1) Westin Grand, Berlin
Friedrichstrasse 158-164
(49-30) 20270
aktuelles.westin.de/berlin_en
96 euros

The Westin is smack in the center of former East Berlin and an easy walk to the major museums, Alexanderplatz, Brandenburg Gate. Rooms are good size, quiet and at a $150 rate, including their diverse breakfast, which otherwise goes for an outrageous 25 euros per person, this 4/5-star hotel was good value. — Artnuvo

2) Ku’Damm 101
Kurfürstendamm 101
(49-30) 520-0550
www.kudamm101.com
92 euros

3) art’otel berlin-mitte
Wallstrasse 70-73
(49-30) 240-620
U.S. reservations, (800) 791-9161
www.artotels.com
92 euros

4) Circus Hotel
Rosenthaler Platz 1
(49-30) 2000-3939
www.circus-berlin.de
78 euros

The Circus Hotel is a hip 60-room hotel in an area that seems to be up and coming. Prices start at about 70 euros and include breakfast. Wi-Fi is free and you can rent a Segway to tour the neighborhood. Across the street is their hostel version, packed with young people from around the world. — VividTurtle

5) Hotel Transit
Hagelberger Strasse 53-54
(49-30) 789-0470
www.hotel-transit.de
72 euros

I highly recommend Hotel Transit. The nearest U-Bahn is Mehringdamm, about two blocks away. The building doesn’t look like much on the outside, but there is a beautiful courtyard tucked away inside that many of the rooms look out to. The rooms (doubles/triples) are simply but elegantly decorated, and best of all, it is technically a “hostel” so it is very reasonably priced! — lmzhang

6) Hotel Gates Berlin City West
Knesebeckstrasse 8-9
(49-30) 311-060
www.hotel-gates.com
85 euros

7) Arte Luise Künsthotel
Luisenstrasse 19
(49-30) 284-480
www.luise-berlin.com
99 euros

I stayed at the Arte Luise Künsthotel on a recent visit and paid about 50 euros per night for a very basic single room. The hotel staff is wonderful and each guest room has been designed by a different artist (hence the name of the hotel). And the location couldn’t be better — in Mitte, steps away from many “touristy” sites, but not far by foot or train to many off-the-beaten-path locations. — Adrian

Holiday Inn Berlin City Center East
Prenzlauer Allee 169
(49-30) 446-610
www.hi-berlin.com
64 euros

Not far away is the Hotel Amano (Augustrasse 43; 49-30-809-4150; www.hotel-amano.com), a modern, 163-room hotel that blends into the street’s mix of Communist-era buildings. It has an attractive staff in tailored uniforms; a sleek lobby with brushed copper, slate floors and brown velvet upholstery; and doubles starting at 75 euros (about $115 at $1.53 to the euro).

And with the new, 60-room Circus Hotel (Rosenthaler Strasse 1; 49-30-2000-3939; www.circus-berlin.de; doubles from 78 euros) just two blocks away, this pocket of Berlin has, seemingly overnight, become a new hotel district. It’s not the only one.

Following a long drought, a flood of new hotels is opening in Berlin, energized by the city’s reputation as a world capital of the emerging creative class. When the Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago, visitors to the former East Berlin found little else but grim hotels with barebones amenities and rude service. By the early 1990s, the state-run hotels had collapsed, with a very few surviving as private ventures. But mostly the hotel industry in eastern Berlin had to start anew.

Developers moved in and the results are finally bearing fruit. It began, most notably, with the opening of the luxurious Hotel Adlon Kempinski in 1997, near the Brandenburg Gate, rebuilt to its pre-World War II glory. In 2006, the chic Lux 11 opened as one of the city’s first design hotels. Now there are half a dozen fashionable hotels dotted throughout the city, many just opened in the past two years.

Most are in the Mitte district, like Casa Camper (Weinmeisterstrasse 1; 49-30-2000-3410; www.casacamper.com), where doubles are about 200 euros a night, and its central location will very likely bring a steady flow of foodies to its soon-to-open restaurant, Dos Pallilos, run by Albert Raurich, who once worked at El Bulli. “Our mission is to make tourists feel like locals,” said Alexander Schneider, Camper’s general manager.

But hotels are also opening along the bourgeois boulevards of Charlottenburg, in the former West Berlin. The 42-room Aspria Hotel (Karlsruher Strasse 20; 49-30-8906-8880; www.aspria-hotel.com) opens this month on a leafy side street just minutes away from boutiques like Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo. The rooms, which start at 109 euros for a double, are nicely appointed with funky Jetsons-style built-ins. The main draw, however, is the 14,000-square-meter gym and spa that includes a hamam, a “salt inhalation room” and a spacious rooftop terrace with restaurant.

But perhaps the most intriguing hotels are cropping up nontouristy neighborhoods. One that has generated considerable buzz in the blogosphere is the 119-room Hotel Michelberger (Warschauer Strasse 39/40; 49-30-2977-8590; www.michelbergerhotel.com), which opened along an industrial stretch of Friedrichshain, next to a U-Bahn and S-Bahn station in eastern Berlin.

With doubles as low as 65 euros, the Michelberger might be the city’s most stylish budget option, offering a kind of urban, D.I.Y. aesthetic that reflects the city’s manic and youthful energy. While it’s far from the tourist centers, the hotel is stumbling distance from nightclubs like Berghain, a vast, hedonistic dance club in a former Nazi-era building, and Watergate, a Spree-side disco with a spectacular LED lighting system.

“This is the part of Berlin you come to if you want to experience something authentic,” said Tom Michelberger, an owner of the hotel. “This isn’t a place just for tourists, it’s where real Berliners live and spend their time. It’s very alternative and rock ’n’ roll.”