Accommodation in Berlin

If you like ultra-modern with a view of the Bundestag (Reichstag), there's a nice Steinburger hotel right by the Hauptbahnhof. Unfortunately, there's almost nothing in the immediate area, but with easy access to the Hauptbahnhof, you can quickly ride to anypoint in the city.

Also ultra-modern but located in a better neighborhood for strolling is the Maritim Hotel on Friedrichstraße, pretty close to the station of the same name.

Free unlimited wifi is more common in Germany than we found it to be in New Zealand. (We were just there last month, on the South Island, and mostly had free but limited wifi at the places we stayed).

We love to walk everywhere and found our hotel location in Berlin to be perfect. This was where Friedrichstrasse crosses the river---it is half way between the Museum Insel and the Reichstag. There is a nice pedestrian path along the river. There are two hotels at this location, on opposite sides of the river. We chose the Riverside City Hotel based on price and had a nice corner room overlooking the bridge. I do not know if they have triple rooms. If you stay there, skip the breakfast (it is expensive for what you get) and find something elsewhere.

The Melia across the river gets excellent reviews and is worth considering.

Also take a look at other hotels on Friedrichstrasse (such as the Maritim suggested above) and at the various Adina apartment hotels. There is one at Hackeschermarkt that our friends liked and one near the Hauptbahnhof but I have not seen that one.

Margaret,

I really enjoyed my stay at Pension Peters which is in the former "western sector" between Bahnhof Zoo and Savignyplatz stations. The Pension is very comfortable with a nice breakfast, the staff are extremely helpful, the location is convenient for transportation and there are some good restaurants in the area. There's also a nice Pub across the street (Dicke Wirtin's) and I found the food there to be great.

Although there seems to be a trend to shift to the former "eastern sector", I'd definitely stay at Pension Peters again!

Back in 2012, I rented an apartment through http://berlinhabitat.com/apartments for a week.

I was in a studio apartment (Parkview Capri), but they have some larger apartments. The owner was easy to work with and I really liked the location. You might take a look at what they have.

Thank you so much for all your suggestions. This has been very helpful. As per usual Rick Steves community of travellers has been prepared to help.

I've stayed at Hotel-Pension Bregenz twice & enjoyed both times a lot. It is a small family run place just off an upscale part of the Kudamm. Safe neighborhood, very helpful owner. The tripadvisor page is here.

The last time I was in Berlin, that hotel was booked, so I stayed in a more "exciting" part of town, here, Days Inn South, & also liked it. It was farther from town, but in a more diverse & interesting neighborhood.

These are inexpensive places. I've stayed in 5 star business hotels in central Berlin & found they were my least favorite - tiny rooms, high charges for everything, not as personal, sterile neighborhood at night.

I've used hotwire.com ocassionally along with betterbidding.com to get some good deals in Berlin. The price depends on demand on the nights you want.

Since there are three of you, I'd recommend renting an apartment. They can easily end up costing less than a hotel, and you can save money (and disagreements) by cooking your own food. I'm your age, and I prefer a relaxed breakfast in my jammies, instead of having to get dressed by a certain time of day for the hotel/pension breakfast.

In the past I've rented four different apartments through rental agencies. I never had any problems at all, even though at first I was concerned when they asked for cash payment on arrival. Last year and this year I'm using airbnb. I really like airbnb, because there are all sorts of protections for both the owner and the guests and an astounding variety of apartments and prices. Last year I rented a beautiful, sunny apartment right on the edge of the Tiergarten (major park like San Francisco's Golden Gate Park). A major train station was right around the corner, and being next to the park, though in the center of the city, I saw rabbits hopping around on the lawn every day. It was fabulous, and as I remember, it was in the $80/night range.

Have a great time,
Jude

An apartment is a good idea. I haven't rented apartments in Berlin (or anywhere), but I like the Alexanderplatz area for convenience to transportation.