A Hedonist's Guide To..., a luxury city guide series for travellers who value both style and substance when it comes to soaking up a city. Every month it will be bringing readers of The Local its picks of the best places to sleep, eat, drink, party and see in Berlin. It is also doing the same for Stockholm on TheLocal.se. "/> A Hedonist's Guide To..., a luxury city guide series for travellers who value both style and substance when it comes to soaking up a city. Every month it will be bringing readers of The Local its picks of the best places to sleep, eat, drink, party and see in Berlin. It is also doing the same for Stockholm on TheLocal.se. " />
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TOURISM

The Hedonist List: enjoy Berlin in style this month

The Local has partnered with A Hedonist's Guide To..., a luxury city guide series for travellers who value both style and substance when it comes to soaking up a city. Every month it will be bringing readers of The Local its picks of the best places to sleep, eat, drink, party and see in Berlin. It is also doing the same for Stockholm on TheLocal.se.

Published: 24 March 2010 18:25 CET
The Hedonist List: enjoy Berlin in style this month

SLEEP

Hotel de Rome

Rocco Forte’s Hotel de Rome opened in October 2006 in a blaze of publicity. Overlooking historical Bebelplatz (the site of the Nazi book-burnings) just off Unter den Linden, the hotel is housed in a 19th-century building that until the end of the war was the head office of Dresdner Bank. Overhauled by designer Tommaso Ziffer and architects Aukett and Heese the hotel has 146 rooms, including an immense presidential suite with a full-length terrace. A great deal of the history of the hotel has been preserved, right down to grenade scars from the war. The rooms, as you’d expect from any Rocco Forte establishment, are both sumptuous and spacious – high ceilings, plush furnishings and walk-in showers are common to all. Parioli, the hotel restaurant, serves Italian and Mediterranean fare and looks out onto a large terrace that offers al fresco dining during the summer. You can also take afternoon tea in the impressive Opera Court. The Spa de Rome was formerly the vault of the bank, but now offers a 20-metre pool, Finnish sauna with light and aromatherapy treatments, and an aromatic steam room as well as various massages.

EAT

Fischers Fritz

Christian Lohse is one of the most happening names on Berlin’s culinary scene at the moment, and with good reason. Having worked in such renowned establishments as Marc Meneau’s (three stars) L´Espérance restaurant in France and the Dorchester in London (where he was also the personal chef to the Sultan of Brunei), Lohse has now brought his talents to West Berlin. The only two Michelin-starred restaurant in Berlin, his current venue is fabulously opulent with a white marble fireplace, crystal chandeliers and a gilt-edged ceiling. Sculptures and paintings abound, and the floor-to-ceiling windows give wonderful views of the historic Gendarmenmarkt. The menu is the real show-stealer, though. It leans towards fish and seafood, but pedestrian descriptions could never do the food here justice. Imagination and passion are everywhere, making Fischers Fritz one of those rare places where you know you’re in good hands and offer yourself up to the experience of others. Business lunches and private dining are also available.

DRINK

Babette

There’s the possibility Big Brother really could be watching you in this ‘glass box’ bar on Karl-Marx-Allee. One of several impressive examples of DDR architecture in this area, the giant transparent cube was once a cosmetic studio. Formerly known as the KMA (Karl-Marx-Allee) Bar, Babette recently reverted to its original name. Revamped by the owners of underground club Lovelite (RIP), Babette is now one of the trendiest bars in town. Although a distance from the main drag, it’s a useful spot for visitors to the Kino International cinema opposite and occasional club venue Café Moskau. Downstairs, guests relax in full view of the street, while a partitioned mezzanine level houses former treatment rooms that now offer occasional live bands and private dinners. DJs regularly spin a selection of cutting-edge sounds, everything from lounge and rock to electro. The bar has no name or street number, just a highly distinctive identity. Impossible to miss.

PARTY

Tausend

Tausend is a ritzy new spot in town that caters to Berlin’s celeb crowds, jeunesse dorée, high-flying business types and onlookers galore. With a music policy that’s split between live acts (jazz, soul, funk) and DJs, the club’s interior is a narcissistic blaze of flattering lighting and mirrors, with a cocktail bar that serves superlative cocktails. On one end of the long, tubular room, a big bright ‘sun’ bathes revellers in an eerie orange glow and reflects their heads off the ceiling. On the other end is the dance floor, cosy and dark enough to let even the shyest management consultant groove with reckless abandon. Don’t tell the boss! The door policy is strict for groups of men, so if that applies to you show up early or in mixed company. Stylish women always get in.

CULTURE

Schloss Charlottenburg

Built in 1695 as a summer residence for Queen Sophie-Charlotte and her husband Friedrich III, this is the largest surviving Hohenzollern Palace. The huge gardens are a particular draw, with a Belvedere teahouse built in 1788. The Palace itself is vast and various combinations of entrance tickets can be purchased: save yourself a headache and go for the combined ticket. Much of the Old Palace is classically traditional, dripping with silver and porcelain. Of more interest is the New Wing of the State Apartments of Frederick the Great. A collector of 18th-century French art, he accumulated many impressive works. The Stüler Bau Pavilion can also be found on the castle grounds and houses the Sammlung Berggruen, with a collection of works by Picasso, Cezanne, Van Gogh and Klee.

For information on these and many more great places in Berlin, visit www.hg2.com/cities/berlin.

For members

TRAVEL NEWS

Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Almost 800,000 fewer UK holidaymakers have visited Spain in 2023 when compared to 2019. What’s behind this big drop?

Published: 23 August 2023 11:36 CEST
Updated: 26 August 2023 18:32 CEST
Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Spain welcomed 12.2 million UK tourists between January and July 2023, 6 percent less when compared to the same period in 2019, according to data released on Monday by Spanish tourism association Turespaña.

This represents a decrease of 793,260 British holidaymakers for Spain so far this year.

Conversely, the number of Italian (+8 percent), Irish (+15.3 percent), Portuguese (+24.8 percent), Dutch (+4 percent) and French tourists (+5 percent) visiting España in 2023 are all above the rates in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. 

German holidaymakers are together with their British counterparts the two main nationalities showing less interest in coming to Spanish shores.

Britons still represent the biggest tourist group that comes to Spain, but it’s undergoing a slump, with another recent study by Caixabank Research suggesting numbers fell particularly in June 2023 (-12.5 percent of the usual rate). 

READ ALSO: Spain fully booked for summer despite most expensive holiday prices ever

So are some Britons falling out of love with Spain? Are there clear reasons why a holiday on the Spanish coast is on fewer British holiday itineraries?

According to Caixabank Research’s report, the main reasons are “the poor macroeconomic performance of the United Kingdom, the sharp rise in rates and the weakness of the pound”.

This is evidenced in the results of a survey by British market research company Savanta, which found that one in six Britons are not going on a summer holiday this year due to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

Practically everything, everywhere has become more expensive, and that includes holidays in Spain: hotel stays are up 44 percent, eating out is 13 percent pricier, and flights are 40 percent more on average. 

READ ALSO: How much more expensive is it to holiday in Spain this summer?

Caixabank stressed that another reason for the drop in British holidaymakers heading to Spain is that those who can afford a holiday abroad are choosing “more competitive markets” such as Turkey, Greece and Portugal. 

And there’s no doubt that the insufferably hot summer that Spain is having, with four heatwaves so far, has also dissuaded many holidaymakers from Blighty from overcooking in the Spanish sun. 

With headlines such as “This area of Spain could become too hot for tourists” or “tourists say it’s too hot to see any sights” featuring in the UK press, budding British holidaymakers are all too aware of the suffocating weather conditions Spain and other Mediterranean countries are enduring. 

Other UK outlets have urged travellers to try out the cooler Spanish north rather than the usual piping hot Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol destinations.

Another UK poll by InsureandGo found that 71 percent of the 2,000+ British respondents thought that parts of Europe such as Spain, Greece and Turkey will be too hot to visit over summer by 2027.

There’s further concern that the introduction in 2024 of the new (and delayed) ETIAS visa for non-EU visitors, which of course now also applies to UK nationals, could further compel British tourists to choose countries to holiday in rather than Spain.

READ MORE: Will British tourists need to pay for a visa waiver to enter Spain?

However, a drop in the number of British holidaymakers may not be all that bad for Spain, even though they did spend over €17 billion on their Spanish vacations in 2022. 

Towns, cities and islands across the country have been grappling with the problem of overtourism and the consequences it has on everything from quality of life for locals to rent prices. 

READ ALSO: ‘Beach closed’ – Fake signs put up in Spain’s Mallorca to dissuade tourists

The overcrowded nature of Spain’s beaches and most beautiful holiday hotspots appears to be one of the reasons why Germans are visiting Spain in far fewer numbers. A recent report in the country’s most read magazine Stern asked “if the dream is over” in their beloved Mallorca.

Spanish authorities are also seeking to overhaul the cheaper holiday package-driven model that dominates many resorts, which includes moving away from the boozy antics of young British and other European revellers.

Fewer tourists who spend more are what Spain is theoretically now looking for, and the rise in American, Japanese and European tourists other than Brits signify less of a dependence on the British market, one which tends to maintain the country’s tourism status quo for better or for worse.

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