Magnificent Munich: An Inspired Review Part 1
Back in January this year, Inspired Travel’s Managing Director and his wife took a trip to the beautiful city of Munich to kick start the New Year. Here, we feedback on their hotel experience after staying at The Charles
Munich is the capital and the most populated city in the German state of Baravia. The city is a major centre of art, advanced technologies, finance, publishing, culture, innovation, education, business, and tourism in Germany and Europe and enjoys a very high standard and quality of living. As the third biggest city in Germany – after Berlin and Hamburg of course – and the 12th largest city in the European Union, Inspired Travel jumped at the chance to stay at some of the city’s most renowned hotels and venues.
The first venue in which we stayed during our trip was called The Charles Hotel…
Built on the site of a former university library, The Charles Hotel is one of Munich’s most distinctive buildings. Named in honour of Sir Rocco Forte’s father, renowned hotelier Charles Forte, the five-star hotel has modern, spacious rooms, an exciting new menu at Sophia’s restaurant & bar, a state-of-the-art spa with the city’s longest indoor pool as well as modern meeting spaces. Overlooking the peaceful Old Botanical Garden, The Charles Hotel is conveniently located in the heart of the city, close to the historic Königsplatz.
The Charles is a British venue with numerous premises in different locations around the world. Built on the site of a former university library, The Charles Hotel is one of Munich’s most distinctive buildings. Named in honour of Sir Rocco Forte’s father, renowned hotelier Charles Forte, the five-star hotel has modern, spacious rooms, an exciting new menu at Sophia’s restaurant & bar, a state-of-the-art spa with the city’s longest indoor pool as well as modern meeting spaces. Overlooking the peaceful Old Botanical Garden, The Charles Hotel is conveniently located in the heart of the city, close to the historic Königsplatz.Current day,
The Charles is a family-run hotel, and the hotel inspector – also the granddaughter of Lord Forte – was, coincidentally, staying at the hotel at the same time as us. As one of Munich’s most prestigious hotels, the likes of Hilary Clinton have stayed at the hotel previously too, of course in the hotel’s best suite which, according to one of the hoteliers, costs €14,000 per night!
The Charles Hotel presents a captivating mix of architectural grandeur and modern city living. Set on the edge of the famous museum quarter, the five-star hotel is close to historic attractions such as Königsplatz and the designer stores around Maximilianstraße. Mingle with the locals in one of the area’s traditional beer gardens, dine on Bavarian cuisine in the Maxvorstadt artists’ district or explore Nymphenburg Palace and the bohemian Schwabing quarter.
The Charles displays a huge amount of British magazines – including GQ, Vogue, interior design magazines – and books for visitors and guests to read during their stay at the hotel, all of which are varied to the nationalities of guests. We later found out that they stock the same books in their premises across the world, so guests can pick up where they left off at a previous destination. While this didn’t affect us directly as we only had plans to stay at Munich’s residence, it’s the little thoughtful things like that made The Charles such a pleasurable place to stay.
Although a very grand hotel, the general atmosphere was very relaxed, which was mostly due to the welcoming and attentive staff. On arrival we were greeted by extremely professional members of staff and throughout our whole stay, we were called “Mr and Mrs Mansfield”, which we thought really demonstrated the hotel’s professionalism. We almost felt like royalty and it’s clear to see that The Charles Hotel only employs the best of the best in the hospitality sector. The staff were among the friendliest we’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing during a hotel stay – they took the time each day we were there to chat to us and get us involved in lovely conversations. Some hotels wouldn’t allow their staff to socialise with their guests in such a big way, but it was clear to see that this was all part of the hotel’s character. We never had to ask for anything the whole time we were there, and we were truly looked after!
We were taken up to our room, which was incredibly spacious, decorated elegantly but modern too. The room itself boasted under floor heating, which was perfect for us – it was snowing and quite frankly, freezing cold while we were there, so curling up in our room after a long day couldn’t have been better. The room was spotless in terms of cleanliness and the cleaning staff even left a postcard on our pillows each day, which outlined the weather for the following day plus discount codes and opportunities for days out, meals and so on. Also left on our pillows at were night cream samples, courtesy of the beauty range they had plans to bring out – whether this has yet happened, I’m not sure, but this was also a lovely touch.
The hotel boasts a range of top class features and experiences, including beautiful and spacious rooms with en suite bathrooms, a high quality restaurant and bar with extensive food and wine menus, rooms for corporate meetings and events and a luxurious spa. Of course, we dined in the hotel’s restaurant each night and it was quite simply, pristine. It’s high end and boasts a grand interior, yet allows you to dine in a relaxed atmosphere.
We had between us a bottle of German wine, which was taken away from the table after each glass was poured so we could enjoy dinner without a) drinking all the wine and b) without an overcrowded table – yet another demonstration of the hotel’s professionalism. All of the food was locally sourced, which is always good to know. Local breads were brought out to our table, in hand with a special garlic that had been baked in the oven to make it into a spreadable liquid. All of the food that followed – including Scallops with Butternut Squash puree and Beef on Parsnip puree – was also exceptional, and we left the restaurant that night without a single complaint.
Breakfast was equally as amazing as our dining experience the night before, and it’s safe to say that we left The Charles and moved on to our next destination happy, satisfied and immensely impressed by the hotel, its features and its staff. Everything is of such a high quality and thought through, and anyone looking for a top class venue to stay in the beautiful city of Munich – or at any destination given their ethos is carried to each and every one of The Charles’ premises – then this is the perfect hotel. It really is a hotel fit for a royal and gets a huge 5 stars from Inspired Travel!
