My wife, 15 month old son, and I spent 4 nights at the Adina Apartment Hotel Berlin Hauptbahnhof from August 18 to August 22, 2010 as part of a 10 day visit to Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. We had a 1 bedroom suite on the 6th floor (room 610). The room had a small balcony and a nice view of both the dome on the top of the Reichstag and the Hauptbahnhof.
Location: The hotel is located on Platz vor dem Neuen Tor, on the west side of the plaza, facing east. You can’t see a sign or the building itself as you are walking along Invalidenstraße (exit the Hauptbahnhof from Europlatz and go right). The hotel is a solid 10 minute walk from the station without luggage, more with (especially considering that currently some of the sidewalk is torn up on the south side of Invalidenstraße). There is a bus stop (Invalidenpark), located on Invalidenstraße within a minute or two of the hotel that is a good option is you have luggage or just don’t want to walk. There are about 5-6 bus lines that stop there (i.e. 120, 142, 147, etc. – see http://www.bvg.de/index.php/en/) which means you typically don’t have to wait very long for one to show up (we never waited more than a minute or two).
Room: Having traveled in both Europe and the U.S extensively, I am very confident in describing the Adina’s rooms as extremely comfortable by both U.S. and especially European standards. Our room was comparable to the newest Staybridge Suites, Homewood Suites, Residence Inns, etc. in the U.S. It featured a small kitchen (sink, 2 burners, convection oven, dishwasher, water kettle, toaster, and small refrigerator with freezer), dining table with 3 chairs (4th was the desk chair), couch with small coffee table and ottoman, true king bed, and flat screen televisions in both the living room and bedroom. Nice touches included the washer/dryer (stick with the 3kg for 30 minutes when washing) in the bathroom and digital safe in the bedroom closet. The refrigerator was handy for storing milk and snacks for our 15 month old. Unlike extended hotels in the States, the Adina provides full housekeeping services each day (made beds, replaced towels, etc.). One final point: the air conditioner was stout, which was very nice for this American who likes it cold when he sleeps.
Sightseeing: Although advertised as a Hauptbahnhof hotel, the Adina is probably more targeted to long-term guests studying/visiting/working at the Charité university hospital next door to the hotel. That said, the sights aren’t far. The closest, the Wall Documentation Center, is about a 10-15 minute walk. Everything else requires public transport, which is available at both the Hauptbahnhof or the nearby Naturkundemuseum U-Bahn stop. However, even with travel time, most sights in both the former east and west are within 15 to 25 minutes of the hotel.
Food: The hotel has a small restaurant and bar that we didn’t try. There are a number of small cafes and restaurants on or very near Platz vor dem Neuen Tor, including a good little coffee/pastry shop right next to the hotel. There is a Lidl supermarket located on Luisenstraße, about 5 minutes south of the hotel. There is also a Kaiser’s supermarket in the Hauptbahnhof, however we found Kaiser’s to be extremely expensive when compared to Lidl (the Kaiser’s does have longer hours which can sometimes be helpful).
Overall: We loved the Adina Hauptbanhof. The extra space and amenities were great for traveling with our 15 month old and the convenience to the Hauptbahnhof was great for both our sightseeing within Berlin and the day trip we took to Dresden. At 100 euros per night, we considered the Adina to be a bargain.