Glass heads to Berlin for art, nightlife, and an awe-inspiring hotel lobby

THE LATEST incarnation of INNSiDE Berlin Mitte succeeds where the vast majority of non-boutique, inner-city hotels fail, creating an environment (specifically the open-plan lobby) that genuinely reflects the city it calls home – sprawling, eclectic and proudly opposed to walls.

LOBBY-5A2A9739-3Impressive coffee table book collection in collaboration with Assouline Publishing

The structural feel of the district’s local properties are also keenly felt. Mitte is Berlin’s latest burgeoning creative hub, a land where houses are no longer houses, but spaces (think artists residences and guardianship schemes) free from walls or anything else that may hinder the cross-pollination of ideas and the creation of cool new things.

LOBBY-5A2A9733-3The INNSiDE Berlin Mitte lobby entrance

However, anyone that’s spent more than five minutes in a shared living space will tell you that 5 minutes is more than enough time to remember the value of walls, privacy, and personal space. Thankfully, the team behind the new INNSiDE Berlin Mitte did their due diligence and the hotel provides 229 rooms each replete with wifi, an espresso machine, a mini-fridge stocked with local beer and health drinks, and, most importantly, 4 solid walls.

LOBBY-5A2A9716-3Dining at INNSiDE Berlin Mitte

Still, this isn’t to downplay how great the lobby is; port of call for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, smattered with dozens of sofas, coffee tables, and pop-up stores and galleries, all of which float around a four-sided bar in the center.  It sounds like a lot, but given quite how much space Berlin Mitte have to play with, the lobby feels exhilaratingly busy and never chaotic.

CRAFTERIE_RESTAURANT-5A2A0202The sprawling INNSiDE Berlin Mitte lobby

The top floor is home to Berlin Mitte’s Finnish spa, ideal for decompressing after a long flight, or flushing out the toxins of a long night. The in-house menus manage to incorporate just enough of a Spanish undercurrent to remind guests that this is, in fact, a Melia location, despite feeling deeply Berlin in pretty much every other respect.

LOBBY-5A2A9649-3The INNSiDE Berlin Mitte meeting area

The work of London-based Scottish artist and poet Robert Montgomery is peppered throughout the hotel’s ground floor, perhaps in a nod to the huge artistic diaspora that continue to head to Berlin, arguably Europe’s cultural capital since the fall of the wall. For art with a more German emphasis there are countless options easily accessible from INNSiDE Berlin Mitte.

FOOD-5A2A0165Dining at INNSiDE Berlin Mitte

Berlin’s museum of modern art, Berlinische Galerie, covers everything from Dada to the Avant-Garde, and can be found in one of the city’s most popular neighbourhoods, Kreuzberg. A trip to the Helmut Newton Foundation is essential; an incredible building, and home to an awe-inspiring collection from one of 20th-century photography’s true icons. For something more modern, and with a broader program of exhibitions: head to C/O Berlin. During my visit I attended No Photos on the Dance Floor!, an immersive multimedia trip through the history of Berlin club culture.

617-EXTRA-SPACE-5A2A9808-3Living quarters at INNSiDE Berlin Mitte

Sadly, mirroring an increasing number of the clubs it covered, that particular exhibition has now finished it’s run, so instead, I advise experiencing Berlin’s inimitable nightlife first hand. I would have suggested Griessmuehle, typically a safer bet for entry (though no less of a good time) than Berghain, but sadly it was permanently closed in January, continuing a worrying trend. Berlin’s title as the world’s clubbing capital is well earned, but with beloved nightspots being forced into closure at an alarming rate, there’s genuinely no time to waste. Pay the city a visit before you miss out on, what may well be, the dying embers of a clubbing dynasty.

by Charlie Navin-Holder

Glass stayed at INNSiDE Berlin Mitte for the duration of the trip.

Chausseestraße 33, 10115 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 30 22385762

About The Author

Related Posts