For anyone who grew up listening to The Eagles album, Hotel California, the idea of actually checking into a hotel of the same name seems a bit spooky (you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave). Yet since the mid-1980s thousands of people have checked into the Hotel California Berlin and happily checked out and been allowed to leave.
Its main feature is that it is located right on West Berlin’s main shopping street. Now we prefer the atmosphere and feel of parts of Mitte and the more eastern parts of Berlin, but the Ku’damm (or Kurfürstendamm, to give its full name) is still immensely popular among shoppers and is also quite close to some amazing sites and great restaurants such as the Paris Bar.
The hotel is a an interesting mix of old-school west Berlin in an amazing turn of the century building that survived the war. The hotel was initially a bit of a budget spot for young travellers but has since moved a bit more upmarket.
For all its extreme weirdness (it even has an association with local doctors and surgeons where you can stay in the hotel and have a little nip and tuck around the corner) people seem to love it.
At TripAdvisor it gets 4 stars on average, from a lot of reviews. On Expedia it also gets pretty good reviews for the most part.
People generally love the buffet breakfast and the upmarket shopping in the neighbourhood. The German reviews are a little less flattering but still generally positive with comments such as “not a first class hotel but totally okay”.
