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!

Yeah, there were some great rooms in family homes with AirBnB when I was looking the other day- that's fine, that's the acceptable face of AirBnB and how it started out. It looked like a great way to meet Berliners, and some of the places looked lovely. (Ultimately a family room in a hostel was cheaper for us though).

For food, I recommend Markethalle Neun near the East Side Gallery. Huge former market on a beautiful red brick industrial building, with loads of vendors selling different foods from all over the world. Great when no-one can agree what to eat!!!

Spy Museum

I don't think anyone would want a family of 5 staying in their spare room though so we've never used airbnb for that (would be less space than 2 hotel rooms). So where do you suggest I look for legal self catering accomodation internationally if not airbnb?

The reality is that it is just a very well designed website for finding self catering accomodation, the same places are on booking.com and other websites. And Berlin is no different to other popular holiday locations like London, Edinburgh, Barcelona or Venice. The tourist industry puts a strain on these popular locations.

DDR museum is great! History teacher here - we take yr11 to Berlin every year including DDR museum. Recommend Berlin Wall gallery -and it’s free!
What period is she studying - guessing Superpowers & Cold War and /or Rise of the Nazis?

@IdaGlossop Interwar years, rise of Hitler. My older DS is interested in Cold War too so I'm thinking a 2 hr walking tour when we get there that does the Mitte sights will be a good way to bring it all together. I will also lie and tell them it is 1 hour!

Sorry I’m just placemarking for all these ideas, we’ve booked to go to Berlin in July for 5 nights where we’re are also seeing iron maiden

Definitley the Bunker Museum then.

We went just after NYE with hard to please DS18.
Things that really worked- Reichstag amazing that it is free felt like a real adventure having to get our passports out, Museum of Terror I think it was called, again free and very informative for DS who I suspect may be on too many right wing real men websites,Hofsbrau Wirtshaus - he loved the beer hall with oompah music and hearty food, Checkpoint charlie museum was a bit rambling and shambolic but so much interesting information and obviously a visit to the wall murals.

Things I wouldn't recommend- spy museum I thought was gimmicky but DH and DS seemed to like it, tourist bus - stopped for 15 minutes at some of the stops due to some stupid German working legislation. Much better to use public transport and the odd Uber as not expensive.

Be aware that it will be very cold! We went in March and it was freezing… take plenty of layers.
We did a guided tour of Sachsenhausen camp with ViveBerlin - it was absolutely fantastic. My 16yr old was so enthralled.
https://www.viveberlintours.com/en/tour/sachsenhausen-concentration-camp-berlin-tour/

Yes, the walking tour we did was fabulous , it was free! ( but 10 years ago now). I'd would have paid three/four times the contribution we paid, in hindsight...it took in the David Bowie area too, v cool. I, too would NOT do a cycling tour, too dangerous.

We got a train to a concentration camp, quite a way out of the city though, and you may not have the time, a very, very haunting place, I'm sorry, I can't remember the name of it, but will be easily googled.

Our teens were 13, 15 and 17 and we were there for a week, it was a hugely successful holiday, made SO much better by the endless amusement and consumption of 'Dickmanns' confection, great big knobs of chocolate filled with marshmallow....

Can anyone recommend a good book which will give me the history of Berlin and Hitler etc around WW2. I’d like to get myself fully understanding what happened before I travel there.

I read John Kampfner's book "In Search of Berlin" a few weeks ago. It's an accessible history of the city. @freelancersunite you could skip the earlier chapters but you might find the ones about Prussia useful as Berlin was very much a Prussian capital before it was the capital of Germany.

Walking tour is good, it will hit a lot of the places. I recommend Sachsenhausen and the Museum of Jewish life. The Bundestag/reichstag is also brilliant not sure if you need to book. Have a great trip!

Just back - it was cold! We did the DDR museum which was good but completely due to timings, took forever to get to and from as there was the state funeral of a previous President going on and everything around the cathedral was closed off.
Also visited the Reichstag dome - I failed to appreciate it was open at the top. We did it at night and it was freezing. I would have wanted to do an English speaking building tour but that needed lots of booking in advance (I think it was 30 days).
The film festival is / was on so lots of movie types / directors / actresses staying in our hotel 😂
I also hadn’t realised that all the shops close on a Sunday.
But a very good European city to visit- very welcoming and great history.

How crowded would Berlin be in late July or early August? Could be as early as July 22 or so if that would help?

We went 6-13th August.

Yes, it was busy but I felt it a lot less than London in Summer (I work in Central London, so see it most days).

Public transport is frequent, easy to walk around as well.

Keep in mind that in Germany the school holidays run form June - September, it's divided by state and you have the foreign tourists as well, so July is not necessarily more or less busy.

We've been a few times around those days in Berlin. It's busy, yes but it's the middle of summer in a Capital city. It's not that busy that you can't get into restaurants etc and with any busy city it's best to book tickets in advance any time of year.

We absolutely love the buzz of Berlin in July, it has an amazing atmosphere. Just bear in mind it can get VERY hot, 2023 it reached 32 degrees one of the days and we also got bitten alive by mosquitoes!! Last July wasn't so hot (when we were there) and it also rained quite spectacularly for a couple of hours on a few of the days and again got covered in mosquito bites.

Last time we went it was the third week of August and the local schools had gone back that very week so it was quieter. Hot though, over 30 each day. Thankfully less mosquitos but I bath in repellent as they love me, so that may have been why I didn't get bitten.

Off tomorrow! Very excited now. Have booked a free Sandemans walking tour and planning a few other free things like East Side Gallery. And shopping in the many vintage stores. Any last minute recommendations for food in Mitte do share! I've already got a list of coffee shops and brunch places for when the teenagers are asleep - can't wait!

Top tip with teens is to get them to research the restaurants.

How are you getting on with Berlin, @ikeepforgetting ? You’re really quite lucky with the weather this week. If you’re still looking for restaurants, we‘re quite fond of a pan-Asian place on Chauseestrasse called Hoongy, and the kids love a coffee-with-cakes cafe facing the Spree called petit bijou. Plenty of other options though.

Weather has been fantastic @LadyGreySpillsTheTea. The kids discovered and loved Shiso Burger so they have ended up there more days than not! I am loving Berlin, much more than I expected. We have really enjoyed places like Cafe Cinema and wandering Kreuzberg streets looking at the street art. And kebabs!

We were let down by a Sandemans tour guide not showing up so I would avoid those - and maybe pay for a tour rather than risk a free one. I wonder if it was because it was just the three of us that he didnt think worth his while.... We visited the Topography of terror instead which was very detailed and overwhelming on just how horrific that part of history was.

I'd really recommend this area of Mitte, it is between Scheunenviertel and Hackesher Markt. Great public transport, shops, cafes and beautiful courtyards and interesting streets to explore.

@ikeepforgetting I’ve been reading this thread which is very timely as dd and I booking a trip for when GCSEs over. How was the hotel you stayed in, was location good and one you would recommend?

@Pomer0l We stayed in the Camper hotel in Mitte. The hotel itself was fine, not a lot of facilities but big, clean comfy rooms (I booked two interconnecting). Can be expensive but I got a deal - shop around. Best thing about it easily was the location, especially for teenagers. There were a few good vintage shops within 5 min walk, an Urban Outfitters and a Sephora-style shop next door. Plus cafes, restaurants, little parks to sit in, cool graffiti bars (look up Cafe Cinema) and cute courtyards so all very teen (and Instagram!) friendly.

It was fairly quiet and felt like a safe area, with tram, u-bahn and s-bahn right beside the hotel too. I was able to get to Kreuzberg in 10 minutes, Brandenberg Gate in 15 mins. Also easy to get to from the airport, train runs directly to a station 5 mins from the hotel.

Would definitely recommend staying at Camper or nearby streets in Scheunenviertel. Further along towards Alexanderplatz was busier and less interesting to wander, just big chain shops and Burger Kings.