Things to see and do in Berlin, Germany?

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Flower

dude, berlin is the new new york if you cannot find something to do there you dont deserve to be in europe!!

The Tank

Depends how long you're staying for and when you go. Whatever the date/time of your visit you should get a Berlin Welcome Card. This is a travelcard which is valid on all trams, busses, U and S Bahn, and RE trains. It also gives you worthwhile discounts on many attractions (see the BVG link below). Buy it from the small BVG desks at the airports.

I've also included a link to the S + U Bahn map. It's available as a pdf file. You should print it and take it with you.

If it's only a couple of days then you'll have wasted your visit if you just go clubbing. With respect to the Berlin bars and clubs, there are loads of similar types in most other capitals.
Visit one or two, e.g. the KitKat Klub but for at least one evening you should go to the caberet at Freidrichstadtpalast.

The Museum Island (Museuminsel) contains the famous Pergamon Muesum, with its impressive Pergamon Altar; and the Egyptian Museum, with its beautiful bust of Nefertitti. You can get there by bus to "Lustgarten".
If you're still in museum mood then visit the Natural History Museum (U-Bahn to Zinnowitzerstrasse). Here you'll see the largest and best Brachiosaurus skeleton in captivity. (It's a big bugger, really!)

The television tower (Fernsehturm) costs less than 20Euro to go up and gives stunning views of the city, don't go if it's hazy though.

If you go in December you can visit any of dozens of Christmas Markets. The best ( in my opinion) are at Spandau and Keiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. There used to be a huge one at Alexanderplatz but that's been broken up and dispersed.
If you graze the steak and worst stalls at the Christmas Markets then you probably will find all your food needs well satisfied.

Postdammer Platz used to be the "Leicester Square" of Berlin before WW2. It then spent 50 years as a derelict bombsite. Now it's a stunning town business centre.
The shopping, bars, restaurants cinemas etc. have made it a must-see for all visitors. Allow lots of time to look around, especially if you go in December.
Note that the tall buildings in Potsdammer Platz are all different designs on purpose. This was because the planners knew that any "theme" would upset someone, so they decided to have at least one building that would appeal to most visitor's tastes. (I like the red brick one).

Near the Potsdammer Platz is the Berlin Philharmonie. The home of the world famous Berlin Philhrmonic Orchestra, and several others too.
You're also a short walk from the Tiergarten, the Holocaust Memorial (an odd collection of black slabs) and the Brandenburg Gate. Look carefully in the middle of the road that loops around the West face of the gate and you'll see a line of bricks marking the line of the Berliner Maur (the Wall). Don't get run over!

Keep walking north a few hundred metres and you're at the Reichstag. It's free to visit the dome but security is tight and the queue may be over an hour, depending on time of day. Well worth it on a cloudless night though - especially if you have your lover with you (very romantic).

Take a boat trip. They can do 30 minute ones if you think an hour is too long. Go to the river at the Lustgarten for main pick-ups.

There are plenty of Thai and Italian restaurants in Berlin, mostly quite good. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to get a good curry in Berlin. If you have ever lived in West London then you'll know what a good curry should taste like.
Most pubs will serve authentic German food and many of them have their own local micro-brewery. So you don't need to drink the "international" lagers.

Don't waste you time and money buying MacD or BK or KFC. You can get that muck anywhere. There are not many of these places around anyway because very few Berliners use them.
If you feel up to it then go to the top floor of the KaDeWe department store (see link). It's a paradise for foodies.

If you have time and it's not raining then you should spend an hour at the Soviet War Memorial at Treptower Park. It's a huge site and incredibly impressive, even "moving". This park has it's own S-Bahn station.

The Zoo station should be your Centre of Operations for travel because it's the main city bus station and has excellent S & U bahn, and RE connections. When you look at the maps you'll see what I mean.

Bus route 100 from the Zoo will take you past many of the tourist sites and you can use your travelcard so you don't have to pay for a specialist tour bus. The ride to the end of the line takes about 50 minutes and is well worth it. Take a city guide leaflet with you.

When you're in the East have a look at the little men on the Pelican Crossings. They're different from the usual "euro-standard" little men. The Berliners are quite attached to them.

No need to carry large ammounts of cash around if you're worried about being mugged. There are loads of cashpoints in the central areas and most places take credit cards.

Sorry if this seems like a long travelogue but I'm a Berlin enthusiast. There's loads more but you'll probably fall asleep before finishing reading it. I've been every year for the last 13 years and think it's a great place.

julie travelcaster

I love Berlin, and have visited numerous times - and these are the kinds of things I love to do.

1. The Western Center. Near Bahnhof Zoo, within a few blocks you can visit KDW - the largest department store in Europe, the Kaiser Wilhem GedÃ¤chtniskirche, Kurfurstendamm, the main entertainment/nightlife/shopping/dining street, the Zoo, and even go for a wander in the Tiergarten.

2. The Eastern Center. Center on Alexanderplatz, built during communist times, visit the Nicholai Viertal, small pseudo Old Town in the Center Of Berlin, the WorldClock, and Fernsehturm, icons from the DDR era, the Marienkirche, one of the oldest churches in Berlin, the Marx-Engels Forum, and you can find a place to have a quick Kaffee und Kuchen. Many days there are markets in the platz - the oldest use of this space!

3. The monumental/governmental center. Starting at the Reichstag, there are a number of old government buildings to visit. The lines to go into the dome of the Reichstag can be long - get in a group if you can. You can walk a block or so south to the Brandenburg Gate, then continue south to the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. If you are careful you can find your way to VoÃŸstrasse, and the location of Hitler's bunker (there is a sign there). Go to Wilhelmstrasse, the historic street of power in Berlin and visit the Topography of Terrors Exhibit.

4. Museums - whether you visit Museumsinsel, the center for museums in the east, or the GemÃ¤ldegalerie and Neue Nationalgalerie in the west, or one of the other fantastic museums in Berlin, they are very much worthwhile,

5 Other attractions - the commercial sites at Potsdammer Platz. Wall sites at the Wall Memorial, the East Side Gallery , or Checkpoint Charlie, the Gendarmarkt, and the great churches near it, there are many more things to see in Berlin.

6. One of the Neighborhoods - Prenzenlauer Berg is my favorites, with the Gethsemanekirche, where the movement that brought down the wall caught fire in Berlin a fascinating site.

7. Baroque sites - there is history in Berlin before WWII, although much of it was destroyed. But you can visit Schloss Charlottenburg or Potsdam, and Sansouci to see what this was like.

8. 2 more WWII sites - Sachsenhause concentration camp, a kilometer or so from the S-Bahn in Oranienburg, and the Wannsee House, where the final solution was finally determined.

Hope this helps

startupper

1 Charlottenburg Castle 2 Victory Column 3 The Building of the German Chancellery 4 Reichstag 5 Brandenburger Gate 6 Holocaust Monument 7 Potsdamer Platz 8 Checkpoint Charlie 9 Gendarmenmarkt 10 Berlin Dome 11 Alexanderplatz and TV Tower 12 Museum Island 13 Memorial Church 14 Botanical Garden 15 The Wall

PedestrianMe

Go to the Prater Biergarten on Kastianallee, near U-Bahn station Eberswalder Str.; but leave your ball cap at home.

The baby penguin

If you like museums, go to the Museumsinsel, there are several museums, especially the Pergamon museum is really nice, but make sure not to go on a Monday, some of them are usually closed on Mondays.

ron

I was only in Berlin for a few days on business, I went to a superb club close to the hotel, they really know how to enjoy themselves there, without the fights and loutish behaviour you so often see in this country.

But two places I just had to visit, first was to walk through the Brandenburgh Gate, and the second was to visit the Check point Charlie museum next to a bit of remaing Berlin Wall.

It was marvelous and moving to see exhibits and read accounts of the incredible escapes and attempts to get through from one side to the other.

Michael B

Berlin is a wonderful city. If your traveling by train get off at the Zoo Station. Go over to the Kaiser Wilhelm church and get on a tour bus to get an overview of the city. Berlin is a city that has many sides. Museums, a river boat ride on the Spree, Checkpoint Charlie with the museum, shopping. To see it you need at least 3 days.

Earwen

There's the Berlin Museum that has the Ishtar Gate, last time I heard.

Alfonze H

Go clubbing! There are loads of good quality minimal and deep house/techno clubs in Berlin.

ShlomoNYC

Take the train to Hamburg or Cologne; Berlin is very xenophobic and dirty

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