Berlin: Hotel Guides

Paul Sullivan

Travel writer and photographer

Budget hostels and Airbnbs may be popular with the city’s incoming clubbers, but Berlin’s rich history and busy business hubs mean there are plenty of hotels to accommodate a smarter set too – from the arty and eccentric to the all-out opulent

Best for… Spa: Sofitel Berlin Kurfuerstendamm

Sofitel Berlin Kurfuerstendamm

The five-star Sofitel Berlin Kurfürstendamm appeals on multiple fronts. For starters, there’s the City West location, just steps from one of Berlin’s best shopping streets and easy walking distance from the lovely Tiergarten park. Then there are the chic interiors, filled with artworks and designer furnishings; the generously sized bedrooms; and the ‘modern French, casual chic’ vibe in Restaurant Le Faubourg. Rounding it all off is the second-floor spa, where you can book in for a range of massage treatments, soothe tired feet in a Dornbracht foot bath or enjoy a session in the sauna or steam room, followed by an invigorating ice fountain. You can also take the opportunity to work out in the small fitness centre, which offers cardio and weight training machines as well as free weights.

Augsburger Strasse 41, 10789

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Best for… Romance: Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin

Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin

Hot contender for Berlin’s best hotel, the historic Adlon Kempinski has the perfect pedigree for a romantic break, especially if you’re pushing the boat out for a special occasion. Everything about it is five-star, including the location (right by the Brandenburg Gate), the charming service and the facilities, which include a fitness centre, pool and upscale boutiques. Have fun people-watching over cocktails in the bustling lobby bar, book a couple’s treatment in one of the private spa suites and enjoy an intimate dinner in the two-Michelin-starred Lorenz Adlon Esszimmer, finest of the three in-house restaurants. Bedrooms exude old-school elegance, with plush furniture and polished hardwoods; book one of the top suites, as the many visiting celebrities, royals and politicians do, and you get a grand view of the Gate, along with extra frills such as four-poster beds, whirlpool baths and 24-hour butler service.

Unter den Linden 77, 10117

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Best for… Food: Regent Berlin

Regent Berlin

The Regent is one of the city’s best-known and most refined hotels. Located close to the glamorous Gendarmenmarkt, one of Berlin’s most striking squares with its two domed cathedrals and handsome Konzerthaus, the hotel’s Old European style is epitomised by the lobby’s dramatic marble columns, watercolour paintings and Biedermeier furnishings. The 195 rooms (including 39 suites) are similarly comfortable and classic, and in-house facilities include a generous spa area, outdoor dining courtyard and sumptuous bar complete with leather armchairs and wood panelling. But it’s the double Michelin-star Fischers Fritz restaurant that is the real highlight. Helmed by Chef de Cuisine Christian Lohse, its French-style seafood dishes are widely reckoned to be the best in the city, served in a refined room that has an open fire and a Kitchen Table for watching the chefs at work.

Charlottenstraße 49, 10117

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Best for… Family: Hotel de Rome

Hotel de Rome

Set inside a former 19th-century bank headquarters on historic Bebelplatz – the site of the infamous 1933 book burnings – the five-star Hotel de Rome opened in 2006 and quickly became a firm city favourite. Beyond its Neoclassical exterior, the hotel’s interiors are surprisingly swanky, the outsized foyer and classy furnishings designed by Italian duo Olga Polizzi and Tommaso Ziffer specifically to make a splash. Inside you’ll find spacious, well-appointed rooms, a fantastic Italian restaurant with lovely open courtyard and a stunning spa housed in the former bank vault. It also has an excellent family program that includes giving children their own hotel passports, kid-size dressings gowns and slippers for the spa, and a dedicated children’s menu.

Behrenstraße 37, 10117

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Best for… business: Grand Hyatt

Grand Hyatt

This Berlin classic, located right on Potsdamer Platz, strikes an ideal balance between catering for leisure and business guests. Its spacious lobby, dotted with large artworks and sculptures by international artists, and upbeat rooms with classic fashion and architecture photos and hip décor (designed by New York’s Tony Chi and Swiss designer Hannes Wettstein) lend it an arty, modern feel. But the generous facilities – which include several restaurants, a stunning rooftop spa, gym and pool and a slew of conference and event rooms of varying sizes and shapes – make it ideal for corporate guests. With the Sony Center, Tiergarten park, Mall of Berlin and Philharmonic Concert Hall all on the doorstep, the location is also pretty much perfect.

Marlene-Dietrich-Platz 2, 10785

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Best for… Design: Ritz-Carlton, Berlin

Ritz-Carlton Berlin
Copyright 2019 Matthew Shaw. See licence supplied with this image for full terms & conditions. Copy available at: www.matthewshaw.co.uk/copyright.html Not for use by architects, interior designers or other hotel suppliers without permission from Matthew Shaw

Originally opened in 2004, the Ritz-Carlton, Berlin completed a top-to-toe refurbishment in 2019, finally emerging in its fresh new incarnation as an homage to the 1920s golden age of German cinema and cabaret. Walk into the lobby and you’re greeted by acres of marble, a grand, curving staircase and starburst chandeliers that evoke the flashing bulbs of paparazzi cameras. The same retro-style glamour carries through to the restaurant, bar and pool, and continues in the sleekly designed bedrooms, which seamlessly blend Art Deco influences with 21st-century technology – on the one hand, lavish marble bathrooms and geometric patterns on carpets and cushions; on the other, mood lighting, touch screens to control in-room electronics, and integrated plugs and USB ports built into the sofa and bedside table.

Potsdamer Platz 3, 10785

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Best for… Cool: nHow Hotel

nHow Hotel

Touting itself as a ‘music and lifestyle’ hotel, the nHow (pronounced ‘now’) certainly doesn’t pull any punches in terms of style. Situated right on the Friedrichshain side of the Spree river, its distinctive, blocky exterior might not make that much of an impression, but the interiors are like nothing else the city offers. Designed by New Yorker Karim Rashid, the aesthetic is boldly colourful, bravely futuristic and immensely curvaceous, from the bright pink lobby area to the ‘bubblegum’ rooms, which are kitted out in similarly loud blues and pinks and come with multi-coloured lighting displays, iPod docking stations and plenty more curves. Adding to this unapologetically audacious chic are two state-of-the-art recording studios (in the upper tower), the option to rent a guitar or DJ decks to your room, and a vibrant restaurant and bar area that looks right out onto the river.

Stralauer Allee 3, 10245

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Best for… Views: Waldorf Astoria

Waldorf Astoria

This eye-catching five star, which opened in 2012 and cost an alleged 500 million euros, brings a splash of New York panache to the increasingly trendy S-Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten area. Its distinctive 390ft-high tower – nicknamed Zoofenster (zoo window) – has already become a local landmark, and its interior and amenities have won a slew of critical accolades. Mixing traditional Art Deco flourishes with savvy modern touches (buttonless lifts, Apple TV systems), the design has a distinguished flow that extends from the Michelin-starred restaurant, Les Solistes, to the fifth-floor Guerlain Spa and associated outdoor terrace. The suites on the top floors – including the 31st-floor Presidential Suite and the slightly lower Tower Suites – have some of the best panoramic vistas in the city, looking over the adjacent Berlin Zoo, the historic Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and the store-lined Kurfürstendamm (Ku’damm).

Hardenbergstraße 28, 10623

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