Hotel Leonet - Cologne, Germany     

A good hotel, within walking distance of almost everywhere worth seeing, and the only hotel I have stayed at on the Continent which cooks bacon properly.

The Leonet is given an official 4 star rating but this is too generous. Other reviewers have commented on this generosity and I would concur. The frontage is a bit miserable and the reception area is on the small side with a few chairs scattered around. I guess people only use these chairs as there is no other general lounge area. There is a bar area downstairs but it is never open as a bar and is only used at breakfast time. In fairness the staff are friendly enough and will offer assistance if asked but the whole ambience of the public areas is a bit nondescript and certainly not palatial. The reception is open 24 hours and keys are handed in whenver you leave the property. The rooms are similarly basic but acceptable. The bed is big but is really two pushed together. There is no bath but the shower is functional and was clean. The TV is a standard hotel issue with mostly German programmes and a CNN channel that we couldnt hear and BBC world. Incidentally one reviewer commented about having money stolen from the safe in the room. We expereinced nothing like that nor any sense of danger or risk. The safe was a combination lock that you set yourself (maybe they had learned from that experience) and it was also free of charge. The location is fine, but quite a walk to the old town and to the railway station. Most people arriving from the UK would probably arrive at central station..hauptbahnhoff..and from there you have to walk all the way through a shopping area whcih took about 20 minutes. There are plenty of restaurants around the hotel (which is actually on a back street) but to the old town and the Rhine it is a trek. Overall I would say that if you intend to use the hotel only as a place to sleep then it is fine. I think we paid about £60 for bed and breakfast. The breakfast was pretty good with a reasonable selection. Again not the best we have had but certainly better than many. Cologne itself is pleasant enough in parts but lots of homeless and begging (but not intrusively so) and lots of people on the streets with bottles in their hands. I was surprised to see this in Germany. You could do a lot worse than the Leonet, but also better. As you can see it was a mixed bag.