Hotels in Berlin: nine places to stay in a city with no centre

The bank vault that became a pool

Hotel de Rome sits on Bebelplatz, with the Staatsoper as its neighbour and Unter den Linden round the corner, in what used to be the head office of Dresdner Bank. The old vault in the basement is now a spa with a pool, and from the rooftop terrace you take in the television tower, the cathedral and the opera house in one sweep.

This is the hotel we recommend for a first visit: Museum Island is five minutes on foot, the Brandenburg Gate ten. Rooms are tall and calm, with dark wood and heavy curtains, and the mood is more Italian than German. It is expensive, and Bebelplatz is deserted after dark, so it is not for anyone who wants bars outside the door.

The Brandenburg Gate from the breakfast table

The Adlon stands on Pariser Platz, so close to the Brandenburg Gate that you see it from the square-facing rooms and from the ground-floor restaurant. The Reichstag and Tiergarten lie on the far side of the gate, the Holocaust Memorial a block to the south.

The Adlon is Berlin's grand hotel in the way the Savoy is London's, with a lobby, a pianist, doormen and guests who dress for dinner. It is for travellers who want the full ceremony and do not mind the tour groups on the square outside. If you would rather have something smaller and more personal, there are better choices further down this guide.

The embassy next door to the zoo

Das Stue occupies the former Danish embassy, a curved stone building right at the edge of Tiergarten, and one wing looks directly into the Zoologischer Garten. From certain rooms, and from the bar, you watch ostriches and other animals in their enclosures on the far side of the fence.

The name is Danish for living room, and that is how it feels: a large, warm lobby with low lamps, art and deep sofas. It is ideal for couples who want quiet and good design, and who are happy to walk through the park to the Brandenburg Gate. It is a long way from Kreuzberg's nightlife, and the nearest U-Bahn is ten minutes on foot, so it is not for anyone planning to dash in and out all day.

Art Nouveau in the Savignyplatz quarter

The hotel stands on a quiet corner of Steinplatz, a couple of blocks from Savignyplatz and Ku'damm, in an Art Nouveau building with a decorated façade and a courtyard garden where breakfast is served in summer. The university of the arts is across the road, and Savignyplatz S-Bahn station is a couple of minutes away.

This is the choice for travellers who want the old West with quality but without the anonymity of the big chain hotels. Rooms are roomy, the bar is good enough to draw Berliners, and in the evening you stroll to Savignyplatz and choose among the trattorias under the railway arches. The sights in Mitte need an S-Bahn ride, but it takes a quarter of an hour.

Monkeys on one side, Ku'damm on the other

The hotel takes the upper floors of Bikini Berlin, a post-war shopping arcade beside the Zoologischer Garten, and rooms face either the zoo or the Gedächtniskirche and the city. The Monkey Bar on the tenth floor is one of Berlin's busiest rooftop bars, with views across Tiergarten.

It is right for anyone who wants something playful and informal, with hammocks in the lobby, bicycles to borrow and a bakery on the ground floor. Rates are lower than at the neighbours on Ku'damm, and Zoologischer Garten is a hub for S-Bahn, U-Bahn and the airport express. The bar draws a crowd in the evening, so this is not the hotel for a quiet lobby.

The film-festival hotel on Ku'damm

Hotel Zoo sits directly on Kurfürstendamm, a couple of hundred metres from the Gedächtniskirche, and in the post-war decades it was where the film stars stayed during the Berlinale. The façade is classic, the interior dark, theatrical and thoroughly modern, with a long roof terrace above the street.

This is for travellers who want to shop, watch people and sleep at the address everyone in the West knows. Rooms are large by Berlin standards, with low light and heavy materials, and the bar fills with well-dressed Berliners at weekends. An address on the city's busiest shopping street has its cost, and light sleepers should ask for a room at the back.

The corner house on Oranienplatz with its own grand piano

Orania stands on the corner of Oranienplatz, in the heart of old Kreuzberg where Oranienstraße and its bars and Turkish restaurants begin. The building has tall windows wrapping the whole corner, and in the ground-floor salon there are concerts several evenings a week, often jazz or classical.

This is the hotel for travellers who want design and serious food in Kreuzberg itself without compromising on the beds. The restaurant is known for its Peking duck, and the salon is where Berliners have a drink before moving on. Oranienstraße stays loud late into the night, and Moritzplatz U-Bahn is five minutes away, but the museums in Mitte are a quarter of an hour by train.

The factory by Warschauer Straße

Michelberger occupies an old factory building beside Warschauer Straße S-Bahn and U-Bahn station, where Friedrichshain meets the Spree and the Oberbaumbrücke. Rooms are built from raw timber and simple ideas, and the restaurant in the courtyard cooks with produce from the hotel's own farm outside the city.

This is Berlin as many people imagine it: young, creative and unpretentious, at rates well below the hotels in Mitte. It is a strong pick for travellers here for the clubs, the gigs and the East Side Gallery next door who want to be in the thick of it. The street outside is noisy and scruffy, and the rooms are small, so it is not the choice for anyone who wants peace and space for the suitcase.

The swimming bath where you can still swim

The hotel is housed in Stadtbad Oderberger, a public swimming bath on Oderberger Straße that stood empty for decades before it was restored. The old pool hall with its columns and arches is still in use, and hotel guests swim there in the morning before it opens to the public.

We recommend it to families and to anyone who wants to stay in a real neighbourhood: Mauerpark and its Sunday flea market are round the corner, Kollwitzplatz with cafés and a playground a couple of blocks away, and the tram reaches Alexanderplatz in a quarter of an hour. Rooms are calm and plain, and rates sit below Mitte's. Ku'damm and the West are far away, and this is not the place for anyone who wants a nightclub nearby.