What do you do when your country is bankrupt and is in desperate need of foreign currency? Well, you rent out the buildings that house your foreign embassies. At least this is what North Korea has done with parts of its Berlin embassy, which has been turned into a hostel.

The Cityhostel Berlin opened on July 1. 2008 and has around 100 rooms covering two floors in the former embassy building.

The embassy was built in the 1970s on Glinka Strasse in the old East Berlin and consisted of two buildings. After the Cold War, staff numbers at the embassy were cut and now one of the buildings has been rented out and turned into the Cityhostel Berlin. The other building on the site still houses the North Korean embassy .

We hope that the money North Korea recieves from renting out its embassies will be spend on improving the miserable living conditions in North Korea, but we fear that the money will be converted into sustaining Kim Jong-Il’s repressive regime and the 'Dear Leader’s reputed exorbitant private consumption.

The history of the building and Cityhostel Berlin's location right next to the North Korean embassy will probably be attractive to many. Communist kitsch is a big thing in Berlin where the Ostalgie vibe has been going on for several years and in May 2007 the city got its first DDR design-hostel.

Author David Rich Momondo

Go further: Experience a night in the old East Berlin together with Erich Honecker and other former communist leaders at Ostel.

Find more hotels in Berlin here.

Want to spend a night in East Germany? Then book a room at Ostel, which is the name of Berlin’s first DDR design-hostel. The hostel offers guests a chance to experience life in the old East Germany and a bit of communist kitsch.

All interior at Ostel is from the old DDR. Everything is brown or orange and made from materials that are anything but good quality. In the reception there are different watches showing the time in Moscow, Havana, Beijing and Berlin and on the walls are pictures of former communist leaders keeping a watchful eye on the guests.

Ostel is situated in a residential area behind the station Ostbahnhof and do we need to say that it is located in a concrete block of the kind favoured by communist leaders from Berlin to Novosibirsk.

If you want to enjoy real DDR-extravagance then book the Stasi-suite. The suite is decorated with authentic furniture from former members of the Politburo and with a big picture of a smiling former Communist Party leader Erich Honecker. As an extra luxury the suite has a balcony with a spectacular view of great DDR-style concrete blocks.

Ostel opened 1. May 2007 and has received a lot of attention from around the world. However some guests have been a little bit too interested and nicked interior from the hostel. Therefore Ostel has begun selling DDR-souvenirs including photos of Erich Honecker.

Ostel – das DDR Hostel, Wriezener Karree 5

Author David Rich Momondo

Go further: Sleep next to Kim Jong-Il at the former North Korean embassy in East Berlin.

Find more Berlin hotels. 

Askanischer Hof

Feels like sleeping at your grand-ma’s. A big apartment with art deco furnishing. You take breakfast in the big dining room and all rooms are beautifully decorated in different styles. Rooms number 12 and 16 are my personal favorites.
Good location in the quiet part of Kurfürstendamm.

130 €

Askanischer Hof Berlin, Kurfürstendamm 53
www.askanischer-hof.de

Flower’s

A lovely place where you can have an entire apartment for 80 or 90 Euros. It is nice and bright and has a perfect location in Mitte.

80-100 €

Mulackstrasse 1/Alte Schönhauserstrasse 11, Mitte
www.flowersberlin.com

Hotel Bleibtreu

ll products used to build the hotel are biodegradable, with furnishings free from chemical treatment and wool carpets pollutant-free. Each floor has also been assigned its own smell – a very interesting stay.

140-300 €

Hotel Bleibtreu, Bleibtreustrasse 31, right by Kurfürstendamm.

Hotel Ackselhaus

A nicely restored villa in Victorian style in Prenzlauer Berg. The rooms are divided in themes and beautifully decorated.

130-160 €

Hotel Ackselhaus, Belforterstrasse 21, Prenzlauer Berg.
www.ackselhaus.de

Lux11

Very tasteful hotel i Mitte. Designer bathrooms in several of the bright rooms. The suites have their own little kitchen. Perfectly situated right in the centre of all the nice streets. One of Berlin’s best restaurant at street level: Shiro i Shiro.

130-140 €

Lux11, Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse 9-13, Mitte
www.lux-eleven.com

By Mette Lomholdt & Katrine Salomon