Where to Stay in Berlin - A Local’s Neighborhood Guide
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After having lived here in Berlin for almost 2 decades now, and by virtue of being a photographer, travel writer, and part-time tour guide, I like to think that I’ve pretty comprehensively explored this city and that I know it as well as anyone can ever really “know” a beast of a city like Berlin.
Considering the city’s formidable size and wealth of attractions spread throughout it, deciding on your home base is surprisingly challenging, and also very important. And when you add in that the atmosphere from one neighborhood to the next can change rather drastically (much more so than in most other cities), it’s not just about location; you also have to carefully think about the type of atmosphere that you want, and the type you want to avoid.
Berlin is incredibly diverse, and while this is very cliché to say, and it really does have something for everyone, but it also has lots that will most definitely not be your speed, so you can’t just choose a central area at random and expect it to be a good fit.
Germany’s capital city, Berlin has 12 official boroughs, called Bezirke in German. These boroughs, which vary wildly in terms of size, each contain between two and fifteen smaller districts or quarters known as Ortsteile. These can then be broken down even further into what are called Kieze, or local neighborhoods.
While this can seem confusing and overwhelming (because it kind of is!), I have some good news: you can immediately disregard around half of the boroughs since they lie outside of the inner-city areas where you’ll likely spend most, or all, of your time.
Even so, it can still be a challenge to work out the best place to stay, since each borough or neighborhood tends to have its own vibe and demographic and travel times between them and the sights are often not insignificant. Of course, that diversity is a big part of this city’s appeal (Berlin welcomes and makes space for everyone), so it’s just about finding what’s right for you.
And that’s what I’m here to help with! Below, I’ve put together a fairly comprehensive overview of the 6 central neighborhoods that I think are the best choice for the vast majority of travelers, especially those coming here for a first visit.
Each one has its own set of appeals, as well as some drawbacks, so read on to find out more about them and get a sense for which one seems like the ideal spot for you.
Table of Contents
Overview of Berlin’s layout
The Inner Ring Road (red) and the wider RingBahn (green), which typically denotes Berlin’s city center. Photo: TomTen, Contributers of OpenStreetMap, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Before we delve into my recommended neighborhoods, I think it’s helpful to first have a basic understanding of the city’s layout, so that you at least have a general sense for where the center is and where all the areas that I’ll be talking about are in relation to it and one another.
As I’ve already said, you can disregard many of the official districts, and the easiest way to work out which ones to ignore (and which to focus on) is to take a quick look quick at a map of the RingBahn - the train line that encircles the main city districts and is, somewhat cutely, in the shape of a dog’s head.
It’s this boundary that Berliners refer to when they talk about life inside and outside “the ring”. Basically, everything inside denotes roughly the inner-city and everything outside is considered less central.
Of course, the full story is a bit more nuanced than that, especially as the inner-city becomes more and more expensive and people and communities are gradually being forced to move outside the RingBahn. But for our purposes it still works quite well to focus on these inner-ring districts and boroughs, which are as follows: Mitte, Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Schöneberg, Prenzlauer Berg, Charlottenburg and Neukölkn.
Although not as important, another thing to consider is the influence of the Berlin Wall, which divided the city in the former East and West Berlin. I’ll talk a bit more about this later in the article.
One more thing to bear in mind is that along with the RingBahn, the city has an excellent and comprehensive metro system comprising both overground and underground trains, as well as tons of bus and tram stops. This makes transit in the inner-city generally fast and convenient, and regardless of what neighborhood you choose to stay in, you’ll rarely be more than a few minutes walk from a subway, bus, or tram stop.
Quick summary of my 6 recommended neighborhoods
Given how good Berlin’s transportation system is (subway, trams, and buses), as long as you stay in any of the city-center neighborhoods within the Ring Bahn, you’ll be able to get around to all the main sights and other central neighborhoods within 30-45 minutes.
On top of that, Berlin is almost entirely flat, so despite being a fairly sprawling city, it’s very walkable and extremely bike-friendly, especially thanks to the abundance of protected cycling lanes.
When it comes to the neighborhoods, I think Mitte is the best option if it’s your first visit and/or if you strongly prefer being being close enough to the big sights that you can reach and explore them on foot. Mitte has all the conveniences of any city center, but being our downtown, it’s also a fair deal more commercial/business-oriented.
On the other hand, the more residential areas that fan out around Mitte tend to have more local character and will appeal to people who don’t like the idea of staying in a touristy and commercial center. Needless to say, these are generally farther from the main sights and less convenient for getting around though.
In terms of the inner neighborhoods that surround Mitte, they have some similarities but also have quite distinctive characters, which I’ll dive into below. On the whole, they all have a greater or lesser mix of attractive nineteenth-century residential housing (Altbaus, or “old houses”, in German) and post-war architecture, usually a local park or two, abundant cafes, restaurants and bars, and lots of smaller galleries and museums.
In other words, there’s plenty to see and do in each of them, so much so that you really wouldn’t even need to go into Mitte at all if you’ve already been to Berlin before or just don’t care about ticking off the tourist sights. The neighborhoods are very cool in their own rights and exploring them is lots of fun.
With all of this in mind, here are the neighborhoods that I recommend for most visitors:
1. Mitte (red above)
This sprawling, city-center borough can be diverse and confusing. It contains everything from Berlin’s original medieval centre (Nikolaiviertel), rebuilt by the GDR in the 1980s, to traffic-heavy squares and Soviet-era boulevards and tower blocks. It also houses the majority of the city’s main sights - like Checkpoint Charlie, Museum Island, Alexanderplatz, Brandenburg Gate, and the Memorial to Murdered Jews -, many of which are within walking distance of each other.
The huge concentration of big sights and its central location mean that it’s always popular with visitors, and it can often be very busy, especially during the summer or holiday periods. Even so, you can usually duck any crowds quite easily by detouring along smaller or less busy streets, or into nearby parks and gardens.
2. Prenzlauer Berg (purple above)
One of the most prettily gentrified of the inner-city neighborhoods, wedge-shaped Prenzlauer Berg -formerly part of Soviet-controlled East Berlin - is structured around a grid-like plan that harks back to the middle of the nineteenth-century. Known for its high concentration of young and middle-aged families, it features many charming and lively squares like Helmholtzplatz and Kollwitzplatz, as well as busier streets like Schönhauser Allee and Prenzlauer Allee.
3. Friedrichshain (green above)
Like Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain was formerly a politicized part of East Berlin, and while it’s now quite popular, it didn’t gentrify nearly as quickly as the former, and still has some vague traces of its punk-anarchist past. The squats have mostly been cleared now though and trendy coffee shops and boutiques abound, especially around the main square, Boxhagener Platz.
You should know that the area remains a big draw for students and party-people, thanks to the street art and club paradise RAW Gelände, and techno temple Berghain. It’s also home to the Stalin-era Karl-Marx Allee boulevard and the East Side Gallery along the Spree.
4. Kreuzberg (yellow above)
Younger and trendier than Prenzlauer Berg, Kreuzberg was known for its squatters and activists when it was part of the ‘island’ of West Berlin, stranded in a ‘sea’ of East Germany. Today it is unofficially divided into two quite distinctive areas: the eastern part, nicknamed SO36 after its Cold War post code, was close to the Berlin Wall, and has a lot of gritty energy, a large Turkish and Middle Eastern population, and great nightlife, especially around Oranienstrasse.
Meanwhile, the western side is more sedate, a little more upscale, and rather Prenzlauer Berg-esque, especially the streets around Bergmannstrasse and the pleasant Viktoria Park.
5. Neukölln (black/grey above)
Home to a heady mix of arty expats and Middle Eastern residents drawn by cheaper rents during the 2000’s and 2010’s, Neukölln is by far the city’s edgiest and buzziest district. Distinctly unglamorous, even a bit dirty in places, it’s nonetheless home to a lot of great foodie spots, cool bars and clubs (especially along Weserstrasse), and a host of indie galleries and pop-ups, plus lovely parks like Körnerpark and Hasenheide.
It’s also right at the edge of the sprawling former airport turned leisure area that is Tempelhofer Feld. Neukölln will not be for everyone, but it’s a very interesting area that has a lot to offer in its own way.
6. Charlottenburg (blue above)
Charlottenburg was a city all of its own until it was incorporated in 1920. Today it has a commercial, tourist-friendly vibe similar to Mitte, especially around the overhauled Bahnhof Zoo area (where the Berlin Zoo and Aquarium are), and along the famous shopping boulevard Kurfürstendamm - Ku-damm for short.
Tourism is far from the main character of the neighborhood though (far from it), as it also has a very trendy food street - Kantstrasse -, lots of charming squares such as Savignyplatz, and some great cultural sights like the Schloss Charlottenburg, C/O Berlin photo gallery, and Berggruen Museum. It’s overall a very pretty and pleasant area.
1. Mitte
Pros: As central as it gets, lots of big sights in easy walking distance, very tourist-friendly with a good range of shops, hotels, and restaurants to choose from, great public transport links
Cons: Gets busy with tourists in summer, everything from food to hotels is more expensive, fairly commercial (not residential), and much of its former nightlife has been commercialized
Gendarmenmarkt and the Deustcher Dom from the French Cathedral. Photo: Ввласенко, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Potsdamer Platz. Photo: Ansgar Koreng / CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped from original
Alexanderplatz. Photo: Wiliam Capraro, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Brandenburg Gate in Mitte. Photo: Axel Mauruszat, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons
Mitte, which literally means ‘middle’ in German, is the area where this city first came into existence, beginning as just a couple of humble fishing villages straddling the Spree River. Those eventually turned into trading routes, which lead to more growth, and the city has continued expanding outwards for the following centuries, becoming the vast area that it is today. But Mitte is still the spiritual, historic, and geographic heart of the city.
Ignoring the district’s official boundaries, which these days go as far as Wedding in the north (beyond the RingBahn), the core of what most locals consider Mitte extends from Alexanderplatz in the east to Tiergarten Park in the west, and Potsdamer Platz in the south to pretty much all the northern sections of the inner-city.
As such, it contains the tourist heart of Berlin: Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the TV Tower, Museum Island, Checkpoint Charlie, Unter den Linden, DDR Museum, and the Nikolaiviertel are all here, as are several major transit hubs like Alexanderplatz, Potsdamer Platz, and Hackescher Markt.
So, you’ve got a huge number of the city’s most famous sights right here in Mitte, and any time you want to explore other areas of the city, you’ll have incredible transit connections to take you there. For sightseeing and convenience, there’s no better place to be.
Although Mitte is huge and diverse, what you’ll find here is generally a mix between office spaces and residential areas, lots of shops (both high-street and high-end), varied gastronomic offerings, and plenty of cultural institutions (beyond those just mentioned above). As the most intensely gentrified part of Berlin, this is also where the rents are highest, and the area’s residents - aside from very small pockets of social housing - are at the upper end of the local earning scale.
Although there are many sub-areas that comprise Mitte, the bulk of the hotels and short-term apartment accommodation is located around the more heavily-touristed parts.
For example, the area near the Museum Island and Unter den Linden is always popular for visitors, and this is where you’ll find lots of Prussian-era sights such as the reconstructed Royal Palace (now called the Humboldt Forum and containing museums and exhibitions); Bebelplatz, where the Nazi book burning took place; and Pariser Platz, which hosts the city’s most prominent landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, as well as the world-famous Hotel Adlon.
Sights aside, this area is also great for shopping, especially on historic streets like Friedrichstraße, which has lots of luxurious shops alongside offices, apartment buildings, embassies, and cultural sites - Checkpoint Charlie chief among them, which is the iconic border crossing where the Cold War came to a head with Allied and Russian tanks facing each other.
Gendarmenmarkt, a very lovely square (even if filled with very expensive shops and hotels), is also here, and it’s where you’ll find the Berlin Concert Hall (Konzerthaus) and a couple of impressive cathedrals.
Potsdamer Platz is another very central base in the neighborhood, and all within walking distance are the Tiergarten Park, the Reichstag, the Philharmonie, Kulturforum, and the Memorial of the Murdered Jews. I do have to warn you that I find the square itself quite soulless though, with lots of modern skyscrapers, constant car traffic, and no real local charm. It’s a far cry from its historic heyday, but it’s still a very practical and popular location for visitors.
On the eastern side of the neighborhood, Alexanderplatz is another big and principal square, even if it’s aesthetically quite ugly. Anyone interested in the GDR would prefer it to Potsdamer Platz though, as it’s surrounded by heritage-protected communist buildings like the Haus des Lehrers and Haus des Reisens - which bear murals and reliefs depicting the glory of the Soviet years -, the looming TV Tower, and the famous World Clock.
Several tram and train lines intersect at Alexanderplatz and the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall), the seat of the Governing Mayor of Berlin, is also around the corner, so again, although it’s far from my favorite square in Berlin, it’s a super convenient area to base yourself.
The trendier heart of Mitte can be found northeast of Alexanderplatz in what is officially known as the Rosenthaler Vorstadt and Spandauer Vorstadt. Here, the crowd skews younger and more fashion-conscious, and the cafés, restaurants, and bars are more independent and a bit hipper. You’ll find a nice selection of boutique hotels too, along with some interesting smaller galleries.
And although the nightlife in this area isn’t what it once was, the area around Rosenthaler Platz, and along gallery-lined streets such as Auguststraße and Tucholskystraße can be buzzy.
I know that’s a lot to think through, and I’ve already given you a number of potential bases to consider within this neighborhood, but if your head is swimming and you’re looking for something that offers a nice hybrid of all the above - from the touristy to the trendy -, I would suggest finding a hotel around Hackescher Markt, which is easy walking distance from Museum Island, Alexanderplatz, and Rosenthaler Platz. You won’t be right in any of the areas above, but you’ll be close enough to quickly get to all of them.
Where to stay
Circus Hotel & Hostel - The Circus Group has a few great accommodation options in Mitte. The main two are a hostel and hotel, located right opposite each other on Rosenthaler Platz. While they have different aesthetics and budgets, they’re run by friendly people and offer great rooms and amenities. €70-200
AMANO Hotels - Another local hotel brand with several central options, the AMANO group prides itself on slick and seductive boutique-style spots at good prices. They don’t usually have gyms and sometimes no restaurants, but they do have dapper rooms, stylish bars including some rooftop spots, and affordable prices. €80-200
Park Inn Alex - This modest mid-range hotel looms over Alexanderplatz. The rooms aren’t too stylish but they’re comfortable enough and the top floors have amazing views. It’s obviously well located, the breakfast is decent, and you can even do a controlled jump from the roof. €120-230
Soho House - Housed in an impressive building right on Torstrasse that was used by both the Nazis and the GDR for different reasons, this local iteration of the swanky Soho House brand has stylish rooms, great food and drink options, a rooftop pool, and a fabulous spa and gym. Membership fees apply. €180-400
Ritz Carlton - For a splash, the Ritz Carlton ticks all the five-star options. Set in an Art Deco building on Potsdamer Platz, it offers large, sumptuous rooms, a gym and spa, excellent service and a very good restaurant and sophisticated bar-lounge. €210-450
2. Prenzlauer Berg
Pros: More relaxed and less touristy, lots of attractively restored nineteenth-century buildings, family-oriented, well-connected to Mitte and the rest of Berlin, great food scene
Cons: Not many major tourist sites, the main avenues are pretty charmless, might be too gentrified (kind of yuppie) for some in places, not much nightlife
A stretch of Schönhauser Allee. Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Looking down Oderberger Straße. Photo: Franz Richter (User:FRZ), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped
Rykestraße. Photo: Fridolin freudenfett (Peter Kuley), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped
The Thursday “eco market” in Kollwitzplatz. Photo: Fridolin freudenfett, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Situated in the northeast of the inner-city, Prenzlauer Berg is excellently connected to neighboring Mitte as well as to other neighborhoods thanks to a well-distributed mix of metro, tram and bus services. You can pretty much get anywhere and everywhere quickly and seamlessly from here.
When it comes to accommodation, this is a mostly residential area, so there aren’t tons of hotels here, but you will find a lot of short-term apartment rentals.
Known as one of the most pleasant neighborhoods in the city, Prenzlauer Berg also has a reputation for being Berlin’s most ‘family-friendly’ district, which might be a good or bad thing depending on your own view on such areas. As someone who raised a kid here, I quite like it, but recognize that I’m a little biased. I definitely understand how annoying helicopter parents and screaming toddlers in cafes can be!
Honestly, that stereotype is quite old and outdated by now though, and the kids of the families that moved here after the Wall fell in the 1990’s and 2000’s are now teens and young adults, making the demographic a little more interesting. Still, it’s hard to find too many elderly people here and for the most part it remains popular with the kind of affluent types who can afford the high rents.
Such has been the success of gentrification that visitors are often surprised to learn that Prenzlauer Berg was part of the former East. Look at photos from the 1980’s and you’ll see rows of crumbling tenements with bullet-riddled facades and decaying balconies, all heated by coal and generally neglected. Things are very different these days and those shells of apartments have all been tastefully renovated, with cafés, bars, galleries, grocery stores, and independent boutiques of all kinds often lining the ground floors.
To find the more charming parts of the neighborhood, I’d suggest aiming for the squares and streets that intersect the district’s three main boulevards: Abaris, Schönhauser Allee, Prenzlauer Allee, and Greifswalder Allee. The area’s best known square is Kollwitzplatz and the streets around it - Rykestraße, Husemannstraße, and Kollwitzstraße - are some of the most quintessentially handsome, with wide cobbled lanes, expensively restored buildings, and restaurants and cafes that spill out onto the pavements in summer. It’s really lovely.
The weekly Saturday market at Kollwitzplatz is popular too, as is the Sunday one at the nearby Kulturbrauerei - a former brewery that now hosts concert venues, a cinema, and nightclubs. The Christmas market here is also especially cute.
To the north of Kollwitzplatz lies the equally scenic Helmholtzplatz. Three streets around here - Lychener Straße, Schliemannstraße and Dunckerstraße - were nicknamed the LSD quarter during the GDR, a reference to their dissident character. Today, the punks and squatters are long gone and the area is surrounded by the usual mix of playgrounds, bars, cafes, indie shops, and restaurants.
Another popular street for strolling is Oderberger Straße, which cuts across Kastanienallee and leads to Mauerpark, the district’s main park, which has a distinctive history since it used to form part of the Berlin Wall’s death strip. As well as hosting a popular flea market and public karaoke sessions on Sundays (the latter only in warm weather), it also forms part of the official Berlin Wall Memorial, which runs all the way along Bernauer Strasse into Mitte.
I always recommend this memorial for anyone interested in the history of the Wall as it’s much more interesting than the more famous East Side Gallery (see Friedrichshain), with large-scale photos, listening posts, reconstructed guard towers, and more - all free of charge.
Where to stay
East Seven - This laid-back and long-serving hostel, located on the border of Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg has single, double and triple rooms, clean and functional public areas and a lounge area with books and boardgames. They refuse rowdy groups. €28-80.
Myer’s Hotel - This discreet hotel is set inside a renovated nineteenth-century neoclassical building. The 51 rooms, arranged around a glass-roofed courtyard, come in a range of shapes and sizes (some quite small) but are all elegant and tastefully furnished. There’s a lounge, art gallery and garden. €130-210
Hotel Oderberger - Set inside a former nineteenth-century bathhouse, this lovely boutique hotel is probably one of the nicest in Prenzlauer Berg. Many historic elements have been preserved through the public areas and in the rooms, and there’s also a pool and sauna (open to the public like in the old days), and a pleasant bar. €180-230
Linnen - A great option if you prefer something smaller and more intimate than a hotel, Linnen only has six rooms set inside what feels like a plush private home. There’s not much in the way of amenities, but the friendly owners are at hand for local tips, and the rooms are beautifully decorated. Mauerpark is also just down the road. €160-260
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3. Friedrichshain
Pros: Lively and youthful in the central areas, close to Mitte;,still quite raw and urban in places, good for nightlife and clubbing
Cons: Can be noisy and rowdy around Boxhagener Platz and Simon-Dach-Straße, not many major sights, some of the residential areas are a bit boring
The weekly market at Boxhagener Platz. Photo: Fridolin freudenfett, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The palatial Soviet era building on Karl-Marx-Alle. Photo: Ruslan Taran, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped
A squat on Kreuziger Straße. Photo: ProhibitOnions at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Simon-Dach-Straße leading off Boxhagener Platz. Photo: Fridolin freudenfett, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Alongside Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain was one of the main inner-city districts in former East Berlin. It went through a similar post-Wall experience in terms of becoming a grungy-but-cool hang-out for squatters and punks, but like its neighbour has also succumbed to gentrification, albeit a little more slowly.
Also like Prenzlauer Berg, it’s popular with families and a mix of locals and expats who can afford the ever-rising rents. Since those have traditionally been slightly cheaper than Prenzlauer Berg, it’s still home to a younger crowd of students, hipsters, and young creatives too, who help keep the bars and clubs ever-busy. It’s also well-connected to the rest of the city via trams, buses, and trains.
The district’s main central square, Boxhagener Platz - or “Boxi” to locals - could easily be in Prenzlauer Berg, surrounded with cafés, bars, and shops. I especially like coming here on weekends as the vibe is generally upbeat thanks to the weekly Saturday food market and Sunday flea market.
Leading off from Boxi is Simon-Dach-Straße, known as a ‘party street’ thanks to its abundance of drinking spots, several of them at the cheaper and trashier end of things. Nearby is the Raw-Gelände, a sprawling former railway repair yard that’s very “Berlin”, with lots of international street art, several bars and clubs, a climbing wall set in a former bunker, and a great skating hall.
The farther you move away from Boxi, the more residential the district becomes. While there aren’t many tourist sights, I really enjoy just walking around here and taking in the vibe. Specific streets worth a look include the Knorrpromenade, a heritage-protected street lined with some beautifully preserved buildings, and Sonntagstraße, which is lively on the weekends and leads on to the Ostkreuz train station.
If you like clubbing, this is definitely an area to consider, in big part thanks to the presence of legendary techno temple Berghain (near the Ostbahnhof train station), the “://about blank” club near (Ostkreuz station), and smaller party spots such as Oxi. Also typically buzzing in the evenings is Warschauer Straße, which runs down to the River Spree.
Despite the increasing presence of corporate buildings - the Amazon Tower and the Uber Arena are here - there are still lots of cool spots like the Monster Ronsons karaoke bar, the Michelberger hotel and bar, which has live concerts, and loads of spätis (casual stores selling beer with tables outside) and fast-food outlets.
Warschauer Straße, and the neighborhood’s southern boundary, end at the historic red-bricked Oberbaumbrücke (Oberbaum bridge), a former border checkpoint that crosses the Spree river over to Kreuzberg.
Next door to there, on the Friedrichshain side running along the river, is the East Side Gallery, an original stretch of the Berlin Wall that continues west along the Spree for over a kilometer. It’s not my favorite place as it’s usually rammed with tourists and is right next to a four-lane traffic route, but it’s still a Berlin classic and somewhere you’ll almost certainly feel obligated to visit.
One street I unreservedly recommend people visit is Karl-Marx-Allee, a showpiece boulevard built by the GDR between 1952–1960. It’s over a mile long and its grand Soviet buildings house coveted apartments along with shops, art galleries, and unique venues such as the Computer Games Museum.
Where to stay
Amano East Side - Another great AMANO spot, this one close to Ostbahnhof and the East Side Gallery has dapper boutique-style rooms, a roof terrace for great views and a very good Italian restaurant on the ground floor. Berghain (the techno club) is walking distance too. €90-260
Indigo East Side - A very good mid-range option that looks right over the East Side Gallery (and the Spree river) and is right next to the Uber Eats arena and Warschauer Straße. Rooms are surprisingly stylish for this price range, and there’s a great rooftop bar (with terrace) and an in-house restaurant. €110-250
Michelberger Hotel - One of the city’s most unique hotels, the Michelberger is set inside a huge former factory and balances a smart boutique design aesthetic with a laid-back, welcoming hostel vibe. As well as cool rooms it has a courtyard for concerts, a bar and an above-average restaurant. €140-230
Nhow Hotel - Situated just down from the Oberbaumbrücke and right on the Spree, this large hotel has a splashy, quirky and colourful interior as well as a music theme that extends to in-house recording studio and guitars and keyboards you can rent for the rooms. There’s a restaurant and an upbeat bar, and the breakfast is generous. There’s also a downstairs gym and spa. €140-340
4. Kreuzberg
Pros: Buzzy and multicultural with plenty of bars, live venues, and clubs; great foodie scene including Markthalle 9; more sedate on the western side; a few interesting museums
Cons: Can be busy and loud in some areas on the weekends; a few traffic-heavy and charmless streets
Always lovely Chamissoplatz. Photo: HMUHH, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
An aerial view over Görlitzer Park. Photo: Boris Niehaus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped
A stretch of the Landwehr Canal in Kreuzberg. Photo: Georg Slickers, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped
Ever-trendy Oranienstraße. Photo: Jens Cederskjold, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped
Just to the west across the river from Friedrichshain and immediately south of Mitte, Kreuzberg is the former beating heart of inner-city West Berlin and a center of the punk and counterculture scene that emerged in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Largely considered one of the coolest districts in the city, it’s awash with a heady mix of Turks, Arabs, and other Middle Eastern communities that were invited to move and work here in the 1960’s, a number of grown-up anarchists and squatters who lived here in its Cold War heyday, and more recently, an influx of hipsters and creatives starting in the 2000’s when the rents were still fairly reasonable.
Although it has gentrified in recent years (basically everywhere in Berlin has), the district’s easy accessibility to the center via bus and metro and its long-standing reputation as an edgy party district have kept it lively and exciting - especially the eastern part, which used to butt right up against the Berlin Wall and remains synonymous with urban grittiness, street art, and indie concert venues and clubs.
Staying around here - probably in a rental apartment as the hotels in this district are a bit scattered - will put you in easy distance of a few very interesting places:
Kottbusser Tor, or as some locals call it, Little Istanbul, which still has a slightly rough and sometimes even dangerous vibe at night; nearby Oranienstraße, where bars and art galleries rub shoulders with lively eateries and music venues; and the gritty but much-loved Görlitzer Park, which has a slightly seedy atmosphere due to the presence of drug dealers. Although incidents are relatively rare, they do happen so definitely exercise some caution if it’s your first time.
By contrast, the western part of Kreuzberg is quieter and less gritty, epitomized by pleasant Bergmannstraße, which has its own food hall in the shape of the historic Marheineke Markthalle, and is lined with restored Altbaus and dreamy squares such as Chamissoplatz, and the genteel Viktoria Park, which offers not only a lovely green space but some great views over the city.
All along the southern edge of the neighborhood is the Landwehr Canal, a lovely little stretch of water that’s lined by green spaces where people come to hang out, grab drinks, and just relax. It’s a lovely place to go for a stroll or sit around and people watch.
As well as exploring the neighborhood, it’s worth making some time to visit some of the many excellent museums here. I would recommend the Jewish Museum Berlin, designed by architect Daniel Liebeskind; the Berlinische Galerie, which presents modern art, architecture, graphic design, and photography by Berliners from 1870 to the present day; and the Topography of Terror, which documents the atrocities committed during the Nazi regime.
Where to stay
Wilmina - A swanky option in a former prison with dapper boutique-style rooms, a gorgeous roof terrace and garden, a swish design, 24-hour gym and sauna, plus games to borrow. €110-180
The Yard - This nifty four-star is close to the Jewish Museum Berlin and has 55 smart and well-equipped rooms, a sauna and an indoor pool, as well as a fitness room and a very lovely garden courtyard. €120-190
art’otel Berlin - This arty hotel is peppered with original works by German abstract artist Georg Baselitz. It has a quiet location just on the border to Mitte, as well as rooms that are stylish and spacious and a handsome bar inside an adjacent historic building. €100-220
Orania Berlin - Probably the fanciest hotel in Kreuzberg, the Orania is located right on Oraniaplatz in the heart of edgy east Kreuzberg. It offers striking, design-savvy rooms in sophisticated textiles and lovely woods, as well as a vibrant in-house restaurant and bar, plus regular live concerts with local musicians. €160-290
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5. Neukölln
Pros: Buzzy bars and nightlife, unique mix of arty and immigrant communities, cheap (but good) eats, a very ‘real’ atmosphere, “bonus” historic quarter, next to the wonderful Tempelhof Park
Cons: Can be a little dirty and run-down, several bustling and charmless boulevards, not many major sights, is a bit far from other places of interest, not so many hotels
Hermannplatz square seen from Hermanstrasse. Photo: A.Savin, FAL, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped
Weserstrasse. Photo: Nicor, Tabsnic, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped
A busy street on an evening in Neukolln. Photo: Leonhard Lenz, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped
Neukölln is something of an anomaly in Berlin, perhaps even in Europe - an inner-city area that is overtly working class, even poor in parts, and largely defined by a large immigrant population, namely Turks, Kurds, and Arabs - some the same ‘guest workers’ that came in the 1960s, others more recent arrivals. Lately, there’s been a significant influx of western creatives, “hipsters”, and students who have been priced out of more expensive districts.
The result is an interesting mix that creates a pretty neat, energetic, and creative atmosphere. It’s not always the easiest neighborhood on the eye - buildings can be run down and some areas can be a little unkempt -, but it’s diverse, lively, and has a distinctive energy. Being far less gentrified than the other neighborhoods that I’ve recommended so far, it also presents a very different view of central Berlin.
Most of the district, which is very large, has decent connections to the west and centre of the city, but it can take longer to get to more eastern neighborhoods like Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain. There aren’t many hotels here, but you will find plenty of apartment rental options.
The main streets - Hermannstraße, Karl Marx Straße, and Sonnenallee - are traffic-heavy and unglamorous places, with lots of cheap kebab and falafel joints (some really excellent ones thrown in amongst the mix), casinos, late-night kiosks, and local pubs. One of the main squares, Hermannplatz, is much the same, although it’s definitely always lively.
But that’s far from the whole picture, and there are also more vibrant and trendy areas to find accommodation in (or just hang out in), like the Reuterkiez, in the north of the neighborhood, which overlaps with Kreuzberg’s Graeferkiez and is sometimes nicknamed "Kreuzkölln". This is a very cool area with lots of nice restaurants, bars, cafes, shops, and everything else you might want.
To the south, the area of Schillerkiez is very hip, with nicer apartment buildings and lots of great dining, nightlife, and alternative shopping options. It also has the advantage of being close to Tempelhofer Feld, a former airport that’s been transformed into a vast leisure area.
And then there’s the recreated village of Rixdorf; originally founded in 1737 by Bohemian refugees, it now hosts historic houses, stables and blacksmiths, as well as several great pubs and restaurants.
The nightlife scene in the neighborhood is very solid, and if you want to be in the thick of it, I’d suggest looking for something near Weserstrasse, which is to the east near the Spree River. You can bar-hop for days around there, mixing it up in pubs and wine bars, cocktail spots, and small clubs that cater mostly - but not exclusively - to a western expat crowd.
Although there are no real major sights in Neukölln, there’s quite a lot of art, mostly in the shape of small local galleries and collectives. One larger one is KINDL - the Centre for Contemporary Art, which is set inside a former brewery and offers installations, performances, and regular events.
Where to stay
Hüttenpalast - Located in a former vacuum cleaner factory, this off-beat establishment is somehow typical Neukölln. It offers lovingly restored vintage campervans and cosy huts inside two indoor halls as well as a few standard hotel rooms, plus a shared courtyard garden and a dedicated café for breakfast. €70-120
Estrel - This four-star is actually Germany’s largest, forming part of a sprawling convention and entertainment centre. It offers live shows, a spa, 1,125 rooms and suites, four restaurants, three bars, and an open air location with its own landing pier. Not exactly intimate but decent quality throughout. €110-250
6. Charlottenburg
Pros: Quite a few big sights, close to Tiergarten Park, lots of great hotels, good shopping and restaurants, some great photo galleries
Cons: Lacks urban edge, beholden to mainstream consumerism, fairly tacky in places, many nondescript areas beyond the tourist parts
Savignyplatz in Charlottenburg. Photo: Uwe Thobae, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Magnificent Tiergarten Park. Photo: Marek Śliwecki, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped
Looking out over a commercial stretch Charlottenburg from the Europa Center. Photo: Sebastian Rittau, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The western counterpart to Mitte, separated from the city center by the vast Tiergarten Park, Charlottenburg is synonymous with what’s called ‘West Berlin’ or ‘City West’ -, and it’s an unapologetically commercial area with lots of shopping, cultural venues, and hotels. It’s a bit of a world unto itself but is still well connected to Mitte and other districts via fabulous public transport links.
Known for its mix of tourists and well-heeled locals who cluster around the famous Ku’Damm and Bahnhof Zoo areas (FYI - this is the name for the area around a subway station, not an actual Zoo), the district was its own city until 1920.
A big deal with intellectuals and fashionistas during the prewar (Weimar) period, it mostly maintained its appeal in the Cold War era, providing a mainstream alternative to edgy Kreuzberg, though in the 1980s, the Bahnhof Zoo area became known for drugs, homelessness, and prostitution.
Recent redevelopments have brought the Zoo area back to life again, and the surroundings now boasts swanky hotels such as the Waldorf Astoria and 25Hours, both of which are great bets for exploring the area, as well as the trendy new contemporary Bikini Mall, the C/O Berlin photo gallery, and tourists sights spanning the (actual) Berlin Zoo and Aquarium, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, and the Helmut Newton photo gallery.
Nearby Ku’damm is still going too. Perhaps not as glamorous as it was in its heyday, it still has the big-name fashion stores and fancy hotels (like Hotel Zoo), while parallel Kantstrasse, much less glam, has become something of a foodie hub, especially for affordable Asian cuisine.
A stay here also means great access to the Tiergarten Park, Berlin’s premier green space. If you stay closer to Savignyplatz, you’ll undoubtedly find yourself thoroughly enjoying your strolls along the surrounding streets, which exude a definite bourgeois charm. A little further away is Charlottenburg Palace, a big hitter sight complete with baroque gardens and the Käthe Kollwitz Museum.
Where to stay
25Hours Bikini - Located inside a 1950s high-rise, this hotel reflects the newly regenerated Zoo area, with contemporary and chicinteriors by German designer Werner Aisslinger. It also has a buzzy rooftop bar and restaurant. €120-220
Hotel Zoo - This historic hotel – which once hosted Berlinale VIPs such as Romy Schneider and Sophia Loren – is situated right on the Ku’damm. It was overhauled and reopened in 2014, now offering a flamboyant, design-savvy interior that flows through the fabulous GRACE restaurant, intimate cocktail bar and slick, fashionable rooms.
Waldorf Astoria - One of Berlin’s finest five-stars, this impressive hotel is located right next to the increasingly trendy Zoologischer Garten area in City West. It’s an upscale all-rounder, with a mix of Art Deco and contemporary interiors, a cocktail bar and all-day restaurant, plus one of the biggest spas in the city.
Sir Savigny - This intimate design has a great location close to the eponymous Savignyplatz in West Berlin. Walking distance from the Zoo Bahnhof area, it aims to recreate an upscale “home-from-home” feel with swanky public areas, esoterically designed rooms and an excellent Omakase concept restaurant.
Other neighborhoods to consider
If you’re only staying in Berlin for a few days, staying in or close to the center is the ideal option, as you really do want to be nearby to all the main sights and have a good selection of restaurants, bars, galleries etc. However, if you’re a returning visitor, you’ll be staying in town for a while, or you just want to try something a little different and live more like a local, you might want to consider the following neighborhoods:
Schöneberg
Nollendorfplatz. Photo: A.Savin, FAL, via Wikimedia Commons
12 Apostles church and surroundings in Schoneberg. Photo: A.Savin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This district, or the area around Nollendorfplatz (“Nolli”) at least, has been known as the heart of Berlin’s LGBT+ community since the 1920’s, though overall it’s generally a very diverse and laid-back district with a mix of very quiet and more vibrant neighborhoods. Transport connections are fairly good here, but not quite as decent as neighboring Charlottenburg, for example.
In addition to the many gastro and nightlife offerings around Nolli, nearby Winterfeldtplatz has a great vibe and a large weekly food and flower market on Sundays. For shopping, streets like Goltzstraße, Akazienstraße and other side streets feature lots of small shops selling clothing, flowers, gifts, and furnishings. Elegant Viktoria-Luise-Platz and the surrounding Bavarian Quarter in the west are pleasant and peaceful spots for strolling and dining.
The busiest intersection is around Wittenbergplatz and Tauentzienstraße, which is more of a shopping area and more akin to Charlottenburg in terms of vibe. It’s also home to the famous luxury department store KaDeWe.
Another interesting intersection is around Kurfürstenstraße, Potsdamer Straße, and Bülowstraße, which have a bit of a seedy rep for prostitution but in recent years have become home to some very hip galleries and restaurants, especially along Potsdamer Straße.
Wedding
The Seestrasse in Wedding. Photo: Fridolin freudenfett (Peter Kuley), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Pronounced ‘Vedding’, this interesting district extends north of Mitte and is characterized by a large immigrant population of Asians, Turks, Africans, and westerners.
Known as a working-class district for much of its existence, it still carries a much less gentrified vibe than, say, neighboring Prenzlauer Berg, with more social housing and workaday or occasionally run-down areas.
It’s much-loved by many precisely for its stubborn resistance to gentrification though - the local saying "Wedding kommt" or "Wedding is up and coming” is now used ironically for the most part - and it’s a great area if you’re seeking something affordable and regular (apartments rather than hotels), with no major sights and no frills.
There are some very cool craft beer pubs, restaurants, and venues dotted around the district, as well as some very charming corners and areas. The Uferstudios, a complex of dance and performance studios, are a source of local pride, as is Silent Green, an art and music space inside a crematorium. The local Humboldthain park also has a former flak tower to explore, as well as a community swimming pool.
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