Sunflower Hostel Berlin opened its doors in 2001 and since then has become one of Berlin’s most popular Hostels. Numerous awards by Let’s Go, Merian, Gomio, Hostelworld, Hostelbookers, Berlinlife and others represent the official feedback, but more importantly it is our guests that spread the world. In these times of more and more hostel-portals we are glad to receive the majority of our requests and reservations directly from guests either having stayed with us before or after being recommended by friends that did. The word of mouth made us what we are and we are grateful to those talking heads and mouths, that create our microworld and brought along other fellows that do also.
Your choice of rooms to select from starts with the 8-bed-dorm, leading to 3-bed-rooms, double and single rooms and up to apartments (max. 4 beds w/ private bathroom and kitchen). 24-hour reception, 22-h-bar, free bed sheets, breakfast from 7.15 am till noon (12 pm), internet access, laundry, bike rental, table-foosball and a lot more (have a look under “service” to get the full wide angled picture…) have contributed to the reputation we have achieved over the years of our existence.
We are located in Berlin Friedrichshain, one of Berlin’s central districts, neighboured by Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte and Kreuzberg. Friedrichshain itself is known for its young and creative vibe, due to its enormous amount of bars, cafés, galleries, theatres, cultural institutions, restaurants, cheap eats... and then there are those great clubs, such as the Berghain, entitled as the “best club worldwide” by the New York Times and other newspapers and magazines that followed the echo. What other clubs in the neighbourhood? Here we go: Cassiopeia, Astra, Rosi’s, Lovelight, Supamolly, Stereo 33, RAW, Matrix, Watergate, Magnet, Comet-Club, KATO, L.U.X., Lido, Arena, Privatclub… also have a look under “clubs” or "neighbourhood". A fair 5-minute walk away direction North you will come across the Karl-Marx-Allee - an architectural homage to the Soviet Union’s Socialist Classicism, the so-called "cedding-cake style". Furtherdown South awaits you another tourist sight: the Oberbaum Bridge, that nowadays connects the underground lines from West to East, but was cut and abandoned in the era of the Cold War, except for several spy-exchanges. Just around the corner you'll find the East Side Gallery, which is the longest remaining strip of the Wall, painted by artists from all over the world. So these are all tourist attractions within walking distance from Sunflower Hostel. The historical centre of the city, Mitte, with the majority of Berlin’s tourist sights can be reached within 5 minutes by the means of public transportation.
First of all it is about the laid back and grounded atmosphere, guests usually appreciate; our pleasant staff, colourful and creative rooms; and again despite these times of more and more hostel-chains opening up under the theme of “hotel standard for hostel-prices”, we prefer funky paintings on our guests rooms walls and cool people working with us, rather than construct an impersonal and formal hotel standard which ends up keeping you from communicating with us, or our other guests and Berlin. We believe that not only your budget, but the atmosphere our hostel and our guests and therefore you create, makes you want to stay with us. The Sunflower Hostel is open to all kinds of different people and your stay will or would have been a completely different experience, if you will or would have stayed with us a week earlier or later – as we are the platform and it is the guest-community that spreads life thru our veins. Therefore we highly recommend to stay for a minimum of 365.25 days in order to receive the greatest possible variety of experiences…;) All we ask for is pleasant behaviour, mutual respect, awareness, understanding and interest in and for each other. The feedback goes, that people either love or hate us, though love seems to outweigh the hatred-section by many multiples. In order not to be hated, we recommend you to have a read through the section “What is the Sunflower Hostel not about?”, before you place a reservation and become disappointed or even hateful afterwards. The wide range of variety of our guests is also represented in the character and range of rooms we offer, as we are interested in the widest possible range of different people gathered together.
The company consists of two unfinished academics (was it Sociology and Law or Economics?), one finished teacher, who is not into teaching, but into preaching, one dj dedicated to the tunes of minimal Electro, a solid book keeper, an engineer of isolation (whatever that is or was…) and… well, we don’t know about no. 7, and neither does he… We heard, that he used to be really good at soccer… Anyway, that makes seven in total, 1 female and 6 males coming from East Germany, West Germany and the Blue Mountains of Australia originally, with backgrounds and personalities that are impossible to be more different from each other, but united in the goal of welcoming and hosting you, our guest, from anywhere in the world and to get you linked and enthusiastic about what we adore and love about Berlin: Progressivity, dynamics, tolerance, creativity, political awareness & ignorance, spontaneity, flexibility, harshness, friendliness, beauty, ugliness, harmony and cruelty, speed, slowness, variety, free or open or abandoned spaces ready to be invaded by new ideas, history able and accessable to be experienced, a certain madness and… constant change! Berlin never is, but always becomes… and there you go to come along; join on in! U R WELCOME!