Berlin Apartment Hotel Review (“Berlin Downtown Apartments”~Mitte-Wedding Location)

Need to find an apartment hotel in Berlin? I just stayed for 5 nights at the Berlin Downtown Apartments Mitte-Wedding and this is my personal review.

I’ll cover what to expect from the booking process to check in, to the actual rooms and stay itself as well as what is nearby for public transportation and food options.

Note: This was not a hosted or sponsored stay. I booked this hotel completely on my own, paid for it, and the hotel had no idea who I was. All opinions truly are my own.

Please note that some articles contain links that earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Downtown Apartments Review

Address: Gerichtstraße 56, 13347 Berlin, Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 30 58 58 4 96 97

Email: [email protected]

Location: Mitte/ Wedding Berlin

Important: There are two “Downtown Apartment” locations. One is just in “Mitte.” This is what is considered the “central” “neighborhood/ borough” of Berlin. It’s where Brandenburg Tor, the Hauptbahnhof, and even Museum Island is all “In.” That location would be more “ideal” for a centrally located Apartment Hotel Rental in Berlin. (However, the receptionists did admit that that one was a little bit louder due to the area)

Mitte- Wedding Berlin: The Downtown Apartments Mitte- Wedding is still in the “Central” part of Berlin, but in the “Wedding” (Pronounced “Vedding”) sub section/ neighborhood. This is the location I personally stayed at.

Book The Downtown Apartments Mitte/Wedding Here

About

The entire building section is just for the “Downtown Apartments” company. There is nobody that lives there, so anyone staying is a “Hotel Guest.”

Booking Process

You can either book on Booking.com or directly.

Booking.com: When booking through Booking.com it’s a bit more straightforward. There are also nice safeguards when booking through Booking.com like free cancelations up until certain times and you just have that safety net of a major booking engine that if something goes awry, you can always see what they can help with.

Direct: However, I often find that you can get a slightly cheaper (and by cheaper I mean a few bucks) deal if you book directly with hotels. The problem with this route is that so many times, hotel booking systems directly on the hotel’s site (other than huge chains) are often clunky, sometimes you wonder if they actually went through, and you can’t do a whole lot of customization or requests sometimes.

Granted, I decided to book directly because the things I will do to save a few Euros! I will say that I much prefer the process of Booking.com for booking hotels and I was reeeeaaally hoping that everything was legit (and luckily in this case it all was)

Special Requests

Before submitting, I could put in any other “requests.” Since we were traveling with our toddler, I asked for a baby bed.

I also chose this particular apartment because it had a (rare) pull out couch in the family room which I knew our boys were going to use, so I asked for extra sheets and pillows. (We did get an extra pillow and cover sheet but no duvet upon arrival. However, it was no problem to get the pillows and extra duvet when we inquired the next morning and was sent up right away)

“Free Gift”

When booking directly through the website, it also offered a nice little surprise. I could choose from a box of chocolates or a bottle of Cremant (a sparkling wine). If you have been around WanderInGermany at all, you probably know which one I chose 😉

Booking Confirmation

I clicked confirm and nothing happened.

I can’t remember exactly what went wrong but I knew it wasn’t right when I didn’t get any sort of booking confirmation. I still don’t know if it was more of a credit card issue, their booking system or what.

I simply redid it and figured if I got double charged, I’d deal with that next. Luckily, in this case, it just was a weird bug or something and it all went through right away when I retried.

I then immediately got an email confirmation with a reference number as well as a few details about the apartment.

Check In Process

Check In/Out Times

Check In: Available Check in 24 Hours (see my note about this below) but the reception is open from 8am-4pm for check in
Check Out: 11am (You may keep your bags at the Apartment if you need to after check out)

Self Check in After Hours

If you arrive within normal hours (8am-4pm) then there is someone at the reception who will easily check you in.

However, if you arrive after hours, there is a nice little convenient digital check in kiosk on the wall.

If I have any “complaints” about the apartment it might be at the check in process, but this is slightly more “My Error” I guess but it’s still something you need to know.

Like I said, I booked everything online and with my credit card. Since we are Travel Hackers, we are almost always shuffling credit cards around and I hadn’t realized that my husband had literally canceled the credit card that I used to book the apartments with about a week before our trip to Berlin.

Why is this a problem?

I had never seen this method of check in before.

But, since we were arriving after hours, in order to even GET IN the building, we had to insert the credit card we used for booking and that would unlock the door.

I mention this not because I think you, too will be canceling your credit cards, but I DO know that sometimes the credit card you use at home is NOT always the credit card you bring on trips!

There was no phone number to call for after hours. And it was snowing. And I had three young kids. And my parents aren’t the young chicklets they once were and my Dad needed to sit down after walking from the Bus.

But there was no way to get inside. This was arguably my biggest “complaint.” But again, had I read in the fine print that I had needed that credit card, I could have figured out a way to avoid all of that I’m sure.

City Tax Upon Arrival

A lot of cities in Germany have a separate “tourist tax” and Berlin is one of them. You pay this separately from the booking and directly to the hotel. For Berlin, it is a 5% tax on the net overnight rate you paid. You can pay with a credit card when you check in.

The Room(s)/ Apartments

There are several different apartments that you can choose from at the Downtown Apartments in Berlin (Mitte/ Wedding) from studio to 1 room to 2 room to a penthouse.

We booked the 2 bedroom Apartments and it couldn’t have been more perfect for our group. We had 4 adults (me, hubby, and my parents) + my three kiddos. We had plenty of space and enjoyed having an apartment with various different “liveable” aspects vs just a hotel.

The Bedrooms:

The apartment we chose was a 2 bedroom. Each room was pretty much the same as the other (this room had a balcony where the other did not)

Beds: Each room had the equivalence of about a Queen Bed. I was actually surprised at the comfort of the beds themselves.

Pillows: If you’ve read any of my other hotel reviews, you know my beef with German pillows (I hate them). So, for me to complain about the pillows here isn’t truly fair. I’d say they are completely in line with just about any other German Hotel Pillow I’ve ever slept on (down pillow that goes flat within 2 seconds of laying down). If you need extras, they were happy to send more up.

Storage: There was a huge “closet” to store belongings, clothes, bags, etc as well as a safety box.

TV: Each bedroom had it’s own nice TV

Baby Bed: #BloggerFail because I forgot to take a picture of the baby “pack n play” that they provided when it was set up. Of course, my toddler decided the big, comfy bed next to Mama was way better than a travel crib though, so we took it down after she refused to use it. However, it was included for free, was very clean, came with fresh bedding, and even a baby pilllow/ blanket

The Family Room:

The family room was fantastic and was a good size. There were two chairs plus a couch that doubled as a pull out sofa bed (something you don’t see a ton of in Germany). There was a TV and a nice balcony that looked out over the neighborhood and to the train tracks (it was fun watching all the trains go by….but not hearing them!!!)

The Kitchen:

The kitchen was also fantastic and super new and modern.

Appliances: There was a dishwasher (LOVE this!), fridge, plenty of plates and bowls, cutlery, dishes, pots, a can and bottle opener, cups, wine glasses, coffee cups and more. There is also a microwave, an oven, and a stove top in case you want to make any of the food yourself at the apartment (there are several grocery stores just around the corner).

My mom used the tea kettle every night and I used the Nespresso Coffee Pod machine (bring your own if you drink a lot of coffee/ have a lot of people- otherwise I think there were about 4 that they gave you). They also included just a few dishwasher tabs.

I even saw an iron/ ironing board and other miscellaneous appliances so you are covered on pretty much any appliance you might need for a short apartment stay.

Bathrooms:

The bathrooms (2 of them which were identical) were just a wee (no pun intended) bit small, but not TINY. I mean, they were super clean so that is pretty much my top criteria when it comes to bathrooms, so CHECK!

There is a bottle of hand soap and a bottle of “General Body Soap” but if you want shampoo/conditioner, etc go ahead and bring your own.

I am basically standing in the shower to take this photo, but that was a decent size as well.

(Don’t ask me what the 16 on the wall is about??? Several of the walls/ ceilings were in an “unfinished” state. It was obvious that that was the decor style/ choice which was both kinda cool and vibey and yet also kind of like “hmmmm why didn’t they finish this”)

Hotel Service

I was really impressed with how helpful the front desk was. They were extremely friendly, nice and super helpful with any questions we had or offering local recommendations for things like places to eat.

Whenever we needed anything (extra pillows, extra keycard, etc) they were more than happy and quick to help.

Nearby

Public Transportation

While these apartments weren’t extremely “well situated” in relation to things like walking distance to the Brandenburg Tor, etc, the fact that it was RIGHT next to a good Ubahn, Sbahn, and Bus line made up for that in droves.

Bus

We took the bus to and from the Hauptbahnhof (we did Bus 147 but you’d need to look at Google Maps to see what option is best at the time you arrive/depart). That bus leaves right outside the HBF and it was then only about a 5 minute (easy) walk to the Apartments.

Ubahn

We used the Ubahn a ton. The U6 (Wedding Station) was just around the block and only took about 7 minutes to walk to and was easy to use/ understand. This is what we took to get to a lot of the main sites within town (like when we did the Free Berlin Walking Tour), went to the DDR Museum, went to the Reichstag, etc.

Sbahn

There is also the Wedding Sbahn Station right around the corner and about a 3 minute walk from the Apartment. This was fantastic as well getting around. It was especially nice because it was on the S42 (Berlin Ring) which zips you around in no time.

Moral of the Story: Great location for using public transportation to get around Berlin even if it wasn’t “super” centrally located within Berlin itself.

Restaurants Nearby

Just because of the way we were “seeing” Berlin, we packed in a full day and then were back to the Apartments by around 6ish every night. That meant we needed something to eat after a long day of walking and exploring (SO much walking!)

I was pleasantly surprised with the food options and variety nearby the Apartments. There was plenty to choose from but here is where we ate:

Dar 4: Fantastic Falafels!!! We got them for takeaway and ate them back at the big, apartment kitchen table.

Vivo Trattoria: Great Italian place about 5 minutes away. It was super tiny though, so make reservations! The owner said she was from Sicily, so you know it’s good! (I got my classic “Carbonarra” and it hit the spot!) It was a bit pricey but still good.

Oeuf: The morning we left, we had plenty of time so we walked literally across the street to this little corner cafe for breakfast. My mom got the French Toast and it was insane how good it was (custardy brioche bread, a caramelly sauce, poached pears, pecans….YUM!) and I got a great Eggs Benedict (my breakfast weakness).

Asian: We didn’t get any of this near the apartment because we had just gotten Thai after doing the Berlin Wall Museum on our first day. However, there were TONS of Vietnamese and Thai restaurants all around the area.

There were plenty of other restaurants nearby as well. The Apartments had a list in the elevator as well as a paper with nearby suggestions in the reception.

Conclusion

The Berlin Downtown Apartments Mitte-Wedding was more expensive than I normally pay for accommodation. However, since I had my parents with me, I wanted to make sure everything was up to snuff (we also were booking a bit late so that’s what you get when you wait!)

All that being said, none of us could have been much happier with our stay and I absolutely recommend it to anyone needing to rent an Apartment Hotel in Berlin.