Eurail journeys to Venice often end at the main Santa Lucia train station which is why we're offering the cheap-but-cheerful Hotel Santa Lucia as a good stop for budget travelers in this otherwise expensive city.
The Santa Lucia is just a few minutes' walk from the train station; the hotel website says three minutes, to be precise, and recent guests agree the location is ideal.
It's advertised as a one-star hotel which sounds rather low, but it seems to have everything you need and has the big advantage of not breaking the bank in Venice, where accommodation prices can be astronomical--not easy to run a business when you have to carry everything around on boats. You can choose from rooms with a bathroom or to share one with other guests, and prices with a bathroom for a double range from €70 (US$100) to €110 (around $150), which is really reasonable for Venice.
If you're planning your trip for winter, however, be aware that the Hotel Santa Lucia staff are taking their own holiday then: the hotel will be closed from November 25 through to January 25, 2008. But since the best time to see Venice is in the spring or the fall, this shouldn't be too much of a drama.
When your Eurail pass takes you north to Denmark, alight at the Central Station København (and no, we're also not sure how you say that funny-looking "o", but we do know that most Danish speak fantastic English). Our tip for a reasonably-priced hotel near the Copenhagen station is the Hotel Hebron. It's a 1900 building and a long-serving hotel which is now run by the Best Western chain, and it's really just a few minutes' walk from the central station.
The added bonus is it's also just a short stroll from some of Copenhagen's most visited tourist attractions including the Tivoli Gardens and the famous shopping street of Strøget (there's that funny "o" again). Even if you're not Eurailing, a good way to get to the airport in Copenhagen is by train from Central Station so you can't lose here for location.
As for the hotel itself, it's not fancy, but it's also not expensive, or at least not for a well-located Scandinavian hotel. It has three stars and rooms have all the basic necessities, although not all have bath tubs; but being modern-thinking Scandinavia, there is free Wifi throughout the hotel.
Nightly rates include breakfast--watch out for those fish the Danish love to eat at breakfast--and start at 1,350 Danish krone ($250) for a basic double room; mini suites which have a separated bedroom will cost 1,600 DKK ($300).
Eurailers heading to Florence will soon become familiar with the Santa Maria Novella (SMN) train station. If you head out the right side of the station, take one left turn at the traffic lights and walk a couple of minutes you'll find the Hotel Aprile - Palazzo Del Borgo. It's a four-star boutique hotel run by a quirky Italian proprietor who grew up in the hotel and loves Florence so much he's even written a book about it.
Rates at the Hotel Aprile aren't too exorbitant despite the weak US$; in low season, a double costs €120 ($170) per room but if you're Eurailing with a group you'll get better deals for triple or quadruple rooms: a room sleeping four starts at €155 ($220) in low season, rising to €310 ($440) in peak season.
Features included at the Hotel Aprile are free Wifi (yay!), a courtyard garden and an American bar, plus you can vacation with your pet at no additional charge (getting your pet a Eurail pass might prove trickier though). As well as being close to the train station, the hotel is also within Florence's historic center so most of your sightseeing will be on foot.
Heaps of long-distance trains into Rome terminate at the appropriately named Termini station. We recommend staying at the less appropriately named Best Western Hotel Canada. Yes, it is in Rome (we have no idea why Canada rates a mention), and better still, it is just a short walk from the Termini station down a quiet side street.
The location is perfect for train travelers, and it's quiet enough too so you can relax a bit after a hard day's Roman sightseeing. Although it's not exactly in the middle of things, it is a short bus or taxi ride to most of the main attractions. The hotel also offers some special packages like the Honeymoon Trip or Shopping in Rome deals.
The Hotel Canada is small for a Rome hotel, with just 70 rooms, and has been recently renovated and refurbished. Wifi is available and there's also a small library and reading lounge with a fireplace for winter nights. Rates start at €144 ($200) for a double in low season, increasing to €225 ($315) in the height of summer; triple and quadruple rooms are also available if you're traveling with a group, and these work out much cheaper.
If you're railing around Germany and stop in at Berlin, most likely you'll end up at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main train station), the flash new station built since reunification. (If you were in Berlin 20 years ago, you would've found Hauptbahnhof 5 stations to the east). Because of all this rebuilding, there's a bit of a shortage of hotels near the current-day Hauptbahnhof.
Having just been taken over and reopened in 2006, you could try the Hotel Spreebogen: although it's still one stop away from the train station, it's definitely one of the closest places and advertises heavily as being near Berlin Hauptbahnhof. This also puts you close to Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag, when you want to get into the political center of Berlin.
Hotel Spreebogen gets its name from the River Spree and is reasonably priced for its central location. It's also modern enough to have free Wifi available throughout, and if you want to have the best you can choose one of their Waterside Category rooms which have a view over the river (and one free bottle of water the day you arrive!). There are lots of package deals including "Magical Wintertime" and "Magical Christmas" deals, or regular rates can go as low as 80 Euros ($110, not including breakfast) on weekends.
You might guess that a hotel with a name like the A-Train Hotel might be near the train station, and you'd be right. In Amsterdam, the A-Train is right across from Centraal Station, which gets it a high score on the convenience scale. But not only is it near the train, it also has a train theme, and is also proud to say that "no two rooms are alike".
In the reception and lounge areas, all the seats look like they were taken directly out of trains, and some even have luggage racks above them. In the rooms, thankfully, they have left beds (rather than turning them into sleeping cars from trains), and you can choose from a single room all the way through to a five-bed apartment suite.
Room rates for a double start from 89 Euros ($121) in low season and rise as high as 169 Euros ($230) in the peak season; a 5-bed apartment goes for as much as 300 Euros ($410) in high season. While the rooms look reasonably small, the location is excellent both for arriving in Amsterdam and for getting around when you're sightseeing. And it's perfectly themed to suit your big Eurail train trip.
If you're stopping off in Brussels then there's a new boutique hotel right near the station that the Eurostar stops at, called the Be Manos. It's a sixty-roomer converted from an old town house and actually claims to be the first boutique hotel in Brussels, but sometimes that's just a matter of labeling.
The rooms are all very sleek and black, and include a king-sized bed, laptop safe, aircon, LCD TV and what they describe as "a stoned bathroom" (could it be tiled?--we'll let you decide).
For your Brussels luxury near the train station, you'll have to pay anything from 275 Euro for a single up to 550 Euro for a double suite; breakfast is included. For a splashout stop on your Eurail tour, then the Be Manos might be the spot, but if you're planning on seeing plenty more of Europe, then it could tip your budget over the line.
If you catch the full name of this hotel in northern Germany's fantastic harbour city, Hamburg, you'll see that it's called the Hotel Terminusam Hbf.: a German abbreviation for at the main train station. That makes it our pick for a convenient and not-budget-breaking Eurail stop in Hamburg. It's not too fancy, but it is literally less than two minutes' walk from the main Hamburg station, without being noisily right on top of it. It's also not far from the harbor and very convenient for the department stores and main downtown shopping area of Hamburg, which definitely comes recommended.
So while he Hotel Terminus is not fancy, it's very reasonable: prices for double rooms range from 66 to 99 Euros ($90 - $135), and you can also get a four-bed suite for a maximum of 140 Euros ($190) a night on weekends. Pick your room carefully - you can get help by checking the quaint English translations on their room description page, including these gems:
The most frequently room that are chosed by our guests is the doubleroom ... [Triple room]: This kind of room is good for a nuclear family, but also for adolescents or for guests who want to spent money.
The extra bonus is a good German buffet breakfast is included in all room prices, whether you're a guest who wants to spend money or not.
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by amandak
