If you’re an uptight senior visiting Berlin, and demand the usual uncool hotel accommodations, these aren’t for you. However, if you still remember your student days, when you prefer fun over fastidiousness, consider four fabulous Berlin accommodations.

Another advantage is that when you check in, you may be surrounded by young backpackers. If mingling with them doesn’t bring back fond memories of your wild youth, nothing can.

Pension Funk, Fasanenstrasse 69, Kurfürstendamm, +49 30 882 7193, hotel-pensionfunk.de, from $80 includes breakfast. The name fits perfectly. This ornate hotel was built 90 years ago as a retreat and secret love nest for Europe’s trendiest Berlin cafe artists and silent film stars. Some believe it‘s still haunted by such long-ago luminaries as Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. One of the rooms is said to be where Charlie Chaplin auditioned German cabaret dancers, long before Bill Cosby thought of it here.  

Think of it as bed and breakfast with amorous ghosts. The comfy rooms are decorated with 1920s furniture, and the aura of that roaring era’s glamor still pervades. It’s a few steps away from the Kurfürstendamm, Berlin's exotic combination of Fifth Avenue, Rodeo Drive and Champs Elysées. Strolling along the tree-lined avenue, you can enjoy everything from hip bar hangouts to trendy shops.

Propeller Island City Lodge: Albrecht Achiles Strasse 58, +49 30 891 9016, propeller-island.com, from $100. Actually, there are no recognizable beds, just 30 colorful theme rooms, designed by a contemporary Berlin artist.

The funky decor includes large birdcages, all-around mirrors, mine shaft and upside-down floating on clouds. One of the rooms offers an ornate coffin bedding for only the most fearless sleepers.


Hotel Huettenpalast, Hobrechtstrasse 66, Neukölln, +49 30 3730 5806, huettenpalast.de, rooms $100, including Continental breakfast. Created just a few years ago from an old factory building, it’s in an area frequented by partying students and young professionals.

This “hut palace” is for glamping, a composite of glamor and camping. Guests sleep in a variety of trailers, lofts, cabins, tents and huts on what was once the factory’s workshop floors. All of the sleeping places are modern and comfortably private.

4. Hotel Q!, Knesebeckstrasse 67, 10623 Berlin, +49 30 810066-0, loock-hotels.com/hotelq, $80 a night includes fruit basket. Some of today’s movie, TV and music stars frequently stay here when performing or filming in Berlin. The decor is all white with red carpeting, giving an image of a space ship.

The rooms feature beds and other furniture built into the walls, and would be very comfortable for Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew. Along with the space theme, hotel employees are all dressed in black and look like young astronauts who just stepped out of their space ship.