Berlin
Old banks, post offices and an embassy turned into hotels, a hotel facing the Brandenburg Gate, nineteen starred kitchens from Mitte to Neukölln, and an express train from the airport in twenty-three minutes.
- Arrival
- Berlin Brandenburg · BER
- To the city
- About 23 minutes to Hauptbahnhof by Airport Express
- Private jets
- General Aviation Terminal at BER, two handlers
- Best time
- May to September
The city
Unter den Linden to Kreuzberg.
The first Hotel Adlon opened on Pariser Platz in 1907, in sight of the Brandenburg Gate; burned, demolished and rebuilt, it stands there again. Around it Berlin has turned its grand nineteenth-century buildings, a Dresdner Bank head office, a telegraph office, a Danish embassy, into hotels.
Berlin opens up from May to September: warm days, little rain, and in June and July light until past ten. Nineteen restaurants hold MICHELIN stars in the 2026 guide, from Rutz with three in Mitte to a dessert-only kitchen with two in Neukölln.
Arriving
One airport, opened in 2020.
Berlin Brandenburg at Schönefeld has been the city's only airport since it opened in October 2020, with two runways of 3,600 and 4,000 metres and a railway station beneath Terminal 1.
- Prague 45 min
- Copenhagen 50 min
- Lisbon 3 h 20
- Dubai 6 h 20 long-range jet
- Beijing 9 h 50 long-range jet
When to go
May to September.
Continental and fairly dry. July is the warmest month and June, oddly, the wettest; from December to February the afternoons barely pass freezing and the light goes early.
- 2° J 42
- 3° F 35
- 8° M 37
- 13° A 41
- 19° M 55
- 22° J 72
- 24° J 53
- 23° A 63
- 19° S 45
- 13° O 36
- 7° N 49
- 3° D 53
What to see and do
Days in and around Berlin.
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Landmark
The Brandenburg Gate
The gate on Pariser Platz, with the Reichstag beside it and Unter den Linden running east.
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Landmark
Bebelplatz
The square off Unter den Linden where the former Dresdner Bank is now the Hotel de Rome.
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Landmark
The Zoo and the Tiergarten
The park and the zoo in the west of the centre, with the City West hotels along its edge.
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Culture
Neues Museum
On Museum Island, the Neues Museum shows the bust of Nefertiti among its Egyptian collection; the neighbouring Pergamonmuseum is closed for renovation until 2027.
Official site -
Culture
Gemäldegalerie
Around 1,000 European paintings from the 13th to the 18th century hang at the Kulturforum, with works by van Eyck, Caravaggio, Vermeer and Rembrandt.
Official site -
Opera & music
Berliner Philharmonie
Kirill Petrenko conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in their home hall, where the 2026/27 season brings Brett Dean as composer in residence.
Official site -
Culture
Sanssouci Palace
Frederick the Great's summer residence rises above its vineyard terraces in Potsdam, with his grave on the highest terrace and the New Palace across the park.
Official site -
Nature
Pfaueninsel
Reached by Berlin's oldest ferry line, running since 1821, the island in the Havel has a palace of 1794, free roaming peacocks and protected meadows.
Official site -
Golf
Golf und Land Club Berlin Wannsee
British and American diplomats founded the club in 1895, and its 27 holes of parkland lie among mature trees in the south west of the city.
On the calendar
A date to plan around.
Dates as published by the organisers. Runways, hotels and slots fill early around these weeks: the sooner we know, the more choice you have.
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7–11 Jun 2027
Finance
SuperReturn International
Annual private equity and venture capital conference in Berlin attended by fund managers and institutional investors.
InterContinental Berlin
In 7 months
Where to stay
A bank, a telegraph office, an embassy.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- Hotel de Rome The Dresdner Bank head office of 1889 by Ludwig Heim, 146 rooms, with the pool and spa in the old vault and a terrace on the roof.
- Waldorf Astoria Berlin On Hardenbergstrasse in City West, new to the Keys in 2026 with two of them, with the Library Lounge on the fifteenth floor and ROCA downstairs.
- The Ritz-Carlton, Berlin One of the five Berlin hotels holding two Keys, on Potsdamer Platz.
- Roomers Berlin Steinplatz, Autograph Collection A small house on Steinplatz in Charlottenburg, now run as Roomers, with one MICHELIN Key in the 2026 selection.
- Patrick Hellmann Schlosshotel A private residence built in the style of an Italian palace before the First World War, in the villa streets of Grunewald, furnished by the designer whose name it carries.
- Hotel Adlon Kempinski Rebuilt by Kempinski on the site of the 1907 original, 385 rooms and suites facing the Brandenburg Gate, with the starred Lorenz Adlon Esszimmer.
- SO/ Berlin Das Stue The former Danish embassy of the 1930s on Drakestrasse, a few steps from the zoo, with the brasserie CARTE BLANCHE.
- The Mandala Hotel Studios and suites on Potsdamer Straße, with FACIL and its two stars in the courtyard and the ONO Spa upstairs.
- Hotel Luc, Autograph Collection Ninety-two rooms and suites on the Gendarmenmarkt, done in Prussian blue by Oana Rosen, with the restaurant YOU.
- Grand Hyatt Berlin Its pool is on the roof, above a large wellness area, with a view across the city.
- Orania.Berlin An office building of 1912 on Oranienplatz, now 41 rooms with a MICHELIN Key and a salon where a grand piano serves for soul, funk and jazz nights.
- Louisa's Place A town house of 1904 at Kurfürstendamm 160, run in its present form since 2003, with 47 rooms and suites.
- Bristol Berlin Opened as a Kempinski in 1918 and rebuilt in 1951 and 1952 to designs by Paul Schwebes, it is the first German hotel in IHG's Vignette Collection.
- InterContinental Berlin Between the Tiergarten and the Kurfürstendamm, with the starred Hugos up on the fourteenth floor.
- Hilton Berlin Two of its restaurants look out over the Gendarmenmarkt to the Deutscher Dom.
- Titanic Gendarmenmarkt Berlin Close to the Gendarmenmarkt, with a grill restaurant and a Turkish hamam in the spa.
- Sheraton Berlin Grand Hotel Esplanade On the Landwehr Canal by the Tiergarten, a short walk from Potsdamer Platz.
- Telegraphenamt Built between 1910 and 1916 as one of the largest post office buildings in Germany, with ninety-seven rooms behind the brick and beams.
- Château Royal Berlin Ninety-three rooms in two buildings off Unter den Linden, the older one from the nineteenth century, with contemporary art in every one of them.
- Steigenberger Hotel am Kanzleramt Its name comes from the open view of the Chancellery and the Bundestag.
Where to dine
Three stars in Mitte, two in Kreuzberg.
From the MICHELIN Guide 2026, shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these restaurants.
- Rutz Three Michelin stars Modern German €€€€ Chausseestraße, Mitte
- CODA Two Michelin stars Dessert fine dining €€€€ Neukölln
- FACIL Two Michelin stars Creative €€€€ The Mandala Hotel
- Horváth Two Michelin stars Austrian €€€€ Kreuzberg
- Tim Raue Two Michelin stars Asian-inspired €€€€ Kreuzberg
- Cookies Cream One Michelin star Vegetarian €€€€ Mitte
- Hugos One Michelin star Contemporary European €€€€ InterContinental, 14th floor
- Lorenz Adlon Esszimmer One Michelin star Creative €€€€ Hotel Adlon Kempinski
- Nobelhart & Schmutzig One Michelin star Local German €€€€ Kreuzberg
Elsewhere in Germany
More reasons to come.
- Munich The opera, the beer halls, and the Alps an hour to the south.
- Hamburg The port, the Elbphilharmonie and the Alster lakes.
- Frankfurt The banking capital, with one of the busiest airports in Europe.
- Baden-Baden A spa town on the edge of the Black Forest, with its casino and festival hall.
- Sylt A North Sea island of dunes and thatched houses, with an airport of its own.
- Garmisch-Partenkirchen Under the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany.
Flying to Berlin?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.