Where to stay in Munich: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

Everything you picture when you think of Munich is here. Marienplatz, with its neo-Gothic town hall and the Glockenspiel that draws a crowd every morning. The twin domes of the Frauenkirche. The Viktualienmarkt, where stalls sell cheese, sausages and wildflower honey around a beer garden. And the Hofbräuhaus, as noisy and cheerful as its reputation suggests.

The Altstadt is also where Munich keeps its best addresses. Maximilianstrasse, the city's most elegant boulevard, has a legendary grand hotel partly housed in a historic building; elsewhere there's a small, much-garlanded hotel right on Marienplatz, a storied five-star near the Frauenkirche with a spa, and an intimate luxury hotel in the historic centre. You pay for the postcode, but you will walk everywhere.

The streets around the main station will never be Munich's most beautiful, but they may be its most useful. The airport S-Bahn stops here, as do trains to Salzburg, the lakes and the Alps. The pedestrian shopping street begins at Karlsplatz, a short walk east, and runs straight to Marienplatz.

South of the station is the Theresienwiese, home of Oktoberfest, which is why rooms here are booked up months ahead of late September. Hotels range from a five-star in a listed building 100 metres from the platforms to a 19th-century hotel directly opposite the station, a stylish newcomer with a roof terrace, and mid-century-modern apartments a few minutes from the festival grounds. It's the best-value central base.

Schwabing was once the haunt of painters and poets, and it still has the best café terraces in town. Its streets run north from the university towards Münchner Freiheit, full of bookshops, boutiques and bars. To the east lies the English Garden, a park so big it has its own beer gardens and a standing wave where surfers queue for a turn.

Hotels here are mostly modern and calm. One contemporary five-star has a rooftop bar with views across the city to the Alps; others sit in quiet streets close to the park, or right beside it. The centre is a few stops away on the U-Bahn, which suits couples and repeat visitors who want Munich with the volume turned down.

Cross the Isar and Munich relaxes. Haidhausen is a village-like quarter of cobbled squares and neighbourhood restaurants; Bogenhausen, to the north, is all grand villas and embassies. The river itself is lined with paths and pebble beaches, and the Deutsches Museum, a gigantic temple to science and technology, sits on its own island.

Stay on the quiet upper banks of the Isar, near the English Garden, in a luxury hotel with parquet floors and marble bathrooms, or choose one of the big spa hotels around Arabellapark, with indoor pools and saunas. A family-friendly four-star near the Deutsches Museum is about 15 minutes’ walk from Marienplatz.

Munich's exhibition centre sits on the eastern edge of the city, on the site of the old airport at Riem. It's a district of wide avenues and business hotels, and there is no pretending it is charming. If you are in town for a fair or a congress, though, staying here saves an hour's commuting a day.

One four-star stands directly opposite the fairground with the U-Bahn at its door and a shopping mall adjoining; others are a couple of kilometres away with easy parking and motorway access. By car the city centre is about 15 minutes away. Outside fair dates, prices can drop sharply, which makes this a canny choice for drivers.

Munich Airport is a long way out, around 45 minutes from the centre on the S-Bahn, so a night nearby makes sense before an early flight. One hotel sits between the two terminals. The village of Hallbergmoos, a short drive south, has a cluster of newer, cheaper options.

The surprise is Erding. This pretty Bavarian town near the airport is home to the Erdinger wheat-beer brewery and to Therme Erding, a colossal thermal spa and water park that will keep children, and their parents, happy for a full day. A spa hotel stands right at the baths, and there are friendly four-stars in the town itself.