Hotel-Restaurant Thomsen

Getting to Bremen was easy, which is the main reason this gets three stars instead of two. There's a bus stop almost outside, about 30 minutes from Bremen main station, and two train stations 2-3 km away, with trains taking 10-16 minutes. I stayed one night for a business trip to the Bremen Fair around the third week of November, after snow the previous day and night. It was rainy and very windy, and the room was cold. Even with the heating at full for over two hours, it only became somewhat warm, so I started the night using both blankets. The building looked plain from outside, but inside it felt like a labyrinth, which was inconvenient and unexpected. My room on the second floor had mold on the shower seals and between the tiles in the shower, apparently from poor air circulation. Moldy seals are not uncommon, though unhealthy and unpleasant; mold on the walls felt like a much worse level of poor room management. At least I didn't find any on the mattress or furniture. The price felt too high for what I got: 83 EUR, including 9 EUR for breakfast. I've had better hostel stays. I didn't try the restaurant, only the breakfast buffet, which ran from 07:00 to 10:00. I arrived around 07:20, and the scrambled eggs and bacon were already gone and weren't replenished. The bread and most of the other items meant to be hot, including the eggs, sausages, and the one piece of bacon left, were cold. For 9 EUR, I could probably find a much better, actually warm breakfast at a nearby bakery or, if heading into Bremen, among the many options there. They didn't provide even complimentary water or a small chocolate, unlike other hotels I've stayed in with this star rating. Two bottles were on the desk, one marked 2.90 EUR. When I called reception to ask whether the other was free, I got a harsh, rushed answer: “No, you have to pay each bottle.”

A simple place to sleep if you're traveling on the next day. The air conditioning seemed broken at first, but they fixed it after a while. Nothing fancy, and the pub a few houses away happened to be closed that week.

The rooms were clean and comfortable, and the food was better than I expected. In the bathroom, the shower had no full doors, so water got onto the floor when we used it. We could also hear the neighbors opening and closing their doors. There was only sparkling water in the rooms, no still water.

I was traveling alone with my bicycle, and the staff were super helpful. Since it was an expensive e-bike, they even offered to let me bring it to my room, then showed me a garage where it stayed overnight. The room was simple but just right for a quick one-night stop, and the price suited what it was. The restaurant was nice, though the food was a bit expensive. My trio of fish was cooked perfectly.