If you are coming from outside of Germany and intend on visiting Berlin then the flats you find there will be among your best opportunity to sticking to a budget.
You probably already know, but Berlin is one of the most amazing cities in Europe. The way the city operated back during the time they had communism throughout East Germany definitely hurt the city when it came to tourism for a long time. However, nowadays it has once again become the place to go to if you are visiting Germany. This is a great place to go whether you are into the history of the world or if maybe you just want to experience some great night life and culture.
With all the things you would want to see in Berlin, I would highly recommend saving your money where you can, and room and board is definitely one of the places you can save if you know where to go. You would be surprised. Staying in a flat / apartment can often times be as cheap or cheaper than staying in a hotel. As well, these Berlin flats are not a difficult thing to find. The range is often from dirt cheap to relatively reasonably priced.
If you do not mind being social with other people, then you could look for flats in Berlin that are advertised as WG-Zimmer. The WG might also say Wohngemainschaft. In this type of flat you will have to expect to be quite social with the other tenants as the kitchen and bathrooms are communal. This means that you only have a room to yourself. If you ever need to use the restroom you will have to come out of your room to visit the communal one.
Another thing to keep in mind is that a one room flat often literally means one room. A lot of westerners will assume that a one room flat means one room plus a living room. However, a one room flat will often be literally one room, much like your typical hotel room with a restroom as well. The difference between the Berlin style one room flat / apartment is that they will frequently have a kitchen as well. So do not just assume that a one room flat will have a living room, most will not.
Another thing to remember is that often times the Berlin flat will not be fully furnished. Where a hotel room will have a bed, a television, and everything else that you will need, these are flats or apartments. That means that you have to provide your own bed, your own television, and are pretty well limited to a refrigerator and stove when it comes to furnishing by the landlords. The best thing to do if you do not plan on staying for that long is to get in contact with an agency. Obviously, this means more money, however, you should be able to find whatever you need, including fully furnished beds, etc. If all else fails and you land in town during the right month, you might offer to “room sit”. This means that the students who will often rent out these Berlin flats will be going home during the off months of school. They will give you a really good discount just to keep their room available for them when they get back.
So what is the actual price range you are looking at? The cheapest you will be able to find in central Berlin would be a WG flat / apartment for about 150 to 250 Euros per month. However, something a little nicer and / or bigger will be around 300 to 400 Euros per month. Always make sure you find out what the price will include as sometimes you may find something a little bit more expensive, but have more furnished to you.
