Hotels

My lists

Bleibtreu Hotel

Located on the sleepy Bleibtreustrasse, just off the shopper’s paradise of the Kurfürstendamm, the Bleibtreu Hotel is the sort of downtown boutique we’d like to see more of. This is a hotel that succeeds in being modern and hip, yet never painfully so, in being suitable for business and leisure t...

Ellington Hotel

The Ellington is, at least on one level, a throwback to a couple of Berlin’s golden eras — its reconstructed Weimar-style facade fronts a block-long office building dating back to 1932, and it owes its name to the famous West Berlin jazz club that stood behind these doors during the 1950s. And on...

Grand Hyatt Berlin

It would be easy to mistake this place for a Tokyo hotel, with its Zen-inflected interiors and Japanese-style overflowing tubs, not to mention Helmut Jahn’s sleek and towering Sony Center next door—but this is not Shibuya, but rather Potsdamer Platz, the Wall-era no-man’s-land t...

Hotel Art Nouveau

This place has got to be one of the best-kept secrets we’ve ever seen. The sign which identifies this residential building as the site of Art Nouveau hotel gives no clue, and may even scare you off. In fact, it takes a trip up an antique iron-gated lift to the fourth floor to even find the front ...

Hotel Brandenburger Hof

Berlin’s top hotels tend to be grand hotels, stately old palaces with hundreds of rooms—so the Brandenburger Hof cuts a bit against the grain. From the outside, this fin-de-siècle mansion could pass as a smaller, more intimate cousin to places like the Adlon; but the elegant faca...

Hotel Concorde Berlin

Berlin is a city of many centers, or of no center at all — same thing, really, and in the end you’ve got to quit meditating on that seeming paradox and just pick a neighborhood. Old East Berlin is where you’ll find the cutting-edge nightlife, Mitte is the booming commercial center, and for shoppi...

Ku' Damm 101

Some of the best shopping in Europe is to be had in Berlin, specifically on the Kurfürstendamm, the main commercial drag of what was pre-unification West Berlin. Perfectly placed for shopping excursions is the Ku’ Damm 101, quite prosaically named for its address, in a converted office block in t...

Louisa's Place

It’s a warm and causal name for a formal and elegant hotel. Louisa’s Place is a high-end all-suite hotel, a boutique hotel in the truest sense — not a design hotel but a small, independent luxury hotel, with a location right on the Kurfürstendamm, close to some of the most tempting shopping and e...

Lux 11

Most boutique hotels aim to create an immersive and theatrical experience, one that the low-maintenance traveler may find slightly overbearing. If you’re the type that depends on the hotel bar for your entertainment and the hotel staff for your every need, then Lux 11 may feel a bit sparse. But f...

Park Plaza Wallstreet Berlin

Berlin may very well be the hipster capital of Germany, and possibly all of Europe. But there’s still business that needs to be done. Still, there’s no reason why the business hotels shouldn’t have a bit of fun. What makes the Park Plaza Wallstreet unique is that its particular idea of fun is in ...

Propeller Island City Lodge

At this point a lot of the novel thrill of the design hotel has worn off — overexposure has a way of making even the most avant-garde of designer interiors feel a bit safe. Then again it’s always possible to go a bit further out there, proof of which comes in the form of the Propeller Islan...

Radisson Blu Hotel Berlin

On paper it sounds a bit odd, but we assure you that in person, the world’s largest cylindrical aquarium is truly a sight to behold. Located in the lobby of the Radisson SAS in Berlin Mitte, the 25-meter AquaDom is filled with a million liters of sea water, and is home to more than two thou...

Schlosshotel Im Grunewald

Located on a verdant, tree-lined suburban street, the only thing that distinguishes the Schlosshotel from the other mansions in the neighborhood is a small sign lit subtly in white lights. Not surprisingly, it started out as a private residence. Walther von Pannwitz, the original owner, was a per...

Sofitel Berlin Gendarmenmarkt

Berlin-Mitte is home to some grand and palatial hotels, like the old-fashioned Adlon and the stately Four Seasons. This upscale boutique joins the old boys on the Gendarmenmarkt (one of Berlin's celebrated squares) and has proved itself a worthy competitor, drawing guests who prefer a sleeker and...

The Mandala Hotel

In the heart of Berlin’s shining new Potsdamer Platz, amid a sea of futuristic skyscrapers, and sandwiched between the Sony and Daimler Chrysler complexes, the Madison is something of an oasis. Despite the bustle on the streets below, the atmosphere is anything but harried, with views over ...