Review:
I
stayed for a little over a week at Die Fabrik in August,
2001. It's in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, a funky
area with a large number of Turkish immigrants, which
means there are some good cheap kebab shops around
there. It's about a seven minute walk from the
Schlesisches Tor u-bahn station, and is a straight shot
down the main road so it's very easy to find, and a good
place to base yourself for exploring the rest of the
city.
The
hostel is in a splendidly converted factory which
preserves a nice 1930's feel to the place. It's
spacious, clean, and the staff were very friendly,
although strangely enough I did have one person get a
bit perturbed with me when I had them put a wad of cash
in the safe for me and asked for a receipt. "We're not
thieves!", she snapped, flinging my receipt at me. Oh
well. I rented a single for 36 Euros (that's the most
recent rate, it was cheaper when I was there - still,
not a bad price for a single in the heart of Berlin)
rather than in a dorm for 18 Euros (again, this is the
most recent price). My single was super clean and quite
roomy. I had a look in at one of the dorms and it looked
about average in size. Each floor had two clean
bathrooms with multiple toilets, sinks and shower
stalls. The showers operated on the timer system -
pressing the button gets you about 30 seconds worth of
water. I agree with these in principle, but it would be
nice if they'd raise the time limit to maybe 60 seconds
instead.
It has a little restaurant with a full bar on the ground
floor, with some tables outside. The food was alright,
although for a hostel you'd expect more budget options
on the menu. Probably a better option would be to cook
your own in the hostel or check out one of the many
restaurants in that area, and come back to the bar for
the beer and the cozy atmosphere. They also offer
bicycle rentals, although I didn't check the price on
those.
Die Fabrik isn't the cheapest hostel in Berlin, but
it was clean and roomy and had a great vibe, and a good
mix of dorms, singles, doubles and family rooms. There
was also a good mix of travellers there, from school
groups to young backpackers to older travellers. I found
it a good base for my time in the city, and will
probably stay there again if I return. |
