After the 25hours Hotels in Hamburg and in Zürich both had impressed us, it was high time for us to also visit the 25hours Bikini in Berlin – and not just because of that name…
Let’s be clear right from the start: anyone who expects to see scantily clad bathing beauties in the 25hours Bikini Hotel, sorry, you’re in for a letdown… That’s because the hotel thanks the heritage-registered “Bikini House” that dominates the area between the Berlin Zoo and Breitscheidplatz for its name.
Here’s the lowdown on the name: The landmark was originally a factory for ladies outerwear, and it had an air space in those days that separated the lower sales floors from the production facilities upstairs, giving the structure a two-piece look — kind of like a bikini! It just takes a little imagination…
Got it?
In April 2014, the rebuilt Bikini House reopened as shopping center with hotel. The basic architectural concept combined the ideas of shopping, working, relaxing, movie going and – now we’re getting to it – the Hotel 25hours, in an urban setting.
It turned out great, the way we see it!
The 25hours Bikini Hotel
Cool, colorful, hip, nostalgic, urban and with industrial chic – that’s how the different 25hours Hotels come across in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Vienna and Zurich. In Berlin, the team around designer Werner Aisslinger plays with the contrasts between nature and urbanism in a concept he coined “Urban Jungle.” That is why you’ll naturally find the hotel’s complement of 149 rooms split between two categories, “Urban” und “Jungle”.
The Jungle rooms have a view of the Berlin Zoo. This is why you also find natural materials and colors and even hammocks in the larger “XL” rooms. The Urban rooms offer a view of another Berlin landmark, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Breitscheidplatz. The room design on this side is more urban and a little more on the edgy side.
The reception area invites the guest to linger; besides hammocks, you’ll find other tongue-in-cheek elements to cozy up to. Add to that a fine smoothie or a piece of cake from the in-house bakery and you’re ready to enjoy the urban ambiance with a view of the Zoo. It’s somehow fitting that while swinging gently in a hammock yourself you can watch the Zoo’s orangutans move gracefully hand over hand with long arms through their own rope jungle landscape.
The witty wall letterings and drawing by the way were done by Japanese artist Yoshi Sislay.
Many thanks to young, good looking Kalle (the name all his female colleagues call him) for being our friendly hotel tour guide! Alas, we need to clarify for blogging accuracy’s sake that this is how he described himself when it came to determining which member of the reception crew would act as our hotel tour guide. That bit of self-advertising again brought not a little protest from his female colleagues, but he did a great job taking us around. The rest is probably best left to the eye of the (female) beholder ;-)
Check out prices and availability in the following search box.
Restaurant NENI and the Monkey Bar
A great attraction, and not just for hotel guests, are the Restaurant and Monkey Bar on the top floor with a brilliant view of the Zoo and the city.
Alive and well in Restaurant NENI is the concept of the Austrian scene gastronome Haya Molcho by which dishes are shared and experienced, “en famille,” as it were. The kitchen offers a culinary mosaic of Israeli, Moroccan, Spanish, German and Austrian influences. Delectable! And Nino the waiter was extremely attentive and explained the concept to us in detail.
Thank you, Nino, well done!
As for the ambiance – we’ll let the pictures tell the story. It’s simpler that way…
Our thanks go to…
… 25hours Berlin and Christian Tänzler with VisitBerlin for the invitation! Many thanks also to Oliver Sefrin of the German National Tourist Board for organizing this trip.
And, of course, a great big thank you to Air Berlin, flying five times daily (!) from Zurich to the German metropolis. In addition, starting on weekends Air Berlin now also offers direct flights to Sylt where we’re also slated to report from soon…
