Tell me about areas to stay in Berlin?

I stay in the western area, Berlin- Charlottenburg at Savignyplatz but spend most of my time in the eastern areas, a 2 star hotel-Pension, no AC, no credit card payment, no elevator.

Just about anywhere in Berlin should have good access to public transportation, either bus, tram (especially in the east), U- and S-Bahn.

A popular, central area to stay is around Checkpoint Charlie. Lots of sights, cafes, shops w/in walking distance, lots of transport options. Hackescher Markt is another nice area to stay, fairly central, further north than Checkpoint Charlie.

Mitte is another area where a lot of people stay, but I feel like Mitte is more business oriented, with fewer restaurants and sights than other parts of town, and may be dead on the weekends. But still perfectly acceptable as an area to stay.

The last time I was in Berlin I stayed on the west side of the city, off Kurfurstendam. Most of what we wanted to see was on the east side of the city, so it was usually 30 minutes on the bus or U-Bahn to get where we were going.

If you look at a google map of Berlin, you should be able to zoom into areas you're interested in and look at hotels/read their reviews. A number of people on these forums like the Adina apartment hotels in Berlin.

Transport from the airport is easy by bus, regional bahn or S-Bahn. When you decide where you are staying, you can put your hotel into google maps and have it give you the best route by public transit.

A cab/rideshare to/from the airport can cost anywhere from 40-65 euros depending on where you are staying.

I stayed at the Adina Apartment Hotel in Hackescher Markt but there are other hotels in the area as well. I loved the area - there were many sights within a short walking distance, such as Museum Island, the Berlin Dom, the DDR Museum, the TV Tower, and so on. There were also lots of very nice restaurants, grocery stores, and wine shops. And public transportation was very convenient. There is an S-Bahn station at Hackescher Markt with a line that runs straight to the airport, and tram and metro stations galore. I really liked this area and would stay here again.

One thing I like to do before booking something is to check out the area on Google Maps. For example, I keyed in "Hackescher Markt" and the entire area appears, so you can see the shops, sights, public transport and restaurants and so on that are in that particular area. You can try it with other areas, too. https://www.google.com/maps/search/hackescher+markt/@52.5253833,13.3988725,16z/data=!3m1!4b1

During multiple short- and long-term stays, I stayed primarily in the city's western districts: Charlottenburg, Schöneberg, Steglitz, Westend. I liked having accommodations within quieter urban surroundings, even if I had to travel a little longer every day on public transport. I chose places in these districts for easy access to multiple U-Bahn lines, the east-west Stadtbahn (S3, 5, 7, 9), and/or the Ringbahn (S41, 42).

Berlin's BVG transport authority provides network maps (PDF); transport options include trains, subway/metro/underground, trams, bus, ferries, and the nighttime network.

Things are spread out in Berlin so there’s no one neighborhood that gets you close to it all. You’ve gotten some very good options suggested already.

Fall of 2022 my husband, adult daughter and I spent a week at the Circus Apartments on the border of Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg areas.
While we weren’t necessarily close to any major sites, the immediate neighborhood was lovely with everything we needed after a busy day of sightseeing. Residential and quiet with restaurants, shops and several good transit connections just a block or two away we enjoyed “living” in this neighborhood. On Sunday morning we walked to a nice Flea Market at Arkona Platz. Transit to the main train station was quick and easy. The Hackescher Markt was a 15 minute walk.

I am staying in the Adina Hackescher Market but there really is no one place to stay because the sights are located all over Berlin. Big cities in Germany have great public transport and there are S/Ubahn stops all over. If you do a search on this forum or more importantly on Tripadvisor, you'll get some good leads.

Hackescher Markt is on the S-Bahn line between the airport and Hauptbahnhof, the main train station. It's a few minutes' walk from Museum Island. The Adina is clean, and my courtyard-facing room was quiet. The bigger rooms facing the street may not be so quiet because of the S-Bahn and tram lines. There's a grocery and ATM around the corner, also a bakery and lots of restaurants. Hard to beat for convenience, but areas like Prentzlauer Berg and the western parts of the city have more residential character.

I think the places around Berliner Dom could be nice, but a little bit expensive.

I agree that in the great cities of the world, the "subway" is so important that one location is not a lot better than another. You did not give the month of travel. That can make a noise difference if your hotel is not air-conditioned. In fact, we were once in a luxury hotel near Savignyplatz and the AC could not keep up with the brutal heatwave!

I think the airport situation has changed, but I was surprised back then to find a one-seat-ride, conventional city bus on Kurfurstendam (near Savignyplatz) that took us, one regular city-ride bus fare, to the airport we needed on departure. Another benefit of this area can be the Zoologische Garten long-distance rail station, if you're coming from Prague or taking daytrips that happen to use that station. There's (or was ... ) a bricks and mortar (I mean, human-staffed) local transit freestanding ticket/pass store near there. The lines were much shorter than typical at the HBF or inside any real train station.

With so many excellent suggestions for lodging I’ll simply pass on one thought - you will be happy with the public transportation system for getting around. It is excellent and efficient.

And to save time and money, buy the 24-hour U-Bahn tickets so you don’t have to repeatedly hunt down ticket machines in the U-Bahn or S-Bahn stations to buy tickets each time you need a ride. Berlin is one spread-out city so you’ll likely be taking more than three rides a day which makes the 24- hour ticket pay for itself.

I agree about the transit pass. Here's info about routes, fares, and passes. My 7-day pass got me all over the place by rail and bus, including Potsdam and the airport (I paid more for three zones).

What I really liked about the U- and S-Bahn was the absence of turnstiles. You just walk in and out, no lines or delays. They check tickets and passes randomly between stations. This happened three times in the week I was there.

I would also suggest you download the BVG app and the S-Bahn Berlin app. The S-Bahn app has a journey planner, which is very helpful. And you can buy tickets for all public transport in Berlin on the BVG app, including the 24 hour tickets.

My husband and I will be staying at the Ibis Stye Berlin Mitte. It was reasonably priced and appears to be a good location for touring base

I also like the area near Savignyplatz and Bahnhoff Zoo, as transportation is good and there are some nice restaurants in the area. I really enjoyed my stay at Pension Peters and would absolutely stay there again. This restaurant & pub was right across the street, and I dined there several times.

As I recall, some of the walking tours depart from the plaza in front of Bahnhoff Zoo, which was just a short walk from the hotel.