Choose wisely. Connect locally.Add your business Berlin is Germany's capital and largest city, and few places carry so much recent history so openly.
This guide covers the best places to visit in Berlin, from the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag to Museum Island, the Wall memorials, Charlottenburg Palace and Tempelhofer Feld, plus where to eat, where to stay, when to go and how to get around.
Berlin grew from two small medieval trading towns on the Spree into the capital of Prussia and then of a united Germany. By the 1920s it was one of the largest and most creative cities in the world.
That history is everywhere, but Berlin is far from a museum. It is a cluster of districts rather than a single center: elegant Charlottenburg in the west, historic Mitte, leafy Prenzlauer Berg, multicultural Kreuzberg and Neukölln, and lively Friedrichshain.
The Brandenburg Gate, with the Quadriga chariot on top, was completed in 1791 as a ceremonial entrance to the boulevard Unter den Linden. During the Cold War it stood just inside East Berlin, trapped behind the Wall, and it became the backdrop to the celebrations of 1989.
A short walk north of the gate, the Reichstag building houses the German parliament, the Bundestag. Its modern glass dome has spiraling ramps that lead you up above the chamber, with an audio guide that points out landmarks across the city.
The glass dome of the Reichstag building lets visitors look down into the chamber of the German parliament. Photo: Ank Kumar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
South of the Brandenburg Gate, more than two thousand gray concrete slabs of different heights fill a sloping site the size of a city block. Walking into the narrow paths between them can be disorienting and deeply affecting.
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe covers a full city block near the Brandenburg Gate. Photo: Pudelek (Marcin Szala), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
On the site of the former Gestapo and SS headquarters, the Topography of Terror documentation center explains how the Nazi system of persecution worked, alongside a surviving stretch of the Wall. Allow one to two hours.
At the northern tip of an island in the Spree, five major museums form a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
If you have time for only one museum, choose the Neues Museum. Its rebuilding left war damage visible beside careful restoration, and the building is as fascinating as its contents.
Berlin Cathedral stands on Museum Island beside the Lustgarten and the Spree River. Photo: Berthold Werner, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The most complete place to understand the Wall is the memorial on Bernauer Strasse, where houses once stood right on the border and residents escaped from their windows.
The Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse preserves a section of the wall and the border strip. Photo: Ansgar Koreng, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
In Friedrichshain, the longest surviving stretch of the Wall runs along the Spree and is covered with murals painted by artists from around the world after 1989. Allow an hour to walk its length, and continue across the red brick Oberbaum Bridge into Kreuzberg.
The East Side Gallery is the longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall, covered in murals. Photo: Ansgar Koreng, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The TV Tower at Alexanderplatz, built by East Germany in the 1960s, is the tallest structure in the country and can be seen from almost anywhere in Berlin. An elevator rises to a viewing platform in the sphere, with a revolving restaurant above.
The Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz is the tallest structure in Germany. Photo: Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
In the west of the city, Charlottenburg Palace is the largest surviving royal residence in Berlin, begun in the late seventeenth century as a summer home for Queen Sophie Charlotte.
Charlottenburg Palace is the largest surviving royal palace in Berlin. Photo: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de
The Tiergarten, Berlin's great central park, stretches west from the Brandenburg Gate with lakes, wooded paths and beer gardens. At its center the Victory Column rises above a traffic circle, and you can climb it for a view across the park.
When Tempelhof airport closed in 2008, Berliners voted to keep its runways open as a public park. Today Tempelhofer Feld is a vast open space where people cycle, skate, fly kites and barbecue in designated areas, with the huge terminal building on its edge.
Tempelhofer Feld turned the runways of the former Tempelhof airport into a vast public park. Photo: A.Savin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Berlin food is famously casual. Currywurst, a sliced sausage with curry-spiced ketchup, is the classic street snack, and the döner kebab, popularized by Berlin's Turkish community, is just as much a local staple.
Kreuzberg and Neukölln are the best districts for global food, from Turkish and Middle Eastern to Vietnamese, while Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte have relaxed cafes and brunch spots.
Popular dishes to try in Berlin
Mitte is the most central base, within walking distance of Museum Island, the Brandenburg Gate and many restaurants, which makes it ideal for a first trip.
Charlottenburg in the west is calmer and more traditional, with grand old apartment buildings, shopping on the Kurfürstendamm and easy access to the palace. Neukölln offers good value and a creative atmosphere close to Tempelhofer Feld.
Where to stay in Berlin
Late spring and summer, from May through September, are the most pleasant months, with long evenings, open-air cinemas, lake swimming and outdoor festivals such as the Carnival of Cultures in Kreuzberg.
Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) lies southeast of the city and is linked to the center by the FEX Airport Express and regional trains to Berlin Hauptbahnhof, as well as by S-Bahn lines.
The BVG and S-Bahn network of U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses runs late into the night and all night on weekends on many lines.
Start at the Brandenburg Gate, visit the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and walk through the Tiergarten.
Spend the morning at the Neues Museum and Berlin Cathedral on Museum Island, then walk to Alexanderplatz and ride up the TV Tower.
Visit the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse in the morning, then take the S-Bahn to the East Side Gallery.
Head west to Charlottenburg Palace and the Kurfürstendamm, or take a regional train to Potsdam to see the palaces and gardens of Sanssouci.
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