Review: Grand Hostel Berlin

Grand Hostel Berlin

I stayed at Grand Hostel for 4 nights in Berlin. Another great experience, but quite different from flying pig.

Favorite Part: The room setup and overall design of the place. The building was beautiful with high ceilings and a lot of intricate details. The room I stayed in had 8 beds but they weren’t bunk beds, yay!! And we had a bathroom with a shower attached to our room which was honestly, the absolute best part of this hostel. The bedroom also made me feel like I was part of a Madeline episode so that brought me back.

Least Favorite Part: I don’t have many complaints about this Hostel. There wasn’t free breakfast which was a bummer after enjoying the Flying Pig breakfast so much, but they did have a discounted deal for all-you-can-eat at a cute cafe next door. The selection there was much better than the free breakfast, obviously. The rooms got a little loud at night from the bar below, but it didn’t bother me too much.

Here is a picture of part of the breakfast buffet.

Amenities: WiFi, bathrooms attached to the rooms, again, probably other stuff I didn’t take advantage of.

Location: The location was pretty good. At first it seemed kind of random but as I started to learn the area it made more sense and was only about a 15-30 minute walk to monuments and central areas. Berlin seemed a lot more spread out than Amsterdam so I doubt that any place would really be the “perfect location,” it just depends what you’re into. I would guess I was in an area that is comparable to Uptown in Minneapolis, which meant it wasn’t outrageously touristy which was nice after a day of being outrageously touristy. It was incredibly close to the train, but I just chose not to use the train because I like walking.

Atmosphere: I really preferred this atmosphere to Flying Pig. There was a cool bar and lounge area with different events every night. There were plenty of spots to just sit by yourself and work as well. I preferred the rooms so much here that I ended up spending more time in the bedroom. It felt like there was a nice balance of privacy and socializing.

Staff: The staff was really great. The guy who greeted me at the beginning was again, incredibly nice and welcoming. Since this wasn’t Amsterdam, people weren’t openly speaking as much English so that made it a tiny bit harder to communicate but overall, everyone was very nice and helpful.

Other Comments: Grandma Stacia approves. I even got free traditional German soup at this hostel one night so Grand Hostel gets extra credit. And I got a free welcome beer. I would definitely stay here again and maybe just bring some earplugs for sleeping. Or not, it’s fine.

So just like at Flying Pig, there were a handful of…interesting people. The first night I got there I was a little thrown off because there was a school group of like 20 girls and their 2 teachers getting drunk in the lounge. I found like 1 or 2 other people to talk to but otherwise it was these girls playing games and screaming. At one point, the 80’s song “I’m So Excited” came on and they flipped their shit and started dancing on tables. No joke. They were also hardcore Woo-girling. My only thoughts were 1) I wish I still felt that way when I drank and 2) where the hell am I?

Overall I will give Grand Hostel Berlin 4.5/5 Brezel (Bavarian pretzels).