I keep bouncing between hotels right by a major station and places 10–15 minutes away in smaller neighborhoods.
The station option obviously wins when arriving with luggage and when we have an early train. The quieter option looks much nicer for the other 95% of the stay: local cafes, less foot traffic, smaller streets.
I am starting to think one simple connection to a useful station matters more than being directly on top of it. Curious where other people land on that tradeoff.