Berlin trip recommendations please

[Ifeeltheneedtheneedforcoffee]

Hoping for some recommendations for things to do in berlin with children age 10-16
Any hotel recommendations would be helpful. There will be 5 people so most hotels need 2 rooms but any other options welcome. Which is the best place to stay? Will be over winter so darker evenings
Thank you in advance

The DDR museum was great.

We stayed at Louisa's Place - they have a huge two room apartment and there is a pool in the basement.

It was close to underground station and easy to get around. We took ours to the Zoo,

The Reichstag building, the TV tower and a walk around the Tiergarten.
Potsdamme Platz was also good. They enjoyed the East side Gallery too.

I love Berlin!

It’s just a great city to walk around to be honest. Walking through Tiergarten to the Bradenburg Gate. The memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe is breathtaking. The Reichstag area is great to walk around - I have never been organised enough in advance to get inside. We had a wonderful trip to KaDeWe which was lovely to nose around - had a walk around the area too. The river cruise is pretty good too giving different perspectives of the city. I also dragged the family to Bowie haunts.

And don’t forget to get a currywurst!

We have gone every couple of years since youngest was 12 - she’s 17 now and says it is her favourite city.

Thank you so much all.
Useful to have some recommendations. Looks like lots to do

We did a great paid for walking tour which was excellent ( loads of ww2 and cold war info). Dd15 loved the spy museum. Lots of museums for us, was fab.

Spy museum, TV tower, Natural history museum, Berlin Wall panorama, Deutschlandmuseum,

I highly recommend this ticket too

https://welcome-card.berlin-tickets.com/

It gives you reductions or free entry for all of the above.

We (I and my 2 teen daughters) went on a self-drive Trabant tour which was definitely the highlight of our visit a couple of years ago. You’ll need to be comfortable driving on the right and bear in mind it’s a left hand drive with an old fashioned gear stick. It was fun and informative and you get to see a lot of Berlin.
For accomodation, Schulz Hotel is fairly cheap, well situated and right next to the East side gallery.

We love Berlin. There’s just so much to see and do.

We buy a ticket that gives unlimited 24 hour use for the buses, u-bahn and trams. I can’t remember but I think it costs roughly €12.

When are you going?

Same. We did one of these tours and loved it.

We stayed at the Hotel Bristol. It was a ‘package’ with EasyJet. We are a family of 5, 2 teens and a tween. We visited the zoo, TV tower, riverboat cruise, DDR museum, travelled out to an open air pool (it was August!), and sights like Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie. We stayed for a week and still didn’t see everything!

I recommend the tour bus. And a hotel near to alexanderplatz. We had a sort of hilton when we went ( not a big posh one)

Teufelsberg, it's very instagrammable! Do a Sandemans walking tour when you get there (it's free, but a tip is expected).

Have a look at the Premier Inn Alexanderplatz.

Second the Schulz hotel, great location and kid friendly

We stayed in The Berlin Hilton. Not exactly exciting as a hotel but it's located in Mitte and easy to walk to lots of places.

Recommend, as pp have said DDR museum, Stasi Museum - found it quite spooky and claustrophobic. The holocaust memorial.

There are lots of different tours - we did a 2 hour walk of Germany 1900 to the fall of the wall, but you can go on buses, boats, bikes and even self drive a Trabi.

Also recommend the Olympic Stadium although it's a wee bit of a journey.

Last time I went it was fabulous warm spring weather and just walking around was great.

edited to add just saw someone else mentioned the Trabi tour!

Reichstag - it's free to access the dome but you need to book in advance and have your passport with you. There is an official link from the Bundestag.
https://www.bundestag.de/en/visittheBundestag/dome/registration-245686

We did the DDR museum, DD (then 17) loved it. We also did the Deutschlandmuseum, nothing huge but gives a good insight.

Several of the big museums are currently closed so do check.

North of Berlin is Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp. We haven't been there as we alrady planned to visit Dachau later in the same holiday. You can also go to Plötzensee memorial, the execution place used by the Nazis.

If you like palaces, you have Charlottenburger Schloss directly in Berlin and Sanssouci is in Potsdam an easy train ride away.

Is any of your children doing history for GCSE and covers history of medicine by any chance? If so, the Charité - the main hospital in Berlin - has a good museum about the development of medicine.

Thank you all so much. Sounds like lots to do.
We go next December so planning ahead!
The accommodation recommendations are so helpful. Tricky as they get older and when there is 5 of us!
No gcse history (so far) Although 2 are doing German so some good chances to practice (whilst appreciating that I am sure many Germans have much better English than the kids German its always good to have a try)

December is fabulous. You’ll have all the Christmas markets. They are magical. Just remember that everything closes on a Sunday, except the markets.
I couldn’t pick just one but the one at Charlottenburg Palace was particularly beautiful. I miss wandering around with a mulled wine and curry wurst.

My teens love the Alexa shopping centre for shopping.

Dussmann (book and music store) is very cool too.

Second this

also I did a bike tour which would be totally doable for older children. It was generally very safe (and flat) cycling about

I will say it’s Baltic (literally) in winter though. The wind comes down from the Baltic sea

honestly I’d consider going another time. I froze when I last went in March. Though I went at Easter once and it was glorious. Can be a bit keen in the summer.

We stayed at a holiday Inn and it was really central just a short walk from Potsdamer Platz

Stresemann straße

Remember, it will be cold! So wear plenty of layers. I’d also recommend a trip to Sachsenhausen - you can book a tour from the city centre. It’s well worth it. We used this company.
https://www.viveberlintours.com/en/

You must must book to go to the DDR Museum would be great for kids, but gets very busy so make sure you go either very early or later on. Not sure I know much to do with the kids apart from that.
The Stasi museum/HQ slightly out of town is good as well and the prison.

Not sure I'd pick Berlin as a place for children