Most convenient hotel in Berlin
 

I will be in Berlin in February. I have difficulty walking more than a block or two so I need a hotel that is closest to the major sights. I will take taxis but being close to sights will keep the cost down. Also, we are looking for a 4-5* hotel.

Thanks
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I have posted a link to your query in the Disability Travel forum: http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=642437

I think the new Melia Berlin is just about the most convenient possible. It was finished in October 2006, and I can see from their web pages they have made rooms specifically for disabled travelers.

http://www.solmelia.com

The Radisson SAS is also very convenient.

Yes, the new Melia is a good advise....they also have a special now...join Sol Melia and you get Melia Points!!
Also good are the Westin Grand (Friedrich Str./Unter den Linden) and the Hilton at Gendarmen Markt.

I stayed at the Melia Berlin at the end of October, just a few weeks after its opening.

It is indeed a very nice property. The location is very good, as it is just a half block from the Friedrichstrasse S-Bahn/U-Bahn station; in addition, Bus # 147 stops virtually at the door. Taxi connections will be easy to make.

The hotel fronts directly on Friedrichstrasse, along the Spree River. Museum Insel, the Brandenburg Tor and the Reichstag are very close by (my room, on the 5th floor, had a very nice view of the Reichstag's glass dome) :)

The decor is modern in warm, light earth tones and light woods, and the bed was very comfortable. Staff was warm and welcoming, The breakfast buffet was very good (if a tad pricey at 20 Euros) but the variety of foods offered was extensive (egs and hot dishes cooked to order). There is a tapas bar and full restaurant, but I did not try them.

From what I can tell, Melia prices the hotel ccouding to demand - I paid all of Eur. 73 for my room, however, the rate for the very next day was up to Eur. 110.

Beyond the Melia, I have stayed in the other hotels that USAFAN has listed, and they are all good options. For luxury at a price, the Regent (formerly the Four Seasons) is a good option, while the recently-opened Hotel de Rome is not (despite its stellar location).

Non-NonRev
I guess, you are aware, that the Melia is not far from Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. 1928 was the premiere of Dreigroschenoper, Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill. Bert Brecht was the longtime director there ...

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theater_am_Schiffbauerdamm

3,000 MAS bonus points when you join MAS REWARDS:

http://www.solmelia.com/solNew/mas/jsp/C_Mas.jsp

OT: Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon will be in Hamburg on July 14, 2007 :cool:

Forget about the Melia. Sorry, but this is not a location where one has to be.

In your shoes, I (as a born Berliner) would chose the

Hilton, Dorint, Hotel de Rome or the Regent,all directly on Gendarmenmarkt (Hilton is my favorite with Gendarmenmarktview)

Westin, directly at the crossroad of Friedrichstraße and Unter den Linden or

Adlon, directly at Brandenburg Gate.

Notwithstanding that it is ALWAYS good to have input from a native resident of an area under discussion, I would point out that the Melia is a mere three blocks from the Westin, on the same street. IMHO it is analogous to saying that,in mid-Manhattan, the Waldorf=Astoria has an ideal location while the Omni Berkshire Place (theree blocks away) is disadvantageously located. But, as always, YMMV.

The point, I think, of offering the option of the Melia is that it provides a very useful ADDITIONAL hotel option in the heart of Mitte (to me and other FT travellers, the most desirable place to stay in the city). Because Sol Melia seems to be offering aggeressive discounts and promotions, and especially when one considers that the dollar seems to be losing value against the euro with each passing day, a perfectly-acceptable hotel that offers the ability to stay in Mitte at reduced prixces should not be dismissed out of hand.

I did know that it ws somewhere in the general area, but I didn't know that it was so close-by - if I had known, I would have gone by (I'm making a note for next time).

You can sign up on the Web - your number will be issued immediately and you can print a temporary card. Your permanent card will arrive in the mail in about a month or so (to the US).

is there an icon for ENVY?? :D

Your advise is a little misleading. Maybe the Melia is not the best choice for CHEWYVUITTON ... the location of the hotels you recommend are a little better. However, for me and others the Melia is fine ... the location is fine, the hotel is brand new and it's only half the price ...

My job brings me often to Berlin, and I have seen many hotels. Believe it or not, one of my favorite is the Moevenpick .. old Siemens headquarter with new stylish design .. for a couple more Euros I always get upgraded to a suite.

I stayed at the Westin in 2004, and at the Mercure den Charité further north in Mitte in 2006. That's when I noticed the Melia, which wasn't quite finished at the time of my visit. The Westin does have a fabulous location and it's beautiful and elegant. However, I think I preferred the modern design of the Mercure rooms, even if that was "only" a 3* hotel. I haven't stayed at the Melia but it seems it has very modern rooms and is a 4* hotel. (Maybe the Westin has renovated its rooms, and I had an unrenovated one, but I wasn't terribly impressed, although it was really cheap on Priceline, so I can't complain.)

The Westin is very close to the Französische Straße U-Bahn stop that is one from Friedrichstrasse and of course it's very convenient for walking to attractions. But I think it could be argued it's more convenient to be closer to Friedrichstrasse station, as the Melia is, where you change U-Bahn and S-Bahn lines and take trains. So far as location goes, it's really a wash, in my opinion. The other advantage of the Melia is its proximity to Oranienburger Tor, with its numerous restaurant options.

Perfectly right, but still not "the place to be". For a Berliner, this is somehow "out of town". Back to comparing Berlin to NYC: If you consider Rockefeller Center to be the "Center of Manhattan", the Hilton (Regent, Dorint, de Rome) would be there, the Westin is where W=A is located and the Melia - well, I believe there is a Hyatt at 42nd street / 3rd Ave....

The Melia is simply in the wrong direction if you understand Gendamenmarkt as the Center of Berlin-Mitte. Oranienburger Straße is nice but maybe not the location to go to for somebody with certain difficulties to walk

I think I grasp your point - that, even though the geographical distances might not be vast, the *perception* of the listed locations is quite different.

I am in full agreement with you that the Gendamenmarkt (not Potsdammer Platz or Ku'dam) is the true center of the united city - on my last trip, in fact, I had originally booked one night at the Westin and one night at the de Rome (I went to CPH in between) - I changed the Westin night over to the Melia when I discovered that it had opened, so that I could try it out.

One conclusion that anyone who looks at the Melia building will draw is that it would have been prohibitively expensive to have built a hotel of that size close to the Gendamenmarkt itself. I of course concur that, for a person with mobility challenges, the Melia is not the best choice. But for someone without mobility constraints (and who will ride the BVG extensively), the Melia, and also the Mercure location mentioned by WillTravel, should at least be kept in mind (especially when rates in the better-situated properties climb).

BTW, good spotting of the Hyatt - (it's at 42nd and Lexington, one very short block from 3rd) ;)

Not to beat a dead horse, but there's no way you can be close to everything in Berlin. So someone with mobility difficulties will likely want to take taxis. I did notice at the Mercure I stayed at that there were a number of people with disabilities (more than I generally see at hotels), who no doubt appreciated the wide hallways and modern design when navigating with their wheelchairs. I can't see the Westin being so user-friendly for wheelchairs, but I suspect the Melia is, being a new hotel (again, I haven't visited, because it wasn't open when I was there).

I think we understood each other: 42nd/Lexington is not 42nd/Broadway and Friedrichstraße/Melia is not Friedrichstraße/Westin:D But I think I will give the Melia a try.