All you need to know to live in Berlin
A step by step guide to get settled in Berlin including job search, visa procedures, flat rental, healthcare and financial tips for expats.
This guide is for you if you just arrived in Berlin and need to find a place to sleep for the first months. Read my guide for hunting a long-term rental flat here.
There are several options to find a furnished flat in Berlin:
Furnished short term apartments in Berlin
Flats that allow registration
Important: you need the permission of the apartment owner to officially register an address. This is called Anmeldung. Registration is often a requirement to open a bank account in Berlin or to buy a German SIM card. Ask before renting a short term apartment if an official registration at the location is possible.
- *Smartments offers short-term rentals for days, weeks or months and has special offers for business or student requirements. Flats can be one or two rooms and come completely equipped on request.
- *Homelike rents furnished flats in Berlin and offers a 100% online service. You can filter for pet-friendly apartments. It is possible to get a registration certificate to officially register in Berlin for some of their apartments.
- *Wunderflats. A registration certificate is possible for some apartments.
- Crocodilian
More short term rental options
- *Uniplaces offers shared apartments with private rooms in Berlin.
- Housing Anywhere
- iLive Berlin has all-inclusive, centrally located and friendly community flats in Berlin. The iLive location close to where I live has a basketball court on the roof.
Vacation apartments in Berlin
- Filter on www.booking.com for apartments.
- You can use AirBnB in Berlin.
- Fewo Direkt is the German alternative to AirBnB.
- Wimdu has over 11.000 furnished flats in Berlin.
- Nestpick
- Likibu
Classified ads for short term rentals in Berlin
- Ebay-kleinanzeigen.de – this is one of the biggest websites for classified ads in Germany. Tip: Search for Untermiete.
- WG-Gesucht is the most popular website in Berlin for shared apartments. WG stands for Wohngemeinschaft.
- WG-Suche
www.craigslist.de is reportedly often used for scams source. I do not recommend using Craigslist for your flat search.
Some useful vocabulary about renting a flat in Berlin
Untermiete – Sublet – offer that refers to a room in a shared apartment or the entire apartment.
Wohngemeinschaft or WG – Shared apartments – can be anything from communities with a set of ethics and rules to profiteers subletting overpriced rooms.
