12 Berlin Hotels in the Eastern Districts Where the City Is on Foot

Berlin covers 891 square kilometres. That is nine times the area of Paris for roughly a sixth more people, and it is the reason the city feels empty in a way no other European capital does: wide streets, gaps between buildings, and long distances between things that appear close on a map.

It is also why the choice of district matters more here than in a compact city. Get it wrong and Berlin is a series of U-Bahn journeys between places you had to look up. Get it right and it is one of the great walking cities in Europe.

Where the walkable Berlin is

Almost all of it is east. Mitte, the historic centre, holds Museum Island, the Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden and the government quarter, and it runs into the Scheunenviertel with the galleries and the courtyards. South and east of it, Kreuzberg, Neukölln and Friedrichshain hold most of the food, the bars, the canal and the nightlife, and they connect to each other on foot along the Landwehr canal and the Spree.

The west, around Charlottenburg and the Kurfürstendamm, is the older, wealthier, quieter Berlin. It has the best shopping, several excellent hotels and the zoo, and it is twenty to thirty minutes from everything above.

The twelve below are grouped accordingly, and the split is deliberate rather than dismissive: the west is the right answer for some trips.

Mitte and the historic centre

Museum Island, the boulevards and the government quarter, with the Scheunenviertel behind it.

Hotel De Rome Berlin occupies a nineteenth-century bank on Bebelplatz facing the opera house, with a spa in the old vaults and a rooftop terrace over the square. It is the best hotel in Berlin.

Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin sits at the Brandenburg Gate itself, the most famous address in the country, with a level of formality that suits some trips and not others. Ask for a room facing the gate.

Regent Berlin, an IHG Hotel occupies a building on Charlottenstrasse near Gendarmenmarkt with the most discreet service in the city and a very good restaurant.

Boutique Hotel Château Royal sits in a converted 1900s building in the Scheunenviertel with a restrained interior, a courtyard and the best position in Berlin for the galleries and the small restaurants.

Soho House Berlin occupies a former East German trade union building near Alexanderplatz with a pool, a members' club and a rooftop. It is the most sociable hotel in the city.

The Mandala Suites sits by the Spree with contemporary rooms, a good bar and the shortest walk to Museum Island at a lower rate than the group above.

Kreuzberg, Neukölln and the canal

The eastern districts. Where the eating and the drinking are, and where Berlin's reputation comes from.

Orania.Berlin occupies a building on Oranienplatz with a music programme, a bar that locals use and rooms that are simple and well judged. It is in the middle of Kreuzberg.

Hotel Oderberger Berlin occupies a restored 1902 municipal bathhouse in Prenzlauer Berg with the original swimming pool intact and open to guests, which is the single best hotel amenity in Berlin. It is north of Mitte and a tram from the eastern districts.

nhow Berlin occupies a riverside site on the Spree with a distinctive interior, a pool and views across to the east side of the river.

Charlottenburg and the west

The older, calmer half. Better shopping, larger rooms, and a train ride from the east.

Wilmina Hotel occupies a former women's prison in Charlottenburg, converted with the cell structure visible, a garden and a rooftop. It is the most interesting building any hotel in Berlin occupies.

Hotel Das Stue Berlin sits beside the Tiergarten in a 1930s Danish embassy building with a garden, a spa and rooms overlooking the zoo. It is the calmest hotel in the city.

25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin occupies a building beside the Bikini centre with a rooftop bar over the zoo and the Gedächtniskirche, and the most design-led interior in the west.

What we have left off

The hotels around Potsdamer Platz are excluded. They are large, comfortable, well connected and sit in a district that was rebuilt from nothing in the 1990s as a corporate development, and walking out of one into it is the least Berlin experience available in Berlin.

What to do

Museum Island deserves two visits rather than one. The Pergamon has been partly closed for a long restoration, so check what is open before you build a day around it. The Neues Museum holds the Nefertiti bust.

Do the twentieth century properly: the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Topography of Terror, the East Side Gallery and the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse, which is the one that explains how the wall actually worked.

Walk the Landwehr canal on a Sunday, go to Tempelhof, which is a decommissioned airport now used as a public park with people cycling down the runways, and eat at the Turkish market on Maybachufer.

Berlin's nightlife starts very late and the famous clubs have door policies that are genuinely selective. Treat that as part of the experience rather than a problem.

Practical notes

BER is 45 minutes to an hour from Mitte by train. It is a long way south of the city.

May, June and September are the best months. Summer is warm and the city lives outdoors. Winter is grey and cold and the museums are empty, which is a real argument for going then.

The U-Bahn and S-Bahn are excellent and run all night at weekends. Cash is still needed more often than in most of western Europe.

Questions people actually ask

East or west?

East for a first visit and for the food and nightlife. West for shopping, quiet and larger rooms, at the cost of a train ride to everything else.

Is Berlin walkable?

Within districts, very. Between them, not always: the distances are much longer than the map suggests.

How many nights?

Four. Berlin's history alone takes two days and the districts take another two.

Is it still cheap?

Cheaper than Paris or London and no longer cheap. Hotels have risen sharply; food and transport remain good value.

If you only book one

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