THEGAYUK

Tag: Germany Hotel Review

The latest Germany Hotel Review from THEGAYUK.

  • HOTEL REVIEW | Mövenpick Hotel Berlin

    ★★★★★ | Mövenpick Hotel Berlin

    Recently I was lucky enough to be able to visit Berlin for the annual Snax sportswear fetish party.

    While I was there, I made sure that I had a great place to stay for the night in order to get party-ready and to have somewhere to rest my head before taking the train home again. The Mövenpick Hotel in Berlin was the perfect answer. Since I knew I was going to be partying all night long on Saturday night, I booked Sunday night as well so I could get home from the club and sleep before taking my late-night train home. 

    The hotel is easy to find from several U or S-bahn stations in Berlin, or of course by taxi. The foyer is tastefully decorated and bright, furnished with comfortable sofas so that any time you might spend in the lobby is a pleasure.

    The Mövenpick hotels have developed the perfect room for people like me who have a hard time sleeping when things aren’t perfectly dark. Especially true when coming home after a long nights party and the sun has been up for a while already. The ‘sleep’ room has full blackout curtains and comes with a little package of goodies to help you sleep which includes an eye mask, herbal teas, chocolates, and little stickers that you can use to cover the standby lights of the devices in the room. Apart from all that, is probably the room’s best feature: the adjustable king size bed. The bed is split into two large beds which each have an electronic control which adjusts the firmness of the mattress. With the push of a button, you can sleep on something as hard as wood, or sink down into the mattress and be enveloped into a plush world of warm. Add to that the pillow selection from a form given when you book, which lets you choose the firmness of the pillows in your room, and the room is sure to give even the biggest insomniac a good night’s (or afternoon’s) sleep. This bed alone was enough for me to fall in love with this hotel. Coupled with the black-out ability of the room, I can say I have never had such a restful nights/afternoon’s sleep in a hotel when travelling. It really was a pleasure, and I wish I had spent more time there.

    Outside the room, the Mövenpick Berlin has a fully stocked cocktail bar and restaurant, as well as a buffet breakfast, which for me was a godsend after spending a few hours dancing at Snax. The best thing about Sunday morning breakfast is that it runs until 1 pm, so if you’re like me and like to spend all night out partying, you can safely return home to the hotel to get some food whenever you want. 

    The hotel staff are attentive and always ready to provide you with whatever you need. In my case, it was a lot of extra black tea and fresh milk, which I found waiting for me in my minibar upon my return from being out for the afternoon. 

    The Mövenpick hotel can be found on Schöneberger Straße, a short walk from the Anhalter S-Bahn station, or the Ubahn stations of Gleisdreieck, Mendelsohn-Bartholdy-Park, and Kochstrasse. Bookings can be made directly on the hotel website.

  • 4 things to do on a quiet weekend in Hamburg

    Hamburg, here we come.

    I’m not usually one for quiet weekends, for me, a quiet weekend usually means I didn’t go out Friday night but didn’t get home on Saturday night until Sunday afternoon. I had a weekend spare, and a friend of mine was having a birthday in Hamburg so I popped up and spent a couple of days touring the city on a surprisingly warm summer day, while still managing to fit in a night at a great club on the city’s party strip, the Reeperbahn. Aside from clubbing and meeting hot German boys, here are 4 things to do in Hamburg on a quiet weekend.

    Take a harbour tour. The city of Hamburg is home to the largest commercial harbour in Germany, and the third busiest in Europe. Unsurprisingly, this makes it Hamburg’s largest tourist attraction. Most of the attractions of Hamburg can be found around the water, in fact, the water is almost everywhere: the city has more bridges than any other city in the world, with 2300 bridges within the city limits. While Hamburg is a very walkable city, and there is plenty to see when you travel around the city by foot, but there is nothing quite like taking a harbour tour and seeing it all from the water. The harbour boat tour company Barkassen-Mayer provides several boat trips throughout the day, and are easily found along the main harbour terminal near the Hamburg Hard Rock Café. The tour takes about an hour and takes you past several interesting features of the harbour, including military installations and the largest ships to be found in the port.

    Take an open-topped bus tour with Red Double-Decker Busses. Like many cities, Hamburg has a hop-on-hop-off open-topped bus tour. The buses run all day long, and stops are all over the city. There’s even a helpful tour-guide to point out all the interesting things there are to see along the way. To make things easier, you can catch the bus at the main station, and take it down to the harbour to get the boat tour and continue the bus tour to another part of town. A perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon when nothing much else is happening.

    Visit the Hamburg Miniature Wonderland. Not content with having the largest port in Germany or the most bridges in the world, Hamburg is also home to the world’s largest model railway. A really fun way to spend an afternoon – particularly on days when the weather isn’t the best for being outside.

    Visit the Elbphilharmonie viewing platform. While bookings to get seats inside the brand-new Hamburg Phil are booked out until sometime in mid-2019, the open-access viewing platform is open to the public for free every day. Free tickets are available online or from machines at the entrance.  These give you access to the 6th-floor viewing platform, which aside from providing a great view over the harbour, are also home to a number of great bars and restaurants which offer an excellent view with your dinner or drinks. After spending the weekend touring the city, a relaxing drink overlooking the harbour is the perfect way to wrap up a weekend in Hamburg.

    While staying in Hamburg, you’ll need a convenient and well-appointed hotel. The Radisson Blu Hamburg Airport is a great option as it puts you a short walk from the airport, and is on the metro line that runs directly to the main station and on to the main party district of Hamburg city. The Radisson offers the level of comfort you expect from a high-quality hotel. The rooms are spacious and the large beds are comfortable and probably can give you a great night’s sleep – but whoever came to Germany to use a bed to sleep? They do however offer a great bar in the lobby, and the breakfast buffet is also excellent, with a wide range of options to suit all your needs. I’m a particularly big fan of the whole smoked salmon, but that’s just me.

    The best way to get from A to B in Hamburg is the public transport system. Metro and buses run 24 hours to all parts of the city and there are handy machines at every metro station (including the one at the airport) where you can buy a Hamburg card which gives you unlimited travel on the HVV public transport system, as well as discounts on many museums, tours, and restaurants. Cards are also available online, can be purchased for groups of up to 5 people, and are valid for the day of purchase until 6 am the following day.

  • TRAVEL | 25 Hours in Berlin

    When the 25 Hours Hotel opened in the City West of Berlin, it added a note of culture, nature and cosmopolitan all under the roof of what used to be a 1950’s grotty industrial office building.

    I could probably count on one hand the number of fun hotels that I’ve stayed at and this is definitely one of them. The hotel is neighbours with the iconic Berlin Zoo and so the theme of being in a jungle is carefully distinct especially with a personal hammock in your room to crafty spaces to lounge, dine and drink. Since the cocktail scene in Berlin has taken off and caught up in the growing desire for craft drinks and an obsession with rooftop bars, this hotel plays host to the popular Monkey Bar and Neni Restaurant – both positioned on the 10th floor with 360-degree panoramic views of bustling Berlin.

    Along with my guest, we are often suspicious of hotel restaurants and long lines of people waiting to gain entry into any bar however whilst dining at Neni with one of South Australia’s renowned food bloggers our doubts rapidly melted away into the leafy surroundings and heavenly balagan style dishes. After dinner which was showered with dramatic views and superb service we cut across the corridor and entered the Monkey Bar where we immediately noticed why the line to get into this celebrated bar was impressive – even on a random Tuesday night.

    When you eventually pull yourself away from the hotel you can adventurously explore Berlin with one of the hotel’s bikes or even one of their Minis (yep this is one of the impressive perks for guests). Make your way to the former East and weave through the updated streets until you arrive at the Hackesche Höfe.

    Once you have worked up an appetite the simply named Hackesche Hof Restaurant & Café is one of the areas favoured dining spots where a feast of people watching and exceptional food and drink are served. This restaurant has some impressive photos of the area which makes a dining experience here quite classical. Also nestled in this courtyard area is The Chämaleon Theater a unique theatre stylishly set in an art nouveau ballroom where cabaret style seating allows guests to eat and drink during performances. Hosting the latest contemporary circus creations such as the charismatic Scotch & Soda, described as a whiskey-fuelled circus party accompanied by live music.  The Chämaleon Theater continues to break all language barriers by welcoming the arrival of the forthcoming show Parade where acrobatics meet multimedia.

    British Airways conveniently has a direct route from London City airport to Berlin Tegel, however, be warned with all the monkey business in Berlin you will need more than 25 hours in this whimsical city.

     

  • HOTEL REVIEW | Art’Otel Berlin Mitte

    ★★★★ | Art’Otel Berlin Mitte

    Art’Otel Berlin Mitte Hotel review
    Art’Otel Berlin Mitte

    Earlier this year I had the pleasure of attending this year’s Hustlaball Gay Porn Awards at the Kitkat Club in Berlin. While staying in Berlin for the weekend, I had the pleasure of staying at the Art’Otel Berlin Mitte. The hotel is one of a chain of hotels around Europe that specialise in featuring a particular artist in the décor of the hotel building. The Berlin Mitte art’otel features German artist Georg Baselitz throughout and has been recently renovated giving the hotel a fresh contemporary feel.

    All 109 rooms and suites, as well as the entrance, lobby and reception, have received an inspiring new look, featuring new bathrooms, modern beds and bold furnishings, with the design encompassing Georg Baselitz’s use of wood with metallic, Gold and Copper themes. In addition, the grey walls in the public areas, combined with the famous Baselitz paintings provide a striking new feature, whilst the elegant furniture, such as the comfortable armchairs, alongside the seven-metre sculptural concrete seat, gives the hotel its very own unique touch.

    Since its original opening in 1997, art’otel berlin mitte has displayed a permanent exhibition with 328 works by Georg Baselitz. From large pictures to smaller charcoal drawings, each room includes a painting, an etching or a graphic of his work. Baselitz focused early on deformations, the power of the subject, and the liveliness of the colours, which has been brought to life within the hotel’s renovation.

    The hotel features a number of rooms of different sizes, from the spacious twin rooms through to XL Suites which have a king size beds, a two-seater sofa that pulls out into a double bed, and a few have access to the balcony that looks out towards the Berlin Cathedral and the Museum Island.

    Check in is a breeze with the numerous and friendly staff, and they are on hand to help you with whatever you need at any hour of day or night. Even if you come back from the club and realise you’ve left your key in the room at 3 am.

    Before getting your night started, you can enjoy a drink or dinner at the Upside Down Bar in the foyer, where every Friday night there is a live DJ playing from 6 – 10 pm. The Upside Down Bar is so named in reference to Baselitz’s painting style which was largely upside-down images, while the menu is inspired by various Mediterranean sources. Other than the Friday night events, on the 2nd Thursday of each month the DJ plays from 5-8 for after work drinks, and on the last Wednesday of each month you can come along and take in a cocktail making masterclass for 25€, or if you’re not like me, and are actually getting out of bed on Sunday morning instead of in it, you can go along for Sunday Funky Jazz Brunch from 11 am to 2 pm on the 2nd Sunday of each month for just 20€.

    Art’Otel Berlin Mitte is located next to the Märkisches Museum Ubahn station at Wallstrasse 70. It’s easy to find either by taxi or public transport as it is centrally located, and sits next to the Australian Embassy building. The Berlin Mitte art’otel features rooms starting at 134€ per night though readers of TheGayUK.com can save up to 20% by booking 30 days in advance through the following link: www.artotels.com/offers/5692590

    Aaron stayed in Berlin as a guest of Art’otel Berlin Mitte.

  • Take A Good ‘Loft’ Around Berlin

    Take A Good ‘Loft’ Around Berlin

    Berlin is a principal political hub overflowing with history, monuments, and entertainment venues, and is highly regarded for its diverse architecture and high standard of living. Of paramount importance (to me) are the 24-hour train services, outstanding theatre, and the Friedrichstraße area (formerly East Berlin) that has an East Side New York feel.

    CREDIT: TTstudio-bigstock
    CREDIT: TTstudio-bigstock

    I frequently use Ryanair when flying to Berlin as the journey time of one hour twenty minutes from Stansted is sufficiently short for one not to realise the lack of comfort provided by an economy airline. Arriving at Berlin’s Schonefeld airport, one can get direct to the city centre in forty minutes. Purchase your travel pass at the airport tourism kiosks to save time (one-day, three-day or five-day passes can be bought). Berlin’s trains are easy to use and the lack of ticket barriers provides a feeling of trustworthiness and frees one from the obstacles such barriers can present.

    ADVERT

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    Turning to accommodation in Berlin, one is spoilt for choice. Ranging from five-star hotels to hostels and private apartments, these can be sought in prime locations. A prime choice of apartment for me would be Miniloft, which is located near Friedrichstraße, an area subjected to major rejuvenation in the downtown area of Mitte, noted for its upmarket real estate. Located in close proximity to the U-Bahn station and trams, Miniloft apartments offer accommodation in four authentic and eye-catching designs, prime location and a tailor-made guide for the tourist. Miniloft has fully equipped apartments with lift access, private entry control and comforting heated floors. There is a splendid light environment, complete with the convenience of blackout blinds. A ten-minute walk will find one surrounded by the chic wine bars and colourful eateries of the Mitte district.

    CREDIT: R.Babakin-bigstock
    CREDIT: R.Babakin-bigstock

    If one is looking for culture in Berlin, the theatre breaks offer an outstanding option, and entertainment features the Broadway likes of Chicago, The Blue Man Group, and Aladdin. One point of note is that dialogue and music are in the German language.

    CREDIT: PR Supplied
    CREDIT: PR Supplied
    CREDIT: PR Supplied
    CREDIT: PR Supplied
    CREDIT: PR Supplied
    CREDIT: PR Supplied

    Moving away from Berlin’s Broadway, stay at Minioft to explore the city’s East End, Berlin’s hip nightlife district. Europe’s largest show palace is located here, Friedrichstadt Palast, which contains the world’s largest theatre stage.

    With excellent accommodation, which can be found by visiting www.miniloft.com, and outstanding cultural, historical, and recreational attractions, a visit to Berlin is certain to provide maximum appeal.

    Why not treat yourself to a stay in one of Europe’s major cities, and absorb the atmosphere in Berlin, where there is an abundance of diverse attractions waiting for you to discover.

    Miniloft is from €113.30 in May

  • TRAVEL GUIDE | Gay Berlin: Bring down those walls

    Berlin might not be the first place you think about when you want to have a romantic weekend away; most people head to Germany’s largest city for the history, wild parties, and relaxed sexual liberty. However there is another side to this amazing city, a romantic, softer side that most people miss out on.

    My boyfriend and I visited Berlin over the Valentine’s Day weekend to check out what the city had to offer.
    Berlin was founded in the 1300s and is the capital of Germany. It is also one of the largest metropolitan cities in Europe. With nearly 8 million people residing in its boundaries, there really is something to excite everyone’s tastes. Berlin and its people (and yes, they are ‘Berliners’) are well known for their love of a good party. From weekly romps at the many and varied night clubs, to Pride festival, film festivals, and a myriad of other cultural festivals, it’s almost impossible to come to Berlin and not find anything of interest to do. The hard part can be deciding which of them we should do first.

    After arriving in the city we checked into our simply beautiful room in the Radisson Blu hotel in the Mitte area, a short walk from Alexanderplatz. The hotel itself is quite incredible, with an enormous aquarium tank in the foyer, stretching almost from floor to ceiling commands most of the attention of everyone in the room, whether you’re checking in or enjoying a drink in the foyer bar, or even riding in the glass-lifts to and from your room, it’s hard not to stare into the water watching the fish swim around.

    Once we checked in, we got to our room and found we had an excellent view of the Berliner Dom.

    After my boyfriend prized me away from the window looking at the view, we headed into the city for a little sight-seeing. As we walked down the street towards the Brandenburger Tor (which I am pretty sure seemed closer on the map) the sun started to set behind the Tor, providing for some engaging photos and a great atmosphere.

    After spending a couple of hours wandering around the Tor, Jewish and Gay & Lesbian Memorials, the Tiergarten Park, we headed back to our hotel to begin the search for a place to have dinner. Since we’re pretty lazy, but enjoy something a bit different, we decided to check out 360, the revolving restaurant in the TV Tower. (Fehrnseheturm) This is a well-known Berlin landmark, the giant tower can be seen from anywhere in the city. It’s located in Alexanderplatz, and we paid the €23 fee to ride to the top and guarantee a table at the restaurant. The restaurant revolves once every hour, providing a wonderful view of the entire city as you enjoy your veal roulade and red wine. This is without a doubt the best view of the city, and it is totally worth the entry fee. (Buy your ticket online to save waiting in the sometimes massive queues.)

    Later that night we hit the town and headed over to the world famous Kit Kat Club (yes, like in Cabaret) for the monthly Revolver Party. Easily one of the best parties in Berlin, this monthly event brings in some of the hottest DJ’s, floor shows, and men from around the world. A word to the wise: Don’t follow regular German clubbing tradition here: arrive shortly after 12 for speedy entry, arriving after 1am might see you stranded on the street for a couple of hours waiting to get in. Once you’re inside, the venue has an in ground pool and lounge area, several bars, dance floors, and darkrooms/areas to keep everyone busy until well into the next morning.

    It was just after leaving Revolver that I was very happy to have booked the breakfast buffet at the hotel. After a long night of clubbing, one thing I didn’t look forward to was searching the streets of Berlin for breakfast. Luckily, with the wide variety of food available from the hotel’s buffet, we didn’t have to worry about that at all. The breakfast was a welcome way to start the day, and (to my boyfriend’s delight) included an egg chef to prepare your eggs exactly as you like them, while you wait.

    After a short nap it was time to discover some more of fun Berlin. Since the weather was playing ball, we headed into the Kreuzberg area to wander around the markets and stores that line the streets. Since it’s very un-German to give things a name that describes a specific thing, without that thing being there, you may be unsurprised to find that there is, in fact, a Kreuzberg, in Kreuzberg (crossing mountain). It’s pretty generous to call this a mountain, but considering how flat everything else in Berlin is, it’s pretty high. From the summit you can look out over almost all of Berlin.

    While in the area we took a little stroll through the market hall in Kreuzberg, and grab a little bit of Spanish tapas from a stand there. I also found this very cool little store that sold various household items and gift ideas

    A quick subway trip back to the hotel to rest and refresh was well deserved. We had thought about heading down to the basement level and having a couple’s massage or a dip in the pool, but the overly comfortable bed got the better of us. As the night rolled in we enjoyed a couple of glasses of Champagne before heading out to dinner and a show. Berlin has, unsurprisingly, a plethora of cultural events to see. From live theatre, musicals, classical music at the Philharmonie, there’s so much to choose from. We decided on a personal favourite: The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Check out the English Theatre for an excellent program of events this year.

    If you head over to Potsdammer Platz, where you can find the Philharmonie, Mall of Berlin and the Sony Centre, which has an awesome indoor ceiling design and a lot of touristy restaurants, you can catch a tuk-tuk style trip around the city from one of the many riders waiting on the corner. The very best of these is the rolling bed. Basically a guy on a bike pulling a double bed. You hop in, snuggle up under the blankets and enjoy a tour of the city while warm and cozy in the bed. A great idea for a coldish winter night. Prices vary depending on how far or how long you want a ride, but if you’re keen to try something different, this is certainly that.

    The following morning saw us getting up a little earlier to grab another buffet breakfast. The hotel’s team are awesome about late checkouts, with the regular checkout being at 12, and you can of course leave your bags in the hotel so you can spend your day doing something more interesting than waiting around for your taxi to the airport. Next time you’re planning a romantic getaway, give Berlin a try, you’re sure to fall in love.

    The reporter stayed as a guest of Radisson Blu Berlin.

    REVIEW AND PHOTOS BY: Aaron Holloway
    Rainbow Pride Watch by Be Pride – www.bepride.it