Berlin, end of March, with three year old

[soupmaker]

Any tips for things not to miss? Me, DP and DD flying to Berlin for 4 nights, 3 days at the end of March. DD only just turned 3 so will be taking buggy, so please tell me how easy the public transport is with buggy in tow. This is our first city break staying in a hotel - so looking forward to not having to cook - are the locals cool with wee folk being out and about at night - not in night clubs, but just out for dinner?

We went with DD when she was 2.
Buggy wasn;t a problem on trains, trams and even metro (unlike NYC and Paris).
No raised eyebrows when we went out with DD either - Berlin is a pretty chilled out place.
Beer gardens were fantastic family friendly places - wish we had them here.

The only problem was cabs - we arrived at airport and no cabbie would take us because we didn't have a car seat for DD. Also, none of the cabbies spoke English, which surprised me a little. For a while, we thought we'd be stranded at airport until we found a french speaking cabbie who happened to have a booster seat in his boot.

Have fun

Thanks TTTG. Good tip about the taxis.

Oh soupmaker I am so jealous - DH and I spent 6 weeks last summer in Berlin with our (then) just 3 year old and our 3 month old, and I still miss it so much, I'd move there in a heartbeat, it is such a great place.

It is a fabulously kid friendly place. There are loads of parks, all have swings etc. Where is your hotel? Public transport is very very very easy with the buggy. Trams, buses, S-bahn and U-bahn, all accessible with lifts/escalators etc. I'd recommend you buy a weekly travel ticket which means you can hop on and off trams etc all the time without stressing.

So much to see/do. Tiergarten is their central, has a lovely zoo and loads of swings/parks etc. We mostly did things we wanted to do and the kids came too and they loved it. Evenings people are pretty good except in very trendy places - some places in Mitte and Friedrichshain (spelling?) would be a bit sniffy I imagine. You'll be able to spot the beautiful people places though. Have a brilliant time!

I'd recommend an open topped bus tour - our 3 year old loved it and we were able to spot all the places we wanted to go back to!

We never had a problem with taxis I have to say...

Hmm, it must depend on the stations as we had massive problems with the pram when we were there. Saying that, it was 6 years ago, and DS was in a proper heavy pram.

You should be ok with a buggy, that you can carry up and down stairs if necessary.

One of my favourite restaurant chains, Vapiano has three restaurants in Berlin. Really great with children, pizza and pasta - you can watch them make it.

You can go out in the evenings with DC, but I would not go too late, as you might get some funny looks.

Thanks so much.

We are staying in the Mitte area. I was pretty sure that Berlin would be great for wandering with DD. Good tip about the travel ticket, as I imagine we will want to jump on and off public transport quite a bit.

Thankfully we don't mind a bit of rain, but was going to take swimming gear in case it is really wet - any good tips for public swimming baths in the centre of town? We do museums at home, so DD will be cool with a bit of culture.

I am hoping that DD will manage to fall into a routine which allows us to eat together a bit later than normal - she is usually in bed by 7 every night - I may be mad imagining she won't just flake out after all the day time excitement!