small (some impossibly so; think train compartment) and just not worth the money.

There’s no elevator, but all rooms are located only one flight up.

Downstairs in the lovely breakfast room, with high-ceilings and very homey wood floors, there’s an atrium-style window on the southern side of the room, and if you get down there early enough you can breakfast looking out into a small forest in the center of town. Smoking is permitted but discouraged in here, and if someone lights up and you complain, management will ask the puffer to head to the lobby.

• Daily Rates: Singles €79 to €133, doubles €109 to €188, suites €136
• Contact: Hotel Olympic, Hans Sachs Strasse 4, D-80469 München, tel. +49/089/231 890, fax 231 89 19
• Rating: Quality 16/20, Value 15/20

Thirty yards to the right as you leave the hotel is Zweistein (as opposed, of course, to Einstein) a delightfully arty cafe with seats outside when it’s warm enough, and a cozy, Bohemian atmosphere inside year round. There are wonderful coffees and cocktails, and light meals from noon to midnight (from 5pm on weekends and holidays) like pastas, pancakes and baguette sandwiches.

• Hans Sachs Strasse 12, tel. +49/089/266 454)

Hotel Exquisit

Another smaller hotel smack in the center yet quiet and pleasant is the 50 room Hotel Exquisit, which caters mainly to business travelers during the week but which is making inroads in attracting families and couples on weekends, when it reduces its rates.

The hotel is modern and quiet; its back garden is pleasant in summer, and the breakfast room and five guestrooms are nonsmoking.

The rooms are clean, fresh and comfortable, and all come with telephone, TV and mini-bar. There’s a bar in the lobby (but better bars and good nightlife are close by) and there’s a garage available for an extra 14 DM ($7.50) a day.

• Daily Rates: On weekends, the rooms are €100 for doubles and €77 for singles. During the week prices range from €143 to €174 for doubles, and €100 to €143 for singles.
• Contact: Hotel Exquisit, Pettenkofer Strasse 9, tel. +49/089/551 99 00, fax 551 99 499, hotel-exquisit@hotel-exquisit.ccn.de
• Rating: Quality 14/20, Value 10/20* (*Value on weekends: 16/20)

Hotel Bristol
(Editor's Choice)

Opposite the Exquisit is a fine inexpensive option. If you spend only a minimal amount of time in your hotel but still require friendly service, nonsmoking bed and breakfast rooms, and a perfect central location, family-run Hotel Bristol is the place.

It isn’t a lot to look at – a post-war modular cube reminiscent of a late Brezhnev-era triumph. Rooms are small, and the ones in back – though they have spacious balconies – have a view of what can be charitably described as an architect’s rendering of 1970s Urban Utopia.

But there are several mitigating factors, not the least of which is the warm hospitality of the Eggermann family, which keeps tight tabs on the hotel and watches out for guests. That non-smoking breakfast room is one of very few of its kind in a hotel in this price range, and a highly welcomed feature.

The location, right behind Sendlinger Tor Platz, puts you steps from four main subway lines and at a major tram interchange, and 10 minutes walk from the Main Railway Station, Marienplatz, and the Viktualienmarkt.

And the rooms, though small, are spotless and all have TV, minibar and telephone. It’s minimalist comfort, but comfortable all the same. If I were a visitor to Munich, I’d check in to the Bristol.

• Daily Rates: Singles €56 to €110, doubles €71 to €136
  
• Contact: Hotel Bristol, Pettenkoferstrasse 2, D-80336 München, tel. +41/089/59 51 51, fax 59 14 51
• Rating: Quality 11/20, Value 17/20

Chiemsee Homestays

EurAide, the information and rail-booking company with offices in Munich and Berlin (see Munich Info page 3) also books homestays in privately-owned homes around the stunning Chiemsee region, an hour and 12 minutes east of Munich.

To say that American-born EurAide founder Alan Wissenberg is fussy and picky about places in which he’d place guests is a little like saying that the Dalai Lama is a moderately spiritual man.

Wissenberg offers stays in 10 homes in the postcard-perfect town of Übersee on the Chiemsee, where he lives. While none of the hosts are fluent in English, they’ve managed over the years to grasp enough to make everything trouble free, and the host will pick you up at the station when you arrive and bring you back at the end of your stay.

The Chiemsee region is gorgeous regardless of season. Nutty Ludwig II built on Herreninsel here the Neues Königschloss, a daylight theft of ...excuse me, ‘homage to’... the design for Versailles. In summer you can rent boats and tootle around the lake; year round you can explore Herreninsel and Fraueninsel, with its 12th century monastery.

Prices vary, but a double room with shower and WC might costs about €56 a night including breakfast; a double with shared shower and WC ranges from €43 to €46.

All are in a family setting. You can book as late as a day or so in advance, but the earlier the better.