Hotel Review: Bristol Hotel

I stayed in room 504 of the Bristol Hotel in Frankfurt from 10 to 12 April, 2009. It was one of the most pleasant hotels I've ever stayed at.

The hotel is the least expensive one of those listed in Wallpaper* City Guide for Frankfurt (70 euro per night for a small single room, including breakfast). Online booking on its website is very easy and smooth. The email confirmation message says, "A cancellation free of charge is possible until day of arrival, 4 pm."

I arrived in the late morning, but it was no problem for me to check in (I thought I should wait until around 2 pm for check-in). My room was even upgraded to a larger single room.

The bedroom is furnished pleasantly with minimalist design, featuring raindrop-shaped door knobs and hooks for hanging clothes on the wall. The bathroom has a removable shower head and a designer wash basin, with a pitch-white bin by Koziol (there is no shower curtain or bath tub, though). It would be perfect if the bedroom has a kettle for brewing tea. But with good design, such tiny details of convenience do not matter much.

The entrance hall is also well-designed, complete with cow-skin couches and electro music of good quality in the background. The hotel bar serves good food.

The breakfast room, open after 6:30 am, faces the hotel's courtyard garden with lush green tree leaves through large windows, serving not only continental but also English/American breakfast, which is important for someone like me who needs to eat plenty of food in the morning. Food is decent, so are tea bags (Tchibo Coffee Service's Pure Tea Selection).

Wireless broadband connection is for free. Even if you don't have your own laptop, there are two computer terminals in the lobby, available for free. The front desk also lends you a mini laptop by Acer to be used in your bedroom if you deposit your credit card (but again for free of charge). I don't have a laptop and don't intend to email during my stay. But after the amazing experience at Cocoon, I feel like emailing a friend of mine to tell my excitement. The Bristol Hotel just makes my desire feasible for free of charge.

The location is excellent, too. Just a five minute walk away from an U-Bahn station (if you walk via platform 24 of Frankfurt Hbf station). Five minutes of a further walk takes you to airport coach stops on Mannheimer Strasse.

Finally, the hotel staff is all friendly. When I check out, it takes a bit of time for my credit card to be recognized. The receptionist apologizes, a rarity outside Japan.

I'll definitely stay at this hotel if I visit Frankfurt again.

Portikus

A mill house on a sandbank of the Main, which is actually a gallery space for contemporary art called Portikus.

This is a brilliant location for contemporary art exhibition. It doesn't belong to anything else in Frankfurt due to its position on the River Main. People driving or walking on the Alte Brucke bridge (including my friend) won't notice this is a gallery, rather than an abandoned mill house, unless they are curious. I love its solitude in this busy city.

Grosse Rittergasse

A street in Frankfurt

A view from the south bank of the Main

Euro!

What an ugly symbol of euro, standing in front of the Eurotower in which the European Central Bank has offices.

Willy-Brandt-Platz U-bahn station

Saint Bartholomeus's Cathedral

Frankfurt's main cathedral with a planetree, ubiquitous in Frankfurt (especially along the Main).

Saalgasse houses

Lined up on the north side of Saalgasse street are these highly decorative houses.

Skyscrapers in Frankfurt

These are not the most famous ones in Frankfurt, but I didn't have time to visit every skyscraper.
01
02
03
04
05

01 Westhafen Tower, viewed from outside the Bristol Hotel
02 A view on Mainzer Landstrasse
03 Eurotower, viewed from an exit of Willy-Brandt-Platz U-Bahn station
04 Frankfurt's skyscrapers viewed from Untermainbrucke bridge
05 Lindner Hotel & Residence Main Plaza

Born and bred in Tokyo, the view of skyscrapers makes me somehow feel calm. Another reason why I kind of feel uneasy in Stockholm, a city without skyscrapers of any significance.

Cocoon

Everybody tells you Frankfurt is a boring city. That is not true if you are into club music.

Located about 10 minutes away by taxi to the east of the city center, the Cocoon nightclub is said to be one of the best nightclubs in the world (UK's club music magazine DJmag ranks it at the 11th in the 2009 edition of its worldwide nightclub ranking). On the date of my arrival to Frankfurt to visit friends of mine, Monika Kruse, a German minimal techno DJ whose play I've long wanted to experience live, happens to be scheduled to play at Cocoon. There is no reason why I should not go to this club.

And it turns out to be one of the best night clubbing experiences ever. First, the interior of the club. Usually, a night club is rather scruffy. At best, the dance floor room is just a big box. Cocoon's decor is really elaborate. Cocoon-shaped holes in the wall act as a sofa space for chilling out. A balcony in the dance floor room, also shaped like a cocoon, plays a role of the DJ booth, allowing every dancing head to see DJs on the deck. The dance floor has several layers of round-shaped platforms, allowing those seriously dancing to be not interrupted by those just walking from one end of the room to the other. Outside the dance floor is a chill-out space looking like a stylish, trendy bar, a rarity for a truly musically-oriented nightclub.

The bar seems to serve alcohol of good quality, as my shot of tequila is flawless. Around half past midnight, Monika Kruse appears on the white cocoon DJ booth which reflects the projected computer graphic movies along with the surrounding walls of the dance floor. And, most importantly, the club has an impeccable sound system with excellent acoustic, especially for high-pitched sound. Most nightclubs, even those boasting the good sound system like Fabric in London, have the acoustic ill-suited for high-pitched sound. Here in Cocoon, every bit of high-pitched rhythms can be felt clearly. With Monika Kruse's superb mix of minimal techno music, I cannot help but feel euphoric.

Sorry for no photo. I don't bring a camera to a night club because the camera in a pocket is annoying while I'm dancing.

How to buy tickets for U-bahn

Buying tickets for U-bahn, Frankfurt's metro, is horribly tricky for first-timers. Here's what I learned from my friends living there.

For a single ticket within the city center, enter 97 by using number keys. Then press the green button with letters "97 Kurzstrechke". Then pay 1.50 euro.

For a one-day travel card, enter 5000 by using number keys. Then press the yellow, second-to-top button with letters "Tageskarte". Then pay 5.80 euro.

Here's a booklet in English, which says you don't need to enter 97 for a single ticket within the city. I don't know which is correct.

If this is too complicated, forget buying a ticket and you'll run a (rather small) risk of paying the penalty 40 euro if you encounter a ticket inspector. (There's no ticket barrier.)

Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof

Frankfurt's main railway station. Platform 24 can be used as a footpath between its U-bahn (metro) station and the Bristol Hotel or any other hotels in the area on the north-west of the station, because there is an ungated exit to Poststrasse street on the platform.