Things to do in Berlin
Berlin is less about pretty postcards and more about history, culture and atmosphere. Combine memorials and museums with markets, parks and evenings out.
Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag
The neoclassical Brandenburg Gate, completed in 1791, stood in no-man's land beside the Wall and became the symbol of reunification. A few minutes away, the Reichstag building houses the Bundestag. Its glass dome by Norman Foster, with a spiral ramp, is free to visit, but you must register online in advance with ID.
The Berlin Wall
Visit the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse, where a preserved section with the death strip and watchtower explains how the border worked. The East Side Gallery is a 1.3-kilometre stretch painted by artists in 1990, including the famous "fraternal kiss" between Brezhnev and Honecker. Checkpoint Charlie, the former Allied crossing, is touristy, but the nearby Wall Museum and the Topography of Terror, on the site of the Gestapo headquarters, are important.
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Peter Eisenman's memorial near the Brandenburg Gate consists of 2,711 concrete slabs of differing heights on undulating ground. Walking among them is disorienting by design. The underground information centre tells the stories of individual victims. The Jewish Museum in Kreuzberg, in Daniel Libeskind's zigzag building, is also unmissable.
Museum Island
A UNESCO-listed ensemble of five museums on the Spree. The Pergamon Museum is closed for renovation until around 2027 (with partial reopening later), but the Neues Museum displays the bust of Nefertiti, the Altes Museum has classical antiquities, the Alte Nationalgalerie shows nineteenth-century art and the Bode Museum sculpture and coins. The Berlin Cathedral and the reconstructed Humboldt Forum palace are next door.
TV Tower and views
At 368 metres, the Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz is Germany's tallest structure, built by East Germany in 1969. The viewing platform and revolving restaurant offer panoramas. Alternatives include the Panoramapunkt at Potsdamer Platz and the rooftop of the Park Inn.
Parks and outdoor Berlin
Tempelhofer Feld, the former airport famous for the 1948 to 1949 Berlin Airlift, is a vast open space for cycling, kite-surfing and picnics. The Tiergarten offers lakes and beer gardens, and Treptower Park holds the colossal Soviet War Memorial. In summer, swim in lakes such as Schlachtensee, Wannsee or Müggelsee.
East Germany and the Stasi
The Stasi Museum in the former Ministry for State Security headquarters in Lichtenberg and the Hohenschönhausen Memorial, a Stasi prison where former inmates sometimes lead tours, offer a chilling look at surveillance under the GDR. The DDR Museum by the Spree is more playful and interactive.
Food culture
Berlin's iconic street food is the currywurst, invented in the city in 1949, and the döner kebab, popularised by Turkish immigrants in Kreuzberg in the 1970s. Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg hosts Street Food Thursday. Berlin also has a huge vegan scene and many international restaurants.
Nightlife
Berlin's club culture, recognised as intangible cultural heritage in Germany, includes legendary techno venues such as Berghain, Tresor and Sisyphos, which open from Saturday night to Monday morning. Door policies are strict, and photography is banned inside. For gentler evenings, try a jazz bar, an open-air cinema or a Kneipe (pub).
Charlottenburg Palace
Built from 1695 as a summer residence for Sophie Charlotte, wife of the future King Frederick I of Prussia, Charlottenburg Palace is the largest surviving royal palace in Berlin. Its Baroque gardens and the New Wing's rococo rooms by Frederick the Great's architect Knobelsdorff are highlights.
Topography of Terror
On the site of the former Gestapo and SS headquarters, the Topography of Terror documentation centre explains the Nazi state's apparatus of persecution. A preserved stretch of the Berlin Wall runs along the edge of the site. Entry is free.
Tempelhofer Feld
The former Tempelhof Airport, famous for the 1948–49 Berlin Airlift, closed in 1998. Its runways are now a vast public park where Berliners cycle, skate, kite-surf and picnic. Guided tours of the monumental terminal building are available.
Markets
Berlin's markets range from the Turkish Market on the Maybachufer canal in Neukölln on Tuesdays and Fridays to the Mauerpark flea market and karaoke on Sundays. Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg hosts Street Food Thursday.
East Side Gallery
The East Side Gallery, a 1.3-kilometre stretch of the Berlin Wall along the Spree in Friedrichshain, was painted by artists from around the world in 1990. Its best-known mural, Dmitri Vrubel's Fraternal Kiss, shows Brezhnev and Honecker embracing.
Potsdam
Just 40 minutes away by S-Bahn or regional train, Potsdam has Sanssouci Palace, the summer palace of Frederick the Great, and the Cecilienhof, where the Potsdam Conference was held in 1945. The Glienicke Bridge, the "bridge of spies", where Cold War agents were exchanged, connects Potsdam to Berlin.
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