I tried for months and months to score a bargain hotel through Priceline, but no one was willing to sell me a double room in Berlin for under $80 per night. I heard about Bookingbuddy.com and after painstaking searching I stumbled upon this hotel. I was a little nervous about giving the Istanbul-based GTA travel my credit card to confirm the room, but finding no major complaints about them on other websites, I went ahead and confirmed. (I have since found that they are all over Europe with their hotel and tour packages as well as bus charters)

Getting to the Agon Frankfurter Allee can be a little challenging, but if you buy the Berlin WelcomeCard you can travel on all modes of transportation throughout the city. We simply wheeled our bags to the transport office's desk at Tegel Airport where we purchased our WelcomeCards. It was just a few steps to the TXL bus which took us to the Alexanderplatz U-Bahn stop. From there we went 4 steps via the subway to Samaritarstrasse. The Agon is just a block over from the main street.

We were a little disappointed at the graffitti-scrawled neighborhood we found ourselves in. The surrounding buildings were stark remnants of the Communist period - totally devoid of charm. The hotel was not marked with much in the way of signage, but we gravitated toward the newest, cleanest looking building which turned-out to be the hotel.

The hotel itself was a complete contrast to the rundown, but safe neighborhood - the rooms were big by European standards with overly fluffy pillows and warm comforters. Bathroom facilities were new, well-supplied and very clean. For the two very cold Berlin nights that we visited, our room was toasty and featured satellite TV with CNN and BBC in English. The hotel is on a backstreet so noise was never a problem.

A nice-sized elevator allowed us to bring our bags up the three flights of stairs to our room and back down to the basement breakfast room. Breakfast was fantastic. A generous buffet featuring fresh fruit and rolls. There were piles of cold cuts and cheese to create heaping sandwiches. Soft-boiled and scrambled eggs. Hot and cold cereals. Coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Even the pseudo orange juice wasn't too bad.

I highly recommend this hotel. I would suggest that you either drive yourself here (ample parking for a fee inside the hotel courtyard) or be sure you arrange to start your trip at this hotel. We never would have been able to lug our souvenir laden suitcases up to the subway, then across Alexanderplatz to the bus stop at the end of our trip.

Finally, don't let the fact that the neighborhood seems a bit worn. We felt perfectly safe. The locals were very helpful when we asked directions and shopped at the next-door corner grocery.