Checkout is at 11, the train leaves at 7. Here's where the suitcase can wait, which station to pick, and what fits.
The easiest answer is to ask your hotel or host to keep your bags until you leave. If that isn't possible, Deutsche Bahn runs coin-operated lockers at Hauptbahnhof, Ostbahnhof, Friedrichstraße, Potsdamer Platz, Südkreuz, Zoologischer Garten, Gesundbrunnen and Spandau, and a locker can be used for up to 24 hours. Choose the station you'll pass through on your way out of the city, not the one closest to your flat.
Often yes, but ask before your last morning, not at the desk with the bag in your hand. Hotels with a staffed reception are the likeliest to say yes. Holiday flats and self-check-in places often have no lobby, so message the host a day or two ahead.
Deutsche Bahn's station pages list lockers at Hauptbahnhof, Ostbahnhof, Friedrichstraße, Potsdamer Platz, Südkreuz, Zoologischer Garten, Gesundbrunnen and Spandau. berlin.de also names Alexanderplatz, but Deutsche Bahn's own page for Alexanderplatz lists no lockers among its facilities. Don't build your day around a locker there.
berlin.de describes where to find them in the bigger stations:
A cabin case fits the small lockers, and most checked suitcases fit the large ones. Deutsche Bahn lists two standard sizes in Berlin: small at 24 × 42 × 76 cm and large at 44 × 61 × 93 cm. Measure your bag before you go, especially the depth.
You pay with coins, and a locker can be used for up to 24 hours. Bring enough coins, because the station pages list no card payment. Prices depend on the station and the locker size, and Hauptbahnhof also offers a cheaper two-hour option.
Each station's locker page on bahnhof.de shows the current price. The pages don't show when the prices were last updated, so check the page for your station on the day. Deutsche Bahn also points to the terms of use posted at the lockers, so read them before you walk away, particularly what happens if you're late.
Pick the station on your route out, so you collect the bag on your way and never double back.
If you're flying, remember BER is in fare zone C. From the city centre you need an ABC ticket.
If you're leaving by long-distance coach, berlin.de says the ZOB central bus station has video-monitored lockers in the waiting area, including very large ones. That saves carrying the bag across town before you board.
You can, and it costs nothing extra: the VBB, Berlin's transport association, says luggage travels free on its buses and trains. The problem is the day, not the ticket. A suitcase gets in the way in museums, clubs and cafés, and rush-hour trains are hard work with one.
Keeper is building pay-per-minute luggage storage in Berlin. It hasn't opened a single locker yet, so for now use your hotel, your host or the station lockers above.
Many hotels with a staffed reception will keep bags for guests on the day they check out, but it's up to each hotel. Ask before your last morning, and ask until what time you can collect.
According to berlin.de, they're on the second basement level at the passage to the car park, and on the first floor near the escalator to platforms 13 and 14. Deutsche Bahn lists 616 small and 396 large coin lockers there.
Deutsche Bahn lists a maximum of 24 hours for the lockers at its Berlin stations. For longer stays, read the terms of use posted at the lockers or arrange storage with your accommodation.
Deutsche Bahn's Berlin locker pages list coins as the payment method. Bring enough coins before you go.
berlin.de lists Alexanderplatz among stations with lockers, but Deutsche Bahn's own page for Alexanderplatz shows no lockers among its facilities. Nearby, Ostbahnhof and Friedrichstraße both have Deutsche Bahn lockers.
Not yet. Keeper is building pay-per-minute luggage storage in Berlin but hasn't opened a locker. Today, ask your hotel or host, or use a Deutsche Bahn station locker.