Schwabing

Schwabinger Wahrheit by Geisel

★★★★★

Schwabing, the old artists' and students' quarter north of the centre, is the place to stay if you want to live like a local, with the English Garden as your back yard and the cafes, bars and bookshops of a lively residential district outside your door. The Schwabinger Wahrheit by Geisel, at Hohenzollernstrasse 5, is one of the best bases there. The hotel opened in 1995 as the Cosmopolitan and reopened in 2018, after a three-year renovation, under its current name, which means "the Schwabing truth", a wink at the district's bohemian and intellectual past. It belongs to the Geisel family's group of private hotels, one of Munich's long-established hotel dynasties. The style is urban and minimalist, with clean lines, good beds and practical design, and the 81 rooms and suites sleep from one to six guests, which makes it unusually good for families and groups of friends: alongside standard doubles and twin rooms, there are compact suites and larger team rooms. Some rooms are allergy-friendly. A small bar near reception serves drinks through the evening, and a breakfast buffet is served daily, with reduced prices for children and free for the youngest. The English Garden is about 600 metres away, a pleasant walk to the Chinese Tower, the lake at the Kleinhesseloher See and the Eisbach surfers, and the Giselastrasse and Muenchner Freiheit U-Bahn stations are within walking distance, with Marienplatz three stops away. The underground garage has a limited number of spaces, which cannot be reserved, and pets are welcome for a nightly fee, though not in the allergy-friendly rooms. There is no restaurant, gym or spa, but Schwabing's restaurants, beer gardens and the Leopoldstrasse are all around you. For value, space and neighbourhood life, it is one of the most appealing mid-range hotels in Munich.

Location: the Hohenzollernstrasse is one of Schwabing's main shopping streets, lined with independent shops, bakeries and cafes. The Leopoldstrasse, the Siegestor and the university are a short walk south, the English Garden is east, and the Olympic Park is about ten minutes by U-Bahn. In the evening, the bars and restaurants around the Muenchner Freiheit and the Elisabethplatz market are lively but relaxed.

Who it suits: families and groups who need larger rooms at a fair price, couples and repeat visitors who want a neighbourhood base rather than the tourist centre, and runners and cyclists who want the English Garden close by. First-time visitors who want to be steps from Marienplatz may prefer the old town, though the U-Bahn makes Schwabing easy.

Compared with nearby options: the luxury hotels near the English Garden cost far more, while the chain hotels further north are less characterful. The Schwabinger Wahrheit combines a central-enough location with design and space at a mid-range price, and its family rooms are a rarity in Munich. In winter, the Schwabing Christmas market and the Chinese Tower market are close by.