Catering for the many visitors who come to stay in Berlin for longer periods of time are a huge number of residential apartments available for short-term rent.
A view over Berlin (Photo: Falco Ermert via Flickr / CC BY 2.0)
Since the fall of the notorious Berlin Wall, the German capital has experienced a truly remarkable renaissance and is now widely considered to be one of the continent’s most vibrant, creative and fun places to visit, whether its for a weekend break or a more extended stay. For those considering the latter, we’ve picked out 5 of the best online resources for finding short term rentals to suit your tastes, budget and needs.
Booking
One of the biggest online accommodation platforms, Booking.com list most of the world’s lodgings which can be searched for and then booked online with ease. On top of conventional hotels, the platform also lists a wide number of furnished rentals available for a week or less. We conducted a search for these properties in Berlin for several dates and found a large assortment of available properties in all areas of the city, with rates starting at €53 for a studio apartment in the suburban district of Treptow-Köpenick. All bookings on the platform also come with a Best Price Guarantee and those searching can also peruse a detailed reviews section to see what previous guests have said about a property.
Homelike
A popular platform for people looking for monthly furnished rentals, Homelike’s flexible check-in and check-out dates let guests change their plans up to the very last moment. While booking via other rental platforms can often be a complex process, Homelike keeps it nice and simple, showing photography and essential descriptions of the apartments, with icons used to display the property’s amenities. On our chosen dates, we found over 1,000 apartments available in Berlin, with prices starting at €890 per month (around €29 per night) for a studio in the funky district of Friedrichshain, rising to €9,363 (around €312 per night) for a large five-bedroom apartment in the southwest of the city.
Blueground
Blueground are probably the best choice on our list for those seeking a high-end property. They offer professionally-managed, turnkey apartments with flexible leases to vetted guests. Stays of more than a month come with significant cost savings, as the longer your stay the cheaper the rates become. They pride themselves on taking the guesswork out of the apartment hunt, and in Berlin offer over 100 apartments in the heart of the city, as well as in some of its most desirable suburbs. When we conducted a search for Berlin, prices started at €1,080 per month for a studio apartment in the western district of Charlottenburg, rising to €4,500 for a two-bed apartment in Mitte. The online booking process is simple and there’s also a 24-hour support service accessed via a guest app.
Spotahome
With over 1,500 Berlin properties on its books, Spotahome has a vast selection of flats and rooms for rent spread all the way across the city and beyond. Prices range from as little as €304 per month for a one-bed flat share to €8,800 for a lavish two-bedroom flat in eclectic Schöneberg. It’s worth mentioning that these prices can drop by as much as 7% if the apartment is rented out for a period of 6 months ore longer. Like most short-term rental companies, Spotahome adds administration fees to the advertised price, so you should make sure you fully understand the extent of those costs before confirming a rental.
Exberliner
Exberliner are a Berlin accommodation service operated by the city’s eponymous English-language magazine Exberliner. The service was founded it in 2003 with the aim of helping the magazine’s staff, contributors and friends to find housing in Berlin. Seventeen years later they are still successfully helping expats and international travellers navigate the bureaucratic hurdles involved in renting a flat in the German capital. Here you can find both short- and long-term rentals as well as rooms in shared flats. Despite the current housing market challenges, they remain committed to sustainable prices and fair practices, and you can trust they’ll try their best to help you find the most suitable match.