Berlin with hard to please teenagers!

[ikeepforgetting]

Hoping to go for around 3 nights over the Easter holidays. Youngest (DD14) is doing GCSE history so there will be a bit of that, but otherwise wandering and exploring with her and DS17. First holiday post-divorce so I want to make it laid back and fun if I can.

Any tips? Particularly accommodation that won't break the bank since will likely need two rooms. They are the usual phone-addicted, jaded types so I need as much to shock and awe them as possible!

We stayed here with teenage dd. I think everyone has already recommended our highlights.

https://hotelgatpointcharlie.com/en

The zoo is really depressing. As are most. There's much better things to do in Berlin.

This is very helpful!! We are also going over the Easter weekend - I lived in Berlin about 20 years ago but it’s obviously changed many times over since then and I now have a 15, 12 and 9 year old so am making a note of all these suggestions! Does anyone have any recommendations of ‘cool’ places to eat with kids (that I as an adult who likes good food!) would like? Would be most grateful!!

Placemarking as taking DTDs (13) this October. We've booked the Circus hotel as you can put an extra bed in the larger rooms so works out cheaper than two.

I've got most of the activities mentioned above on the list. Have also found this street art tour and workshop which the girls are excited about:

https://originalberlintours.com/tours/original-berlin-street-art-workshop/?srsltid=AfmBOooFA8cak3wGirE5PV3Q53i-_lawHNi8PYpy0lpvXeryz8pZpHcp

Any recommendations for the best streets/malls/shops to potter around for clothes? We're there Mon-Fri only.

Back as I have finally booked three nights. Mon-Thurs as was cheapest to fly (relative!). We are staying in the Camper Hotel in Mitte, I thought the location looked great with Cafe Cinema and Hackesche Hof just round the corner for all important Instagram. Important for me too are the nice cafes for early morning pre-teens' wakeup people-watching! Also, an Urban Outfitters practically next door for bribes.

Working out an itinerary now, so if you have advice send it my way.

Aim is to do:
Museums - thinking DDR, bunkers, what else good for GCSE pre 1939 history?
East Side Gallery
Reichstag in evening
Walking tour - checking out the free ones mentioned by pps
Wander around the cooler neighbourhoods and see where it takes us - find some vintage stores, good burgers and street art

@ikeepforgetting

Germany pre-1939 is difficult at the moment in Berlin as the main museum, Deutsche Museum, is closed.

The Reichstag Dome has a series of tables with the history of the parliament which covers the Weimarer Republik and the Hiter years.
It may be worth seeing if they do a guided tour in English which covers the history, we only went to the Dome.

Don't look for a burger - go for a Döner Kebab.

Also place-marking. I’ve just booked it for December

Thanks @reluctantbrit that's helpful to know.

I'd also love to sneak in a music tour to see where Bowie, Iggy, Lou Reed hung out!

I think you‘ve chosen a good location for a hotel, although I don’t actually know what it’s like. You‘ve got Alte Schönhauser Strasse round the corner, which has some cute indie cafes, and pretty close to the Hackescher Hof complex. We were there at the weekend for a film and ate at a the local branch of Peter Pane, a burger restaurant that my kids are very fond of. Döner kebabs are certainly favoured in Berlin, but IMHO they‘re utterly disgusting and you‘ll stink afterwards. A good local (streetfood) speciality is the Currywurst - a grilled sausage in pieces with spicy tomato sauce on top.
I used to live round the corner from Bowie‘s old apartment, and sorry to disappoint you but it’s probably not that exciting unless you’re a super-fan. It’s a very mundane, non-touristy part of town, and his old local haunts that still exist would possibly only open in the evening and be over-18 only. I think I have seen Bowie-tours being offered but your kids might find it a little tedious. Actually, what might be more fun is working your way through all the locations mentioned and shown in ‘Where are we now?‘

We found a hippy / anarchist commune just walking about; strictly look only, no entering. We also found a Caribbean/ African market with live reggae and DJs and food etc. Don't know about David Bowie but I'm sure there is one.

We stayed in the Premier Inn too, which was lovely and near the park that Berlin Zoo is in. In the park is a lovely healthy food, and a lovely bratwurst restaurant (next to each other) on the lake. Nice and cool as we went in a heatwave.

There are lots of hostels in Berlin, which might be better for teens, but the Premier Inn was really nice.

We went on a street food walking tour. Really recommend it

Thanks @LadyGreySpillsTheTea, location was important because it will also be my first post-divorce trip and I want to do nice things too! Thanks for the burger recommendation too, it's very important to have good burgers wherever in the world they end up. Makes or breaks a day apparently! Really excited now...

If you don't need your accommodation to be "interesting" or have "character" then Motel One is a reliable and reasonably priced German hotel chain (think Premier Inn/Travelodge but very slightly nicer). A slightly cheaper chain is B&B Hotels (hotel-bb.com). And I just discovered through Google that apparently there are actual Premier Inns there too!

I've booked the Camper hotel in Mitte as it had decent offer on two rooms and good location. Probably a bit more than I wanted to spend but every other option was tricky for different reasons!

Which part of town did you go to for that, Jeanne? I can imagine Neukölln or Kreuzberg has some pretty interesting street food because they’re so ethnically diverse.

I've just booked a room in a hostel in Kreuzberg for 4 nights in early August. Apparently it's handy for the clubs, which is going to be useful with a 10 year old in tow 😆. But Kreuzberg will be cool even if we don't go clubbing, I'm sure. (The reviews all mention how quiet it is, phew!)

@LadyGreySpillsTheTea what's wrong with airbnbs in Berlin? It looks like it's a lot more regulated than most places. I've never had a problem staying in airbnbs anywhere in Europe (including capitals). We're thinking about visiting Berlin but wouldn't stay in a hotel with three teenagers. Frankly the tourist industry needs to cater for families who want to have self catering holidays in cities and airbnb has become so popular because it fills that gap. If Berlin wants people to not use airbnb then it needs to build holiday accomodation for families that includes cooking facilities and space to sit down and relax in the evening, not just hotel bedrooms.

OP If you're there on a Sunday, there's a really cool flea market with both antiques and lots of cool stalls, great food, a bit like how Camden market used to be. They often have music as well.

Following

Wish we were, but flights at the weekend were massively more ££ so just going Mon - Thurs. Will save the flea market for next time!

I agree. A hotel for 6 nights with 2 bedrooms would have been far too expensive for the 3 of us. We still spend quite a lot of money on local restaurants and cafes but wanted the space a flat provides.

I do understand the issue with housing problems but on the other hand, how many people can really afford a flat in a central city location? I am sure cities like London, Paris, Amsterdam are far too expensive for your average earner.

Well, until very recently normal Berliners could afford a flat in relatively central Berlin. Not any more sadly, but that's not entirely down to AirBnBs.

We went to Berlin when DDs were 12 and 15 and they both loved it. DDR museum was a big hit as was (slightly surprisingly) the Pergamon. I lived in Germany for a few years in my twenties and we used to go to Berlin for a weekend away occasionally so I knew it a little. It's a fabulous city, very envious of your trip. When asked which European city they'd go back to now without us parents DDs always say Berlin.

I said upthread what the problem with AirBnB in Berlin is: people are illegally renting out rent-controlled properties that are supposed to be for normal Berliners like my kids. As a result it’s almost impossible to find a decent flat in the centre for the people who actually live here and pay taxes. Sure the market is more regulated here, but some properties are still being offered without a permit. Would you really want to holiday somewhere that might get busted by the police at any point? Because the locals are not going to be terribly sympathetic, and Berliners are really good at being very rude - in fact it‘s Parisian waiter levels of rudeness when tourists are being eedjits. We‘re a capital city with a strong economy so it’s not like we‘re that dependent on tourism, and we can certainly do without people who have your mentality. Sure, the hotel providers should ideally be setting up aparthotels with kitchenettes for families, but they don‘t, and if you can‘t be arsed to find legal accommodation it’s probably best if you give Berlin a miss. Or find a room within an apartment that has kitchen use - that’s entirely legal AFAIK.

There's the Ramones museum which has a vegan cafe and the Spy museum as well.