The Great Indoors: Berlin Hotel Offers Camping Under Concrete

Aug. 20, 2011— -- Love camping but hate the winter cold? Well, now your problem is solved. A new hotel in Berlin offers all the charms of outdoor camping inside a former vacuum-cleaner factory.

Franz Thum is an expert when it comes to tourism in Berlin. Every few weeks, the Vienna native abandons the Austrian capital and heads north to Berlin to sell souvenirs. He's very picky about where he stays the night, and he's tested numerous hotels. But now he's settled on the unique Hüttenpalast -- literally "Hut Palace" -- a recent addition to Berlin's trendy "Kreuzkölln" neighborhood, which straddles the border of the Kreuzberg and Neukölln districts.

"I've found a place to stay here where I can meet nice people," Thum says as he sips a soft drink in the hotel's lush courtyard. He's also drawn by its uniqueness. Indeed, no other hotel in Berlin gives guests the option of camping out year round -- albeit under a concrete, rather than a starry, sky.

Guests can choose where they'd like to hunker down for the night from a selection of wooden huts and camping trailers clustered inside a 200-square-meter (2,100-square-foot) hall that used to be part of a vacuum-cleaner factory. With the establishment of this cozy indoor camping village, what was once a dismal tribute to Berlin's industrial heyday has become a hotspot among tourists and locals alike.

The indoor camping hotel, which opened its doors this summer, is the brainchild of Silke Lorenzen and Sarah Vollmer, two long-time residents of the Kreuzkölln neighborhood. After discovering that the area lacked suitable accommodation for visiting friends and family, they decided to open their own hotel. After weeks of searching, they settled on the defunct factory as their future campsite and began renovations.

Heartbreakers and Swallow's Nests

Before long, they started scouring the Internet for the perfect camping trailer -- and found it in Dresden. With their hard work, the "Herzensbrecher" ("Heartbreaker"), a camping trailer manufactured in the former East Germany, has been born again and is enjoying a second life as a hotel room. "The '50s-era vehicle was in abysmal condition," says Vollmer, who counts the Heartbreaker as her favorite of the Hüttenpalast's rooms. Now that it's been renovated, the metal trailer serves as a cozy room for two. Next door to the Heartbreaker is the "Schwalbennest" ("Swallow's Nest"), the only trailer to not hail from the former East Germany.