Thank you so much for your help in booking our trip to Germany and Poland! We had a great time and saw SO much. I thought I'd email you some thoughts and tips for other that may be looking at Munich and/or Warsaw as well as send some pictures.
Aloft Munich - This was a nice hotel and the employees were helpful and spoke good English. It was more Western in that there was air conditioning, wash cloths were provided and they had elevators. It was right across the street from the Central Train station, so easy to access public transportation. We walked most of the time and it was about a 20 minute walk to the Marionplatz. There were not a ton of more local German restaurants super close by, but we found a beer garden that we loved & was walking distance. It was recommended by one of our tour guides. It was called Augustiner-Keller and about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. The only downside to the Aloft was that the bed was very firm. I know that is just personal preference so other people may appreciate that.
Castle Tour - This was a great tour with beautiful sights, especially driving through the countryside and seeing small Bavarian villages in the Alps. One thing to note, this tour has a lot of walking! There are stairs and at the Neuschwanstein Castle we walked from the castle back to the car park at the bottom of the hill to meet our bus. We did just fine, but it was a pretty strenuous walk downhill. If someone has mobility issues, this isn't a good tour for them. I will say having the tour guide that knows the ins and outs and make recommendations on what to do when was invaluable! Depending on our entrance to the castle, she recommended when and where to get lunch & how to get to the top of the hill. We got to see everything and didn't feel rushed. One good tip is to have cash with you! The food stand by the castle only accepted cash.
Bellotto Hotel - This was a great hotel, we really loved it! It was very comfortable and very close to Old Town and most of the sights we wanted to see.
Auschwitz Tour - We declined the express train option that was presented to us before the tour because we were afraid our time at Auschwitz would be shortened. If we did this tour again, we would choose the express train option. This was a very long day, but absolutely worth it. Once we arrived in Krakow, we had about 4 hours of free time before we had to meet for the bus to Auschwitz. This was nice, but less free time for a faster train would have been a good option. Once to Auschwitz we got to see everything, our guide was good and gave a lot of facts. There were so many guides and groups, but it was very well organized. In fact, the whole day was very organized; from being picked up at our hotel to being dropped off at the end of the day. I would recommend bringing water and snacks on this tour, we're glad we did.
After experiencing both countries, we've talked about how much more we enjoyed Poland than Germany. They were both great, but Poland was cleaner and cheaper. We stayed in touristy areas, but getting around without knowing the languages was not a problem. I'd say it's a bit trickier in Poland but not by too much. We were able to find English speakers and English menus as well.
Thank you again for your help in planning this trip, we had a fantastic time!
-The Keith's