Berlin on a budget

[DreamyRedNewt]

Both my DH and I have been in Berlin several times. We had this idea that it was a pretty cheap city for tourism (considering it is a capital) It was cheap when we went (I had gone on the same month to several cities in Germany and Prague and many things were definitely cheaper in Germany!).

So...fast forward and we book our flights to Berlin without too much thought (flights were cheap) and when we start checking hotels/Airbnb's we get a shock, everything so expensive! No AirBNB for less than £150 per night, and they are not even nice places, they are bedsits.

So after this, we learnt that things have changed quite a lot and it is now quite an expensive city, lesson learnt! We will check hotels before booking flights from now on even if we have been in that city before. Has anyone been in Berlin recently and got any advice on cheap places to eat or any hotels that are not a rip off?

It's really not expensive at all. Airbnbs arent really favoured in Berlin these days so that's maybe why the costs are so high? When are you going? Is there any sort of events on during the same dates as that definitely drives the price up.

We went recently and stayed via Booking.com at Victors Residenz-Hotels. Gorgeous, friendly hotel on Am Friedrichshain on the Volkspark wsurrounded by residential and good value restaurants. Excellent transport links.

I'm spending 4 nights in Numa Sketch in Friedrichshain next week, just under £400 for medium studio with kitchenette.

I travelled to Berlin last year for 6 nights with my teenage son. I booked a nice apart hotel (adina), one bed with sofa bed in the living dining space. It was gorgeous, but it was EUR200 per night. It was a great location and I would stay there again. It was central and safe. But interested to hear about other options.

@Plump82 we are going during half term, but we've looked at other places for half term and are not as expensive as Berlin, so it is just not half term, it is either that accommodation is specially expensive in Berlin ( or there is some other event I don't know about).

I think we are going to book an Ibis, that would do, central amd reasonable priced, not paying over £150 per night!

Last summer we stayed in the Ibis Hauptbahnhof, which was comfy, had a good breakfast and the Ubahn right outside. 2/3 stops to Reichstag, Unter den Linden etc.

We normally stay in Amano East or Schulz but was there in Feb and stayed at the Premier Inn Alexanderplatz. Not the most exciting area but excellent train links to all over. Breakfast was really good too and worked out about 13e.
I'm not sure when half term is in England but Google what's on in Berlin then the dates you're going. Last summer we planned a long weekend in July with one weekend over double the price of the following weekend. Googled it and it was a drag queen event on which appeared to increase the price dramatically!!

We booked last year August for 6 nights a 2bedroom flat for £1,100 in a residential area in Schöneberg.

Wr are out most evenings but got rolls etc from a bakery nearby for breakfast.

Try Premier Inn, they now have 5 hotels in Berlin (four in the city centre) and in fact over 60 throughout Germany. There is good info on this site and guaranteed lowest rates, when I checked every room was under 100 euro per night: https://www.bestbookdirect.com/premier-inn-berlin.html