Warsteiner Hof - Cologne, Germany 

This is a lovely hotel with helpful and friendly staff. The room was well-kept. The beds had immaculate soft white comforters and pillows, they looked and felt like "Down Duvets." The walls area bit thin though because you could hear people making noise in the next room The breakfst was wonderful and there was enough of everything to eat and drink. We enjoyed our stay here. Would stay here again. Directions to this hotel by train: From Koln Hbf station go downstairs and buy ticket to Koln Mueilheim station. You have to buy ticket from the machine and the ticket can only be purchased on the day of travel. Here is a hint, you have to press the country Flag icon in order to choose your language to buy a ticket, for example, if you want English, you have to press the British flag. Price is 2.30 Euros one way. When you get to Koln Mueilheim station, go downstairs and make a right to get out of station. Once out of the station walk straight ahead to Frankfurter, Str, then go left and take the path that goes along the side of the cemetary. This takes you almost straight to the hotel. It is the shortest route.

After two nights in Cologne's Altstadt, I just had to switch to a hotel where the party wasn't on outside my window until 3 am every night. I got a good deal on this hotel, and ended up liking it a lot. The hotel is in a more residential neighborhood, but there's still urban amenities. Between the U-Bahn station and the hotel, there was an internet cafe, an apothecary and a good newsstand. Oh, and Kaufland, the most amazing gargantuan awesome cheap German grocery store you'll ever experience, but I digress. The Warsteiner Hof is not next to the U-Bahn station, and the locals also didn't know how to get there, but it's an easy walk. In short, Frankfurter Strasse to Graf-Adolf Strasse (where the traffic lights are). Left on Graf-Adolf Strasse, two blocks down, turn left and you'll walk right into it. The U-Bahn line between the Cathedral (Cologne center) and Muelheim (the stop near this hotel) is 18, which will also take you directly to Bonn, if you want to take a day trip there, as I did. It's 15 or 20 minutes to the cathedral; an hour to Bonn. There's also street parking, as well as a hotel lot, if you're driving. My room was clean. smoke-free, and even had a balcony; it was somewhat spartan, but no more than any other room I'd had in Germany, since I tend to go for the inexpensive room. It was blessedly quiet but if I'd wanted some company, there were always a few locals at the bar downstairs. Some of the staff originally came from Croatia, so I wouldn't be surprised if their English wasn't flawless. I spoke German, and they were very nice. The included breakfast is also nice, in the sunny restaurant downstairs. I'd stay here again, especially for the same price, and definitely if I were driving, thanks to the convenience of the train line.