Beside the Old Botanical Garden: The Charles Hotel, Munich

Wake early at The Charles and the first thing you see from a Park View room is a canopy of old trees, with the dome of the Palace of Justice and the twin towers of the Frauenkirche rising beyond them. That green is the Old Botanical Garden, and the hotel borders it. For a dog it is the best possible start to a Munich morning, and for its owner it is the start of one of the easiest city stays in Germany. Most of the rooms take dogs, there is no weight limit, the dog is welcome in the bar and the lounge, and it may stay settled in the room while you go out.

The Setting

The hotel stands on Sophienstrasse in the Lenbachgärten quarter, close to Königsplatz and on the edge of Munich's museum district, a short stroll, in the hotel's own words, from the designer shops around Maximilianstrasse. It is a city centre address that feels surprisingly green: the hotel borders the Old Botanical Garden, shaded by mature oaks, and many of its rooms and suites look out over it.

The Alter Botanischer Garten was laid out by the landscape architect Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell and finished in 1812. Its early classical entrance gate, by the Portuguese architect Emanuel Herigoyen, has stood for more than two hundred years, and at the heart of the park the Neptune Fountain faces the Palace of Justice, ringed from spring to autumn with flower beds tended by the city. There is a lawn, a café with a beer garden, and a small grove hiding the Kunstpavillon, where artists from Munich and beyond show new work. The hotel overlooks this garden, and it makes a lovely walk with a dog.

Munich is a good city to bring one to. The city's own tourism office calls it very dog friendly, and points out that the dachshund has been part of Munich since the Wittelsbachs bred the breed for hunting; a dachshund named Waldi was the official mascot of the 1972 Olympic Games, and the city still treats him as its animal emblem, according to München Tourismus.

The Hotel Itself

The Charles opened in 2007 and is named after Sir Rocco Forte's father, the hotelier Lord Charles Forte. It was designed by the Munich-born architect Christoph Sattler of Hilmer, Sattler & Albrecht, whose work also includes Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, and it wears a façade of cream Sintra limestone with soft Art Deco curves. The hotel describes a design rooted in the elegance of the 1930s that also recalls the grand 19th century hotels of the Mediterranean, a nod to Munich's reputation as Italy's northernmost city. Inside hangs a collection of paintings by Franz von Lenbach, the Munich portraitist who once lived nearby; Rocco Forte's journal says the family bought seventeen of his originals before the opening, and that the bathroom tiles are Nymphenburg porcelain pieces carrying the architect's signature.

There are 160 rooms and suites, and they are generous. The Classic Rooms start at 40 square metres, among the largest in Munich. Deluxe Park View Rooms have French balconies and look onto the park, and the Deluxe Panoramic View Rooms look across the city and, on clear days, to the Alps. The suites climb from the Signature Park View Suite, which the hotel calls one of Munich's most stunning views over the garden, to the Lord Forte Suite, with a private terrace facing the garden, the rooftops and the Alps, and finally the Monforte Royal Suite, 200 square metres, named after Lord Forte's birthplace.

Downstairs is The Charles Spa, with coral inspired artwork across its walls, a 15 metre indoor pool, a Finnish sauna, a steam room, five treatment rooms and a gym open around the clock. Treatments use Irene Forte Skincare, made with natural ingredients from the family's organic farm at Verdura Resort in Sicily, and the trainers will take you running around Munich or out for a session in the Old Botanical Garden.

The Welcome

A dog arriving at The Charles finds its room ready for it. The hotel provides a bed and food and water bowls, sells dog food so you need not pack a week's worth, and its team will point you to the best walking routes nearby. There is no weight limit, which means a Labrador or a Leonberger is as welcome as a dachshund, and because most of the rooms take dogs, finding one free is rarely a problem.

The dog is not kept to the room. It may come with you into the bar and the lounge and out into the hotel's garden, and when you want an afternoon at the Pinakothek or an evening at the opera it can stay behind in the room. Let reception know before you go, so housekeeping is never surprised. If you would rather it had company, the hotel can arrange a dog sitter, and a dog walker for the days that run long. It knows where the nearest emergency vet is, and for the record, cats are welcome too.

An Evening in the Bar

The signature pleasure here is the hour before dinner. The hotel has two bars: Florio Bar, which the hotel calls the art of Italian aperitivo, a softly lit room of plants and botanical frescoes with deep cushioned banquettes, and the Circle Bar, an intimate room of armchairs and antique gold lamps, open from eleven in the morning until seven in the evening. The bar is open to dogs, and a word at check-in settles which of the two the hotel means. An aperitivo with the dog curled under the table, after a long day in the city, is the hotel's own il dolce far niente, the sweetness of doing nothing, put into practice.

The hotel's restaurant is Florio, classic Italian cooking to a menu by Fulvio Pierangelini, served in a verdant dining room overlooking the Old Botanical Garden, with lunch from midday and dinner until half past ten. The city itself is generous with dogs at the table: München Tourismus says that dogs are, as a rule, allowed into all of the city's restaurants and beer gardens, so dinner out with the dog is an easy thing to plan.

A Day Here With Your Dog

Start in the Old Botanical Garden before the city wakes, a loop past the Neptune Fountain and the Herigoyen gate with the dog on its lead. Then into Maxvorstadt for coffee at Lost Weekend on Schellingstraße, a café of books and live events with tables inside and out, which welcomes dogs and makes them a puppuccino.

From there it is on to the Englischer Garten, the other great park Sckell made for Munich. The Bavarian Palace Administration calls it one of the largest inner city parks in the world, five and a half kilometres long, linking the old centre with the landscape of the River Isar. If your dog needs a proper run, München Tourismus points to the Luitpoldpark in Schwabing, which has open areas where dogs may play off the lead.

In the afternoon, go down to the Isar. The renaturalised river is, in the city's words, a must for anyone visiting Munich, with routes and bathing spots where dogs can cool off. It is a wild river, so keep the dog to the stretches where the current is gentle and the bed shallow. Then back to The Charles, and the bar.

Why It Matters

Munich is a city where dogs belong, and The Charles is a hotel that takes that seriously. It gives you a park at the door, a room big enough for a large dog, a bed and bowls waiting, a bar where the dog can sit with you, and the freedom to leave it settled while you see the Lenbachhaus or the opera. It does all of this in a building of cream limestone and Art Deco curves, with a 15 metre pool in the spa and a collection of Lenbach portraits on the walls. For anyone who wants Munich without leaving the dog at home, this is the address. Book it, mention the dog, and ask the concierge for the walking routes.

Good to Know

The Charles takes one dog per room and charges a fee of 100 EUR per dog, with no damage deposit. The restaurant and its terrace are kept for people. In Munich the city asks that larger dogs over a year old stay on the lead inside the old town ring, in pedestrian zones and on public transport, and that every dog stays on the lead in the Englischer Garten, the Olympiapark, the Westpark and along the Isar.

The Charles Hotel scored a Roch Rank of A+. Read the official Roch Dog review or visit the hotel's website.