“Excellent service in a top class hotel”
The Pullman Berlin Schweizerhof was an excellent choice for our short stay in Berlin. The service was superb. Nothing was too much for them. When my iPad charger failed to work, they immediately produced a replacement for use in the room. Any call to house keeping was answered in just a few minutes! All the staff were very polite, efficient and as helpful as possible.
The facilities in the hotel are excellent - especially the Spa Centre which has a very large swimming pool with lots of natural light, excellent saunas, steam room, foot baths and a very adequate small gym well provided with running/cycle machines, free weights (10kg max!), bench and kinetic cable equipment. The gym is open 24/7!
The business facility offers four pcs with free internet connection. Rooms have free wired internet connection. Unfortunately, wifi comes at a price in rooms (I think €9 a day) and is not available in the public areas.
The corriders are very wide, roomy and well lit and full of attractive and interesting abstract art. Each floor has seating and coffee tables, providing a pleasant and open area in which to sit and enjoy the views over the Berlin Zoo.
A 50% discount on the breakfast was incredible value. Eat as much as you like with eggs, omlettes and panakes cooked to your order, 7 min and 5 min boiled eggs, bacon, sausages, meatballs, fruits, numerous cereals, dried fruit, yoghurts, pasteries, fruit juices, etc., & German newspapers (only Wall Street Journal Europe in English.)
Getting around
Don't buy the 72 hours travel pass (covering zone C at the Schonefeld airport - €23.90) since it is cheaper to buy a daily pass on each day (€6.80 daily (incl. zone C), or €6.30 if on the second day you have no need to use zone C (e.g. for the airport or Potsdam)) and the daily pass will cover you for the whole of your last third day (expires 3 am the following day) whereas the 72 hours runs from the date you first validate and use it.
Although buses take longer than the excellent underground, they are much quicker than in London because of the much less busy traffic and of course give you the opportunity to see so much more of Berlin.
At the moment (July 2012), the U2 line is not running between Gleisdreieck and Wittenbergplatz (four stops). There is a U12 service shown but there is no U12 line because "U12" actually means U1/2. Going westwards, you therefore have to change trains at Gleisdreieck on to a U1 train that then continues along the U2 line to the Ruhleben terminus. I assume a U1 train will also run the three stops from Wittenbergplatz to the Uhlandstr. terminus.
