Novum Hotel Continental Frankfurt

Pros: Very close to the train station. When you walk out the front of the train station, look right, and you can see the place. Our room was very spacious. The hotel overall was very nice inside, quite a bit nicer than we expected for the price. Breakfast was a fairly typical German hotel breakfast buffet (good assortment to satisfy almost anyone), and we found it to be a good value on some mornings. Less expensive (and good!) breakfasts can be had nearby, but if you're looking for convenience before boarding a train in the morning, the hotel breakfast is likely an excellent value. There surprisingly little outside noise (we slept with the windows open most nights). There is some light that can shine in at night, but the room had nice, heavy curtains and we were able to make it pretty dark (we're amateur astronomers and really like sleeping in DARK rooms, and were satisfied). The room had hardwood floors in the sleeping area and a tiled front entrance and bathroom. The tiles were modern, and the wood flooring was actual wood. In the end, we can find no good reason not to stay here again. All of the staff were *very* friendly and courteous.

Cons: The room lacked a safe and mini-fridge, if you expect or need that kind of thing. The "bed" was two twin beds pushed as close together as possible (completely separate sheets/bedding), but this seems to be pretty common within europe, in our experience. This part of Frankfurt is a little sketchy (it *is* right next to a big train station), but we didn't feel unsafe. We've certainly been in more dangerous parts of cities. Be alert, and take the usual precautions that you would in a big city, and you should be fine. Be prepared to see homeless people begging for money; they seemed mostly harmless. The bathroom was always clean, but probably could have used a deep scrubbing (there was some mild staining in some of the tile grout).