Must Do's/Sees in Berlin?

[stumblymonkey]

Off to Berlin tomorrow morning for four days with DP. Any must dos or sees?

Recommendations for eating out?

Any tips appreciated....so far we have booked a four hour walking tour around the usual sites and a lunch at one of the Shokladenhaus (sp?) basically fancy German patisseries...

East side gallery (a bit of the wall still standing and decorated by all kids of artists)

Checkpoint Charlie for historical reasons

Brandenburger Tor - symbol of Berlin

Ku-Damm for a good shop and the KaDeWe is a great department store

Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtnis Kirche, church that was bombed and then rebuilt but they have left the ruined bit.

Never been but my colleague takes a group of year 11s there every year and these are some of the things they do. They also go to Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp near Berlin, but obviously that is a trip out of the city. Very interesting and moving for the kids tho.

Thanks!

I would like to make it to the concentration camp...I've been to Dachau previously but DP hasn't and I think it's a 'good' thing to experience in terms of life lessons (that sounds a bit patronising and downplaying the horror but hopefully people know what I mean).

There is so much to do in Berlin, you have to pick and choose, and work out what you're interested in. It's worth getting a Berlin Tourist card (can't remember it's name) - free public transport for 24, 48 or 72 hours, plus discounts on most of the major museums and attractions.

The National Museum of Old Art at the Museuminsel is great if you like painters such as Casper David Friedrich.

The Museum of Berlin gives a good overview of its history - not just the 20th century bits, because while that's important, Berlin was interesting before then too. Plus you can tour a nuclear bunker, which was interesting and strange.

The DDR Museum is fun, and I liked the Brohan Museum, too, but there are loads of others.

It can be useful to do one of those open-top bus tours as it gives a good idea of where things are, but it helps if it's a clear, warmish day. Same for boat trips, which i also enjoyed.

Definitely checkpoint Charlie museum and the tower with the revolving restaurant. A TV tower or something? It's about 20 years since I went!

The Fernsehturm at Alexander Platz. Massive queues, but you might be able to book in advance.

The Reichstag building is also worth booking for.

Stasi museum is a good place to go. I was disappointed in Checkpoint Charlie museum, and you need to pay to take pics of the guards dressed up.
Go to Alexanderplatz...I liked that better. There is Galleries Einkaufen which is just as nice but cheaper than Ka de We.
The concentration camp is Saschenhausen. You can get train to Orienburg and walk or get bus ( 20 min walk). Its free and you can hire those multilingual guides. There are plenty of tours there too, but you could do it yourself. Wrap up there, its freezing. We went in January .

The Holocaust Memorial and museum is a must visit. Really interesting and very poignant. Checkpoint Charlie is also worth seeing. Agree about wrapping up warm! We went in January too and it was freezing and very snowy. Lots of hot chocolate/beer and bratwurst stops!! Enjoy!

We are off there tomorrow for three days (think we posted on each others thread a while ago stumbley!) So am bookmarking this for our 7am flight in the morning! So excited :-)

I really recommend a walking tour as you can see where some sites are which are no longer there (if you see what I mean!) such as Hitlers bunker.

Its my favourite city in Europe, I also love the the DDR museum.

Eat some currywurst too!

Go to Tempelhof Park. Abandoned airport with the terminal buildings still there and runways with the markings on. The city was going to sell it to property developers, but there was a huge petition/campaign and it was turned over to the public as a park.

I don't know if the coffee stands and cafes will be open at the moment, but it's a wonderful place for a walk and a sit-down (weather depending!) anyway. It's oddly haunting and melancholy, but there's lots of lovely stuff going on like allotments, artworks etc. It's in Neuköln, which is an interesting and lively area.

We are going in March and I'm so excited.
We are planning on doing a Trabi Safari which is driving round Berlin in a Trabant.
I would love to go to the suburb and see the house where Martin/Moritz and his mother lived in Deutschland 83 but I'll have to do some research and find out where it is.
Have fun, Stumbly, and let us know how it went and what you did when you get home.

We went in October and had a great time. Public transport is cheap and efficient and it's well worth getting the tourist card. The TV tower gives a great view. We mainly mooched and enjoyed the atmosphere.

I second the Berliner Museum (www.story-of-berlin.de).

Ooh you lucky so and so! I love Berlin. Agree with all the previous recs, the Deutsches Historisches Museum is fabulous, and they do cracking cake in the cafe. Olympiastadion is quite a sight to see. Topography of Terror is really interesting too. And definitely go up the Fernsehturm, the views are amazing! The Reichstag is fab too, though definitely book in advance and make sure you take your passport that day.

The Gerdarmenmarkt Christmas a Market will still be on too, its stunning.

I also always fit in a visit to C&A! I love that they are still operating in Europe and get v excited when I find one. I came back with bear ear muffs last time, they were very handy whilst freezing to death at the Brandenburg Gate on NYE!

Would second the walking tours. I have done it twice and on both occasions learnt so much. The other place I would highly recommend is the German resistance memorial centre which I only found out about from the walking tour guide. It was fascinated and is a side of the war given very little recognition normally.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g187323-d4751162-r130587961-The_German_Resistance_Memorial_Centre-Berlin.html link to the museum

Have been once to Berlin with friends and loved it- agree that the open top bus is great idea, we got off and walked between stops where we could and really felt like we saw a lot. I'm going again in Feb with partner and have been recommended to try the Charlottenberg (sp?) gardens and a the zoo!

www.brauhaus-georgbraeu.de is a lovely place near the Fernsehturm.

Too late for the OP but yes to the German Resistance museum. Really fascinating and off the main tourist drag.

Olympic stadium - superb

Wall Museum - Brilliant. made me cry! www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de/en/

Yes to the Reichstaag - amazing, especially if you can get there just before sunset.

Alexanderplatz is hideous though. I wouldn't go back there.

Do the walking tour. Takes about 4 hours but is worth taking the time

I loved the Memorial To The Murdered Jews of Europe, the ghost stations on the underground and the KaDeWe store

The Jewish Museum is superb too. Well worth the entry fee.
Topography of Terror excellent but I needed to do it split into two visits, as I got to the point where I'd 'supped too full of horror' and it was making me feel ill.

We're in Berlin now! We arrived yesterday and did the Story of Berlin in the evening. We didn't manage to do the bunker though because it would have meant hanging around for nearly an hour and we were exhausted after an early flight.

There's a great cafe just around the corner from there called What do you fancy love?

Today we're going to the Kaiser Wilhelm church, then the east side gallery. Then we will walk the walk through kreitzburg to checkpoint Charlie, go to the markets and if time go up the TV tower. We will also be eating currywurst!

Tomorrow we're booked on a Reichstag tour, and then we're going to the Brandenburg gate, memorial of the Holocaust and museum island.

Just waiting for DD to get up!

Does anyone know where the best place is for shops that would appeal to a 15 yo who loves Camden lock or afflecks palace?

There are loads of really random vintage places, I like one called Humana, they have a few different shops across Berlin. This 31yr old Afflecks/Camden lover liked it!