by Paul Sullivan, The Telegraph, October 18, 2019
Berlin has become one of the most stimulating creative and cultural centres in Europe, a place not just for hedonists, hipsters and history buffs alike, but also for families (thanks to a wealth of green spaces and family-friendly infrastructure) and luxury travellers who seek five-star hotels, Michelin-starred dining spots and indulgent spas. High-end hotels here usually cost less than their London and NYC counterparts, but there’s also a spread of decent and welcoming mid-to-lower range hotels as well as hostels. You'll find great family apartments as well as value-for-money boutique experiences, and spots that breezily blend hostel and hip hotel aesthetics. Decent bed and breakfast options are also popular. Here's our pick of the best budget hotels in Berlin.
The Circus Hotel Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
This eco-friendly hotel offers highly comfortable rooms, an eye-catching design aesthetic and very upbeat and popular public areas, including a decent restaurant and bar. The handsome and funky ground-floor area, which spans a small reception and a spacious lounge-cum-restaurant-and-bar, is peppered with eye candy including old gramophones, a multi-coloured giraffe, a mix of vintage and contemporary lamps, hanging plants, and diverse artworks. The location on bustling Rosenthaler Platz puts you right in the middle of the action, and service is especially friendly and attentive. There’s a leafy courtyard and rooftop terrace for warmer weather. Read expert review. From £83 per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
Grimm's Hotel am Potsdamer Platz Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
The hotel is situated along the Landwehr Canal in a part of the city that was once a no man’s land owing to the Berlin Wall, but is now a fairly prime location. The colourful, playful interior design is themed around the eponymous Grimm Brothers, meaning guests can expect quotes on walls and custom-made fairy tale wallpapers. The 110 rooms are decorated with the same kind of modern, bright furnishings, some of which are also themed with the same fairy tale motifs. Breakfast is served each morning at the light-filled in-house restaurant Tischlein deck, which also serves regional and international dishes for lunch and dinner. Read expert review. From £75 per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
Michelberger Hotel Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
Opposite Warschauer Str, close to Friedrichshain’s infamous nightlife and cafés, the Oberbaum Bridge and the river Spree – and not far from the East Side Gallery. The space has been designed by internationally renowned designer Werner Aisslinger, who has worked hard to make sure the whole place yells youthful creativity. There’s a courtyard that doubles as a beer garden and concert venue and the café/bar stays open all night long. Like the rest of the hotel, the 119 rooms are individually designed in a dizzying variety of themes (a chalet, a library) and contain plenty of Berlin-style 'flea market' furniture. It’s excellent value for money, if you can handle the youthful buzz. Read expert review. From £101 per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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Vienna House Easy Berlin Berlin, Germany
7Telegraph expert rating
This bright and contemporary hotel sits on the border between northern Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain, opposite the same company’s Andel’s hotel. It offers a slightly breezier experience, with colourful, playful public areas and rooms, and an in-house bakery that doubles as a bar. It's set inside a fairly charmless retail centre called the Forum Landsberger Allee, which contains various businesses and a few shops. Despite also being set pretty much on the corner of two main roads, the hotel – tricked out in bright, bold colours and playful furnishings – manages to feel decidedly upbeat thanks to the design vision of Alexander Wynands and Arne Erichsen from Berliner Landjungs. Read expert review. From £62 per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin Berlin, Germany
9Telegraph expert rating
West Berlin’s funky 25hours Hotel Bikini, located in a 1950s high-rise, has injected some youthful new energy into the area. Retaining just the right amount of original exposed concrete, designer Werner Aisslinger has otherwise gone wild, dangling Schindelhauer bicycles from the ceiling, plastering the walls with eye-catching slogans, illustrations and photos, and peppering the public areas with fur-lined hammocks, a Vitra swing sofa and a plethora of tropical foliage. Choosing a room largely means choosing a vista: Jungle rooms have views across the ape and elephant enclosures at the zoo; Urban rooms look over the war-damaged spire of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and the City West skyline. Read expert review. From £110 per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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Hüttenpalast Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
This slightly eccentric 'urban glamping' spot offers vintage caravans, stylish mountain huts and double rooms inside a former factory complex consisting of two separate large main halls and loading area, which have been embellished not only by the quirky accommodations, but also bathtubs transformed into flowerbeds, wine boxes and barrels into furniture, and a wealth of other rustic and natural detail, from plants and trees to flea-market lamps, sofas and chairs, vintage furnishings and hand-made desks and decks. It’s quintessentially 'Berlin', with a pimped up courtyard garden, café serving healthy bio-breakfasts and a location right in the middle of trendy Neukölln. Read expert review. From £64 per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
Linnen Berlin, Germany
7Telegraph expert rating
Just a 10-minute walk from the city’s official Berlin Wall memorial, the Linnen Hotel is tucked discreetly inside a beautifully refurbished 19th-century residential building. Linnen offers six rooms, a three-room apartment, and a street-level studio, all in the same building. Each one is decked out with high quality parquet flooring, and peppered with vintage and modern furnishings. The ground-floor café has the same funky aesthetic as the rest of the project, featuring recycled steel cabinets and retro tables, sofas and chairs. Read expert review. From £103 per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
Adina Apartment Hotel Berlin Mitte Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
This establishment, close to Berlin Hauptbahnhof station, offers smart and spacious apartment-style rooms, as well as casual in-house dining and a swimming pool. The building is set in an inconspicuous block on a fairly pleasant square. The large, modern lobby, which leads into the bar-restaurant on one side and the pool and fitness area on the other, gives a welcoming first impression with a library of books and comfortable sofas, and a homely fire in the colder months. The 139 rooms, split between one to two-bedroom apartments and studio rooms, are generously proportioned and stylish without being self-conscious. Read expert review. From £88 per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
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Hommage à Magritte Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
The family-run Hommage à Magritte is an intimate bolthole in an elegant West Berlin location. It offers 17 individually decorated rooms, a relaxed and intimate atmosphere with an emphasis on personalised service, and a charming breakfast room with a street-facing veranda. The hotel has the classic hallmarks of a Berliner Altbau (old building): high ceilings, decorative stucco, wooden flooring. Eponymous homages to surrealist Belgian painter René Magritte adorn the corridors, public areas and rooms – some hung, others painted straight onto the walls in trompe l’oeil style – all created by artist JULL. Read expert review. From £88 per night.
Monbijou Hotel Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
This intimate boutique hotel enjoys a wonderfully central location: with the Unesco-heritage Museum Island just 400 metres away, unobstructed views over the historic Berliner Dom from the corner suites, and the small but pretty Monbijou Park right across the street, its position is rather unbeatable. The hotel seduces from the off with the dark woods, well-stocked library and flickering fireplace of the lounge and reception area. Charming rooms and a decadent, dark-toned bar continue the 'private home' appeal, with a breezy, well-lit breakfast room providing a perfect morning-after ambiance. Read expert review. From £66 per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
• The best boutique hotels in Berlin
Hotel-Pension Funk Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
Set on a calm and scenic backstreet off the Kurfürstendamm, this charming guesthouse puts you in a prime location for exploring West Berlin’s vibrant shopping and nightlife scenes. The owners have attempted to rekindle a vague pre-War aesthetic that nods to the house’s 19th-century origins, as well as the 1930s era during which Asta Nielsen lived here. The 14 rooms vary quite a bit in terms of size and shape, but are all decorated in the same retro style as the rest of the hotel: think vintage armoires and armchairs and Art Deco lamps and tables. The only meal available is a dapper breakfast, which is served in an antiquated and charming dining room. Read expert review. From £40 per night. Check availability. Rates provided by Booking.com.
Prices cited on Booking.com are subject to change in high season and during popular holidays and events.
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