45 min
45 min
U9 · U5 · S3 · S5 · S7 · S41 · S42 · M10
6.1 / km²
4
8
438
+13% vs city
Counted from OpenStreetMap and Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0)
Mixed after dark
The streets north of Hauptbahnhof towards Lehrter Strasse are empty and poorly lit at night, and Berlin's own guide groups Moabit with Wedding and Gesundbrunnen for robbery risk.
Staying in Moabit
Moabit is an island, ringed by the Spree and three canals, and it is where the cheap beds at Hauptbahnhof actually are. Motel One and Meininger sit at the station, which is genuinely useful: a late train or an early flight means a five-minute walk, and the FEX to BER leaves from downstairs. Turmstrasse, the district's own high street, has the Arminiusmarkthalle, an 1891 market hall with no tour groups in it.
The rest is the problem. The blocks between the station and the river are offices, rail land and building sites, and after 20:00 there is nothing open and almost nobody about. Museum Island is thirty-five to forty-five minutes on foot depending on which end you booked, and most of that walk is across empty ground. Berlin's own visitor guide groups Moabit with Wedding and Gesundbrunnen as places to treat with some caution at night.
Book it when the price gap is real and the trip is short: arriving late, leaving early, or using Berlin as a rail hub. For a first visit with sightseeing days, pay the difference and stay in Mitte.
What works
- Motel One and Meininger are at Hauptbahnhof, a five-minute walk from the platforms
- The FEX airport express to BER leaves from the station twice an hour
- Arminiusmarkthalle is a real 1891 market hall that no tour group visits
- Cheaper than anywhere else this close to the government quarter
- U9, the S-Bahn and the M10 tram, so the whole city is one change away
What does not
- The blocks around Hauptbahnhof are offices and building sites, shut by 20:00
- Thirty-five to forty-five minutes on foot to Museum Island, across empty ground
- Berlin's own visitor guide groups it with Wedding and Gesundbrunnen for night-time robberies
- Nothing in the district is a reason to come to Berlin
- Turmstrasse, the one lively street, is a further twenty minutes west
In the bordering neighbourhood of the districts Neukölln and Kreuzberg (between Hermannplatz, Schönleinstraße to Kottbusser Tor) and Wedding (Moabit and Gesundbrunnen) the risk of falling victim to robberies and assaults is higher. Tourists should visit these areas with some caution during the night as a mixture of drunken party people and poor neighbourhoods might lead to trouble.You'll find only budget hotels (Motel One and Meininger) located directly at the new main train station but some large constructions are in progress.