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Districts
The city is divided into different districts, some more well known than other. It´s really a matter of taste which ones you prefer. Some of the most popular alternative hipster areas are Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Neukölln. I personally really like these districts and mostly hang out there. A lot of the more well known clubs are located there and I want to do a “clubs in Berlin-guide” but I seriously need to go to more clubs before I can do that. In Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Neukölln there´s a lot of old buildings, graffiti, secondhand shops, vegan restaurants and cafés. I´ll make another post about more specific recommendations in the future. My friend Fanny doesn´t like these parts of the city at all. She prefers the more modern parts as Mitte, Charlottenburg and Prenzlauer Berg. There you can find stores with bigger brands and more fancy restaurants and cafés.
There´s really hard to find a long term place to stay in the city so a lot of times it´s good to look in the districts outside the ring-bahn. (It´s a train line that goes around the inner part of the city). Of course it takes a little longer to get around but the connections are often really good and the rent is lower. If you like to live more in the east and close to Friedrichshain I can recommend Lichtenberg, Rummelsburg and Karlshorst where I live. It´s less than 10 minutes to get to Friedrichshain from there with the S-bahn.
Prices
I´m not a professional when it comes to prices but I´ve been out there looking around a lot. At the moment I´m paying 450 euros for a room in an apartment outside the ring with a living room and balcony. I´m registered at this place and have an unlimited contract. My landlord is using this as an overnight-apartment and is here around 2-3 times a month. Since I moved to Berlin I paid around 400-450 euros a month for a room in a shared apartment. My earlier addresses has been in Neukölln and Kreuzberg. In my opinion it´s not reasonable to pay over 500 euros a month for just a room. In a lot of cases it´s just someone using people to earn way more money than it actually costs to have the apartment. Berlin is known for being a cheap european capital city to live in and even if the prices has gone up it´s still manageable to live here with a low income. When I first moved here I lived alone in an apartment for 700 euros a month, that´s around what I´ve seen most one room plus kitchen apartments being rented out for. Also be aware about if the price is including heat or not. Heating is often really expensive here in Berlin so it can make the total cost for the apartment higher. If you are a student there´s a lot of possibilities to find a student apartment which can be way cheaper to rent.
Public transport
Another thing to remember is to always buy a ticket when you´re using the public transport during daytime. You don´t have to show anyone you´re ticket when you get on so a lot of people think it a good opportunity to save some euros. But there´s a lot of ticket-controllants out there dressed in civil clothes, they have id-tags though which they´re showing to prove their identity. They work in pairs blocking the entrances in the subway while they´re checking your ticket. If you get caught without a ticket they ask you to follow them outside and take your id-card and ask you to pay 60 euros. They either keep your ID until you´ve been to an atm or send a bill to your home. Believe me I´ve been there done that and it sucks.
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