With an unrivaled location beside the towering Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Adlon Kempinski remains one of the city’s most distinguished addresses. Originally opened in 1907 as the Hotel Adlon by Kaiser Wilhelm II, it was conceived as a grand European residence to rival London’s Savoy and Paris’s Ritz. Over the years it welcomed a roster of notable guests, including Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, Enrico Caruso, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Czar Nicholas II and Charlie Chaplin.
Heavily damaged by fire in 1945, the hotel was rebuilt and reopened in 1997 as the Adlon Kempinski. In 2023 the property marked its 20th anniversary with a series of celebrations that ran through December. Highlights included the November 11 return of the hotel’s original executive chef, Karlheinz Hauser, who joined current head chef Hendrik Otto in the two-Michelin-starred kitchen to create a special five-course dinner with wine pairings. Through the end of the year the hotel’s grand lobbies hosted live musical performances on Friday and Saturday evenings as part of the Stage for Young Artists series. In the lobby bar, guests enjoyed feuerzangenbowle — a traditional German drink where a rum-soaked sugar cone is set alight over mulled wine — during the lead-up to the holiday season.
Located in the Mitte district, the hotel sits within easy walking distance of several embassies and the intersection of Unter den Linden and Pariser Platz. It is a short stroll from the Tiergarten and notable sites such as the Deutsche Oper and the Bundestag, as well as the modern Potsdamer Platz complex and an array of significant memorials and museums. For a limited time through December 20, the property offered a specially themed Experience Adlon Spa package. The getaway included an overnight stay in a luxury executive room, a full breakfast, a four-course meal with Champagne in Restaurant Quarré, two hours in a spa suite at the 9,000-square-foot Adlon Spa by Resense with fresh fruit and Champagne, and a keepsake boxed collection of postcards commemorating the hotel’s 20 years as the Adlon Kempinski. The package also included a DVD recounting the hotel’s history and a small sweet surprise. Prices started at €584.50 per person (approximately $693).
