Hotel in Berlin, recommendations please!

I get the Heathrow thing, I'd do the same, but breakfast in hotels is a massive con and you are ripping yourself off by seeking it out.

Unless you honestly think as much as 20 quid a person for a breakfast buffet is good value? I mean really? I'm sure you can think of better things to spend that much cash on when in Berlin :) A better evening meal perhaps. I thought the Marriott breakfast was good value at £3 per person. I'd have spent the time sobbing into my cornflakes had I paid the going rate for it :D

It takes seconds to walk into a nice bakery for some traditional continental breakfast.
 
Currently getting the Indigo on BA.com with our flights for about £86pn including breakfast. Tempted!
 
3 nights, £86 per night for the room, not per person. £625 all in with flights basically, so £300-odd each. Not bad.

Just trying to find hotels on street view. East Berlin certainly is a bit soviet stylee :D So much roadworks going on around there although I guess that's all done now because according to streetview the Andel was still under construction...
 
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If you're in the middle of Berlin you'll have cafes all around you that are open for breakfast. Probably next door to most places. It will be much cheaper and a much nicer experience than a hotel breakfast.

You don't have to walk around for ages, once you know where your hotel is then search online for good places nearby.
 
Like fox said, don't bother with the hotel breakfast. You could save so much more money and plus you'll get to try out the local bakeries etc. Cheaper and nicer too.

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Scam said:
3 nights, £86 per night for the room, not per person. £625 all in with flights basically, so £300-odd each. Not bad.
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So they are charging you £185 each for return flights to Berlin.

That's bonkers - you can do better than that. I often find this with 'combined' offers, you can do better buying everything separately.

Lufthansa (Via their Germanwings shorthaul brand) can get you to Berlin for £110 return - out on Friday 6th, back Monday 9th, choice of times.

I know you said no Gatwick but Norwegian have return flights for £74 on the same dates from Gatwick.
 
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Scam said:
3 nights, £86 per night for the room, not per person. £625 all in with flights basically, so £300-odd each. Not bad.

Just trying to find hotels on street view. East Berlin certainly is a bit soviet stylee :D So much roadworks going on around there although I guess that's all done now because according to streetview the Andel was still under construction...
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I think you could do better than that, since I paid £455 for flights & 5 nights at the andels with breakfast included.

I also disagree about the breakfast at the hotel issue, sure I wouldn't pay anything like £15-£20 pp as I have seen it being charged, but the andels worked out at £67 per night inc buffet style breakfast. Since eating out for 3 meals a day for 2 is usually the expensive part of a holiday, just fill up on the buffet breakfast and you only need a snack for lunchtime, then it's just the main meal.

To be fair though, Berlin was fairly cheap for food, especially the 'snack' food of which was a good quality and everywhere. It will be more expensive around the alexanderplatz area, as that is touristy - eg. 3 euro for a currywurst there or 1.30 further out.

Some places we ate at that I can heartily recommend (more where the locals eat and had been recommended by german friends)

http://www.thebirdinberlin.com/ The Bird at Am Falkplatz 5 - excellent burger place with attitude. Honestly the best burger meal I have ever had. Definitely book though - took us 3 attempts to get in!

Just round the corner, since we initially couldnt get in there is (and was recommended by the bar girl at the Bird)

http://www.tebla.com/restaurants/berlin/asteria Asteria on Schonhauser Alle. Greek restaurant - oh my...masses of food, portion sizes are massive, most of it complimentary (No joke!) and continuous free ouzo! :D I left there on my hands and knees completely stuffed and as drunk as a skunk (10 - 12 shots of Ouzo + a big glass - all free) it cost ~£34 euro for 2. Salad starters, 2 x fruit platter deserts and coffee and biscuits all just given to us for free without asking.

http://www.tiergartenquelle.de/index.php/de/ Tiergarten Quelle on Bachstrasse. Spit and sawdust local tavern - good price, big portions, typical german food. Not as good as the above 2 but better than any expensive 'chain' restaurant in the centre.
 
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Freakbro said:
I also disagree about the breakfast at the hotel issue, sure I wouldn't pay anything like £15-£20 pp as I have seen it being charged, but the andels worked out at £67 per night inc buffet style breakfast. Since eating out for 3 meals a day for 2 is usually the expensive part of a holiday, just fill up on the buffet breakfast and you only need a snack for lunchtime, then it's just the main meal.
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So actually you don't disagree with it. If it's low cost or included anyway then fantastic. My point was that don't go paying a load more money just to get breakfast, which you appear to agree with as you also say you would't pay £15-20pp for it :)
 
[TW]Fox;27425462 said:
So they are charging you £185 each for return flights to Berlin.

That's bonkers - you can do better than that. I often find this with 'combined' offers, you can do better buying everything separately.

Lufthansa (Via their Germanwings shorthaul brand) can get you to Berlin for £110 return - out on Friday 6th, back Monday 9th, choice of times.

I know you said no Gatwick but Norwegian have return flights for £74 on the same dates from Gatwick.
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I am visiting Berlin at the end of Jan - start of Feb too and I agree entirely. My girlfriend has booked flights for £170 return including one suitcase for the both of us from Stansted.
 
[TW]Fox;27425532 said:
So actually you don't disagree with it. If it's low cost or included anyway then fantastic. My point was that don't go paying a load more money just to get breakfast, which you appear to agree with as you also say you would't pay £15-20pp for it :)
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Fair enough :)

For all in one deals Expedia do have some good deals, I just did a search for 6 - 9th Feb from LHR and loads have come up for around the £200-£250 pp

^ @ Scythe Our flights were from Stanstead with Ryanair and were ~£63 each. Though bear in mind with low cost flights now you have to pay extra on top for luggage...
 
[TW]Fox;27425591 said:
You have to pay extra with BA too, almost every quoted short haul flight now is a Hand Baggage Only fare.
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I found this out to my detriment when I flew to France recently. Ended up costing me £65 at the airport. I hadn't been made aware that BA had turned into Ryanair since I last flew them.
 
Em3bbs said:
I found this out to my detriment when I flew to France recently. Ended up costing me £65 at the airport. I hadn't been made aware that BA had turned into Ryanair since I last flew them.
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BA have opted for the Ryanair model but forgotten to charge Ryanair prices.

So you can pay full service fares and then pay on top for bags, to pick a seat, etc...
 
We've decided to share a suitcase, we're only going for four nights so don't need masses of luggage. Helps to keeps the costs down.

OP, Berlin also has a 5% tourism tax on top of the hotel fee. It probably won't equate to much, but it's worth noting.
 
Yep thanks for that, we had noted it!

So anyway the girlfriend panicked a bit and went ahead and booked it. Got some excellent flights (departing 10am Thurs, return 6pm Sun). Pricey with BA but that's Heathrow for you. I did tot it up on Expedia with German wings and it was only £50 cheaper. Oh well! Got an executive deluxe room at the Indigo too, sweet :cool: Now to buy some thermal layers!

Any recommendations for places to eat would be much appreciated!
 
I can't believe you paid over 600 quid for that - there was simply no need - but it's done now and it's not refundable so never mind.

Berlin is a fantastic city, IMHO is is the best city in Europe I have visited. There is so much to see and do and the contrast between East and West is fascinating.

With BA you'll be flying into Tegal airport which is not connected to the U-Bahn or S-Bahn system. As a result, the best way into town is the TXL bus which will take you direct to Alexanderplatz station which is a short walk from your choice of hotel. The bus is cheap and efficient (It's the express airport bus), so do not waste piles of euros on a cab.
 
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[TW]Fox;27425271 said:
I get the Heathrow thing, I'd do the same, but breakfast in hotels is a massive con and you are ripping yourself off by seeking it out.

Unless you honestly think as much as 20 quid a person for a breakfast buffet is good value? I mean really? I'm sure you can think of better things to spend that much cash on when in Berlin :) A better evening meal perhaps. I thought the Marriott breakfast was good value at £3 per person. I'd have spent the time sobbing into my cornflakes had I paid the going rate for it :D

It takes seconds to walk into a nice bakery for some traditional continental breakfast.
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You have never had breakfast at the Berlin Hilton. No 'nice bakery' in the world would come close.
 
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