I found Bimmerfest while researching the topic of European Delivery of a new BMW in December, and have been a regular visitor ever since. I have gotten an incredible amount of information from all of you, and for that I am truly grateful. Adrian Avila in Atlanta helped me put the deal together. He has been great to work with, and I would highly recommend him. I used BMW's suggested travel agency (Courtyard) to help with the arrangements, as they were able to extend the Lufthansa 2 for 1 deal to the family. This made the fare a little cheaper than the typical summer fares with other carriers. Unfortunately, this deal is no longer available. I would not necessarily recommend this agency otherwise. I found that they took FOREVER to get back to me. Their excuse would be that they were working with last minute arrangements for others. Several times, I would send them a reminder email 3 weeks after the initial email before getting a response. I let them put the hotel itinerary together, but then I ended up making some changes due to some of the information here on the posts, the Wiki, and TripAdvisor. I would suggest that you follow the suggestions of the others here, and you will be fine.
My trip began on June 25, with Lufthansa from Houston to Prague. We had a 75 minute layover for our connection. Though our flight arrived on time, the connection ended up in another terminal. After a run through the tunnels of Frankfurt Airport, and a last minute gate change, we made it to the plane as it started boarding. We arrived in Prague around noon, and took a cab to our hotel. I was initially going to take my new BMW from Munich to Prague, but I got intimidated by the idea of driving in the Czech Republic. We stayed at the Iron Gate Hotel in the middle of town. It is a very nice hotel, with large rooms (3 levels) in a great location. Unfortunately, it is in a tiny dead end back street. With this, and the trains running all over, I probably would have needed a sedative if I was driving it.
We really enjoyed Prague, and were impressed with the Prague Castle tour.
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=7645&pictureid=28941
After 2 days, the jet lag had worn off. We took a train from Prague to Munich. There is a direct train each morning called the "Franz Kafka." It takes about 5 1/2 hours, and very comfortable. I found an efare on the Czech Railway site that was a lot cheaper than the one on DB or RailEurope. I was also able to print the tickets from home. The one interesting thing is that the train reverses direction after a stop about halfway through. We thought that we were headed back to Prague for sure!:yikes: No one else seemed to be freaking out, so we went with it rather than jumping for it.
We arrived in Munich on a warm June 28th, and made our way to the Munich Marriott. It is a very good hotel, as documented by many festers. They have a "BMW Abholer ("collector") Package, that includes a welcome drink, a plate of desserts, free breakfast each morning, and free garage parking.:thumb up: The staff was VERY helpful throughout our stay there. The subway is a short walk from the hotel, so we caught the train 6 stops to the city center, and made our visit to the Hofbrauhaus. They had a big screen set up in the garden for the Euro2012 game between Germany and Spain. We had a great time.
Tomorrow: The big day!
My trip began on June 25, with Lufthansa from Houston to Prague. We had a 75 minute layover for our connection. Though our flight arrived on time, the connection ended up in another terminal. After a run through the tunnels of Frankfurt Airport, and a last minute gate change, we made it to the plane as it started boarding. We arrived in Prague around noon, and took a cab to our hotel. I was initially going to take my new BMW from Munich to Prague, but I got intimidated by the idea of driving in the Czech Republic. We stayed at the Iron Gate Hotel in the middle of town. It is a very nice hotel, with large rooms (3 levels) in a great location. Unfortunately, it is in a tiny dead end back street. With this, and the trains running all over, I probably would have needed a sedative if I was driving it.
We really enjoyed Prague, and were impressed with the Prague Castle tour.
After 2 days, the jet lag had worn off. We took a train from Prague to Munich. There is a direct train each morning called the "Franz Kafka." It takes about 5 1/2 hours, and very comfortable. I found an efare on the Czech Railway site that was a lot cheaper than the one on DB or RailEurope. I was also able to print the tickets from home. The one interesting thing is that the train reverses direction after a stop about halfway through. We thought that we were headed back to Prague for sure!:yikes: No one else seemed to be freaking out, so we went with it rather than jumping for it.
We arrived in Munich on a warm June 28th, and made our way to the Munich Marriott. It is a very good hotel, as documented by many festers. They have a "BMW Abholer ("collector") Package, that includes a welcome drink, a plate of desserts, free breakfast each morning, and free garage parking.:thumb up: The staff was VERY helpful throughout our stay there. The subway is a short walk from the hotel, so we caught the train 6 stops to the city center, and made our visit to the Hofbrauhaus. They had a big screen set up in the garden for the Euro2012 game between Germany and Spain. We had a great time.
Tomorrow: The big day!