Top 10: hip hotels in Berlin
An insider's guide to the hippest hotels in Berlin, including the top places to stay for cutting-edge design, achingly cool cocktail bars, trailblazing restaurants, and the best rooftops, in locations including Mitte, West Berlin and the Ku’damm.
Das Stue Hotel
Berlin, Germany
9Telegraph expert rating
Das Stue’s classically curved main building was constructed in 1938 by German architect Johann Emil Schaudt, and once housed the Danish Embassy. The grand lobby features eye-popping artworks and a gorgeous restored staircase, and leads through to the hotel’s lounge, bar, restaurants and garden terrace. The interiors, by Patricia Urquiola, range from the funky mix of colourful sofas and animal sculptures in the lounge to the more neutral, distinguished tones of the Casual Restaurant, and a cosy outdoor dining terrace that rather cutely abuts the Ostrich enclosure of the neighbouring Zoo. Paco Perez’s Michelin-starred Cinco restaurant is an impressive match of warm contemporary design and high end food. Read expert review From ￡184per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? The most stylish hotels in Berlin
nhow Berlin
Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
The nhow hotel is billed as Europe’s first 'music hotel', and boasts cutting edge design, a hip restaurant and bar, fantastic terrace that overlooks the Spree, spa and an art gallery. You can even hire an electric guitar or DJ booth directly to your room. Architect Sergei Tchoban’s eye-catching building nods to the area’s industrial harbour roots with a boxy, warehouse-like structure and upper-floors that cantilever, crane-like, out towards the Spree. The interior, courtesy of New York-based designer Karim Rashid, is a slick riot of curvacious shapes and loud colours. The psychedelic aesthetic continues in the rooms. Read expert review From ￡77per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? The best design hotels in Berlin
Provocateur Berlin
Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
This West Berlin boutique bolthole offers a flamboyant and seductive interior by Israeli hotshot Saar Zafrir, a fabulous Asian-themed restaurant by celebrated local chef Duc Ngo, and a glamorous bar that’s buzzing at weekends. What was once a residential property has had a fun makeover characterised by bold colours (reds, golds, blues), sensual textiles (including velvet) and upmarket furnishings. The resultant impression is sexy, and could easily be quite kitsch if not for welcome light-hearted, Harry Potter-esque touches like the gold-clad lift. The larger rooms get spacious balconies and – in some cases – free-standing pearl-shaped bathtubs. Read expert review From ￡132per night
? The best luxury hotels in Berlin
Hotel am Steinplatz
Berlin, Germany
9Telegraph expert rating
This historic hotel, once the haunt of celebrities such as Vladimir Nabokov and Brigitte Bardot, is a beautiful Art Nouveau structure with high-end service, a discreet but central location, and a lovely spa. The Moorish arches and maze-like public areas of the original interior have remained intelligently intact. The hotel's restaurant is a glamorous affair in the evening, operated in conjunction with Marcus Zimmer, whose contemporary take on German cuisine comprises delights such as saddle of veal and locally-caught perch. The neighbouring bar serves a very broad range of innovative seasonal cocktails as well as rare craft beers. Read expert review From ￡122per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? The best hotels in Berlin city centre
Hotel MANI
Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
The 63-room MANI is a small but perfectly formed boutique affair located close to Rosenthaler Platz. The dark, seductive interiors and stylish décor throughout make it great for young romantics seeking a weekend in the middle of the Berlin buzz. If it feels a bit claustrophobic you can always escape to the bright lobby lounge near reception, which has lots of natural light, designer leather chairs, a library of design and architecture tomes and a vending machine which offers everything from beauty products to snacks. The restaurant's swanky, low-lit interior really comes into its own in the evenings, thanks to a delicious French-Israeli menu created by chef Octavio Oses Bravo. Read expert review From ￡57per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? The most romantic hotels in Berlin
Henri Hotel
Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
This hotel just off West Berlin’s famous Kurfüstendamm boulevard is set inside a characterful historic building. Its savvy mix of modern and retro aesthetics gives it a quirky Wes Anderson-style charm. Interior designer Marc-Ludolf von Schmarsow has retained the more charming parts of the original 19th-century building (creaking parquet floors; original stucco work) and embellished them with Belle époque touches such as painted porcelain vases and tasteful chandeliers. The charming rooms have the same 'refined retro' appeal as the rest of the hotel: tall ceilings, wooden floors and a smattering of antiques. Salon Rooms, which have bath tubs, four-poster beds and sofas. Read expert review From ￡77per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? The best five-star hotels in Berlin
Hotel Zoo Berlin
Berlin, Germany
9Telegraph expert rating
Hotel Zoo Berlin mixes top-notch style with splashes of pre-war nostalgia. Its lounge area, the Living Room, with its seven metre high floor-to-ceiling windows, is the size of a small nightclub, though designers Dayna Lee and Ted Berner have managed to fill the space imaginatively and elegantly, with large-scale paintings and mirrors, opulent carpets and Tom Dixon wingchairs. The rooms are sumptuously appointed with tasteful fashion photographs, immensely comfortable beds and walnut and hardwood floors and furnishings. Aside from the towels and nightshirts (by Maison Martin Margiela), the in-room products are by local companies: fragrances by Berlin-based perfumer Tanja Bochnig and nail polish by Uslu Airlines, for example. Read expert review From ￡138per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? The best Berlin hotels with pools
25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin
Berlin, Germany
9Telegraph expert rating
West Berlin’s funky 25hours Hotel Bikini, located in a former Fifties high-rise, has injected some youthful energy into the area, thanks to the playful interiors of Werner Aisslinger, a buzzy rooftop bar and a high-end retail concept. Aisslinger has retained just the right amount of original exposed concrete, and 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 funky furnishings (including fur-lined hammocks and a Vitra swing sofa) and a plethora of tropical foliage. The reception has an in-house bakery and a shop run by local coffee-table book publishers Gestalten. Read expert review From ￡92per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com
? Where to stay in Berlin: hotels by district
Soho House Berlin
Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
Soho House occupies eight floors of a late Bauhaus building in Mitte. The building is of special historical interest even by Berlin standards, since it was previously used as a centre for Hitler’s Brownshirts and later as an archival depot for the Communist Party. In keeping with Berlin’s penchant for earthy chic, many of the dilapidated concrete walls have been left unfinished, interleaved with expensive original artworks and modernist sculptures. Downstairs you’ll find a library and private cinema (for up to 36 people) as well as a gym and very cosy spa. The rooftop bar has its own Mediterranean-themed menu, city views, a small heated swimming pool and great cocktails and wines. Read expert review From ￡100per night
? The best Berlin apartments and aparthotels
The Weinmeister
Berlin, Germany
8Telegraph expert rating
Hip without being overly expensive. This chic hotel in central Berlin is in the middle of ‘hipster’ Mitte, nestled devilishly amidst the galleries and boutiques, the bars and the restaurants. The faux graffiti that ‘hides’ the main entrance tells you what you need to know about the ‘ironic chic’ style of the hotel. Inside is a long reception area-cum-bar, a lounge featuring chairs with oversized backs, and a stairwell/lift area that leads up to the rooms (also been elaborately decorated with ‘designer’ graffiti). Up on the sixth floor is a spa for treatments. Read expert review From ￡68per night Check availability Rates provided by Booking.com