Berlin hits the heights with new hotel openings

Berlin is booming with a wave of new hotels scheduled to open throughout 2026.

The German capital currently has 93 hotel chains with a total of 197 hotels offering over 25,000 rooms.

By the end of the year that will increase to 95 brands and 205 hotels, news hub Travel Mole reports.

Among the new openings will be the Estrel Tower (top image), along the riverside promenade of the Neukölln shipping canal.

At 176 metres with 45 floors of accommodation, it will become Germany’s tallest hotel building. The property will offer 522 rooms, suites, and serviced apartments, alongside co-working areas, a gallery, spa facilities, and extensive meeting infrastructure.

Lifestyle-focused concepts also continue to drive Berlin’s hotel expansion. The Me and All Hotel Berlin East Side by Hyatt brings 227 rooms, co-working spaces, and a 24/7 fitness concept near the East Side Gallery along the Spree river.

Irish lifestyle brand Dean Hotels also entered the Berlin market with The Dean Berlin in Charlottenburg. The 81-room property focuses on "design-led hospitality and social dining", anchored by the all-day restaurant Benedict.

Another lifestyle-driven addition is Radisson RED Berlin Potsdamer Platz. The design-forward hotel is due to opening in late 2026 inside a listed former Siemens building. The 249-room property blends heritage architecture with contemporary branding.

The Cloud One, part of the Motel One Group, will open later in the year with 344 rooms and a rooftop bar. The hotel is targeting younger urban travellers seeking stylish yet affordable accommodation.

Several established properties are undergoing transformations. The former Novotel near Tiergarten will reopen as Clayton Hotel Berlin Tiergarten, a repositioned four-star property with 274 rooms.

Scandic Hotel Berlin City West will become the brand’s third Berlin property following an extensive renovation, with reopening slated for late 2026.

Hotel de Rome at Bebelplatz, meanwhile, is scheduled to relaunch in 2027 as Four Seasons Hotel Berlin.

Adaptive re-use is also prominent with The Knast, a boutique hotel currently under development in Lichterfelde, transforming a former prison into a hospitality experience with restaurant, bar, and event spaces.

Ocean Berlin at Rummelsburger Bucht is a large marine park featuring an aquarium and interactive exhibits. The complex will include a hotel with approximately 170 rooms, with the entire project expected to open at the end of 2026.

Near Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), the Ramada Encore by Wyndham Berlin Airport will expand accommodation capacity with a new-build property offering 271 rooms.

Berlin makes a stand for freedom

Berlin, for so long a city divided, is taking a stand against authoritarianism with Berlin Freedom Week in November. 

More than 35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German city says it will be "giving freedom fighters and prominent democrats from all over the world" a stage. 

Berlin Freedom Week will run in the German capital for the first time from November 8-15 - with over 70 events at over 30 locations throughout the city with The Berlin Freedom Conference on November 10 in the Schöneberger Gasometer (top image) on the EUREF campus the centrepiece of the event. 

Numerous international guests are expected to attend, including civil rights activists, researchers, media professionals and politicians.

Berlin Freedom Week will focus is on the special significance of freedom for Berlin, as well as the topic in the current global context.

The patron of the event is the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner. The entire program of events for Berlin Freedom Week is available at berlin-freedom-week.com.

Guests will include the Ukrainian Nobel Peace Prize winner Oleksandra Matviichuk, the Russian journalist and civil rights activist Vladimir Kara-Mursa, Ben Hodges, former Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces in Europe, and the Director of the German Economic Institute, Professor Dr Michael Hüther. 

Speakers from the World Liberty Congress include the President and renowned Iranian journalist and human rights activist Masih Alinejad and the Venezuelan politician and freedom activist Leopoldo López. Tickets for the Berlin Freedom Conference can be booked via this link.

A mobile stage will stop each day at central and symbolic locations with a program of stage performances, film screenings, audio installations and interactive elements. 

The centrepiece is the 1:1 replica of the Freedom Bell, which was donated to West Berlin by US citizens in 1950 and ceremoniously hung in Schöneberg Town Hall. 

First we take Paris, then we take Berlin

 

Travelling by train is often the best choice in Europe - and two of the continent's great capitals are now linked by a direct high-speed train connection. 

Germany’s Deutsche Bahn and France's SNCF introduced a daytime InterCity Express (ICE) service between Paris and Berlin last month and are planning to add a second route between the two capitals in 2026.

Taking advantage of its new fleet of 322 kph ICE3neo trains, the once-a-day service takes around eight hours in each direction, also serving Strasbourg, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt on its 878km trip.

The trains link Paris Gare de l'Est with Berlin Hauptbahnhof. 

Fares start from around $100 Aus and each train has capacity for 444 passengers, of which 111 are in first class.

The new high-speed ICE service is the first direct daytime train between Paris and Berlin since the 1990s and complements the Nightjet sleeper service introduced in 2023.

Unfortunately, speeds on some section are reduced with trains having to use lower speed lines, but the service is expected to prove popular with both business and leisure travellers. 

The price of a Paris-Berlin ticket varies depends on many parameters such as whether you have a discount card or an SNCF subscription, the dates of the journey and the railway company.

For more details see https://www.sncf-connect.com/train/trajet/paris/berlin