Berlin with Kids

[mikado1]

Heading to Berlin at the end of July. Would love some tips on what to see/do and where to eat. Ideally would like some free/cheaper options as well as ticketed venues. Thanks in advance!

I wouldn't go to Sommerbad Neukölln tbh. Along with one or two other pools in the Neukölln/Kreuzberg area, it's notorious for trouble. There's been stuff in the national media about it. It may be calmer now - I think they're carrying out ID checks, but then that adds another layer of stress as from the UK you presumably only have a passport and don't really want to have to carry that about on holiday.

From Tempelhof I would probably go to the one at the Insulaner (S-Bahn to Priesterweg, change at Südkreuz). It's really not outdoor pool weather atm, mind you...

Thanks @ShoesoftheWorld . That’s useful local info.

Is Berlin somewhere that would be good to go to in October rather than the summer?

Berlin in summer is rather lovely (if it's not too hot), but it's fine in autumn too. It's often quite warm and dry in Oct.

A quick question for @ShoesoftheWorld We’re planning to go to a gig one evening over in Prenzlauer Berg. We’re staying in Mitte near Krausenstraße. Is the public transport OK/safe late at night (say 11-11.30pm)? If we decide to walk back through the city centre instead, would that be a bad idea? It would be me, DH and two strapping teen lads but we’d be obvious tourists. DS is the only one with (a smattering of schoolboy) German. How safe is the city generally?

Very safe. I've never had an issue out at night, in various different areas. Never had an issue on public transport either, except in particular areas of former East Berlin in the mid-90s, which was a very, very different time to now (last throes of the post-Wende years). Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg will be crawling with tourists, students etc at that time of night. I'd walk or take the tube/tram without hesitation (be aware of pickpockets though, as everywhere).

Very useful thread as thinking of going with my teens in the next year or so.

I know weather is incredibly unpredictable, but what could we expect in February, Easter or June?

TIA

Thank you. This is good to hear. We like walking best as you get to see the city, so may walk back if our feet aren’t aching too much from standing at the gig.

Another question about public transport. We aren’t convinced it’s worth buying a pass. Can we just tap through with eg Apple Pay if we just want to go a few stops?

Looks like it - https://www.bvg.de/en/subscriptions-and-tickets/all-apps/ticket-purchase-via-app-faq (some of the English is not great and the explanations are quite long-winded, but from a cursory skim it seems the answer is yes. I live outside Berlin now so before I had a Deutschlandticket (recently launched, covering all local and regional transport nationally) I used to buy day passes.

February - either freezing (ice - snow only if you're lucky) or 2-5 degrees and drizzle, with occasional random bursts of mild and sunny.
Easter - anything from sunshine and mid-20s temps to frost, ice and snow
June - typically warm to hot (35 degrees not unheard of), dry, the odd thunderstorm

Re somewhere to stay - no idea if any good but remembered that Premier inn have places in Berlin (and other places in Germany)

@Windowcleaning weather summed up well! I used to live in Germany and the weather forecast on the radio in the winter would include the phrase "risk of exposed freezing flesh" during a cold snap as the wind chill can be fierce. I love Berlin but I'd avoid February if you can, if not be prepared to layer up. When you know that it's your nose that might become an ice pop you tend to wrap up😀

Just wanted to pop in to say Thank you for the recommendation of the Roads Not Taken exhibition. We had one afternoon and evening in Berlin yesterday so I booked tickets for this and it was excellent. We came out and went for a beer by the river and discussed it for ages, and it kept coming up over the evening, so much to think about.

@sovielverloren I've just googled the exhibition and it looks fascinating. Feeling envious, would love to see that.
I've just read an amazing book called "The Berlin Shadow" by Jonathan Lichtenstein. It's a about a journey he takes with his father back to Berlin as his father was one of the kinder transport children. His father became a G.P. in Wales The book reflects on how being one of the kinder impacted on his father's life and relationships with his family. Well worth reading.

Thank you for coming back to the thread with your feedback. I’ve just added it to our list.

We went when DD was thirteen.

We started with the Reichstag, spent quite a lot of time in various shopping centers, visited the Holocaust museum, and the amazing Mount Mitte climbing park at which she had such a great time she didn't mind being dragged off afterwards to see a nearby section of the Wall!

https://www.visitberlin.de/en/mountmitte-high-rope-course

Checking in to report that the Deutches Spionagemuseum was excellent with older teens. Information-dense but presented in an engaging and informative way. There were hands-on exhibits like a lie detector test and invisible writing task that I saw younger kids enjoying, but I think it would be hard for accompanying adults to take in much content at fidgety kid pace.

The Deutches Technikmuseum was all round awesome - enjoyable at any age. Really, really good. We all learned something in the history of computing exhibit. We ran out of steam long before we’d exhausted the exhibits. It would warrant a second visit.

A friend recommended the Monkey Bar rooftop bar on Budapesta Straße (monkeybarberlin.de) as you can see into the ape enclosures at the zoo. The views across Tiergarten towards the city centre were great but the apes were not playing ball. We popped into the Bikini Berlin mall next door afterwards and discovered a panoramic view ground-level of one of the ape enclosures with lots of seating and a coffee shop. Save your pennies and pop in to the mall instead.

The Technikmuseum is indeed fab if planes, trains and automobiles are your thing (they're not mine but I still enjoyed it and learned a lot). Did you go to the Spectrum as well?

Did you go to the Spectrum as well?
No, we ran out of steam and had to bow out after 3 hours but I’d go again if we visit Berlin another time.

We visited the Roads Not Taken exhibition this morning. It was informative and thought-provoking. DH and I enjoyed it. Our boys found it harder to engage with, as it was very text-heavy and required basic historical knowledge of some events that they were missing. It was interesting to see the context for the fall of the Berlin wall laid out so clearly. I was unaware of the human chain between the 3 capitals of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in August 1989, for example. At first I couldn’t understand why they started with 1989 and went back in time, but by the time I got to the 19th century/Prussians my head was full and I was flagging. It was easier to hook into the more recent, more familiar events. Although our boys enjoyed this one less, they said it made them think about how much had happened in their grandparents’ lifetimes.

Ah yes, I can see that - I was coming at it with quite a lot of historical/background knowledge. (I hadn't known about the atom bomb plans, which was the thing I found the most shocking/unsettling, I think).

The Spectrum's fun - lots of hands-on experiments. What I love about the Technikmuseum is how lovingly it's all done. You can feel the curators' enthusiasm.

Oh absolutely! My youngest said he thought the way the 2WW planes were presented was interesting - recovered, downed ones still with bullet holes and buckled panels not painstakingly restored, spruced up ones. It was such an interesting museum.

I’m not sure how long Khroma is running so this may not stand as a long term recommendation, but I cannot recommend it strongly enough. It was so much fun! We spent over an hour and a half in this show and it felt like 5 minutes. It felt like playing when you were a kid and time flew. Nearly all of the installations are interactive and brilliantly done.

https://khroma.berlin/

Site with English description: https://www.berlin.de/en/tickets/exhibitions/khroma-new-media-art-center-4eac3ed8-fc46-46c2-9562-d727a88e502a/

Interesting - thank you!

The Reichstag rooftop was good. You need to book in advance on a German government website with all the visitors’ names and dates of birth and produce to photo ID to match your booking on entry, but it was well worth it. We were booked into a 2.00 slot and there was barely any queue. When we left after 3pm the queue was snaking along the pavement, so I think earlier slots are probably quieter. The views from the dome are great. The design of the structure was interesting too. DH is still trying to work out where the rainwater from the open top goes. 😄

Last update from me. We visited the Jewish Museum (https://www.jmberlin.de/en) on our last day. It is well worth a visit. The modern annexe is architecturally significant and interesting in its own right. The basement level is designed to evoke a sense of unease through cambered floors, atmospheric lighting and inclined walls. It was effective. The way items were exhibited with the personal stories of families that had used them was affecting. The exhibits about the Jewish faith and practices were informative for us, as a non-religious family. The section called The Catastrophe (about the Holocaust) was powerful. There was considerable focus on the political and social events leading up to Kristallnacht to set the scene. The exhibits balanced personal stories with the scale of impact at population level. The museum also celebrates Jewish culture and successes. We liked the music booths and enjoyed listening to the sample recordings. It would probably suit families with older children better because there was a lot to read and take in.