The Circus Apartments

What a perfect stay! Such a great location. Wonderful and beautiful staff. All the amenities. Staff went out of their way to be helpful. Being greeted by name, as I checked-in. The location was quiet and safe at night. The Kitchen (their in-house cafe) was a joy to go down to in the morning. And, although sometimes service was... a bit slow... the quality of the food was very high, and most of the time, worth waiting for. This was one of those hotel stays where everything went right. I am so glad that we stayed here, and we have already recommended the Circus to a whole bunch of friends who will be travelling to Berlin this year.

Note: I inadvertently posted this review under the Circus Hotel (Home Away from Home). This review is for the Circus Apartments at Choriner Strasse 84, Berlin. Why stay in a hotel when you can have a reasonably-priced, well-located, large comfortable apartment with concierge services and a friendly cafe downstairs? At the Circus Apartments, you live on a quiet residential area of Berlin just steps away from public transportation, stores, and restaurants. For me, when you start feeling like a local after a few days, a trip is successful and the Circus Apartments make that happen. German: platz=square; strasse=street; bahnhof=train station; u-bahn=subway; s-bahn=above-ground train; danke=thank you; tschuss or auf wiedersehn=good bye; guten morgen=good morning; guten tag=good day; guten abend=good evening I loved our stay in our one bedroom Circus Apartment (2 person apt) for 8 days July 8-15, 2012. The price was reasonable and included tax (there is a discount for staying ＞7 days). We asked for a fan when we arrived and opened up all the windows in the unit in the evening and early morning to take advantage of the ample cross ventilation; the unit's temperature was comfortable. It was a corner unit so the living room was filled with natural light overlooking an interior courtyard surrounded by other apartment units. You can lower the blinds for privacy. Hairdryer, safe, and kitchen with dishes, pots, etc. were provided. Buy paper towels & kleenex, at the grocery store. The unit was clean, new, and in a very well-located, safe area: 7 minute walk to Rosenthaler Strasse, 4-5 blocks to Eberswalder, 15 minutes to Hackescher Markt subway (U-bahn) stations. There is a fruit stand/convenience store 1 block away on the corner, a full-service grocery store 2 blocks, an organic grocery store 5 blocks, 5 blocks to Kollwitzstrasse (a tree-lined street filled with boutiques and good restaurants), 2 banks with ATMs (our ATM card didn't work at the first one), post office, 2 gelaterias, and restaurants are located within steps of Rosenthaler Strasse., 30 minute walk to Brandenburg Gate, 20 minute walk to Museum Insel & tv tower/Alexanderplatz (major subway connector & electronics store Saturn & dept stores). We took public transportation but also walked 3-4 miles/day and didn't gain any weight. Laundry facilities, free laundry soap, & free wireless internet are provided. TV stations are in English, French, German, & Spanish, but the English-speaking stations are generally news-related. The cheese cake in the cafe downstairs is delicious! Good croissants. The concierge (major kudos to Johann for providing superb customer service) & cafe staff were superb and friendly; they even patiently allowed me to practice my survival German with them. The concierges were available from 7:00am to 11:00pm in the cafe. If you need a wake-up call before 7:00am, have them arrange to have the Circus Hotel call you. If you need to depart prior to 7:00am, check out the even

Our apartment was amazing! Spacious, clean, comfortable, well-equipped. All that in a central, convenient location! The staff were all lovely. All in all, this place made our family vacation easy to manage and a lot of fun! I can’t recommend it enough!