Ellington Hotel Berlin (Closed Permanently) Formerly: Haus Nuernberg

This is an excellent hotel option with numerous gay-friendly aspects. Reopened in March 2007 with a new name that recalls its jazz past (including a restaurant called Duke), this 185-meter-long 285-room Berlin treasure not only boasts the preserved elegance of its late-20s design by architects Richard Bielenberg and Josef Mosef (inspired by Erich Mendelsohn), but it can be crawled to from Schöneberg's gay play zone in just five minutes; it's also around the corner from Berlin's iconic department store KaDeWe. After years of ghostly dormancy, the hotel re-emerged with its period detail fine-tuned and gracefully expanded on. Rooms are pretty much open plan, which might not suit those wanting privacy from their travelling companions, but the layouts are inventive. Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Klaus Kinski, David Bowie, Barbra Streisand, Iggy Pop, Boy George, Prince and of course Duke Ellington have all either performed or partied in the hotel's clubs of yesteryear, from the mid-century jazz mecca Badewanne to the Studio 54-like Dschungel (Jungle) in the late 70s and early 80s. The overall effect now is more elegant and soothing than glamorous and camp, though the automated system you might encounter when phoning the hotel features actress Irina von Bentheim, who is well known to the nation's SEX AND THE CITY fans as the German-dubbed voice of Carrie Bradshaw. Recommended. Sadly the hotel closed in 2021 following expiration of the lease and a selling-off of the building.