http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16406
Those looking for a hotel-style accommodation with hostel prices, this is the one. Been going there since 1998 and makes part of why Berlin is so special to me! Has nice big rooms and cosy art deco style. So good, even real Germans stay there. Also has very nice and comfortable cafe adjoining it.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16406 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13527
Some of the rooms have country themed decor (think Swiss cheese, mountains, flags etc) and kitchen and bathrooms are impeccably clean.

The small bar is laid back and chilled out; a good place to meet fellow travellers for a random chat.

Staff are welcoming and incredibly helpful, and you can even hire bikes for only 12 euros a day.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13527 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/11206 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/11206 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/10652 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/10652 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/10375 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/10375 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/9469
The food is German in quantity and style but really the beer is what marks it out. The dark is very nice, the porter is excellent but the wheat is even better. It's friendly, it's always busy and it's easy to get to, even if the road it's on doesn't look very promising. There is even a beer garden.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/9469 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/7022 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/7022 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/6533 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/6533 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/4409
Known only as "the Frenchman" by the locals, it's quite busy in the evenings, but during the day it's a good place to hang out and read, especially the five or so international daily papers they've got there.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/4409 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/4206 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/4206 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1817 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1817 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1810 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1810 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1796 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1796 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1769 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1769 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1764 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1764 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1753 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1753 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1752 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1752 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1751 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1751 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1747
It's a great club venue - very low-key, relaxed Berlin crowd - and it's not often you get to watch the sunrise in a glass-fronted open-air courtyard, once the meeting point for Soviet generals and the building's 160 employees.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1747 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1690
It works like this: you go in, throw one euro into a small fountain at the door, then help yourself from bottles of wine on the large table - or juice, or hot drinks. Then you can also help yourself to the homemade and wholesome (delicious) food laid out on a sideboard in the back room (salads and a thai-style green chicken curry when we were there, plus still-warm bread). You can have as much as you like - we had seconds!

When you leave, there's no bill, you just 'pay what you feel like paying' (as one of the staff said) in a big vase beside the wine bottles. It is furnished with gorgeous shabby-chic bits and bobs, and fairy lights, and has a unique, laid-back atmosphere.

They put tables and chairs out under the trees at night and it creates a buzz in the whole street. (The Prinz Albert Hotel bar opposite and down a bit is fab on a Sunday - when we were there they had a live jazz band and a fantastic BBQ. The staff are very cheery too!

There's also a tiny, wee retro cafe round the corner which serves ice- cream sundaes and beers. It's got a big Babycham deer inside and there's 1950s pastel-painted tables and chairs outside, with pots of scarlet geraniums. Very pretty. Try the hot kirsch sundae!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/1690