Western Europe. Hotel. View Of River. Cheap.

March 9, 2019 6:52 PM

I'll have some down time in Western Europe next month and I'm looking for somewhere I can pull up an armchair and watch the boats float by. Say, somewhere within ten hours train travel from Paris. Cheap (less than €100/night) is good too. Suggestions?
posted by Tell Me No Lies to Travel & Transportation (15 answers total)

Bratislava isn't technically western, but it's cheap, even for hotels right on the Danube.
posted by holgate at 7:16 PM on March 9, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Nantes? It's on high-speed rail, I can find a fair number of places on the river below $100us and then you could visit Les Machines....
posted by aramaic at 7:39 PM on March 9, 2019

I've stayed a few times at Das Breitehotel in Basel - I don't remember if any of the rooms have great river views, but you're right by the Rhine with lots of parks and benches. And the hotel has a spectacular breakfast buffet.

Quite nearby, there's the Tinguely Museum and a sauna literally right on the river.
posted by moonmilk at 8:10 PM on March 9, 2019

Response by poster: If I'm understanding the website correctly Das Breitehotel runs around €300/night. Cheap for Switzerland I guess. :-)
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:20 PM on March 9, 2019

How about watching from the boat? (just a thought, triggered one of my personal fantasies)
posted by sammyo at 8:25 PM on March 9, 2019

Dresden has a lot of hotels on the Elbe and most are under $100. Some are:
Amedia Hotel Dresden Elbpromenade
The Westin Bellevue, Dresden

This one is an actual boat on the river: Schiffsherberge Pöppelmann
posted by soelo at 8:38 PM on March 9, 2019

Google's hotel price thingy estimates $136-152/night with taxes and fees for Das Breitehotel. I guess the hotel's own site doesn't want to admit the discounts they give to the resellers? Still over €100 tho!
posted by moonmilk at 8:45 PM on March 9, 2019

Response by poster: Huh. Something very interesting is going on. (the peso is trading at roughly 20-1)

I think it might be time to start travel shopping through a VPN.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:53 PM on March 9, 2019 [3 favorites]

With the caveat that I've only walked past it and not stayed in it, I was very intrigued by the Krone hotel in the unfortunately-named town of Assmannshausen when I did a Rhine day cruise a few years ago. It's right on the banks of the Rhine.
posted by terretu at 12:40 AM on March 10, 2019

Best answer: I was going to say on the Rhine, like Bingen, small, cobblestoned when the cherries are in bloom, Düsseldorf is a bigger burg, right on the river. On the water these hotels on the Rhine are cheap. The river is between the buildings here.
posted by Oyéah at 1:13 AM on March 10, 2019

Best answer: I suggest the Upper Middle Rhine Valley (aka "Rhine Gorge"), which is an UNESCO World Heritage site. I would not necessarily go for Assmannshausen or Rüdesheim, as it is very touristy and can be expensive (e. g. Hotel Krone as mentioned above). There are a lot of smaller towns on either side of the river, e. g. Boppard, St. Goar, Oberwesel, Bacharach..., and a hotel room there should be more reasonably priced.
If you won't have a car with you, choose a town that has a ferry so you have the option of crossing over to the other side for a change of perspective.

I used to live in the area and know some of the towns quite well (though I've never stayed at a hotel there), so feel free to MeFi mail me if you have questions.
posted by amf at 1:52 AM on March 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

seconding the Rhine Gorge
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 8:54 AM on March 10, 2019

If you’re willing to stretch beyond Western Europe, I really like Ljubljana. Great downtown area that’s pedestrian only, fantastic public transportation, a river that goes through the middle of the city...I don’t have a specific hotel recommendation though.
posted by leahwrenn at 10:57 AM on March 10, 2019

Best answer: Rotterdam is less than 3 hours from Paris by TGV. The town is located at the mouth of the busiest river of Europe, the Rhine. You can stay in hotel New York for €85 per night. The nearby water taxi will take you to 50 docks in the harbor.
posted by Psychnic at 5:48 AM on March 11, 2019

Response by poster: “Traveling suggestions from strangers are like postcards from God”
— Me, apparently

Thanks for the postcards folks. A quick summary:

Nantes

• Medium to large city in Southern France
• Large river runs through town
• Riverfront hotels are scarce however, and more importantly there are no actual boats on the river
• Ile Des Machines is worth a look for fans of clockwork mechanisms but was disappointingly small for all the publicity

Summary: Just meets the price point, nice river, no boats.


Rotterdam

• Large city in the Netherlands
• Large river enters the sea via the harbor here, with plenty of boats for all to see
• Just forget the budget
• Proximity to The Hague allows attendance at an ICC trial to hear psychologically scarring genocide testimony firsthand
• Amazing modern architecture

Summary: Nowhere near the price point, nice boats and river, will never sleep well again.


Boppard

• Small town just south of Koblenz along the Rhine
• The Rhine runs through it, or at least next to it
• Hotel balconies that are two car lengths from the river, well within the price range.
• Cargo rail line on the other side of the river carries constant traffic
• Barges running up and down the river just as originally imagined

Summary: Meets the price point, a little noisy, perfect boats and river.

I’ve had a nice break. Thanks again folks!
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:38 AM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]