There are deals to be had in Berlin, Dublin, and Boston: Three cities steeped in literary tradition

Why: Artists aren't the only creative types flocking to Berlin, Europe's new cultural capital. The city has been attracting both fledgling and established writers from around the globe, including Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Eugenides. And don't forget the stars of Berlin's lettered past: critic and writer E.T.A. Hoffmann; playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht; Alfred Döblin, author of the classic Berlin Alexanderplatz; and Herwarth Walden, editor of the avant-garde magazine Der Sturm.

Room: Thomas Mann called the Hotel Savoy "extremely friendly and comfortable"—still true today (49-30-311030; hotel-savoy.com; doubles, $207–$393). The Ostel is a retro-kitsch budget hotel in the happening Friedrichshain neighborhood—rooms are East Berlin circa 1950 (49-30-25768660; ostel.eu; doubles, $86).

Lunch & Dinner: The menu is hearty at the Wintergarden café at Berlin's Literaturhaus, a foundation dedicated to the promotion of German literature (23 Fasanenstrasse; 49-30-8825414; entrées, $21–$28). The excellent menu at E.T.A. Hoffmann, a restaurant in Kreuzberg, ranges from lamb to scallops (83 Yorckstrasse; 49-30-78098809; three-course menu, $50).

Tip: Time your next trip for September and Berlin's International Literature Festival (literaturfestival.com). Check out Bordercrossing Berlin, the city's two-year-old English literary magazine. Its Web site lists readings and literary events that take place throughout the year (bordercrossing-berlin.com).

Where
Boston, Mass

Why: Many of the country's most enduring writers lived and worked in Beacon Hill during the nineteenth century. Downtown's Old Corner Bookstore, once the offices of the publisher Tick-nor and Fields, was the unofficial meeting place of writers such as Emerson and Hawthorne. The Boston Public Library, overlooking Copley Square, is the nation's first (and still largest) municipal public library. Boston by Foot's informative Literary Landmarks tour hits all the highlights (bostonbyfoot.com; $12).

Room: Charles Dickens's base during his American tour (and the site of his first stateside reading of A Christmas Carol), the 1855 Omni Parker House was also the home of the Saturday Club, a literary society with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Atlantic Monthly editor James Russell Lowell among its members (617-227-8600; omnihotels.com; doubles, $259–$289).