Hello, We (6 adults) will be travelling to Berlin for a New Year's stay from Dec 30 2016 until Jan 2 2017. This will be our first time in Berlin and we would like to take in the main tourist attractions. We are also intending on going to the New Years Eve street festivities, stretching quite some distance from the Brandenburg Gate I believe, but please correct me if I'm wrong. We would be open to other suggestions for what to do on NYE too. My main question to you all is which area would be the best to stay in as Berlin seems to be fairly spread out.
Thanks :)
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Public transportation in Berlin is good enough that you can stay just about anywhere and have little problem exploring the rest of the city. You are correct, however, that Berlin is far less compact than many other European capital cities and it has no real old center.
If you want to stay right in the middle of the New Year's festivities, there's a few hotels near the Friedrichstraße Bahnhof. Most are of the modern business-class variety, so don't expect anything cheap.
I've stayed at one of the hotels by the Hauptbahnhof, and although it was very nice and elegant (part of the Steigenberg chain), the immediate neighborhood is a complete industrial deadzone. However, it isn't too far of a walk from the Reichstag, Tiergarten and Brandenburger Tor.
I haven't stayed in the area, but the section around the zoo and Kurfürstendam appears more lively and walkable at night.
Posted by
Calgary
2297 posts
NYE is high season for Berlin and hotels book out and jack up their prices. So now is the time to make your reservations, don't wait much longer!
If you want to take part in the NYE celebrations at the Brandenburg Gate (Tiergarten), I would recommend to find a hotel in walking distance. Yes, you can get there by public transit but the U-Bahn will be filled to capacity that night. We stayed at the Novotel Suites Berlin City Potsdamer Platz and were really glad when we saw the crowds at the subway station and could just walk by an on to our hotel.
The district "Mitte" in general is a good base to explore Berlin, in particular if you have a U-Bahn station close to your hotel.
Posted by
Langley, BC, Canada
122 posts
A word of caution: we stayed in Berlin Mitte (central, near Anhalter station, a 10 min walk to Potsdamer Platz)) beginning of June last year. The Champions League Final happened the first weekend and our hotel rate went from Euro 155 to Euro 425 each night for two nights.