adrienne

I’m looking at the Ibis Altmarkt for 6 nights with a rate of E44 per night. This seems very cheap for a central location and I’m wondering if anyone can give advice on this hotel. It’s located in the Altmarkt Gallerie shopping center and has free wifi in the rooms. Buffet breakfast is an additional E7.5. It’s probably a business hotel which is fine.

The other choices I’m looking at are a bit more money. QF for E102 with breakfast, Zwinger (waiting for price on this but the general price is E50 to E80) – does not include breakfast, and Am Terrassenufer E90 with breakfast.

Thanks for the help!

Ingo

The Ibis Altmarkt was earlier an Etap of the same hotel chain (Accor). Don't know if they did any renovations in the past two years, but when a friend of mine stayed there she said it was fine - for someone who just needs a clean room, bed, bathroom(shower). Odd colors, 'cool' design. I don't think it's a business hotel, rather attracts low budget travellers like students/families.

Pension Zwinger is a good choice. A 5-10 minutes walk to the sights in the old town (or 1-2 tram stops), but that's no problem, I guess. Breakfast would be next door in Cafe Maximus - not bad, but nothing to write home about.

I'm not a fan of Hotel Terrassenufer - it's in a communist (sort of) highrise, needs some renovation IMO. The rooms that have the fantastic view of the old town face the very noisy/busy main road (Carola bridge).

The QF is in very good, central location. However, in about 100 m distance construction works started a few days ago and you might get the wake-up call in the morning by those

Other options:
http://www.hotel-martha-dresden.de/index.php?id=1&L=1
http://www.radissonblu.com/gewandhaushotel-dresden
http://www.ibis-dresden.com/default-en.html

I.

Andrew

Have you looked at the Trip Advisor reviews? (I haven't but I always do.)

I stayed at the Motel One Neustadt in Dresden in April - not a bad location but not a good one (close to the Newustadt train station, not a far walk across the river to the old town). It looks like the Ibis Budget you mention is also not in a bad spot, just a short walk or tram to the center of the old town.

Have you ever stayed at an Ibis Budget hotel before? I did, in Antwerp last year. I was OK with it, but know that it's kind of like a weird Motel 6 - at least, the one in Antwerp was. As I said, read the TA reviews of the one in Dresden.

adrienne

Thanks for your help.

I'll wait to hear from the Zwinger before making my decision. I'm tending to go with the Ibis Altmarkt because of the price. I've never stayed in an Ibis before but I do understand the Motel 6 comparison. I couldn't find any review on TA for this hotel.

The other Ibis can't accommodate my dates. Hotel Martha is almost twice as much.

Andrew

Looks like this is it:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...en_Saxony.html

Reviews are pretty good.

adrienne

How did you find that review, Andrew?

It looks like a winner apart from the hard beds and mushy pillows! I've stayed in better hotels with mushy pillows and survived it.

Andrew

There's apparently only one Ibis Budget in Dresden, even though there are several other Ibis hotels there. So it's easy to find by googling; the TA review usually pops up near the top of results when you search for a particular hotel.

The Ibis Budget I stayed at in Antwerp also had hard mattresses - thin and almost like a futon. It was a weird place though there seemed to be a method to every design choice. You don't check out of the hotel; you pay the full amount at check-in. They didn't even give me a room key, just a digital code to enter at the door to get in, and the code would expire at noon the day of "check-out." Furniture was cheap and plastic. All of this saves them money no doubt. I don't know if the Ibis Budget in Dresden will be the same way or not.

The fact that it's an "Ibis" hotel doesn't mean any more than the fact that Motel 6 is an "Accor Motel 6" if you know what I mean. There are different classes of Ibis hotels that are much nicer, but it sounds like you've never stayed at one anyway so probably not important to distinguish for you.

adrienne

Thanks, Andrew. I'll make my decision after I hear back from the Zwinger. If it's only slightly more than the Ibis I'll go with the Zwinger.