Has anyone traveled to Friedrichshain Germany in Berlin?

Question

I'm staying at a Hostel in Friedrichshain Berlin and want to know peoples experiences there? Good or Bad. Is it nice? What should I expect.

Answer 1

I even lived there, i.e. in the approaching Kreuzberg district, for four years. Both districts are friendly and much nightlife-orientated; I think you can expect lots of fun. It's become a good district especially for young people on a low budget. I think it's good; and also Kreuzberg is good (just walk over the Warsaw Bridge [Warschauer Brücke] and you're there).

Somebody a few days ago wrote that he/she was astonished about the lot of graffitis especially in Berlin: She drew the right conclusion that it doesn't mean that the place is a dangerous area. You might see places in Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg even now, years after reunification, that look worn out and neglected, but don't judge the book by its cover. All the years I lived and worked there, I was welcome by every crowd. I think, if you're open-minded, there's nothing bad to expect, except some few surprises about us Germans. Like, we welcome strangers, and we're usually friendly, as long as you don't talk about Hitler.

Have fun in Berlin!

Answer 2

I was there in June-August 1999.  It was probably one of the best experiences in my life!  I stayed in several hostels all throughout Germany but I stayed based in Berlin.  All of the hostels were pleasant.

Answer 3

Living there at the moment I can tell that it is a very young and lively district. saying this, it is also true that it is a heterogenous district (more than 100.000 inhabitants) with quiet and loud, beautiful and ugly areas. The "classical" Friedrichshain with all it's bars, pubs and restaurants is only the southeastern part between Warschauer Straße, Frankfurter Allee and Revaler Straße, especially around Simon-Dach-Straße, Boxhagener Platz and directly at Ostkreuz and U-Bahnhof Warschauer Straße.

The northern district is more punky, especially around Rigaer Straße and a bit more north, around Bänschstraße, it get's quiet with many families around. Nearly the whole eastern part is rather beautiful with some nice old houses (and some unspectacular) and nearly the whole day- and nightlife is going on there.

The western part (west of Warschauer Straße and Petersburger Straße) is rather quiet, some would say boring, a residential area with only some clubs around Ostbahnhof and Mühlenstraße at the Spree. Some ugly socialist buildings around, but also the nice Volkspark Friedrichshain in the northwestern part.

Many parts of Friedrichshain are in fact full of Graffiti (and free running dogs as well as piles of dogshit) and punks/alternative people, but violence/crime very rarely happens (if so, mainly at night and near the S-Bahnhof Frankfurter Allee).

Food and Drinks are cheap, (there are pizza snack bars where you can get a pizza for as cheap as 2,50 or 3 euro, the rest is about 5 to 10 euro usually).

Be sure to visit our main sight there, the Karl-Marx Allee, a nice big avenue built in the 1950s by the socialists to show the west, that they can also build some nice houses along broad avenues :D (nothing really really exciting, but very rare in whole europe)

Good shopping areas are also around Boxhagener Platz, Wühlischstraße (small fashion stores and alternative shops), the bigger stores are at Frankfurter Allee, especially in the medium sized mall "Ring-Center", directly at the S-Bahnhof