Hotel Hamburger Hof - Frankfurt/Main, Germany 

Unlike a lot of Germany, Frankfurt doesn't come covered in brilliant tourist attractions. Still, the odds are pretty good that if you're travelling through Western Europe's largest country you'll end up having to put in at a hotel in "Mainhattan" somewhere along the line. Of the wide variety thereof, the Hamburger Hof gets my tick of approval. It's just opposite the main train station, so given that I arrived in the late afternoon and left in the early morning the next day, I couldn't have asked for more. My room was spacious and well-appointed, and the buffet breakfast started early enough that I could eat my fill before a long train trip as well. You're pretty well-positioned to walk into the centre of town for dinner, although this walk does take you through the red-light district. It can be a slightly disconcerting sight to see brochures for lap-dance clubs next to those of sightseeing tours near the front desk, but that's the way this place is. Still, don't come to Frankfurt expecting to be wowed by a brilliant city. Most of the place was destroyed during the war, and most of the would-be tourist attractions went that way.

The place is a scam: Don't let them fool you by the nice picture of the big room on their website. The other rooms are tiny, run down, and have no AC. There is only AC in the entrance area. Too expensive for a place where the front looks good, but the rest is very dissatisfying!