Berlin = where to stay?

We're also going to Berlin the end of March and going to Dresden and Krakow. We are turning in our rental car at the airport, spending the night and flying back home.
Our reservations are at Hotel de France at Mullerstraße 74, and we got the reservations on Booking.com. See if that hotel suits your needs. It's about 2 miles from TXL and can be easily spotted with a mini-Eiffel Tower out front. Easiest way to get back and forth to TXL is cab.

thank you. I'm not necessarily looking for just a hotel close to the airport. I'm looking for a nice neighborhood of art galleries.

Depends what you mean by art galleries. If you mean of the museum type, I'd suggest somewhere around Schloss Charlottenburg. If you mean contemporary commercial galleries, try the Scheunenviertel area in Mitte.

I just left Berlin this morning and stayed in the Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain Neighborhood which is in East Berlin near the river Spree. I have visited this neighborhood on my last trip to Berlin, taking a food tour and then came back this time for a business trip. It is a bit far from the tourist sites, but I took a cab to the airport this morning for a 7:00 flight and it took me less than 30 minutes to get to Tegel.

I really love this area of Berlin. It is hip, cool, with fantastic street art, eclectic street markets and it is a foodies paradise with great food that doesn’t break the bank. In the Kreuzberg area, here are some of the main attractions.

Attractions in Kreuzberg

• Markthalle Neun: This international market hall is at the epicenter of all things trendy in food and is positively packed every week for their Street Food Thursday event.
• Another Country: One of the best English bookshops in Berlin with an extensive list of events and readings.
• Victoria Park: This park is an oasis of calm in a sometimes turbulent Kiez. Look for the picture perfect waterfall created by Kaiser Friedrich III and have a bier at the Golgatha Biergarten.
• SO36: This iconic club was a fixture of the 1970s punk scene with Iggy Pop and David Bowie listed among their clientele.

Attractions in Friedrichshain

• East Side Gallery: Leading to the bridge from Ostbahnhof is the longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall. After the opening of the borders in 1990, artists from around the world were invited to paint it and many of these works have become iconic of Berlin and the wall.
• Boxhagener Platz: This square holds a farmer’s market every Saturday and one of the best flea markets in the city on Sunday. During the week, there are great shopping and eating options radiating off the platz.
  

I stayed in a very artsy hotel: nhow Berlin which bills its self as the first music and art hotel in Europe. They have music playing most nights, a small art gallery, and they are right on the river Spree, so I had fantastic views. The front desk even has amps & guitars to lend if you want to play. The rooms are spacious and the beds comfortable, but I will warn you, everything is hot pink and white. I would definitely stay there again.

I hope it gives you another neighborhood to explore if you want to spend your last night in Berlin in a more trendy neighborhood.

Sandy

SandyO - Thank you!!! You describe exactly the type of neighborhood I was imagining. Thanks also for the hotel recommendation!

Glad to help. While this neighborhood is not that close to the major tourist sites, since you would have already seen those on the first leg of your journey, this will be a different slice of Berlin. I hope you have a lovely trip and if there is anything else I can help with, let me know.

Sandy