“We highly recommend swapping with Martin and Friederike: they are a warm, pleasant and trustworthy couple who offer a fantastic flat in an amazing area of Berlin. We have particularly enjoyed the frequent and easy contacts on Skype: everything has been simple from the very start, which makes house swapping such a great experience!”
Spacious Flat in the Centre of West Berlin
Spacious Flat in the Centre of West Berlin
Martin
Joined
Jun 2010
Last login
Over a month
Response rate
Slower
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- 2 Bedrooms
- Sleeps 4
- 1 Bathrooms
About our home
We live in a traditional 1908 building in a sought after central residential area. Ours is a spacious (188 sqm, 2000 sq ft) flat on the third floor (accessible by period lift or staircase).
It is a bright and welcoming home with wooden floors and 3,70 m (12 ft.) high ceilings with mouldings. We have carefully selected a combination of modern and antique furniture.
There are a large dining and living room, connected by a double wing door, the main bedroom with a queen-sized bed (1.60 by 2.00 m), a walk-in closet and our office.
Our balcony faces East and catches the morning and midday sun - for the occasional rainy day, we have a well-stocked library which includes a good range of English titles.
We are a two-person household but have a guest bed in the library and a folding sofa in the living room. Please note that our flat is not really prepared for toddlers and crawling babies because of uncovered sockets and stuff in low cupboards.
We do not smoke and ask our guests to keep this place smoke-free, too.
Features
- Main home
- Balcony
- Wifi
- Cable TV
- Car optional
- No smoking
- Central heating
- Dish washer
- Washing machine
- No pets
Martin's reviews
As a host (6)“L'appartement de Martin et Friederike est un lieu magnifique dans lequel nous nous sommes sentis très bien. Il est situé dans un quartier très calme et entouré de végétations. La proximité du métro nous a permis de visiter de nombreux lieux chargés d'histoire. Martin nous a donné de nombreux et précieux documents qui ont facilité nos visites. Nous avons retrouvé notre maison dans un état parfait.”
“Martin and Friederike's lovely and very bright, spacious apartment is located on a lovely quiet street close to the centre of Berlin. It is in a delightful neighbourhood easy walking distance to 3 plazas (Platz) that feature fountains, parks, shops and restaurants. Although they have a wonderful modern kitchen there is so much choice in reasonably priced restaurants that I didn't cook. Once you learn how to use the transportation system it is easy to get around. There are several stations close by. Martin provides a thoughtful and informative booklet on local interests with a useful section on household appliances. I was fortunate to meet them and they are warm and charming. They left my home in perfect condition and I am glad to recommend them as exchange partners.”
“If you enjoy city living in an amazing city, staying in a fantastic apartment close to everything and dealing with great exchange partners, then this is the exchange for you! Dealing with Friederike and Martin was efficient and seamless and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting them through HomeForExchange. It is hard to overestimate the things to see and do in Berlin and their apartment is simply a perfect base to explore the city. We made very good use of the information, advice, books and maps they left for us and we used both their car and excellent public transport with ease. They also looked after our house and car beautifully. Friederike and Martin are experienced and seasoned exchange partners that come with our highest recommendation.”
“We had the pleasure of staying in Martin and Friederike\'s lovely home. We loved coming back to it each day, exhausted from our explorations. It was so handy to get into the city - there were several metros nearby, as well as shops and restaurants. Berlin was a very interesting place - we were there 10 days and it wasn\'t enough. M & F sent us a very full introduction to the flat, and lots of recommendations as to what to see and do in the city. We kept in touch with Skype, too, which was really good, as we had a flood in our flat (careless plumber in above neighbour\'s renovation) so it was fantastic that they were able to deal with it (in the middle of hte night) and minimise the damage. We are very grateful. A fine introduction for their first house swap! We really recommend Berlin as a destination!”
“The Gunthers are a thoughtful and considerate couple to swap with. They live in a very quiet, tree lined area of Berlin, close to shops and the U-bahn so you can get around relatively easily. The apartment has beautiful high ceilings and polished wooden floors and a very good coffee maker. Our son particularly loved the wrought iron lift! There are good restaurants within walking distance too.”
More about us
-
We are Friederike and Martin, a doctor and a business consultant in our fifties.
We think that having a "home away from home" makes travelling much more pleasant, and we'll treat your home with the same care as we would like ours to be treated. We have had around ten very pleasant and successful home exchanges so far and hope that many more will follow.
And we believe in the direct swap without points involved.TWO IMPORTANT NOTES:
Please note that due to a bad allergy to cat hair, we really cannot exchange with cat owners - even if the cat is out of the house during our visit.
We've been to Amsterdam quite recently, so we are not seeking exchanges there at the moment.
Swap availability
- White
- Open to offers
- Green
- Available
- Red
- Not Available
Where is it?
Neighbourhood
Our flat is located in the "Bayerisches Viertel" in Berlin-Schöneberg, a respectable neighbourhood quite near the very centre of former West Berlin.
Although the famous KaDeWe department store and the main boulevard Kurfürstendamm are just one mile away, we live in a very small and quiet street. You'll hardly hear a car passing by even with the windows open. There is a range of cafés, restaurants and specialized food shops in the adjacent streets; most shopping can be done within a few minutes' walking distance so it's a practical home base from where to explore the city and its surroundings.
Berlin public transport is quite good and our area is very well connected to two of the city's most important underground lines. However, Berlin is also a fairly good city to drive, considering the sheer size of it. Parking is for free in our area and it's surprisingly easy to find a space in our street.
We have put together some recommendations for things to see and do you won't find in tourist guidebooks and we are quite lucky to have friendly neighbours who might be helpful should any questions arise during your stay.
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