I have the opportunity to stay somewhere for 3 days/2 nights next week on the way home to Sydney from visiting East Coast USA on business. I picked Munich off the list because I havent been there before and the flight connections are good. Does anyone have a suggestion of a good well located hotel and any suggestions on what to do for a few days ? Thank you for your help.

You won't have any trouble filling up 3 days in Munich and the surrounding area. There are many musuems--art, science, municipal, state, etc.--enough to easily fill a couple of days on their own if you're a museum person. The Viktualienmarkt (an outdoor food market) also has a beer garden. Palaces/castles--the Residenz and Schloss Nymphenburg are worthwhile.

In the unlikely event that you run out of things to do, take a daytrip--Dachau concentraton camp, or the village of Hohenschwangau with Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles, or Herrenchiemsee, or Oberammergau/Linderhof, or Berchtesgaden/Eagles Nest, for example.

Lots of bus companies (e.g., Gray Lines) provide such day trips, or you can rent a car and explore on your own. Driving yourself with an early start, you could easily visit Linderhof, Neuschwanstein, and a few ad hoc stops (maybe the Wieskirche or lunch along the Plansee in Austria) along the way in a long day.

I agree with Rufus' recommendations as to things to do. You'll get lots oof recommendations for hotels...I've stayed in both LeMeridien which is directly across the street from the main rail station as well as the Hilton Munich City located across the river in Haidhausen..both are business-class style/type hotels...the Hilton offers the usual huge American-style breakfast buffet and is located directly above a U-Bahn/S-Bahn station. Many hotels to choose from in the center of things and LOTS to see and do BESIDES having a beer...enjoy your stay there.

The Hotel Platzl is quite near the Marienplatz and thus convenient for a number of attractions and restaurants. We liked it quite a lot and had moved there from the high-rated Bayrischer Hof.

From a previous posting about our time in Munich in June 2002:

One evening we dined at the Liebighof on Liebighofstr. not far from the Schack-Galerie. Everyone around us was speaking German. Nice meal for a little over 25 euro including a couple of beers and a glass of wine. I had the Pfannespezial (10.50)--pan of potatoes, beefsteak, and sunnyside-up eggs, plus a Dunkelbeir and a nice Pils. (In every town, I attempted to try 2 local beers at every meal except breakfast). Wife had salad with grilled chicken breast and bacon (9.50).

http://www.liebighof.de/

An excellent place for a meal is Peterhof, right on the Marienplatz. Wonderful breads, home-made mustards, sausages, and sauerkraut.

Thank you all for your help. My preference is for a modern hotel near city centre representing good value. I will arrive by air from Boston on LH and I guess will take train or bus shuttle to centre of town. Any further advice on hotel or other things new in Munich would be greatly appreciated.

Steve,

one hotel that may fit the bill is Hotel Torbräu - a 4* due east out of Marienplatz about 5 minutes on foot. It's also very near the Viktualienmarkt.

http://www.torbraeu.de/

As I live in Munich, I have never stayed there, but I've eaten on their terrace, have seen the lobby and some colleagues who stayed there enjoyed it. The other good thing is that this hotel is located at Isartor, which is an S-bahn stop for the S-8 airport train.

If you want traditional, and good, Bavarian fare, then I'd recommend the Weissesbräuhaus, which is on the same street (Tal 7) as Torbräu. Some of the best Weißbier in Munich and, although it's not Bavaria, their Wienerschnitzel is huge and excellent.

RufusTFirely's recommendation on liebighof is perfect. Last year, we lived around the corner from it and it was our favorite neighborhood restaurant. It's a bit tucked away from most attractions, so normally only locals eat there. You still may want to reserve for a dinner table, because it is always full for dinner. This would be a 12-15 minute walk from the hotel.

The wife and I are italian food freaks, so nearly all of my recommendations would be italian restaurants. Surprising to some, italian food in munich can be to die for, because of so many italians who have made this city their home!

Right by Central Station there is a brand new (opened last year) Le Meridien Hotel that sometimes offers some good rates.
The interior is modern and pleasant.

Riffic--glad to see your approval of the Liebighof as we really enjoyed our meal there. We found it on the recommendation of a museum guard at the Bavarian National Museum.

Are there any modern German Hotels - its seems that the German hotels have the small single beds and are rather more rustic - I was hoping to find a German version of a top rated US chain ?

Steve, try Priceline, but first take a look at Bidding for Travel (www.biddingfortravel.com). PL for Munich used to be set up so that if you bid on a 4*, you'd get the Munich Marriott. BFT is a tutorial about bidding on PL.

I checked at BFT (curiosity got the best of me) and here's the list of hotels PL uses in Munich. Recent successful bids were all 60 USD/night. I see that the Renaissance has been added to the 4 star category. There are links to hotel reviews at BFT.

City Centre North
4 Star
Munich Marriott
Renaissance Munich

3 Star
Parkhotel Schwabing

City Centre South
5 Star
Le Meridien

Topping for Steve...