Express By Holiday Inn Berlin City Centre - Berlin, Germany     

We stayed at this hotel in October 2007 for three nights. The hotel staff was very helpful and friendly, the rooms were modern and clean, and the free breakfast was plentiful, but not great. They also had one computer terminal with free internet access in the lobby area. For the price, this was a very good hotel, however the location is not near Ku'damm (or tourist) area, but closer to Checkpoint Charlie, the Topographie de Terrors and the City Center. It is approximately a 5 minute walk to the nearest S-bahn and 10-15 minute walk to a number of metro stations, so you can easily get to wherever you need to in the city. You can also take the M41 bus directly to and from the main train station. The only negative was the number of tour groups that stayed here most nights. It made the breakfast area pretty crowded some mornings but that was not really a problem.

My sister and stayed here on a trip to take in the Christmas Markets in Berlin. We got a very good rate for our 3 nights and found out twin room comfortable and clean. Breakfast was included and was definitely well above average for this type of hotel with plenty of cereals, juices, breads, and cold meats, eggs and cheese. It also had plenty of coffee choices (espresso, cappucino, lattes) which makes a nice change. By the way other than breakfast, we did all our eating at the Christmas markets, because the food was really fantastic!! Hotel location was really excellent - Anhalter Bahnhof is just 5mins walk and we found the U-Bahn/S-Bahn system very easy to use. We bought a 3-day ticket which worked out at very good value and made travelling very convenient. The vacant lot next to the hotel is a bit off-putting at first, but we felt safe coming back from the station at various times. As for the Christmas markets, well we really enjoyed them. Berlin has a huge variety of markets - we visited around 8 of them and, as well as the city centre ones, we also recommend taking a trip out to Spandau. We also had time to take in quite few of Berlins WW2 sites many of which are close to the hotel (Checkpoint Charlie, Topography of Terror, etc). We also took a trip out to Potsdam - we highly recommend this if you have the time (particularly in good weather), as the palaces are breathtaking. All in all, both Berlin and The Express by Holiday come highly recommended for a low-cost weekend break, especially at Christmas!