Hi.
In the next week or so i will be travelling to Berlin by train from Amsterdam. Does anyone know how easy it is to find accomadtion? Like are there many hotels directly outside the station like there are in amsterdam and brussels?
Thankyou for any help x
There are loads of hotels in Berlin. 
I'm actually heading to Berlin next Wednesday as well. There is a big conference on though, so a lot of hotels are already full or deadly expensive! But there's hostels free even now still for reasonable rates. Considering the size of this conference, and depending on how tied down to your dates you are, you might want to book in advance 
Today's Berlin was created in the 19th century as a conglomerate of over 50 smaller cities and villages. It its very much spread out, it takes up to 2 hours to get by public transport from one end to the other. And in each of these small cities, villages and neighborhoods there is a hotel or two. Go fig.
When choosing a hotel it is essential that you know what you want to see and do, as it will influence where you'll stay. Once you've picked an area you can then look for a hotel.
The hostel with the best location IMO is the Heart of Gold hostel at Johannisstrasse 11. It is a very good hotel and hostel. Of course everybody knows it by now so it is almost always booked out.
http://www.heartofgold-hostel.de/
From the experience I like the Ostel - a budget hotel and hostel decorated in authentic GDR style.
http://www.ostel.eu/
A hostel that is ideal if you need to fly out of Schoenefeld is the Odyssee. It is very nice, I can recommend it. http://www.odyssee-hostel.de/
And last but not least there is the Meininger, another hotel/hostel. It is frequently invaded by large groups and school excursions, but otherwise a great place to stay.
http://www.meininger-hostels.com/
Thanks for the advice! I ended up leaving this a little too late and there wasn't much available (wanted a private room for this trip 
), but I managed to get a spot at hotel pension Charlottenburg. It seems to have a good location?!
Quoting Sam I Am
Thanks for the advice! I ended up leaving this a little too late and there wasn't much available (wanted a private room for this trip
Hi Sam,
your hotel definitely is in a good location, although almost everywhere in the inner circle of the city is a good spot to stay at. Berlin doesn't really have a centre or CBD, but as t_maia mentioned in her post it is a conglomeration of many smaller cities and suburbs. Therefore I also have to second that it can take ages to get from one place to another with public transport, but the metro/tram/bus/surburban train network is extremely reliable. It definitely proves efficient and is hardly ever running late. Additionaly you can count on an excellent Nightbus service. If you need to check, here's BVG - public transport site for more details.
Quoting steff
your hotel definitely is in a good location, although almost everywhere in the inner circle of the city is a good spot to stay at. Berlin doesn't really have a centre or CBD, but as t_maia mentioned in her post it is a conglomeration of many smaller cities and suburbs.
Good to know! It's about half way between the Messe and Berlin Mitte, so I figured it would be useful (have to catch a train from the latter on Friday). I realized when researching different locations that they all must have something different to offer because hotels and hostels are REALLY spread out in the city. There's a lot along 'Kurfusterdamm' (sorry if that's not spelled correctly - top of my head there!) but there's also other areas with quite a lot bunched together. I can't really remember much from the last time I was in Berlin, so hopefully will have a chance to check out a bit more of the city and add to the Berlin wiki when I get back
Charlottenburg?
Hmm, the only positive thing about your location IMO is that you are close to http://www.die-kurbel.com/ at Giesebrechtstr. 4. It is a small cinema often showing independent movies and undubbed foreign-language pieces (mostly in English), I often went there when I wanted to see a particular movie that was not shown in my hometown.
Another good thing is the Asian supermarket at Ansbacher Strasse and the KaDeWe at U Wittenbergplatz - I usually shop there when I am in Berlin. You can get almost every edible thing from around the world at the food court at KaDeWe, so it is a good way to alleviate cravings for foods you got to know abroad. They are the only shop that I know of that carry both vegemite and marmite. It is expensive though.
Quoting t_maia
Charlottenburg?
Hmm, the only positive thing about your location IMO is that you are close to http://www.die-kurbel.com/ at Giesebrechtstr. 4.
Hmm, interesting! From a lot of the sites I was looking at a lot of travellers seemed to rave about Kurfurstendamm which is a few metres away from the property.... The main thing about the location that's good for me is that it's relatively near to the Messe in Berlin which is where I'll be 80% of the time anyway. So I'm not going to have much time for sight seeing at all I'm afraid. Actually I should add to this that it now looks like I might have to cancel the whole trip due to a funeral (not anyone close, but still close enough) 
I'm sorry to hear that Sam.
Well, the reason I am not that psyched out about Kudamm (yep, thats what Berliners call it) is that it is your typical average shopping mile. Its one for the girly girls, a shop-till-you-drop paradise. Unfortunately most of the stores there are typical brand chain stores, Mango, Zara, C&A, Leiser, etc. Apart from some stuff in the KaDeWe there is absolutely nothing that you cannot find in other big German cities, so I don't think that Kudamm is a good sight or reason to go to Berlin.
There used to be some great little boutiques tucked away in the side streets at Kudamm, but they have almost all moved away to the hipper Mitte, Kreuz- and Prenzl'berg areas.