Berlin Travel Forum

heading to berlin on aug 6 for 5 or 6 days. will be staying at the st.christopher's apartment (39-41 rosa luxemburg str). is this a good area? any recommendations on good restaurants or brewpubs in the area? i haven't been to berlin for about 30 years, so i am completely unfamiliar with the city as it is now. we are interested in cozy german-style restaurants, not anything hip or trendy. thanks for any help!! susan

Rosa-Luxemburg-St, situated close to Alexanderplatz, is only so-so (albeit generally safe), but within walking distance you'll find nice spots in both Mitte Area and Prenzlauer Berg (take the tram up Kastanienallee or the U2 to Eberswalder Straße). Both areas are hip, though. Still, I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding a restaurant that suits your taste.

Perhaps read my tip on "German food" here:
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/c8106/12626/2/?o=1&i=1

okay, so maybe we can be a little hip! but basically, looking for typical german places (hey, i can find a hard rock cafe or mcdonalds anywhere!). looking for local places, maybe off the beaten path? thanks, susan

You'll be hard pressed to find a McDonalds or Hard Rock Cafe. The restaurants and bars in your area blend different styles and adapt them to local taste. So this could be considered "typically German" nowadays.

Take Cafe Orange (see tip) or Gugelhof (economy - business http://www.gugelhof.de/) or Nola's am Weinberg (Swiss, business but affordable at noon http://www.nola.de/).

Bars: Deponie (tip), Strandbar (tip), Prater (Berlin's oldest beergarden http://www.pratergarten.de/e/) and many others.

But don't worry, there are plenty of other bars and restaurants.

the area is pretty nice, especially the streets to the west!
And you're very lucky having one of the best german kneipe/restaurants directly around the corner.
the "gaststaette W. prassnik" is torstrasse 65.
Also good and not far away: Hackbarth, Augustrasse 49 and some other in the area (Auguststrasse corner tucholskystrasse)