We walked here from the Bahnhof in about 15 minutes and arrived panting and sweaty since it is uphill most of the way. My advice to the first time visitor with a suitcase - take a taxi. The hotel is very eccentrically laid out with the reception at the top of the hotel/ hill so you go down to the roomsm which are large and quiet. Reception is floor 5 and our room was on floor 2 and 3. (We actually stayed twice in 10 days with a trip elswhere inbetween times.) The decor is as eccentric as the layout with definite leanings to the old Hacienda look with lots of Artex stucco and then flowery wallpaper on the ceiling. We had one room that must have been 200 yards from the lift - wandering down long corridors where a rather random statue of a lion was a useful landmark. The staff on reception were friendly and spoke English. The International Herald Tribune and sometimes the Guardian were on sale at breakfast time. Breakfast was excellent - buffet style and catering for the trad German cold meats and cheese choices plus scrambled eggs, bacon and those nice Nuremberger spicy sausages. There is a restaurant Trattoria Da Arnaldo attached physically but not administratively to the hotel - you could not charge meals to the room. It was a pleasant surprise offering good Italian-type meals at reasonable prices so no need to go out for a meal of an evening or indeed lunch if you are around. The restaurant has a terrace with a view of the industrial chimneys and buildings over on the Weisbaden side of the river and when we visited, lots of wasps with a distinct preference for meat not sugar. There is no separate bar. You can buy a coffee from a machine in the reception area where there is a computer terminal with free internet access. You might have to wait 10 minutes to get on it. The rooms were looking a little scruffy, the large beds a little too soft with what felt like foam mattresses. There was a note in the room apologising for any disturbance caused by doing the place up. You can park your car underneath the hotel and there is a gym - we did not use either. There were as many people there at the weekend as there was in the week. In the week mainly business people and then families at the weekend. There are bus stops nearby - all the buses go to the Hauptbahnhof - the 64/65 go onto the historic centre the Hofchen and the 45 goes all the way in the other direction to Weisbaden Hauptbahnhof every half hour. You can walk to the University in about 20 minutes or take the 64/65 buses from Sudwestrundfunk - a big flash media organisation building up the road from the hotel. The pricing of our room cost 119.50e for the weekday nights and 75e for the weekend Saturday night. Our second stay was in a large room complete with cooker and fridge charged again at 119.50e. This place would suit those who do not want to stay downtown and it is not aimed at the tourist market. We found it fit for our purposes with friendly and helpful staff.

What stands out to me about the Contel Mainz was how spacious the standard rooms were. Very unusual for a European Hotel and almost like a condominium with a full kitchenette and a connecting hallway between the bathroom and the living/sleeping quarters.

Other plusses included a very nice Italian Restaurant (although i was in the mood for German fare being in Germany...) connected to the hotel, very good service and clean. I am a smoker so this is important to me in terms of such rooms being available and I was accomodated in the Smokers wing of the facility.

Only drawbacks were that it was away from the downtown quite a bit and up a steep hill to get to on foot but at least I got my exercise each day.

The room was very large, clean and comfortable. Internet access in the room was very reasonable (one euro per hour), and the breakfast buffet was amazing – possibly the best we’ve ever had in decades of travel. Lots of choices of fresh fruit, yogurt, cereals, different kinds of cooked eggs, cheeses, smoked salmon, bacon, pancakes and several variations on that fabulous German bread. The hotel is not in the old historic centre, but a 15 euro cab ride away. However, once you factor in the cost of parking in the old centre, plus the time wasted trying to FIND the parking garages in a maze of tiny one-way streets.... it makes sense to leave the car at the free hotel parking and cab it. Staff were very helpful. All together a very pleasant stay.

nice rooms, though cold at times. excellent view from breakfast table of mainz city. the front desk are friendly and also have free internet access