Our family is attending the World Cup game in Leipzig and we are debating between these 2 available hotels. They seem similar, but wondered if anyone had stayed there. Rates for WC are 314E Renaissance & 298E Marriott.

My business colleagues use to stay in the Marriott. They like it very much. The location is better: closer to the central railway station, right in the centre with the sights, closer to the trams and the World Cup arena (Zentralstadion). The Renaissance is located a bit east of the centre (not much, though).

Here's a link to an older post of my thoughts of Leipzig:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34651816

Ingo did not mention the train station was revamped with a huge shopping mall and dining area. It's not a boring old train station. It's a destination in itself. (Hi Ingo! Nice to see you're still posting. )

As an update to my link posted above here's a link to Auerbachs Keller restaurant in German only.

www.auerbachs-keller-leipzig.de

Another favorite restaurant was Zill's Tunnel. Again German only.

www.zillstunnel.de

I'm "negotiating" with a friend right now about a nostalgia tour through Leipzig and Dresden especially to see the finally restored Frauenkirche in Dresden.

Hi Indy! Glad to see you posting too!

Oh yes, the Hauptbahnhof in Leipzig ... a big shopping mall with some platforms where a few trains leave and depart ;-)

The owners of Auerbach's Keller have just changed. We'll see ...

Great idea to come back for a nostalgia tour - let me know, you're welcome anytime!

Ingo

Many thanks to Ingo and Indytravel for the great info & links on Leipzig & Dresden. We would like to split our 3 days in both cities. Since we are arriving in Berlin from our overnight flight from US, would it be doable to spend our first 2 nights in Dresden (Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski or Hilton Dresden. Then drive to Liepzig 1 night in Leipzig the day of the world cup game(Leipzig Marriott or Hotel Fuerstenhof)?? We enjoy historic and charming hotels and will be travelling with our young adult children (20, 25) Thanks again!

We stayed at the Marriott in Leipzig. It was a nice place but could have been in any major city in the US.

I don't get why you have listed a Marriott and a Renaissance since you say "We enjoy historic and charming hotels." Dresden and Leipzig have many of those. The Marriott and Renaissance are NOT two of them. Are you sure you wouldn't rather look around for something historic and charming?

Isabelle,

your itinerary sounds fine to me. If you love historic hotels with charm, definitely stay in the Kempinski Taschenbergpalais in Dresden and in the Fürstenhof in Leipzig. The other two you mentioned are indeed 'international' style and could be located in any place in this world.

Thanks again everyone. We've confirmed 2 nights at Dresden Hotel Taschenbergpalais and 1 night at the Leipzig Hotel Fuerstenhof. We might try to do a lunch stop in Meissen en route to Leipzig. Because of limited availabilty at hotels due to the world cup, we were having difficulty finding the nicer hotels with charm. Thanks again. I'll report on our experiences on our return.