I spent four nights at Hotel Pension Margrit in mid-November. It was the perfect sort of place for me to get over my jet lag and explore Berlin for the first time. The single room was compact, with a single bed, duvet, TV, chair, two tables, a clothes dresser that locked (so you could leave valuables there), a sink and a shower. There was a shared toilet down the hall that was never in use any time I needed to use it. The heat in the room was adjustable (though it took me one cold night to realize this). The neighbourhood felt very safe and the U-bahn line 7 station Konstanzer Str., which can get you most of the way to either of Berlin’s two airports is half a flock away (to Tegel take the Ubahn and bus 109, to airport Schonefeld go to the end of the line south and take either bus 117 or X7; fare one way is 3.2 Euros) Breakfast was included each morning and was a buffet of breads, cheeses and meats, warm scrambled or boiled eggs, devilled eggs and meatballs, jam and other spreads, yogurt, fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers and cereals. A pot of coffee or tea was brought to your table. After such a big breakfast I usually didn’t eat again until around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. I think I got a winter special price, but the cost was only 26 Euros per night all included, which seems very reasonable. The only minuses are that the walls are not the thickest, but at least the four nights I was there, the other guests were very quiet, though their six o’clock alarms sometimes woke me. This place was very simple, humble even, but supplied everything I wanted and was perfect for a single traveller.