Hotels
& guesthouses:
Booking.com
Booking.com is my favourite hotel booking site for several reasons: (1) It has the most comprehensive European hotel coverage of any of the hotel booking sites; (2) I like its clean, clear interface; (3) I've come to trust booking.com's review scores, any hotel that scores 8.0 or more will not disappoint; (4) Most importantly, booking.com usually offers a clearly-marked free cancellation option, so you can reserve accommodation risk-free before train booking opens, and/or can switch things around if you need to as your plans evolve - a feature I use all the time when planning a trip.
Location, location, location: If I'm only staying only a night or two, I look for a hotel near the station. You can enter the station name (e.g. Berlin Hbf) as search location. If staying longer, I look for a hotel close to the sights, entering the name of a city attraction as the search location, then using map view.
Iconic hotels: Why just visit attractions when you can stay in one? Sometimes staying in an iconic hotel means a serious splurge, such as the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, Paris Ritz or Raffles in Singapore, but not always. For example, the Hotel Moskva in Belgrade, Pera Palas in Istanbul, Continental Hotel in Tangier, Majapahit in Surabaya are all historic landmark hotels, yet very affordable.
Backpacker
hostels:
Hostelworld.com
Hostelworld.com is the place for inexpensive backpacker hostels in major towns and cities in Europe & worldwide. Not just dorms, they offer budget private rooms too.
Air BnB: Airbnb.com
Airbnb.com began in 2008 when two designers who had space to share hosted three travellers looking for a place to stay. You can now book rooms in people's homes, or apartments, flats or houses people want to rent out.
Suggested hotels in European cities
In each of the station guides listed below I recommend some highly-rated hotels near the station and/or in the heart of the city near the sights, some from personal experience, some from Seat 61 traveller feedback, and some from careful research. In some cases I suggest some iconic landmark hotels or hotels with a story to tell, which will be more than just a roof over your head!
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