Three days in Berlin, what MUST we do?

[NickiFury]

Two kids aged 13 and 9 and me.

We are staying on Nurnberger Strasse so quite central. Thinking the zoo and Tiergarten, Brandenburg Gate, television tower on Alexanderplatz, maybe an open air swimming pool. Going in August.

Thanks

www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/pergamonmuseum/home.html

There is an open air swimming pool next to the 1936 Olympic stadium. The holocaust memorial with the concrete stele is just down from Brandenburg gate. The memorial will interest the kids, the museum underneath may be too much... You have to queue or reserve tickets for Reichstag dome but it is worth it for the view. River cruise?? The Cold War bunkers are fun... Enjoy!!

Did you see the Travel man programme from Berlin it's on catch up on channel 4 , might be worth a view for ideas .

I'm going this week so can tell you more later. Only thing I have booked is going up the roof of the Reichstag (spiral up inside the glass dome good views of city) free but you have to book for security reasons.

Bus tour was fun. There's a great chocolate shop and a huge model train version of Berlin. The East German museum is good too - very interactive. I'll find the links and post them.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187323-d942727-Reviews-Rausch_Schokoladenhaus_Cafe_Restaurant-Berlin.html
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/9216443/LOXX-miniature-train-landscape-a-huge-model-railway-in-Berlin.html

I can't paste the blink - but it's the ddr museum

Book in advance for the to tower as queues were huge. We booked a meal too and theat got us a window seat. - you can do just coffee and cakes too. Reichstag is stunninh - you get a free audio tour.

I did not think the zoo was that great.

Whilst there on a 5-day visit, we did a couple of Insider Tours: one about the Cold War and one about the final days of the Third Reich. They were both great but they each took about 3 or 4 hours. You end up walking around the city and coming across the main buildings and places this way. The Cold War tour was delivered by an ex British spy, who was fantastic and very entertaining. I would recommend these tours as there is so much history to take in. It might be quite hot in August though so a tour in the heat might be a bit much.

There are also Segway tours, which we came across and which might appeal to the kids but the quality/knowledge of the presenters was not on a par with those of Insider Tours.

Checkpoint Charlie is interesting
Definitely the Holocaust memorial
Apparently there's a walking trail along the route of the Berlin Wall - it sounds really interesting. link

They do trabant safaris - city tours in a refurbished trabant - still looked very uncomfortable!

Deffo pre-book the Reichstag.

Yes to the chocolate shop - the cafe at the top is v nice and good value.
The Jewish Museum was incredible, but not sure about for the 9 year old.
Do a river trip - v good.
I didn't like the DDR museum.
Topography of Terrors is excellent but again maybe not so much for the 9 year old.

And just sitting outside having a beer and watching the world go round is lovely.

Oh and wear v v comfortable shoes - you'll walk miles!

We did a bike tour which took in some of the main sites and was very interesting in a relaxed and accessible way. (Fat Tire tours). Lots of places rent out bikes which would be great in the Tiergarten. There's also a public bike rental scheme (like "Boris bikes") but didn't use them so not sure how easy they are
Ddr museum very interactive.
East Side gallery -the remaining bit of the Wall which is covered with graffiti art.
We swam in a lake -can't remember the name but it was between Berlin and Potsdam and was lovely.
Loved Berlin, so much so we are going back next month

We're going again in August because we loved it so much. Can't wait!

The lake was Schlachtensee-easy to get to on public transport but busy on hot days

Won't all days be hot? We went at the end of July once and it was blimmin boiling. We did lots of swimming in various bodies of water, we had a great time.

It was very, very hot last August.

Definitely pre-book to go to Reichstag roof. Walk along Unter den Linden.
We went for 3 days, but spent most of them on Museum Island. The natural history museum is interesting, if your kids are old enough to appreciate it - the archaeopteryx is there. Buy a currywurst from the walking vendors.

Soviet War memorial in Treptow Park and you can walk by the river and go across to a little island with a beach bar (or you could a couple of years ago). We went when our children were roughly that, and we did a museum in the morning and a park or beach bar or zoo in the afternoon. Excellent adventure style playgrounds and table tennis tables in shady parks. The Checkpoint Charlie museum, for all its oddities, is good for kids. Have a great time!