Central Berlin (The Historic Core)
REICHSTAG AND BRANDENBURG GATE AREA
THE SCHEUNENVIERTEL (“BARN QUARTER”)
FASCISM AND COLD WAR SITES NEAR CHECKPOINT CHARLIE
MUSEUMS SOUTH OF UNTER DEN LINDEN
Map: Charlottenburg Palace Area
Many visitors view Berlin through a Hitler or Berlin Wall lens—fixating on only the 20th century. But there’s a lot more to the city: Its sightseeing ranks right up there alongside London, Paris, and Rome in both variety and quality—offering everything from German history, to great works of art by European masters, to world-famous treasures from the ancient world (the Pergamon altar and bust of Nefertiti). To help you prioritize, I’ve chosen what I think are the best of Berlin’s many sights, organized geographically for more efficient sightseeing. To get you beyond the museums and into the “real Berlin,” I’ve also described some fun-to-explore neighborhoods—from posh City West to funky Kreuzberg.
When you see a 
in a listing, it means the sight is described in greater detail in one of my self-guided walks or tours. This is why some of Berlin’s greatest sights get the least coverage in this chapter—we’ll explore them later in the book, where you’ll also find crucial info on avoiding lines, saving money, and finding a decent bite to eat nearby.
A 
means that the sight is covered by my free Berlin City Walk audio tour (via my Rick Steves Audio Europe app—see here). For these, you can choose whether to read or to listen (though the chapters in this book offer a bit more depth).
For general tips on sightseeing, see here. Check www.ricksteves.com/update for any significant changes that may have occurred since this book was printed.
(See “Historic Core” map, here.)
Much of Berlin’s sightseeing is concentrated in this central strip, stretching along a mile-long corridor from the Tiergarten Park to Museum Island.
This area is covered in detail in the Reichstag & Brandenburg Gate Walk chapter and my free Berlin City Walk audio tour.
Germany’s historic parliament building—completed in 1894, burned in 1933, sad and lonely in a no-man’s land throughout the Cold War, and finally rebuilt and topped with a glittering glass cupola in 1999—is a symbol of a proudly reunited nation. Visit here to spiral up the remarkable dome and gaze across Berlin’s rooftops, and to watch today’s parliament in action. Because of security concerns, you’ll need a reservation.
Cost and Hours: Free, reservations required—see below, daily 8:00-24:00, last entry at 22:00, metal detectors, no big luggage allowed, Platz der Republik 1; S- or U-Bahn: Friedrichstrasse, Brandenburger Tor, or Bundestag; tel. 030/2273-2152, www.bundestag.de.
Reservations: You must make a free reservation. It’s easy to do online, but book early—spots often book up several days in advance. Go to www.bundestag.de, and from the “Visit the Bundestag” menu, select “Online registration.” You have two choices: “Visit to the dome” includes a good audioguide and is plenty for most; the 90-minute guided tour provides more in-depth information. After choosing your preferred date and time, you’ll be sent an email link to a website where you’ll enter details for each person in your party. A final email will contain your reservation (with a letter you must print out and bring with you).
Without a Reservation: Tickets may be available even when online sales are “sold out”—inquire at the tiny visitors center on the Tiergarten side of Scheidemannstrasse, across from Platz der Republik (open daily 8:00-20:00, until 18:00 Nov-March; bookings from 3 hours to 2 days in advance, go early to avoid lines). When booking, the whole party must be present and ID is required.
Another option for visiting the dome, though a bit pricey, is to have lunch or dinner at the extremely expensive rooftop restaurant, $$$$ Käfer Dachgarten (daily 9:00-16:30 & 18:30-24:00, last access at 22:00, reserve well in advance at tel. 030/2262-9933 or www.feinkost-kaefer.de/berlin).
Getting In: Report 15 minutes before your appointed time to the temporary-looking entrance facility in front of the Reichstag, and be ready to show ID and your reservation print-out. After passing through a security check, you’ll wait with other visitors for a guard to take you to the Reichstag entrance.
For more on the building’s exterior and history, see the Reichstag & Brandenburg Gate Walk chapter.
Visiting the Reichstag: The open, airy lobby towers 100 feet high, with 65-foot-tall colors of the German flag. See-through glass doors show the central legislative chamber. The message: There will be no secrets in this government. Look inside. Spreading his wings behind the podium is a stylized German eagle, the Bundestagsadler (affectionately nicknamed the “Fat Hen”), representing the Bundestag (each branch of government has its own symbolic eagle). Notice the doors marked Ja (Yes), Nein (No), and Enthalten (Abstain)...an homage to the Bundestag’s traditional “sheep jump” way of counting votes by exiting the chamber through the corresponding door. (For critical votes, however, they vote with electronic cards.)
Germany’s Bundestag (comparable to the US House of Representatives) meets here. Its 631 members are elected to four-year terms. They in turn elect the chancellor. Unlike America’s two-party system, Germany has a handful of significant parties, so they must form coalitions to govern effectively. Bundestag members have offices in the building to the left of the Reichstag.
Ride the elevator to the base of the glass dome. The dome is 80 feet high, 130 feet across, and weighs a quarter of a million pounds. It uses about 33,000 square feet of glass, or nearly enough to cover a football field.
Study the photos and read the circle of captions (around the base of the central funnel) telling the Reichstag story. Then study the surrounding architecture: a broken collage of new on old, torn between antiquity and modernity, like Germany’s history. Notice the dome’s giant and unobtrusive sunscreen that moves as necessary with the sun. Peer down through the skylight to look over the shoulders of the elected representatives at work. For Germans, the best view from here is down—keeping a close eye on their government.
Start at the ramp nearest the elevator and wind up to the top of the double ramp. Take a 360-degree survey of the city as you hike: The big park is the Tiergarten, the “green lungs of Berlin.” Beyond that is the Teufelsberg (“Devil’s Hill”). Built of rubble from the destroyed city in the late 1940s, it was famous during the Cold War as a powerful ear of the West—notice the telecommunications tower on top. Knowing the bombed-out and bulldozed story of their city, locals say, “You have to be suspicious when you see the nice, green park.”
Find the Victory Column (Siegessäule), glimmering in the middle of the park. Hitler moved it there in the 1930s from in front of the Reichstag as part of his grandiose vision for postwar Berlin. Next, scenes of the new Berlin spiral into view—Potsdamer Platz, marked by the conical glass tower that houses Sony’s European headquarters. Continue circling left, and find the green chariot atop the Brandenburg Gate. Just to its left is the curving fish-like roof of the DZ Bank building, designed by the unconventional American architect Frank Gehry. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe stretches south of the Brandenburg Gate. Next, you’ll see former East Berlin and the city’s next huge construction zone, with a forest of 300-foot-tall skyscrapers in the works. Notice the TV Tower, the Berlin Cathedral’s massive dome, and the golden dome of the New Synagogue.
Follow the train tracks in the distance to the left toward Berlin’s huge main train station, the Hauptbahnhof. Complete your spin-tour with the blocky, postmodern Chancellery, the federal government’s headquarters. Continue spiraling up. You’ll come across all the same sights again, twice, from higher vantage points.
The area immediately surrounding the Reichstag is rich with memorials. Within a few steps, you’ll find monuments to politicians who opposed Hitler; to the various groups targeted by the Nazis (Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and people with disabilities); to victims of the Berlin Wall; and even to the Soviet soldiers who liberated Berlin from Hitler—plunging it into the deep end of the Cold War. For more on these monuments, see the sidebar on here.
Most of these memorials are within (or facing) the sprawling park called the Tiergarten, which extends west from the Brandenburg Gate. For more on the Tiergarten, see the listing later in this chapter.
The icon of Berlin, this majestic gateway has seen more than its share of history. Armies from Napoleon to Hitler have marched under its gilded statues, and for more than 25 years, it sat forlorn in the Berlin Wall’s death strip. Today it’s a symbol of Berlin’s rejuvenated capital.
Just inside (east of) the Brandenburg gate is the tidy “Parisian Square”—Pariser Platz. This prime real estate is ringed by governmental buildings, banks, historic plush hotels, the Academy of Arts, and the heavily fortified US Embassy.
This labyrinth of 2,711 irregularly shaped pillars memorializes the six million Jewish people who were executed by the Nazis. Loaded with symbolism, it’s designed to encourage a pensive moment in the heart of a big city. At its information center, you can learn more about the Nazis’ crimes and see items belonging to the victims.
Cost and Hours: Memorial—free and always open; information center—open Tue-Sun 10:00-20:00, Oct-March until 19:00, closed Mon year-round, last entry 45 minutes before closing, brief security screening at entry, audioguide-€4; S-Bahn: Brandenburger Tor or Potsdamer Platz, tel. 030/2639-4336, www.stiftung-denkmal.de.
Berlin’s main boulevard—“Under the Linden Trees”—has been the city’s artery since the 15th century. Today, it’s a well-tended place to stroll. This main drag is covered in detail in the Unter den Linden Walk chapter and my free Berlin City Walk audio tour.
Many people come to Berlin hoping to see sites from World War II. These fall into two broad categories: Nazi and Hitler sites, and memorials to their greatest crime, the Holocaust.
Hitler left Berlin in ruins, so there’s not much left to see of his capital city. If you’re determined, track down these sights (described in the Reichstag & Brandenburg Gate Walk and Fascism & Cold War Walk chapters).
Hitler’s Bunker: The site where Hitler committed suicide at the end of the war is marked by a simple plaque.
Topography of Terror: On the site of the Gestapo and SS headquarters, this has Berlin’s best exhibit documenting Nazi crimes.
German History Museum: Visit for excellent exhibits about Hitler and the Nazis.
Former Air Ministry: Once the base for Hermann Göring’s Luftwaffe, this is one of only a few still-standing Nazi-built governmental buildings.
Tempelhof Airport: Another massive, blocky, Nazi-built structure.
German Resistance Memorial: This memorial near Kulturforum chronicles Germans who attempted to fight Hitler from within.
Neue Wache: This former guardhouse now holds Käthe Kollwitz’s pietá, memorializing Germany’s victims of tyranny—from soldiers to concentration camp victims.
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church: In City West, this church has been left in ruins as a reminder of WWII destruction.
Memorials: Groups targeted by the Nazis are honored with memorials, most near Brandenburg Gate.
Stolpersteine (stumbling stones): Small brass plaques embedded in the pavement throughout Berlin identify buildings where Holocaust victims lived. (For details, see here.)
Scheunenviertel Landmarks: New Synagogue (partially rebuilt after the war) and a Jewish cemetery along Grosse Hamburger Strasse are reminders of the Jewish community that once thrived here. ( See the Scheunenviertel Walk chapter.) Prenzlauer Berg also has a Jewish cemetery and a synagogue (on Rykestrasse) that managed to survive Kristallnacht.
Haus Schwarzenberg Courtyard Museums: Also in the Scheunenviertel are two powerful museums honoring Nazi victims: The Museum of Otto Weidt’s Workshop for the Blind, celebrating a Berliner who employed blind and deaf Jews to save them from the Nazis, and the Silent Heroes Memorial Center, with more stories of resistance.
The Jewish Museum: While dedicated to the full breadth of Germany’s Jewish experience, this museum thoughtfully recalls the Holocaust, both in its modern building’s design and in its exhibits.
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial: At this powerful site outside of Berlin, you can learn more about the Nazis’ methods and honor their victims.
On this showcase street, you’ll sense echoes of the Prussian kings and kaisers who shaped Berlin (and modern Germany). Along the way, you’ll discover DDR-era S-Bahn stations, the Russian Embassy, nostalgic Ampelmännchen traffic lights, a futuristic VW showroom, and a statue of Frederick the Great—the 18th-century king who put his hometown on the world map. And you’re sure to see lots of construction along this street—which, like Berlin itself, is continually reinventing itself.
Farther east—as you approach Museum Island—are two poignant landmarks. The square called Bebelplatz was designed by Frederick the Great to showcase his idealistic and enlightened vision for Berlin as a cultural capital, with a university library, an opera house, and the first Catholic church built in Prussia after the Reformation. Later, Hitler chose this as the place to torch 20,000 forbidden books in 1933 (look for the glass window in the middle of the square, and peer into a subterranean room of empty bookshelves). Across Unter den Linden and a few steps toward Museum Island, the Neue Wache royal barracks houses a powerful pietà by Berlin sculptor Käthe Kollwitz, honoring the toll Germany’s 20th century took on its people.
Berlin’s finest square sits two blocks south of Unter den Linden (and one block south of Bebelplatz). The square, like its name (“Square of the Gens d’Armes,” Frederick the Great’s French guard), is a hybrid of Prussia and France. The square is bookended by two matching churches: the German Cathedral (with a free exhibit on the German parliamentary system) and the French Cathedral (with a dome climb and an exhibit on the French Huguenots who found refuge in Prussia). Gendarmenmarkt’s centerpiece is the Concert Hall (Konzerthaus), commissioned by Frederick the Great and built by his favorite architect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel. While the square is more about simply enjoying a genteel space than it is about sightseeing, you can dip into its church/museums or visit a pair of fun chocolate shops nearby.
Filling a spit of land in the middle of the Spree River, Museum Island has perhaps Berlin’s highest concentration of serious sightseeing. The island’s centerpiece is the grassy square called Lustgarten, ringed by five museums and the hulking Berlin Cathedral.
This neighborhood is covered in more detail in the Unter den Linden Walk chapter and my free Berlin City Walk audio tour. For cruises on the Spree River from near Museum Island, see here.
Five of Berlin’s top museums—featuring art and artifacts from around the world—are just a few steps apart on Museum Island. These museums are described in great depth in the Museum Island Tour and Pergamon Museum Tour chapters.
Cost and Hours: Each museum has its own admission (€10-12, includes audioguide). If you’re visiting at least two museums here, invest in the €18 Museum Island Pass (which covers all 5; also covered by the €24 Museum Pass Berlin—see here). The museums are open 10:00-18:00 (until 20:00 on Thu). The Pergamon and Neues museums are open daily; the Old National Gallery, Bode Museum, and Altes Museum are open Tue-Sun, closed Mon.
Avoiding Crowds: The always-busy Pergamon is most crowded in the morning, on weekends, and when it rains; Thursday evenings are the least crowded. You can also book a timed-entry ticket (or, if you have a pass, a reservation), tel. 030/266-424-242, www.smb.museum.
Getting There: The island is a 10-minute walk from the Hackescher Markt or Friedrichstrasse S-Bahn stations. Trams #M1 and #12 connect to Prenzlauer Berg. Buses #100 and #200 run along Unter den Linden, stopping near the museums at the Lustgarten stop.
Expect Construction: A new visitors center (the James-Simon-Galerie) will connect the complex with tunnels, possibly by 2024.
This world-class museum contains Berlin’s Collection of Classical Antiquities (Antikensammlung)—in other words, full-sized buildings from the most illustrious civilizations of the ancient world. Its namesake and highlight—the gigantic Pergamon Altar—is under renovation and off-limits to visitors until 2025. In the meantime, there’s still plenty to see: the massive Babylonian Processional Way and Ishtar Gate (slathered with glazed blue tiles, from the sixth century B.C.); artifacts from the Assyrians (7th-10th century B.C.); the full-sized market gate from the ancient Roman settlement of Miletus (first century B.C.); and, upstairs, an extensive collection of treasures from the Islamic world. Take advantage of the excellent, included audioguide.
This beautifully renovated museum, featuring objects from the prehistoric (i.e., pre-Pergamon) world, contains three collections. Most visitors focus on the Egyptian Collection, with the famous and even-more-stunning-in-person bust of Queen Nefertiti. But it’s also worth a walk through the Museum of Prehistory and Early History (see an actual Neanderthal skull and an exquisitely decorated, nearly three-foot-tall hat made of gold), and some items from the Collection of Classical Antiquities (artifacts from ancient Troy—famously excavated by German adventurer Heinrich Schliemann—and Cyprus). Everything is well-described in English (fine audioguide included with admission; for more on the museum, see www.neues-museum.de).
Of Berlin’s many top-notch art collections, this is the best for German art—mostly paintings from the 19th century, the era in which “German culture” first came to mean something. For a concise visit, focus on the Romantic German paintings (top floor), where Caspar David Friedrich’s hauntingly beautiful canvases offer an insightful glimpse into German landscapes...and the German psyche. With more time, peruse the French and German Impressionists and German Realists on the first and second floors.
This fine building—at the northern tip of the island—contains a hodgepodge of collections: Byzantine art, historic coins, ecclesiastical art, sculptures, and medals commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification. While this museum is too deep a dive for casual sightseers, avid museumgoers find plenty to excite here—including the stunning Ravenna Mosaic, transplanted here from the Byzantine world of sixth-century Italy. For a free, quick look at its lavish interior, climb the grand staircase under a sweeping dome to the charming café on the first floor.
Of the five Museum Island collections, this is the least exciting—unless you’re an enthusiast of obscure Etruscan, Roman, and Greek art and artifacts.
This bulky stone structure, with its rusted-copper dome, looms over Museum Island like the home church of a Prussian kaiser...because it was. Kaiser Wilhelm II built this to epitomize his bigger-is-better aesthetic. While pricey to enter, the lavish interior has some fine details and the opportunity to climb 270 steps for sweeping views. Skip the crypt.
Cost and Hours: €7 includes dome gallery access, not covered by Museum Island Pass, Mon-Sat 9:00-20:00, Sun from 12:00, until 19:00 Oct-March, closes around 17:30 on concert days, interior closed but dome open during services, last entry one hour before closing, audioguide-€3, tel. 030/2026-9136, www.berliner-dom.de.
Communists replaced the Prussian palace on this site with a giant “brutalist” conference center. Now, that DDR-era building is being replaced with a cultural complex that essentially resurrects the original palace. The visitors center (in the big, boxy structure along the street) hosts models and illustrations of the construction plans, and offers views of Museum Island.
Cost and Hours: Free, daily 10:00-18:00, www.humboldtforum.com.
The German History Museum is on Unter den Linden, immediately west of Museum Island; and the DDR Museum is (fittingly) just east of Museum Island, on the riverbank facing the back of the Berlin Cathedral. The Nikolai Quarter is a five-minute walk to the south, down the river (facing Museum Island). For locations, see the map on here.
This impressive museum offers the best look at German history under one roof, anywhere. The permanent collection packs 9,000 artifacts into two huge rectangular floors of the old arsenal building. You’ll stroll through insightfully described historical objects, paintings, photographs, and models—all intermingled with multimedia stations. The 20th-century section—on the ground floor—is far better than any of the many price-gouging historical Nazi or Cold War “museums” all over town. A thoughtful visit here provides valuable context for your explorations of Berlin (and Germany).
Cost and Hours: €8, daily 10:00-18:00, good €3 audioguide, Unter den Linden 2, tel. 030/2030-4751, www.dhm.de.
See the German History Museum Tour chapter.
While overpriced, crammed with school groups, and frustrating to local historians, the DDR Museum has a knack for helping outsiders (rather than “Ost-algic” Germans) understand life in communist East Germany (the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or DDR). Visitors walk through a reconstructed home—peeking into bathroom cabinets and wardrobes—and are encouraged to pick up and handle anything that isn’t behind glass. The museum is well-stocked with kitschy everyday items from the DDR period, plus photos, video clips, and concise English explanations.
When visiting Berlin, it’s hard not to get caught up in Cold War intrigue. The city has several sights relating to East Berlin from the 1940s to the 1990s; each is covered in depth elsewhere in this book.
To learn more about the Cold War, see the 
Fascism & Cold War Walk and Communist East Berlin Walk chapters.
Berlin Wall Memorial: The best all-around place to learn about the Wall is at the memorial along Bernauer Strasse, with two visitors centers and information boards.
Checkpoint Charlie: While tacky and touristy, the spot where people crossed between West and East is still evocative. The Museum of the Wall at Checkpoint Charlie is dated but offers engaging stories of escapes.
Stretch of Wall Along Niederkirchnerstrasse: A short stretch of the Wall is next to the Topography of Terror and a nearby surviving watchtower.
East Side Gallery: This nearly mile-long stretch of surviving Wall is still painted with vivid graffiti (east of the center, in Friedrichshain).
Several good, somewhat overlapping museums illuminate various aspects of life in East Germany (a.k.a., the DDR).
DDR Museum: Near Museum Island, its hands-on approach makes East German lifestyles accessible to outsiders.
Everyday Life in the DDR: An exhibit in Prenzlauer Berg, this is equally good, though more intellectually rigorous and geared to a German audience.
Palace of Tears: The building where people crossed between East and West (next to Friedrichstrasse Station) has a good exhibit about DDR life.
Stasi Museum: Farther out in Friedrichshain, this museum fills the former headquarters of the DDR secret police with a dense exhibit about their crimes.
German History Museum: Excellent exhibits include the Cold War period.
Architecture: The socialist aesthetic is on display around Alexanderplatz, the TV Tower, and Karl-Marx-Allee.
Platz der Luftbrücke: “Air Bridge Square,” in front of Tempelhof Field, has a towering monument celebrating the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift.
USSR-Built Memorials: The Russian soldiers who died to free Berlin from Hitler are honored with the Soviet War Memorial (in Tiergarten park) and the much bigger and more dramatic Treptower Park (farther out, just east of Kreuzberg).
JFK Sights: The Kennedys Museum and the front steps of Schöneberg City Hall—where the president famously proclaimed, “Ich bin ein Berliner”—are good stops for JFK fans.
Potsdam: This posh town outside of Berlin holds the Cecilienhof Palace, where Truman, Churchill, and Stalin met in the famous 1945 Potsdam Conference; and a KGB Prison Memorial, on the site of a Russian “counterintelligence” facility.
Potsdamer Platz, the Reichstag, and the Brandenburg Gate: These sights were once stranded within or near the Berlin Wall’s death strip, and today are some of the city’s most vital spaces.
This book also covers the Berlin Wall (here) and its fall (here); the Berlin Airlift (here); the Stasi (here); communist-era apartment blocks (here); and DDR-era Trabant cars (known as Trabi; here).
U6 Cold War Spine: The U6 subway line conveniently links up several powerful Cold War-era sights, in roughly chronological order. For a busy day of Cold War sightseeing, begin at the Platz der Luftbrücke to see the monument and Tempelhof Airport where the Berlin Airlift took place. Then ride to the Checkpoint Charlie stop to see the most famous border crossing at the Berlin Wall. Next is the Friedrichstrasse station, near the Palace of Tears. And finally, the Nordbahnhof is at the start of the Berlin Wall Memorial.
Cost and Hours: €9.50, daily 10:00-20:00, Sat until 22:00, just across the Spree from Museum Island at Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 1, tel. 030/847-123-731, www.ddr-museum.de.
Visiting the Museum: Inside, you can crawl through a Trabant car (known as a “Trabi”; take it for a virtual test drive) and pick up some DDR-era black humor (“East Germany had 39 newspapers, four radio stations, two TV channels...and one opinion”). You’ll learn how many East Germans—with limited opportunities to travel abroad—vacationed on Hungary’s Lake Balaton or on the Baltic Coast, where nudism was all the rage (as a very revealing display explains). Lounge in DDR cinema chairs as you view a subtitled propaganda film or clips from beloved-in-the-East TV shows, including the popular kids’ show Sandmännchen—“Little Sandman.” The highlight is a tourable reconstructed communist-era home, where you can open drawers and cupboards to find both information panels and the trappings of a typical DDR home. You can even climb into a rickety old “elevator” and get jostled around.
The Nikolai Quarter marks the original medieval settlement of Cölln, which would eventually become Berlin. Huddled around the twin spires of the Nikolaikirche (along the river, but tucked behind blocky buildings—as if hidden from the main road), the area was destroyed during the war, then rebuilt for Berlin’s 750th birthday in 1987. It has a cute and cobbled old-town feel...Middle Ages meets Socialist Realism. Today most of the buildings are occupied by touristy shops and restaurants—giving it a soulless, cut-rate Epcot vibe. Still, if you aren’t exploring any small towns (such as Wittenberg) on your visit to Germany, this zone is worth a stroll. You can duck into the Nikolaikirche to see its pristinely renovated interior, which now houses a museum. There’s also a small, pricey-but-interesting museum dedicated to Heinrich Zille, a local photographer and illustrator who captured engaging slices of Berlin life in the early 20th century (€7, daily 11:00-19:00, Nov-March until 18:00, http://zillemuseum-berlin.de). Perhaps the best reason to come here is to visit its old-fashioned beer hall—the recommended Brauhaus Georgbräu, with seating along the river.
(See “Northern Berlin” map, here.)
Immediately northeast of the Spree River is the Scheunenviertel (“Barn Quarter”) neighborhood, packed with intriguing shops and fun eateries. This is also one of the most important areas for Berlin’s historic Jewish community—offering insights into a culture that thrived here until the 1940s. On a sunny day, a stroll through this bursting-with-life area, and onward to Prenzlauer Berg, can be as engaging as any museum in town.
For a self-guided walk through this fine area—including the first two sights listed below—see the Scheunenviertel Walk chapter.
The Scheunenviertel is a particularly handy place to explore Berlin’s unique Höfe—interconnected courtyards that burrow through city blocks, today often filled with trendy shops and eateries. Two starkly different examples are nearly next door, and just steps from the Hackescher Markt transit hub: the upscale, Jugendstil Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Strasse 40), with eye-pleasing architectural flourishes and upscale shops; and the funky Haus Schwarzenberg (Rosenthaler Strasse 39), with museums honoring Berliners who defied the Nazis to save Jews—including Otto Weidt, who employed blind and deaf Jews in his workshop.
Marked by its golden dome, this large, mid-19th-century synagogue is now a modest museum, memorializing the Berlin Jewish community that was decimated by the Nazis. While the exhibits are of interest only to Jewish history buffs, the beautiful shimmering dome makes a bold statement.
Cost and Hours: Main exhibit-€5, dome-€3, combo-ticket for both-€6, April-Sept Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sun until 19:00; Oct-March dome closed, exhibit open Sun-Thu 10:00-18:00, Fri until 15:00; closed Sat year-round; audioguide-€3, Oranienburger Strasse 28, S-Bahn: Oranienburger Strasse, tel. 030/8802-8300 and press 1, www.cjudaicum.de.
Visiting the Synagogue: Enter through the low-profile door in the modern building to the right of the domed synagogue facade. Inside, past tight security, a small but moving permanent exhibit with good English descriptions recounts the Berlin Jewish community through the centuries. Under the soaring dome, a cutaway model shows the entire synagogue. Skip the stair climb to the dome (past temporary exhibits, separate entry fee); it’s unimpressive from the inside and has ho-hum views.
This crisp collection (in a former Jewish girls’ school building) recalls John F. Kennedy’s 1963 Germany trip with photos and video clips, as well as a photographic shrine to the Kennedy clan in America. Among the interesting mementos are old campaign buttons and posters, and JFK’s notes with the phonetic pronunciation “Ish bin ein Bearleener.” Jacqueline Kennedy commented on how strange it was that this—not even in his native language—was her husband’s most quotable quote. The highlight: a newsreel of Kennedy’s historic speech (20 minutes, plays continuously).
Cost and Hours: €5, Tue-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat-Sun from 11:00, closed Mon, tel. 030/2065-3570, www.thekennedys.de.
Getting There: Look for a huge red-brick building with red-and-white-striped doors (Auguststrasse 13, on the opposite end of the block from the New Synagogue, museum is on the second floor). For a shortcut from the synagogue, cut through the Heckmann Höfe courtyard (at Oranienburger Strasse 32) and turn right on Auguststrasse.
Just south of the Scheunenviertel (cross the river on Weidendammer Brücke and bear right) stands this impactful Cold War site. The Friedrichstrasse train station—situated within East Berlin, but accessible by train from West Berlin—was one of the few places where Westerners were allowed to cross into the East. And when crossing back into the free world, this was where they’d take leave of their East German loved ones. The scene of so many sad farewells, it earned the nickname “Tränenpalast” (palace of tears). The 1962 building—an unassuming, boxy, bureaucratic structure that was once attached by a corridor to the station—has now been converted into a museum about everyday life in a divided Germany, with a fascinating peek into the paranoid border-control world of the DDR. Ample artifacts—such as suitcases and their contents—illustrate the story. You’ll learn about contraband that was smuggled over the border (and the guards who played a constant cat-and-mouse game with the smugglers), and watch archival footage from the era. Of the many “life in the Cold War” sights in Berlin, this is the one most closely linked to a specific location.
Cost and Hours: Free, includes excellent audioguide, Tue-Fri 9:00-19:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon, on the river side of the Friedrichstrasse station—look for the building with large glass windows and blue trim, Reichstagufer 17, tel. 030/4677-7790, www.hdg.de/traenenpalast.
An aboveground air-raid bunker, dating from 1942, sits just west of the Oranienburger Tor U-Bahn stop. Since 2007, it’s been a venue for a private collection of contemporary art (1990s to present), visitable only on a guided tour.
Cost and Hours: €12, reservations required—book on website, English tours Thu-Sun hourly at :30 past each hour 10:00-17:00, closed Mon-Wed, Reinhardstrasse 20, www.sammlung-boros.de.
At the far-northern edge of Mitte, brushing up against Prenzlauer Berg, is Berlin’s most famous sight, the Berlin Wall Memorial.
This is Berlin’s most substantial and educational sight relating to its gone-but-not-forgotten Wall. Exhibits line up along several blocks of Bernauer Strasse, stretching more than a mile northeast from the Nordbahnhof S-Bahn station (one of the DDR’s “ghost stations”) to Schwedter Strasse and the Mauerpark. For a targeted visit, focus on the engaging sights clustered near the Nordbahnhof: two museums (with films, photos, and harrowing personal stories); various open-air exhibits and memorials; original Wall fragments; and observation tower views into the only preserved, complete stretch of the Wall system (with a Cold War-era “death strip”). Begin at the Nordbahnhof, pick up an informational pamphlet from the Visitors Center, head up Bernauer Strasse, visit the exhibits and memorials that interest you, then ride home from the Bernauer Strasse U-Bahn station. For a longer visit, walk several more blocks all the way to the Mauerpark. The entire stretch is lined with informational posts (some with video or audio clips) and larger-than-life images from the Wall, painted on the sides of buildings.
Cost and Hours: Free; outdoor areas accessible daily 24 hours; Visitors Center and Documentation Center both open Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon, memorial chapel closes at 17:00; on Bernauer Strasse at #119 (Visitors Center) and #111 (Documentation Center), tel. 030/4679-86666, www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de.
See the Berlin Wall Memorial Tour chapter.
Where the eastern reaches of the Berlin Wall Memorial run into the western edge of Prenzlauer Berg, you’ll hit the Mauerpark (Wall Park). Once part of the Wall’s death strip, today it’s a Prenzlauer Berg green space. The park is particularly entertaining on Sundays, when it hosts a rummage market and a giant karaoke party. Along the bluff, below the old DDR soccer stadium, runs a bit of the Wall covered in graffiti art.
For more on the Mauerpark, see the Prenzlauer Berg Walk.
This thriving district, worth ▲▲, offers an ideal opportunity to see a corner of today’s “real Berlin,” just beyond the core tourist zone but still easily accessible. Prenzlauer Berg (PRENTS-low-er behrk) was largely untouched by World War II bombs, fell into disrepair during DDR days, and has since been completely rejuvenated. The neighborhood fans out to the north and east from Rosenthaler Platz; the most appealing bit is along Kastanienallee, which connects Rosenthaler Platz to the Eberswalder Strasse U-Bahn tracks (and is served by tram #M1, which begins its run at Hackescher Markt S-Bahn station). The area just to the east, around Kollwitplatz, is also enjoyable. Key landmarks include the Wasserturm (Industrial Age water tower); trendy Kollwitzplatz (with its upscale playgrounds); the Kulturbrauerei and Everyday Life in the DDR museum (both described next); lively Kastanienallee and livable Oderberger Strasse; and Berlin Wall sights in and near the Mauerpark. For locations, see the map on here. Prenzlauer Berg is also a great place to sleep, eat, shop, and enjoy nightlife—all of which are covered in those chapters.
See the Prenzlauer Berg Walk chapter.
The “Culture Brewery” is a onetime brewery-turned-cultural center that fills an evocative old industrial space with a handful of interesting shops, breezy restaurants, a movie theater, grocery store, and TI, plus a Sunday food market (12:00-18:00), winter Christmas market, and other outdoor events (Schönhauser Allee 36, tel. 030/4435-2170). Of most interest is the museum described next.
This museum, tucked in a passage at the northern end of the Kulturbrauerei, recounts the quotidian reality of communist East Germany. The thoughtful, well-curated collection—organized by theme—displays original artifacts, videos, photos, art, and mock storefronts that rise above the kitsch factor to give a real sense of the disparity between the socialist ideal and the grinding reality. It’s designed not for casual tourists, but for aging Germans eager to teach their kids and grandkids about how they once lived. (The DDR Museum near Museum Island—described earlier—is less substantial, but also more tourist-friendly.) Although tricky to appreciate, this museum is free and well worth a visit, particularly if you’re well-versed in DDR history.
Cost and Hours: Free, Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, Thu until 20:00, closed Mon; enter at Knaackstrasse 97, tel. 030/4677 7790, www.hdg.de.
Visiting the Museum: As you explore, tune into details that offer insight into the DDR daily reality. The rack of magazines—all published to coincide with the big “Workers’ Day” May 1 holiday—make it clear that freedom of the press was an illusion. A humble pub’s short, handwritten menu demonstrates how limited even basic foodstuffs were—often relying on ersatz, miserable knock-offs (look for the “Kaffee-Mix,” containing 51 percent actual coffee...and 49 percent fillers). Better-quality goods were mostly exported to bring in hard Western currency. People with loved ones in the West looked forward to receiving an occasional Westpaket—a care package of Western goods (minus whatever was seized by Stasi mail inspectors). Even the clothing was government-controlled. Peek inside the typical, circa-1979 Datsche—a simple countryside “allotment garden” cottage (owned by one in six East Germans) used for weekend retreats from the grimy city. You’ll also learn about vacations (even just visiting Hungary’s Lake Balaton—see the big postcards near the Trabi—came with bureaucratic hurdles); the Stasi secret police, who kept a close eye on all citizens; party propaganda, often through organizations like the Free German Youth (FDJ—scouts who were co-opted by communist messaging); and the organization of various workplaces into “collectives” where everyone was supposedly equal, yet somebody was in charge.
Berlin’s main train station is a sight in itself—a postmodern temple of slick transportation. Even if you’re not arriving or departing here, it’s worth a quick visit to ogle the soaring main hall, peer down into a canyon of crisscrossing platforms connecting Berlin to the rest of Germany and beyond, and do a little shopping. (On Sundays, this is where you’ll find the highest concentration of open shops.) It’s also home to the handy, American-run EurAide office—the most user-friendly place in town to book train tickets and reservations. For more on the Hauptbahnhof, see the Berlin Connections chapter.
Between the Hauptbahnhof and the Berlin Wall Memorial, this museum contains one of the best-preserved, most complete T-Rex skeletons ever assembled. While you’re there, meet “Bobby” the stuffed ape, and tour shelf after shelf of animals preserved in ethanol (about a million all together). Kid-friendly interactive displays include the “History of the Universe in 120 Seconds” exhibit and virtual-reality “Jurascope” glasses that put meat and skin on the dinosaur skeletons.
Cost and Hours: €8, €5 for kids, Tue-Fri 9:30-18:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon, Invalidenstrasse 43, U6: Naturkundemuseum, tel. 030/2093-8591, www.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de.
(See “Southern Berlin” map, here.)
The following sights are listed roughly north to south (as you’d reach them from Unter den Linden).
A variety of fascinating sites relating to Germany’s tumultuous 20th century cluster south of Unter den Linden.
For a guided walk connecting these, see the Fascism and Cold War Walk chapter (includes a visit inside the Topography of Terror).
Famous as the place where many visiting Westerners crossed into East Berlin during the Cold War, the original Checkpoint Charlie is long gone. But today a reconstructed guard station—with big posters of American and Soviet guards, and a chilling “You are leaving the American sector” sign—attracts curious tourists for a photo op. Nothing here is original (except for the nearby museum—described next), and the whole area feels like a Cold War theme park, with kitschy communist-themed attractions, Trabi rides, hucksters, buskers, and sleazy vendors who charge through the nose for a DDR stamp in your passport. Those nostalgic for the Cold War enjoy seeing this historic site and visiting the museum, but for a more serious look at the Berlin Wall, visit the official Berlin Wall Memorial (described earlier).
This ragtag but riveting celebration of the many ways desperate East Germans managed to slip through the Wall to freedom has stood here since 1963...taunting DDR authorities. Today East Germany and its Wall are long gone, but the museum is still going strong. Some of the displays have yellowed, the place is cramped and confusing, and the ticket prices are way too high, but the museum retains a special sense of history. Visiting here, you’ll learn about the creation of the Wall and the many escape attempts (including several of the actual items used by clever escapees). If you’re pressed for time, visit after dinner, when most other museums are closed. Compared to the soberly academic official Berlin Wall Memorial near the Nordbahnhof, this museum has more personality, buoyed by a still-defiant spirit.
Cost and Hours: €12.50, daily 9:00-22:00, last entry one hour before closing, audioguide-€5, U6 to Kochstrasse or U2 to Stadtmitte, Friedrichstrasse 43, tel. 030/253-7250, www.mauermuseum.de.
Visiting the Museum: The first (cramped) room gets you right into it. A VW bug shows how people were smuggled through Checkpoint Charlie—note the mannequin behind the spare tire.
The timeline on the wall behind the car takes you through the events that made Checkpoint Charlie necessary. It’s 1946 and the war’s over, but the USSR possesses half of Berlin. Churchill warns the world that an Iron Curtain is descending (see the video). In 1949, West Berlin is blockaded (another video), but the city is saved by the US airlift. Still, people are becoming trapped under repressive Soviet rule. The section called “Raoul Wallenberg lives” honors the Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Jews during World War II, then disappeared under Soviet arrest. Countless others (names in binders) were similarly lost to Soviet work camps.
Upstairs, photos of June 17, 1953 show the brutal suppression of an East German revolt. (The big boulevard through Tiergarten park is named for this date.)
In the next room, the divide between East and West widens. In 1955, West Germany joined NATO, while the East joined the Warsaw Pact. In 1956, a Hungarian uprising was crushed by Soviet tanks; 1957 saw the arms race and a “Missile Gap.” The split between East and West finally hardened into concrete and rebar when the Wall went up in 1961. You’ll see a model of the Wall and its fortified and booby-trapped death strip. When the Wall went up, so did the famous Checkpoint Charlie guard station—the first (or last) stop in American territory.
The rest of the museum focuses largely on many ingenious escape attempts: A beat-up armor-plated car, side-by-side suitcases that a woman squeezed into, a makeshift zip line for crossing over (rather than through) the border, a gas tank just big enough for one escapee, a wooden cart designed to go through the famous “Tunnel 57” (see here), a hot-air balloon that floated two families to safety, a primitive homemade ultralight aircraft, a mini-submarine, a child smuggled in a shopping bag, and many more. Photos show brave escapees and their helpers, such as American John P. Ireland, who posed as an eccentric antiques collector so he could transport refugees in his modified Cadillac.
Other exhibits chronicle the terror of life for those trapped in the East. A list names the 43,000 people who died in “Internal Affairs” internment camps from 1945-1950. Artwork inspired by the Wall includes a large painting of USSR premier Leonid Brezhnev and DDR premier Erich Honecker sharing the traditional “fraternal kiss” between comrades. And you’ll see a memorial to Rainer Hildebrandt, who founded this museum shortly after the Wall went up in 1961.
On the top floor (skippable if time is short), you’ll find a grab bag of exhibits on freedom movements across the globe: the 1956 Uprising in Hungary, 1968’s Prague Spring, the 1980s Solidarity movement in Poland, even Gandhi’s protests in India. An extensive exhibit celebrates Pablo Picasso’s antiwar painting, Guernica. A room honors US President Ronald (“Tear Down This Wall”) Reagan, displaying his cowboy hat and boots. A room in the corner of the museum—with the huge “You are leaving” sign—offers a nice view over Checkpoint Charlie.
Finally, on your way out—near the sculpture of a Russian cellist who played at the newly opened Wall—a video captures those heady days when people-power tore down the Wall, and Checkpoint Charlie was history. It’s hard not to get a little emotional watching teary-eyed Germans finally embracing their long-lost loved ones.
A rare undeveloped patch of land in central Berlin, right next to a surviving stretch of Wall, was once the nerve center for the Gestapo and the SS—the most despicable elements of the Nazi government. Today this site hosts a modern documentation center, along with an outdoor exhibit in the Gestapo headquarters’ excavated foundations. While there isn’t much in the way of original artifacts, the exhibit does a good job of telling this powerful story, in the place where it happened. The information is a bit dense, but WWII historians (even armchair ones) find it fascinating. For a self-guided tour of the exhibit, see the Fascism & Cold War Walk chapter.
Cost and Hours: Free, includes audioguide (ID required), daily 10:00-20:00, outdoor exhibit closes at dusk and closed entirely mid-Oct-mid-April, Niederkirchnerstrasse 8, U-Bahn: Potsdamer Platz or Kochstrasse, S-Bahn: Anhalter Bahnhof or Potsdamer Platz, tel. 030/254-5090, www.topographie.de.
Nearby: Immediately next door is an unusually long surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall. A block beyond that is the looming, very fascist-style Former Air Ministry—built by Hitler to house his Luftwaffe (Nazi air force), later the DDR’s “Hall of Ministries,” today the German Finance Ministry, still adorned with cheery 1950s communist propaganda. And a short walk away is a surviving DDR Watchtower, which kept careful vigil over the Wall.
Combining a remarkable building with a thoughtful permanent exhibit, this is the most educational Jewish-themed sight in Berlin—easily worth ▲▲ (and the effort to reach it) for those with an interest in Jewish history. The exhibit provides a detailed overview of the rich culture and history of Europe’s Jewish community. And the building itself—which enhances the overall experience—is packed with symbolism and offers several spaces designed for pondering what you’ve learned. To really dig into the place, give yourself at least two hours here. English explanations interpret both the exhibits and the building, but the excellent €3 audioguide—with four hours of commentary—is essential to fully appreciate the collection.
Cost and Hours: €8, ask for discount if also going to Berlinische Galerie, daily 10:00-20:00, Mon until 22:00, closed on Jewish holidays. Tight security includes bag check and metal detectors. Tel. 030/2599-3300, www.jmberlin.de.
Getting There: It’s in a nondescript residential neighborhood (halfway between Checkpoint Charlie and the happening Kreuzberg scene). Take the U-Bahn to Hallesches Tor, find the exit marked Jüdisches Museum, exit straight ahead, then turn right on Franz-Klühs-Strasse. The museum is a five-minute walk ahead on your left, at Lindenstrasse 9.
Eating: The museum’s $$ restaurant offers good Jewish-style meals, albeit not kosher.
Visiting the Museum: Designed by American architect Daniel Libeskind (the master planner for the redeveloped World Trade Center in New York), the zinc-walled building has a zigzag shape pierced by voids symbolic of the irreplaceable cultural loss caused by the Holocaust. Enter the 18th-century Baroque building next door, then go through an underground tunnel to reach the museum interior.
Before you reach the exhibit, your visit starts with three memorial spaces. Follow the Axis of Exile—lined with the names of cities where the Jewish diaspora settled—to a disorienting slanted garden with 49 pillars. Next, the Axis of Holocaust—lined with names of concentration camps and artifacts from Jews imprisoned and murdered by the Nazis—leads to an eerily empty tower shut off from the outside world. Finally, the Axis of Continuity takes you to stairs and the main exhibit. A detour partway up the long stairway leads (through temporary exhibits) to the Memory Void, a compelling space of “fallen leaves”: heavy metal faces that you walk on, making inhuman noises with each step.
Finish climbing the stairs to the top of the museum and stroll chronologically through the 2,000-year story of Judaism in Germany. The engaging exhibit, with lots of artifacts, spans two large floors. Interactive bits make it lively for kids: Spell your name in Hebrew, or write a prayer and hang it from a tree.
The top floor focuses on everyday life in Ashkenaz (medieval German-Jewish lands). The nine-minute movie A Thousand Years Ago sets the stage. The Middle Ages were a positive time for Jewish culture, which flourished then in many areas of Europe. But around 1500, many Jews were expelled from the countryside and moved into cities. Viewing stations feature short, lively videos that pose provocative questions about faith. And you’ll learn about Berlin philosopher Moses Mendelssohn’s role in the late-18th-century Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah), which gave rise to Reform Judaism. The Tradition and Change exhibit analyzes how subgroups of the Jewish faith adapted to a changing world.
Downstairs, on the middle floor, exhibits detail the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Germany through the 19th century—at a time when many Jews were so secularized that they celebrated Christmas right along with Hanukkah. Berlin’s glory days (1890-1933) were also a boom time for many Jews, despite the challenge of reconciling the reformed ways of assimilated western (German) Jews with those of more traditional Eastern European Jews. The exhibit segues into the dark days of Hitler, including the horrific night of November 9, 1938, when, throughout Germany, hateful mobs destroyed Jewish-owned businesses, homes, synagogues, and even entire villages—called “Crystal Night” (Kristallnacht) for the broken glass that glittered in the streets.
Finally, the displays bring us to the present day, with the question: How do you keep going after six million of your people have been murdered? In the last segment, devoted to Jewish life today, German Jews describe their experiences growing up in the postwar years.
Berlin was avant-garde long before there were Kreuzberg hipsters. The Berlinische Galerie, a gorgeous, well-presented museum (with an oversized word-search puzzle out front), showcases modern and contemporary art created in this eclectic city. The main draw is the permanent exhibit upstairs, offering an intriguing, chronological, and easily digestible look at art generated in Berlin from 1880 to 1980. The collection begins with Conservative (i.e., realistic) art, then gives way to the shimmering Berlin Secession (starting in 1892), and evolves from there. You’ll meet Margarette Kubicka (1891-1984), with her colorful, curvy, Cubist-inspired style; and Klimt-like, avant-garde Expressionism, including works by Otto Dix (the biggest name here). You’ll get a lesson in the Weimar-era “New Objectivity” (where artists focused on everyday scenes, intentionally objectifying their subjects in response to the abstraction trend). And you’ll see how historical events shaped the art: works created under the Nazis (capturing confusion and alienation); scenes of postwar destruction; Cold War-era abstraction; and perspectives on the Wall from West Berlin artists.
Cost and Hours: €8, ask for discount if also going to the Jewish Museum, Wed-Mon 10:00-18:00, closed Tue, Alte Jakobstrasse 124, tel. 030/7890-2600, www.berlinischegalerie.de.
The sprawling Kreuzberg (KROYTS-behrk) neighborhood, just south of the center, is most often described as Berlin’s “Turkish neighborhood,” or its “edgy multicultural district.” And it is those things—but much more. It’s a delight to explore Kreuzberg’s fascinating little Kieze (small neighborhoods)—each with its own personality. (Note that the Jewish Museum and Berlinische Galerie—described previously—are technically in Kreuzberg, but in a nondescript zone between Unter den Linden and the more colorful Kreuzberg Kieze described below.)
Background: Kreuzberg expanded like crazy to house workers in the late 19th century (much like Prenzlauer Berg, to the north). During the Cold War, it was in the West but surrounded on three sides by the Wall. Its buildings, already damaged by bombs, became further dilapidated as property owners—fishing for government support—refused to invest in repairs. All of this made Kreuzberg the least desirable neighborhood in West Berlin. Its bad reputation and low rents attracted two groups: immigrants, largely Turkish guest workers trying to scrape together a living in their adopted country; and draft-dodging West German punks, who squatted in Kreuzberg’s ramshackle tenements. In more recent years, Kreuzberg has been in transition, as Berliners have been priced out of more expensive, central neighborhoods and moved south. While it still retains some of its Turkish and squatter roots, Kreuzberg has blossomed into one of the most diverse and trendy parts of town—and rapidly gentrified. And yet, the district remains true to its alternative roots: Kreuzberg is Germany’s only electoral district with a directly elected Green delegate in parliament.
Kreuzberg is huge (four square miles, with about 150,000 residents), and broken into two general areas—each named for its postal code: “Kreuzberg 61” (or SW61), roughly north and west, is thought of as sleepy and more bourgeois. “Kreuzberg 36” (or SO36), loosely between Kottbusser Tor and the river, was traditionally the grittier area—with more immigrants and anarchists—but in recent years, several parts, including Graefekiez, have gentrified dramatically. Kreuzberg is well served by the north-south U6 line and the east-west U1 line; these cross at the epicenter of Kreuzberg, Kottbusser Tor.
Below are some Kieze of Kreuzberg that you might enjoy exploring (mostly in Kreuzberg 36); I’ve listed the handiest U-Bahn stop for each. You can easily walk (or ride the U-Bahn or bus) between several Kieze. Kreuzberg is also emerging as a foodie hotspot: You could combine your visit here with a meal (for suggestions, see the Eating in Berlin chapter).
While these parts of Kreuzberg are relatively safe, dazed and homeless people do hang out near U-Bahn stations (generally if you ignore them, they ignore you). After dark, I’d avoid getting too far off the main thoroughfares (or, for example, wandering in Görlitzer Park).
Kottbusser Tor (U1/U6: Kottbusser Tor): Nicknamed “Kotti” by locals, this area is a lesson in contrasts. The area immediately around the station is seedy. You’ll see police vans (and homeless relief causes handing out donations) at the northwest edge of the square, in front of Casino 36. But after a few minutes’ walk in each direction, things become more pleasant: Some of Berlin’s highest-rent areas are a short stroll away. The giant, semicircular apartment block—wrapping around the northern part of the square—was built as a sound barrier for a planned major highway, which (thanks to local protests) was never built.
From Kottbusser Tor, the next several areas fan out. I’ve explained where each one is located (in case you’d like a long walk), but also noted the nearest U-Bahn stop for each one.
Landwehr Canal and the Graefekiez (U8: Schönleinstrasse): A few short blocks south of Kottbusser Tor is one of Kreuzberg’s most enjoyable areas to explore, with two big draws: the Turkish street market and the trendy Graefekiez neighborhood. Berlin is the largest Turkish city outside of Turkey itself...and you’ll know it when you come here. Twice each week, the Turkish street market sprawls along canalside Maybachufer street (Tue and Fri, described in the Shopping in Berlin chapter).
Nearby is the delightful-to-explore Graefekiez area. The Graefekiez has more than its share of gourmet ice cream shops—thanks partly to Berlin’s baby boom (notice all the strollers). For an enjoyable loop from Kottbusser Brücke, at the start of the Turkish street market, head down engaging Graefestrasse, passing lots of tempting shops, cafés, and eateries. Turn right on Dieffenbachstrasse—with distinctive little basement shops—then right again when you hit the big, park-like Grimmstrasse. Work your way up Grimmstrasse to the Landwehr Canal, at a broad bridge (Admiralsbrücke) that’s absolutely packed with locals on a sunny summer day. (This bridge was the site of “The Battle of the Fraenkelufer,” a 1980 rumble between squatters—who had taken over some 160 area buildings—and the police, with riots, barricades, and beatings.) Turn right and follow the Planufer embankment back to Kottbusser Brücke (noticing the historic synagogue across the river).
Paul-Lincke-Ufer (between U8: Schönleinstrasse and U1: Görlitzer Bahnhof): The sunny northern embankment of the Landwehr Canal—across from the Turkish street market, stretching east all the way to about Liegnitzer Strasse—is a pleasant, largely residential area to stroll and enjoy some of Berlin’s trendiest restaurants (described in the Eating in Berlin chapter). Just up Lausitzer Strasse is the funky, artsy squatters’ courtyard called Regenbogenfabrik (“Rainbow Factory”), still run as a collective with its own cinema, kindergarten, and bike-repair shop. Between Forster Strasse and Liegnitzer Strasse are popular public boules (lawn bowling) courts. At any point along the Paul-Lincke-Ufer, you can peel off and head north to Görlitzer Park (safe by day), and beyond it, to Markthalle Neun or the Wrangelkiez (both described later).
Oranienstrasse (U1/U8: Kottbusser Tor): From Kottbusser Tor, head a couple of blocks north to reach this main east-west drag. It feels less upscale and more authentic, with lots of Turkish and Middle Eastern restaurants, as well as cheap bars catering to hordes of young, drunk tourists. You can take Oranienstrasse east (passing the famous punk club SO36) to the octagonal intersection at Mariannenstrasse. Here, detour a couple of blocks north and pass the firefighters monument to reach Mariannenplatz. On the left side of this huge park, the turreted building is a former hospital-turned-arts center, called Kunstquartier Bethanien. Its courtyard hosts an atmospheric restaurant/beer garden and a summer outdoor movie series (www.kunstquartier-bethanien.de). At the northeast edge of this long park, just beyond the Sankt-Thomas-Kirche, is a strange little nub of land where the Wall once ran. A Kreuzberg resident realized that this land belonged to the East, but somehow wound up just outside the Wall, so he claimed it for his own—eventually building a treehouse here, which stands to this day.
Markthalle Neun (U1: Görlitzer Bahnhof): This area, just north of the Görlitzer Bahnhof U-Bahn station, is one of the most appealing places to get a taste of Kreuzberg, thanks to the wonderful Markthalle Neun, a restored brick market hall where foodie stalls rub shoulders with traditional vendors (for details on the Markthalle Neun and the least-seedy route to get there, see the Eating in Berlin chapter).
Wrangelkiez (U1: Schlesisches Tor): Wrangelstrasse, running between Markthalle Neun and the river, is a trendy drag that defines another up-and-coming neighborhood, the Wrangelkiez. This tidy grid-planned zone feels equal parts young Turks, German hipsters, and, yes, a few Turkish hipsters. Among Berliners, the Wrangelkiez is a cautionary tale of gentrification: It happened here a few years back, fast. Falckensteinstrasse (the main cross-street to Wrangelstrasse) sprouted a row of obnoxious, tourist-pub-crawl-type bars, earning it the nickname “Party Mile.” To get things under control, local authorities banned new bars and restaurants from opening. You may see red paint or rude graffiti splashed on some of the trendier eateries: Locals tapping the brakes on the transformation of their 'hood. Görlitzer Park, at the southern edge of this area, is fine by day—but after dark, it’s best avoided.
Note that the Wrangelkiez (and the Schlessisches Tor station) is just across the river (on the picturesque Oberbaumbrücke—the Oberbaum Bridge) from the East Side Gallery—an easy add-on (see here).
Bergmannkiez (U7: Gneisenaustrasse): The most upscale of the Kreuzberg Kieze (and the only one in the posh “Kreuzberg 61”), the Bergmannkiez gentrified before gentrification was hot. This is where many Kreuzberg revolutionaries from the 1970s and 1980s moved once they grew up and calmed down a bit. From the Gneisenaustrasse U-Bahn stop, exit toward Mittenwalder Strasse, do a U-turn out of the staircase, and turn left (south) down Mittenwalder Strasse. After a couple of blocks, you’ll pop out in a leafy playground square next to the glass-walled Marheineke Markthalle. While the renovated market hall building is soulless, the vendors inside are top-quality, and the square out front (Marheinekeplatz) is a total delight. A block to the east is a classic, parklike Prussian cemetery with a fine little café.
Back on Marheinekeplatz, head west down the neighborhood’s main artery, Bergmannstrasse—a fun place to browse. Don’t miss the pleasant side-streets, with inviting little shops. Just uphill and to the south, Chamissoplatz feels almost Parisian.
At the intersection with busy Mehringdamm, you can take your pick. Heading right (north) up Mehringdamm a few blocks takes you to the Mehringdamm U-Bahn station; nearby are two of Berlin’s favorite street food restaurants, Curry 36 and Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebab. Alternatively, carry on straight across Mehringdamm and continue up Kreuzbergstrasse to Viktoriapark, where a sturdy hike takes you up to “the” Kreuzberg—a frilly pillar with a cross (Kreuz) on top of a steep hill (Berg), designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel to commemorate the Franco-Prussian War—which gave its name to this whole area. After the hike, reward yourself with a tankard at the Golgatha Gaststätten beer garden (near the stadium, behind the hill).
Adolf Hitler built the world’s first modern airport terminal here in the late 1930s. After the war, Tempelhof Field was pressed into service 24/7 with airplanes landing, unloading, and taking off again—supplying the blockaded city of West Berlin (see “The Berlin Airlift” sidebar). In 2008—after decades as a commercial airstrip—Tempelhof closed for good. Today, the looming fascist-style terminal stands empty, and the airfield’s former runways are a gigantic park—filled with Berliners on a sunny day, enjoying the wide-open spaces and the history.
Visiting the Airfield: Tempelhof is huge and time-consuming to visit—come here only if you’re fascinated by the Berlin Airlift or by Nazi-era architecture. First, ride the U6 line to Platz der Luftbrücke, a small park where the focal point is a sweeping monument honoring the “air bridge” that supplied the city during the Berlin Airlift. (A similar monument—representing the other end of the air bridge—is at the Frankfurt Airport.) The names of those who died in the effort are carved into the base. Nearby is the gigantic terminal building—boxy and severe. The head of the Nazi eagle that once topped the airport sits out front.
It’s possible to circle all the way around the terminal building to see the runways and park—but it’s a very long (20-minute) walk. Facing the terminal building, head left, then turn right on Columbiadamm street. You’ll walk alongside the massive building, passing (across the street on your left), a small rust-colored kiosk at corner with Golssener Strasse. This is a monument to Columbia Concentration Camp—one of the earliest in the Nazi system. Finally, you reach the entrance to the vast park, where people stroll, bike, and picnic on former runways. You’ll likely see a few historic airplanes, along with biergartens, softball fields, and (just over the fence) the minaret of one of Berlin’s biggest mosques. On a sunny day, the park is packed.
The first big post-WWII showdown between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union took place in Berlin, years before the Berlin Wall went up.
On June 24, 1948, the Soviets cut off all land access to West Berlin—which was completely surrounded by East German territory. The Soviets hoped that, through this modern-day siege, West Berliners would come to them for assistance, which would only be given to those who committed to the Soviet cause. The end game was to gradually absorb West Berliners into the East, wiping out the very idea of “West Berlin.”
To beat the blockade, the Western Allies dedicated themselves to supplying the two million people of West Berlin—mostly civilians—the only way they could: by air. American, British, Canadian, and other British Commonwealth forces began a yearlong campaign of flying supply sorties back and forth between West Berlin’s Tempelhof Field (among others) and big airports in West Germany. They carried not only food, but medicine, fuel, and other critical resources.
In one famous photograph, American airman Gail Halvorsen flies over West Berlin, dropping candy in little parachutes into the outstretched arms of German kids. (Over the course of the airlift, the “Candy Bomber” dropped more than 20 tons of candy on West Berlin.) The photo—and the Berlin Airlift itself—was highly symbolic: The Western Allies, who just a few years prior used their planes to drop bombs, were now using them to keep Germans alive.
At the airlift’s peak, a plane landed in West Berlin every 30 seconds, around the clock. Larger planes could carry as much as 8,000 tons per flight. Taking off and landing an overloaded aircraft was dangerous. Over the course of the blockade, 101 people died (in 25 plane crashes and other incidents). And yet, they persevered. Imagine: In a year, there were more than 270,000 flights, delivering a total of 2 million tons of supplies (at a cost, in today’s dollars, of between 2.5 and 5 billion).
On May 12, 1949, the USSR lifted the blockade. The Berlin Airlift had succeeded. And it was a turning point in relations between the Western Allies and West Germany: After the Berlin Airlift, it was clear that the Americans and Brits were not here as occupiers, like the Soviets. They were here to help.
Why has the city preserved this sprawling property—a square mile-and-a-half of prime real estate so close to the city center—as an oversized park? In a 2015 referendum, Berliners (perhaps fatigued by the city’s treadmill of construction) jilted would-be developers when they voted decisively to keep this as a park. As for the gigantic building itself, it remains vacant as city leaders debate what to do with it. Syrian refugees are temporarily housed in its hangars.
Alternate Approach: If you’re more interested in the park than in the airport building and “Air Bridge” monument, it’s more pleasant (and easier) to approach it from nearby neighborhoods. Kreuzberg’s upscale Bergmannkiez (U7: Gneisenaustrasse) is just to the north, while the up-and-coming Neukölln neighborhood (U8: Boddinstrasse) faces the park’s eastern edge. On a nice day, combine exploring one of those neighborhoods with a walk in the park.
For a taste of Moscow-style monumentalism in Berlin, head for Treptower Park. This was one of three major monuments erected in the postwar era to honor the Soviet soldiers who liberated Berlin (the others are in Tiergarten park—see here—and Schönholzer Heide in Pankow, north of Prenzlauer Berg). In the Battle of Berlin (April and May, 1945), an estimated 80,000 Soviet troops were killed in the fight to topple Hitler. Opened just four years later, the monument at Treptower Park epitomizes the USSR’s bombastic knack for celebrating the fallen heroes of the “Great Patriotic War.” Specifically, this monument represents the collective grave of 5,000 unknown soldiers. People who are really into grand Soviet architecture find this worth ▲▲▲; for others, it’s simply an oversized curiosity.
Cost and Hours: Free, always open.
Getting There: While Treptower Park has its own S-Bahn station, it’s a tedious 15-minute walk from there to the core of the monument itself. Instead, take the U-Bahn to Schlesisches Tor (in Kreuzberg’s Wrangelkiez neighborhood), then take bus #165 or #265 to the Herkomerstrasse stop, at the side entrance to the park (along Am Treptower Park road). Enter through the gateway and you’ll see the “Motherland” statue.
Visiting the Monument: From the statue of an anguished mother(land), a tree-lined boulevard leads through a ceremonial gateway (shaped like Soviet flags) and past 32 symbolic sarcophagi (carved with reliefs of wartime hardship and courage) to a 40-foot-tall statue of a victorious Soviet solider. One arm crushes a swastika with a giant sword; the other gently cradles a toddler. In the small memorial room at the statue’s base, visitors lay fresh flowers under a mosaic-red-star ceiling. You’ll see the monument’s theme carved into its stone (in German and in Russian): “The homeland will not forget its heroes.”
Notice how well cared-for this monument is. Despite East Berliners’ tumultuous relationship with the USSR, the sacrifice of 80,000 soldiers to free Europe from Hitler is still respected. The “Two Plus Four Agreement” (1990)—which relieved Germany of its post-WWII obligations to permit reunification—provided for the preservation of Soviet war monuments in perpetuity. Berlin’s large Russian expat community fills this park each year on May 8—the anniversary of the day that the Red Army took Berlin.
(See “Eastern Berlin” map, here.)
This area is of interest mostly to those nostalgic for the DDR era.
For more details on this—and the many other socialist landmarks in this area—see the Communist East Berlin Walk chapter.
Marking the eastern end of the Unter den Linden/Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse thoroughfare, this kitschy-futuristic space was the main square of DDR-era East Berlin. Named (fittingly) for a Russian czar, under communist rule the square was turned into a model of Soviet aesthetics—with stern, blocky facades; a showpiece department store; a transit hub for trams and trains; and a trippy “World Time Clock.” Nearby is the start of the severely socialist-style Karl-Marx-Allee; originally named Stalinallee, it would have been more at home in Moscow than in Berlin.
One of Berlin’s main landmarks, this 1,200-foot-tall massive spike is topped by a giant glittering disco ball. You’ll see it from just about anywhere in the city, and riding the elevator to the observation deck comes with sweeping (but almost too-high) views. The tower also has a TI, and various walking and bike tours leave from here.
Cost and Hours: €13, more expensive skip-the-line “fast track” tickets available online, daily 9:00-24:00, Nov-Feb from 10:00, Panoramastrasse 1A, www.tv-turm.de.
This wide boulevard—connecting Alexanderplatz to Museum Island, and named for an early German communist pioneer—is lined with DDR-era landmarks, including the TV Tower, Marien Kirche (historic church kept open—barely—during communism), Rotes Rathaus (“Red City Hall” of former East Berlin), and statues of communism founders Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who studied in Berlin.
This neighborhood—just east of the core “Mitte” area—is quickly transforming, with a sea of construction cranes erecting super-modern buildings (such as the 17,000-seat Mercedes-Benz Arena, and the glitzy East Side Mall). The Warschauer Strasse S- and U-Bahn station area, while gritty, offers a glimpse into this neighborhood. Just uphill is a grungy but gentrifying neighborhood, fanning out from Boxhagener Platz, a scruffy square ringed by creative cheap eats; the street between here and Wühlischstrasse teem with creative eateries and shops. Just downhill from the Warschauer Strasse station is a striking bridge and the start of the East Side Gallery.
The biggest remaining stretch of the Wall is now the “world’s longest outdoor art gallery.” This segment of the Wall makes a meaningful walk—for those interested in street art and/or Berlin Wall history, it’s worth ▲▲. The gallery stretches for nearly a mile and is covered with murals painted by artists from around the world. The murals (classified as protected monuments) got a facelift in 2009, when the city invited the original artists back to re-create their work for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. For the history of the East Side Gallery, see www.eastsidegallery-berlin.de.
Visiting the East Side Gallery: The most interesting stretch is its easternmost end, near the Oberbaumbrücke (Oberbaum Bridge), which crosses the Spree between Friedrichshain’s Warschauer Strasse station (U1 or S5/S7/S75) and Kreuzberg’s Wrangelkiez neighborhood (U1: Schlesisches Tor). From either station, head for the Friedrichshain side of the bridge and find the start of the East Side Gallery (facing Mühlenstrasse).
The fanciful bridge, a sight in itself, is a marvelous example of Brandenburg Neo-Gothic brickwork. Its fun neon “rock, paper, scissors” installment pokes fun at the futility of the Cold War (visible only after dark).
From the bridge, head along the East Side Gallery. Close to the start of the Wall, a gap leads to an overpriced “Wall museum” (multimedia displays in 13 stuffy rooms—skip it in favor of better museums elsewhere in Berlin). About 50 yards farther is a funky souvenir shop; supposedly, the owner was the first person to sell a piece of the original Wall. A mural on the side of the shop features iconic DDR-era scenes: a border guard leaping over barbed wire to freedom, and a bold escape that sheared off the top of a car—but safely delivered its driver to the West.
From here, follow the Wall and its creative graffiti as far as you’d like—perhaps its entire length, just under a mile to the Ostbanhof (where the S5/S7/S75 line can take you back to the center). Or get a brief taste, then double back to either Warschauer Strasse or Schlesisches Tor.
Several sections are protected by chain-link fence—a drag for photographers, but necessary to deter “artists” who want to add their own flair to these historic works of art. Along the way, watch for some iconic scenes. Just past the souvenir shop, you’ll see Dmitri Vrubel’s “fraternal kiss” between DDR and USSR leaders (Honecker and Brezhnev), with the message in Russian and German: “Dear God, help me to survive this deadly love.” While the painting is based on an actual photograph, this ritual—designed to show the comradeship between leaders of communist countries—is frequently parodied to show other world leaders in cahoots with each other (for example, Donald Trump French-kissing Vladimir Putin).
Farther along, tune into a few more highlights. The black-and-white portrait Danke, Andrej Sacharow honors the Soviet dissident and human rights activist. The work titled Es Gilt Viele Mauern Abzubauen comes with a message: “Tearing down applies to many walls.” One of the longest works—a row of colorful heads with Simpsons overbites—is by French artist Thierry Noir, one of the first street artists who gained fame using the Wall as his canvas. Test the Rest shows a Trabi car bursting through the Wall. And Kani Alavi’s It Happened in November shows the sea of humanity flowing through the wall the night it opened.
This extensive, thoughtfully presented exhibit tells the story of how the communist-era Ministry for State Security (a.k.a. Stasi)—headquartered in these very buildings—infiltrated all aspects of East German life. While the museum is quite dry and out of the way, it’s the best place in Berlin to learn about the Stasi—worth the effort for those interested in this chapter of history.
Cost and Hours: €6, Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat-Sun 11:00-18:00, tel. 030/553-6854, www.stasimuseum.de. It’s a long haul from the center, at Ruschestrasse 103. Take the U5 to Magdalenenstrasse and exit toward Ruschestrasse. Up on the street, turn right up Ruschestrasse and watch on the right for the yellow sign—the museum is tucked far back in a courtyard.
Visiting the Museum: Exhibits fill three floors of the building where Stasi Minister Erich Mielke had his office. Everything is described in English, with lots of reading and several artifacts.
At the entrance, check out the sprawling model of this neighborhood. The Stasi operation filled entire city blocks—essentially creating a city-within-the-city (54 acres, 50 buildings, 7,000 employees) for the sole purpose of surveilling its citizens. On official maps of East Berlin, this area showed up as blank space.
Upstairs, floor 1 explains the mission and methods of the Stasi—including the “unofficial employees” who were recruited to report on their coworkers, neighbors, and loved ones. On floor 2, you can tour the offices of the Stasi leadership (including Mielke’s private study) as it was furnished during its heyday. Seeing these anonymous, bureaucratic spaces, you realize that “the banality of evil” did not end with Hitler. And on floor 3, you’ll learn more about some of the tools and methods used by the Stasi: Tiny microphones and cameras that could be hidden inside walls, handbags, neckties, watering cans, belts, and buttons. An infrared camera built into the door of a car. X-ray machines for seeing inside care packages sent from the West. In a glass jar, a yellow cloth suffused with the body scent of a suspect—which could be used with trained dogs to track the suspect. And endless stacks of index cards filled with mundane details about the lives of others.
Out in the parking lot is a photo exhibit about the events of 1989 that brought this painful chapter to a close: the Peaceful Revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Other Stasi Sights: If you’re particularly keen, you can trek a bit north to the Stasi Prison, where “enemies of the state” served time (€6, visits possible only with tour, often guided by former inmates; English tours daily March-Oct at 10:30, 12:30, and 14:30, Nov-Feb at 11:30 and 14:30—call to confirm before making the trip; Genslerstrasse 66, reachable via tram from downtown—see website for specifics, tel. 030/9860-8230, www.stiftung-hsh.de).
(See “Western Berlin” map, here.)
Berlin’s “Central Park” stretches two miles from the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate to Berlin Zoological Garden. This vast, 400-acre park, once a royal hunting ground, is now packed with cycling paths, joggers, and—on hot days—nude sunbathers.
The main boulevard through its middle—Strasse des 17 Juni—commemorates a bold 1953 uprising in the communist DDR. This series of strikes and protests culminated on June 17, when 40,000 protesters in East Berlin were dispersed by Soviet and East German tanks. Dozens, or possibly hundreds, were killed. While the East brushed the revolt under the rug, June 17 became a national holiday in West Germany—the Day of German Unity.
The Tiergarten’s centerpiece—faintly visible in the distance from the Brandenburg Gate—is the Victory Column (Siegessäule). This was built to commemorate the Prussian defeat of Denmark in 1864...then reinterpreted after the defeat of France in 1870. The pointy-helmeted Germans rubbed it in, decorating the tower with French cannons and paying for it all with francs received as war reparations. The three lower rings commemorate Otto von Bismarck’s victories (see here). I imagine the statues of German military greats—which lurk among the trees nearby—goose-stepping around the floodlit angel at night.
Originally standing at the Reichstag, in 1938 the tower was moved to this position and given a 25-foot lengthening by Hitler’s architect, Albert Speer, in anticipation of the planned re-envisioning of Berlin as “Welthauptstadt Germania”—the capital of a worldwide Nazi empire. Streets leading to the circle are flanked by surviving Nazi guardhouses, built in the stern style that fascists loved. At the memorial’s first level, notice how WWII bullets chipped the fine marble columns. From 1989 to 2003, the column was the epicenter of the Love Parade (Berlin’s citywide techno-hedonist street party), and it was the backdrop for Barack Obama’s summer 2008 visit to Germany as a presidential candidate.
Climbing the column’s 270 steps earns you a breathtaking Berlin-wide view and a close-up of the gilded bronze statue of the goddess Victoria (€3, daily April-Oct 9:30-18:30, until 19:00 Sat-Sun, Nov-March 10:00-17:00, closes for rain, no elevator, tel. 030/391-2961). You might recognize Victoria from Wim Wenders’ 1987 art-house classic Wings of Desire, or the Stay (Faraway, So Close!) video he directed for the rock band U2.
This area, a 15-minute walk from the Brandenburg Gate, is divided into the skyscraper zone of Potsdamer Platz and the arts-and-culture complex called the Kulturforum. For history buffs, the German Resistance Museum sits just beyond the Kulturforum.
This immense, 150-acre square is home to sleek skyscrapers, shopping malls, a transportation hub, several major corporate headquarters, upscale restaurants, and a few museums.
The architectural face of Potsdamer Platz has changed drastically over time: Berlin’s busiest intersection before World War II, it was bombed flat and remained a devastated wasteland until the 1990s, then quickly sprouted a forest of glassy skyscrapers, as if to trumpet the victory of capitalism. Visiting today, you’ll see a skyscraper panorama, a replica of Europe’s first traffic light, a boldly modern train station, a few chunks of the Berlin Wall, and the Sony Center shopping/entertainment complex. A good place to view it all is from the intersection of Potsdamer Strasse and Ebertstrasse. (From the S-Bahn or U-Bahn, exit following Leipziger Platz signs.) The next two sights are also nearby. A quick look at Potsdamer Platz also works well in conjunction with the nearby Kulturforum.
For more details on Potsdamer Platz and Sony Center, plus a detailed map of the area, see the Fascism & Cold War Walk chapter.
This exhibit is the most interesting place to visit within the Sony Center. Many early pioneers in filmmaking were German (including Fritz Lang, F. W. Murnau, Ernst Lubitsch, and the Austrian-born Billy Wilder)—and many became influential in Hollywood—making this a fun visit for cinephiles from anywhere. Your admission ticket gets you into several floors of exhibits made meaningful by the essential English audioguide.
Cost and Hours: €7, free Thu 16:00-20:00; open Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, Thu until 20:00, closed Mon; audioguide-€2, Potsdamer Strasse 2, tel. 030/300-9030, www.deutsche-kinemathek.de.
Visiting the Museum: From the ticket desk, ride the elevator up to the third floor, where you can turn left (into the film section, floors 3 and 2) or right (into the TV section, floors 3 and 4).
In the film section, you’ll walk back in time to the German film industry’s beginnings, with an emphasis on the Weimar Republic period in the 1920s, when Berlin rivaled Hollywood. Influential films included the early German Expressionist masterpiece The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Fritz Lang’s seminal Metropolis (1927). Three rooms are dedicated to Marlene Dietrich, who was a huge star both in Germany and, later, in Hollywood.
Another section examines Nazi use of film as propaganda, including Leni Riefenstahl’s masterful documentary of the 1936 Berlin Olympics and her earlier, chillingly propagandistic Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will, 1935).
The exhibit’s finale highlights today’s influential German filmmakers—including Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm) and Werner Herzog (documentaries such as Grizzly Man and the drama Rescue Dawn). If a visit here gets you curious about German cinema, see the recommendations in the appendix.
The TV section tells the story of das Idioten Box from its infancy (when it was primarily used as a Nazi propaganda tool) to today. The 30-minute kaleidoscopic review—kind of a frantic fast-forward montage of greatest hits in German TV history, both East and West—is great fun even if you don’t understand a word of it (it plays all day long, with 10-minute breaks). Otherwise, the TV section is a little more challenging for non-German speakers to appreciate. Upstairs (on the fourth floor) is a TV archive where you can dial through a wide range of new and classic German TV standards.
Nearby: The Kino Arsenal theater downstairs shows offbeat art-house films in their original language.
Across Potsdamer Strasse from the Deutsche Kinemathek museum, you can ride what’s billed as the “fastest elevator in Europe” to skyscraping rooftop views. You’ll travel at nearly 30 feet per second to the top of the 300-foot-tall Kollhoff Tower. Its sheltered-but-open-air view deck provides a fun survey of Berlin’s changing skyline.
Cost and Hours: €7.50, €11.50 VIP ticket lets you skip the line, cash only, daily 10:00-20:00, until 18:00 in winter, last elevator 30 minutes before closing, in red-brick building at Potsdamer Platz 1, tel. 030/2593-7080, www.panoramapunkt.de.
Berlin’s other ensemble of museums (after Museum Island) fills a purpose-built facility just beyond Potsdamer Platz. Here you’ll find a variety of impressive museums and other cultural institutions, including exquisite European Masters at the Gemäldegalerie, musical instruments, and decorative arts. Its New National Gallery (which houses modern art) is closed, likely through 2021.
Combo-Tickets: All Kulturforum sights are covered by a €12 combo-ticket (can cost more if a special exhibit is on, www.kulturforum-berlin.de).
Getting There: Ride the S-Bahn or U-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz, then walk along Potsdamer Platz; from Alexanderplatz or Zoologischer Garten, you can take bus #200 to Philharmonie (though this can be slow during rush hour).
The Gemäldegalerie and other museums mentioned here are covered by the Gemäldegalerie & Kulturforum Tour chapter.
This “Painting Gallery” is one of Germany’s top collections of great works by European masters. The Gemäldegalerie shows off fine works from the 13th through 18th century. While there’s no one famous piece of art, you’ll get an enticing taste of just about all the big names. In the North Wing are painters from Germany (Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein, Lucas Cranach), the Low Countries (Jan van Eyck, Pieter Brueghel, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer), Britain (Thomas Gainsborough), France (Antoine Watteau), and an impressive hall of Rembrandts. The South Wing is the terrain of Italian greats, including Giotto, Botticelli, Titian, Raphael, and Caravaggio.
Cost and Hours: €10, includes audioguide, covered by Kulturforum combo-ticket, Tue-Fri 10:00-18:00, Thu until 20:00, Sat-Sun 11:00-18:00, closed Mon, clever little loaner stools, great salad bar in cafeteria upstairs, Matthäikirchplatz 4, tel. 030/266-424-242, www.smb.museum.
Music lovers appreciate this beautifully displayed collection of 600 different items, going back to the 1500s. The included audioguide brings the collection to life and lets you actually hear a few of the instruments in action.
Cost and Hours: €6, covered by Kulturforum combo-ticket, Tue-Fri 9:00-17:00, Thu until 20:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-17:00, closed Mon, Tiergartenstrasse 1, www.sim.spk-berlin.de.
Nearby: Berlin’s yellow Philharmonic Concert Hall sits just beyond the Musical Instruments Museum. Appreciate its bold architecture (inspired by a ship at sea, and different from each angle) and step into the lobby to consider a performance during your stay (ticket office open Mon-Fri 15:00-18:00, Sat-Sun 11:00-14:00 except closed July-Aug, tel. 030/2548-8999—answered daily 9:00-18:00, www.berliner-philharmoniker.de).
Berlin’s answer to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum collects applied arts over a millennium—from shimmering reliquaries (the Guelph Treasure) and delicate porcelain to Art Deco and Jugendstil furnishings, and much more. The highlights are the Dome Reliquary (an elaborately decorated, church-shaped container for saints’ bones) and an appealing collection of women’s fashions over the centuries.
Cost and Hours: €8, covered by Kulturforum combo-ticket, Tue-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat-Sun 11:00-18:00, closed Mon, Matthäikirchplatz, www.smb.museum.
This memorial and museum, located in the former Bendlerblock military headquarters, tells the story of several organized German resistance movements and the more than 42 separate assassination attempts against Hitler. While the exhibit has no real artifacts, the building itself is important: One of the most thoroughly planned schemes to kill Hitler was plotted here (the actual attempt occurred in Rastenburg, eastern Prussia). That attempt failed, and several leaders of the conspiracy, including Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, were shot here in the courtyard.
Cost and Hours: Free, Mon-Fri 9:00-18:00, Thu until 20:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-18:00, free and good English audioguide, no crowds; near Kulturforum at Stauffenbergstrasse 13, enter through courtyard, door on left, main exhibit on second floor up; bus #M29, tel. 030/2699-5000, www.gdw-berlin.de.
These sights—in the heart of the former “West Berlin”—cluster near Kurfürstendamm boulevard. To get here, ride the S-Bahn to Zoologischer Garten. For a map, see here.
Kurfürstendamm boulevard (nicknamed “Ku’damm”) starts at Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and does a commercial cancan for two miles. In the 1850s, when Berlin became a wealthy and important capital, her “new rich” chose Kurfürstendamm as their street. In the 1870s, Bismarck made it Berlin’s Champs-Élysées. In the 1920s, it was a stylish and fashionable drag of cafés and boutiques. During the Third Reich it was home to an international community of diplomats and journalists, and throughout the Cold War, economic subsidies from the West ensured that capitalism thrived here. Today, Berlin’s focus has shifted east and Ku’damm feels more “international-touristy” than “authentic Berlin”—with a Hard Rock Café and a Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas ornament superstore. But it remains a fine place to enjoy elegant shops (around Fasanenstrasse), department stores, and people-watching.
This church was originally dedicated to the first emperor of Germany, Wilhelm I. Reliefs and mosaics show great events in the life of Germany’s favorite kaiser, from his coronation in 1871 to his death in 1888. The church’s bombed-out ruins have been left standing as a memorial to Berlin’s destruction in World War II, with a new church constructed next door. Start your visit by picking up the English flier for information on both churches.
Cost and Hours: Church—free, daily 9:00-19:00—or until 18:00 if there’s a concert; Memorial Hall—free, Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat 10:00-17:30, Sun 12:00-17:30. Located on Breitscheidplatz, U2/U9 and S-Bahn: Zoologischer Garten or U1/U9: Kurfürstendamm, www.gedaechtniskirche-berlin.de.
Visiting the Church: The church is an ensemble of buildings: a new church, the matching bell tower, a meeting hall, and the ruins of the old church, with its Memorial Hall.
Bullet holes dot the exterior of the ruined church. After the war, some Berliners wanted to tear down the ruins, but instead the ruins were kept as a Memorial Hall. Inside, under a Neo-Romanesque mosaic ceiling, you’ll find a small photo exhibit and before-and-after models of the church.
To replace the ruined church, the authorities held a competition to design a contemporary annex. The winning entry—the short, modern church (1961) across from the Memorial Hall—offers a meditative world of 11,000 little blue windows. The blue glass was given to the church by the French as a reconciliation gift. As you enter, turn immediately right to find a simple charcoal sketch of the Virgin Mary wrapped in a shawl. During the Battle of Stalingrad, German combat surgeon Kurt Reuber rendered the Virgin on the back of a stolen Soviet map to comfort the men in his care. On the right are the words “Light, Life, Love” from the gospel of John; on the left, “Christmas in the cauldron 1942”; and at the bottom, “Fortress Stalingrad.” Though Reuber died in captivity a year later, his sketch was flown out of Stalingrad on the last medical evacuation flight, and postwar Germany embraced it as a symbol of the wish for peace. Copies of the drawing, now known as the Stalingrad Madonna, hang in the Berlin Cathedral, in St. Michael’s Cathedral in Coventry, England, and in the Kozan Cathedral in Russia’s Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) as a sign of reconciliation among nations. Every Friday at 13:00 a “Prayers for Peace” service is held simultaneously here and at the cathedral in Coventry.
The area now called City West has seen a lot of history. When Berlin’s zoo was built here in the 1840s, this area was farm fields. But as Berlin boomed in the late 19th century, the area developed at a fast clip: In 1882, the Zoologischer Garten (Zoo Station) train station opened, and in 1886, Otto von Bismarck inaugurated the newly broadened and spiffed-up Kurfürstendamm boulevard (known as Ku’damm).
By the 1890s, this area was known as the Neue Westen—the “New West.” Back then, “West” was associated with modernity. And the Neue Westen was where Berlin’s famous artistic, alternative cabaret scene was at its most colorful. It was here that Bertolt Brecht and Marlene Dietrich gained fame; it was here that Christopher Isherwood set many of his Berlin Stories (later adapted into the musical and film Cabaret); and it was here that influential early filmmakers established the “German Hollywood” in the nascent days of motion pictures. The adjacent Schöneberg district became a popular residential zone for young people eager to be a part of the thriving arts scene. And it was during this era that several “West” landmarks popped up, including the Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe department store) and the Theater des Westens (Theater of the West).
With the advent of the Cold War and the Berlin Wall, this area embraced the “West” in a different sense: capitalism and democracy. Ku’damm became West Berlin’s main drag. The West German government poured funds into building Europa Center—glittering skyscrapers to house the headquarters of international businesses, a bold outpost of capitalism. The Schöneberg City Hall became the seat of West Berlin government, and the site of JFK’s famous visit. Thirty years ago, Zoo Station was the first stop for any traveler arriving in Berlin; from here, you’d venture cautiously into the East, before retreating to the safety of Ku’damm.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall, things changed again. West Berlin was passé. Investors poured funds into developing previously inaccessible swaths of the East. High-rises on Potsdamer Platz and along Friedrichstrasse eclipsed the ones at Europa Center. Zoo Station—previously the city’s de facto main train station—was supplanted by the futuristic new Hauptbahnhof.
Rebranded as City West, this area has bounced back and seems comfortable with its revised identity. No longer the center of the action, City West is content to be an upscale suburb with an illustrious history.
Nearby: The lively square between the churches and the Europa Center attracts street musicians and performers—especially in the summer. Berliners call the funky fountain the “Wet Meatball.” Overlooking the scene is the newly renovated Bikini Berlin shopping mall, with a mix of local and international shops, pop-up stores, and an upstairs terrace peering down into the zoo.
This local artist (1867-1945), who experienced much of Berlin’s stormiest century, conveyed powerful, deeply felt emotions about motherhood, war, and suffering through the stark faces of her art. This small yet fine collection consists of three floors of charcoal drawings and woodcuts, topped by an attic with a handful of sculptures.
Cost and Hours: €7, daily 11:00-18:00, a block off Ku’damm at Fasanenstrasse 24, U-Bahn: Uhlandstrasse, tel. 030/882-5210, www.kaethe-kollwitz.de.
Visiting the Museum: Head up the stairwell, with a timeline of events in Kollwitz’s life. Floor 1 focuses on the relatively happy first half of her life, when she drew from interactions with the poor to create some of her most moving works. You’ll see how she gained confidence and found her artistic voice in her depictions of the Peasants’ Revolt (1520s) and the Weavers’ Revolt (1844). Floor 2 continues the story, with the turning point in her life: 1914, when her first-born son died in battle on Flanders Fields. You’ll see her transition to a woodcut technique, focusing on depictions of war colored by her personal loss. Posters from this era show her social conscience—shaming Germans into helping feed their starving compatriots. Her self-portraits from the 1930s are imbued with a world-weariness that will only intensify with the death of her grandson, fighting in Russia, in World War II. (These losses inspired her to create her most famous work, the powerful pietà inside Germany’s war memorial at the Neue Wache—see here.) Floor 3 displays her sculptures. While best known during her lifetime for her prints, Kollwitz favored sculpting. But lack of access to materials meant that she produced relatively few works. Some that you see here were cast (from her designs) only after her death. Taken together, Kollwitz’s evocative oeuvre testifies to her struggle to define the duties of wife, mother, and artist.
Note that Kollwitz didn’t live in this building; she and her husband made their home across the city in Prenzlauer Berg (near Kollwitzplatz, the square named in her honor—see here).
More than 1,500 kinds of animals call Berlin’s famous zoo home...or so the zookeepers like to think. The zoo and the world-class adjacent aquarium draw gaggles of school kids and their frazzled chaperones. For a free look into the monkey enclosure, head inside the nearby Bikinihaus shopping center, where the ground-floor windows offer an eye-level glimpse at the playful primates (or for a delightful bird’s-eye view, head to the mall’s rooftop terrace).
Cost and Hours: Zoo-€14.50, aquarium-€14.50, €20 for both, kids half-price, daily 9:00-18:30, until 16:30 in winter, aquarium closes at 18:00 year-round; feeding times—Fütterungszeiten—posted just inside entrance, the best feeding show is the sea lions—generally at 15:15; enter zoo near Europa Center in front of Hotel Palace or opposite Zoologischer Garten station on Hardenbergplatz, Budapester Strasse 34, tel. 030/254-010, www.zoo-berlin.de, www.aquarium-berlin.de.
The “Department Store of the West” has been a Berlin tradition for more than a century. With a staff of 2,100 to help you sort through its vast selection of 450,000 items (up 70,000 items from my visit last year), KaDeWe claims to be the biggest department store on the Continent. You can get everything from a haircut (third floor) to souvenirs (fourth floor). The cash-only theater and concert box office on the sixth floor charges an 18 percent booking fee, but they know all your options. The sixth floor is a world of gourmet taste treats. The biggest selection of deli and exotic food in Germany offers plenty of classy opportunities to sit down and eat. Ride the glass elevator to the seventh floor’s glass-domed Winter Garden, a self-service cafeteria—fun but pricey.
Hours: Mon-Thu 10:00-20:00, Fri until 21:00, Sat 9:30-20:00, closed Sun, S-Bahn: Zoologischer Garten or U-Bahn: Wittenbergplatz, tel. 030/21210, www.kadewe.de.
Nearby: The Wittenbergplatz U-Bahn station (in front of KaDeWe) is a unique opportunity to see an old-time station. The first subway station in Berlin (1902), its interior still has classic advertisements decorating its venerable walls. On the KaDeWe side of the station, a sign lists sites of Nazi concentration camps—one of many examples of present-day Germans ensuring that the crimes of their ancestors are never forgotten.
The Wittenbergplatz station also marks the boundary of the adjacent Schöneberg district, described next.
Those with an interest in Jewish and Cold War history might enjoy a walk through the Schöneberg district, immediately southeast of the Ku’damm corridor. While largely rebuilt after the war, and therefore less architecturally striking than Ku’damm and Savignyplatz, Schöneberg packs in some powerful history.
Background: Around the turn of the 20th century—when Berlin was booming and the cabaret scene was taking off along the Ku’damm—Schöneberg was the place for youthful, alternative flappers to hang their hats. (It was sort of the original “hipster neighborhood,” a century before its time.) Many young Jews also moved from the Scheunenviertel to this happening spot; plaques mark the homes of Albert Einstein, filmmaker Billy Wilder, and philosopher/psychologist Erich Fromm, all of whom later fled to the United States to continue their seminal work. Fancy Schöneberg even had its own little neighborhood U-Bahn line (U4). After Hitler’s government swept Jews out of this area, several Nazi officials decided to move in—which is why Schöneberg was hammered by World War II bombs. After the war, the Schöneberg City Hall became the de facto seat of the West Berlin city government. It was on the city hall’s front steps, on June 26, 1963, that John F. Kennedy stood in solidarity with the people of West Berlin: “Ich bin ein Berliner.” In the 1990s, creative locals erected a series of particularly moving memorials to local residents lost in the Holocaust. And from the 1990s through to today, Schöneberg (especially around Fuggerstasse and Motzstrasse) has been the epicenter of Berlin’s thriving gay community—as it was back in cabaret days.
Visiting Schöneberg: While the history is substantial, the sights are subtle. For a quick taste of Schöneberg, ride the U4 or U7 to Bayerischer Platz, and explore. This square and the streets around it (with names like Münchener Strasse, Salzburger Strasse, and Innsbrucker Strasse) were inspired by places in Bavaria and the alpine region. The Café Haberland—just above the U-Bahn stop, and named for the urban planner behind this neighborhood—has a fine and free little local history museum. Photos and descriptions inside the U-Bahn station itself add to the story.
On and near Bayerischer Platz, keep an eye out for this neighborhood’s unique style of Holocaust memorials. Eighty signs feature an image of local life on the front, and on the back, a story (in German only) of how that object was involved in the Holocaust. (For example, near a local bakery, the flipside of a picture of bread recounts how Jews were only allowed to buy groceries between 4 and 5 o’clock in the afternoon—after all the best goods had already been sold.) These signs appeared overnight (thanks to a local artists’ collective) in 1993, during a wave of Neo-Nazism and the 60th anniversary of Hitler’s rise to power. At first, many residents were offended by these in-your-face reminders of everyday anti-Semitism. But the signs were quickly embraced as people realized...that’s exactly the point.
A few blocks southeast of Bayerischer Platz is the Schöneberg City Hall (Rathaus)—with a modern, rebuilt tower, holding a “Freedom Bell” that was donated by US forces after World War II. At the front steps where JFK delivered one of his most famous speeches, you’ll find a plaque commemorating that day. Just five months later, Berliners flocked here again, this time to mourn the assassinated president. Deep inside City Hall is the “We Were Neighbors” exhibit about the Jewish and Holocaust heritage of Schöneberg (all in German).
Several blocks north, Schöneberg meets the Ku’damm at the historic Wittenbergplatz U-Bahn stop.
(See “Charlottenburg Palace Area” map, here.)
Halfway to the airport, tucked in an upscale residential neighborhood at the northwestern edge of the city, sits Charlottenburg Palace—once a suburban residence of Prussian royalty (including Frederick the Great—see here). While there are far better palaces in Germany—including just out of town in Potsdam (see the Day Trips from Berlin chapter)—Charlottenburg offers an easy and accessible look at a royal interior. For art lovers, this area is even more appealing for its cluster of three museums just across the street from the palace, which combine to present a remarkable array of early-20th-century art: Surrealism (Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection); Picasso, Matisse, and Klee (Museum Berggruen); and furniture and decorative arts in the Jugendstil and Art Deco styles (Bröhan Museum).
Getting There: Ride U7 to Richard-Wagner Platz or U2 to Sophie-Charlotte Platz and walk 10 minutes up the tree-lined boulevard Schlossstrasse (from either stop, follow signs to Schloss), or—much faster—catch bus #M45 (direction: Spandau) direct from Zoologischer Garten or bus #109 from along Ku’damm (direction: Flughafen Tempel). You can also take the S-Bahn to Westend, then ride bus #M45 (or walk 10 minutes). From any bus, you want the Schloss Charlottenburg stop.
Eating: For lunch on Luisenplatz just east of the palace, try the traditional German grub at Brauhaus Lemke brewpub or sample Russian specialties at Samowar (both open daily).
Charlottenburg Palace is the largest former residence of the royal Hohenzollern family in Berlin, and contains the biggest collection of 17th-century French fresco painting outside France. If you’ve seen the great palaces of Europe, this Baroque palace comes in at about number 10. I’d rate it behind Potsdam, too, though Charlottenburg is arguably a more pleasant outing: It’s easy to reach, involves no timed tickets, has good included audioguides, and is across the street from a pair of great art museums. The palace has several parts: the central “Old Palace” (Altes Schloss), renovated in 2017; the New Wing (Neue Flügel); a variety of other royal pavilions; and sprawling gardens.
Cost and Hours: New Wing-€10, Old Palace-€12, prices include audioguides, smaller buildings-€4 each, combo-ticket for everything-€17; all buildings open Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, Nov-March until 17:00, closed Mon year-round; tel. 0331/969-4200, www.spsg.de.
Visiting the Palace: The New Wing (Neue Flügel, a.k.a. the Knobelsdorff Wing) features Rococo royal apartments and fine paintings. First you’ll head upstairs and walk through the sumptuous, gold-crusted State Rooms. The highlight is the 105-foot-long Golden Gallery, a real-life Cinderella ballroom with rich green walls, faux marble, gold flourishes, glittering chandeliers, and different details over each doorway and window frame. You’ll also see Frederick the Great’s apartments (the concert chamber where he played and composed on the flute, and his study and bedroom). Retracing your steps, you’ll enter the Winter Rooms, dating from after Frederick’s time—warm and rich, and cozy with tapestries. Rooms of royal portraits lead to the old wing, with more Frederick the Great apartments and collections of silver and porcelain. Back downstairs is a painting gallery, with two highlights: In the antechamber, look for the painting of a huge parade in front of Unter den Linden’s Neue Wache. Then, at the end of this wing, don’t miss the famous Napoleon Crossing the Alps—one of five originals done by Jacques-Louis David.
When open, the Altes Schloss’ highlight is its Porcelain Cabinet—a crazy melding of trompe l’oeil painting and 3-D stucco work.
Out back are sprawling gardens that are fun and free to wander in good weather, with a few skippable royal pavilions. The one that may be worth considering—past the end of the New Wing—is the New Pavilion, offering a concise and accessible look at the two big names of German Romanticism: the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
This pleasant museum houses more than 250 works of Surrealist and pre-Surrealist art. The collection is thoughtfully organized by theme, as if these great artists are in conversation. Note that these are “deep cuts” rather than “greatest hits,” making this worth ▲▲ for someone with an affinity for this kind of art, but not worth the trip for those with a casual interest.
Cost and Hours: €10 combo-ticket includes audioguide and Museum Berggruen, can be more during special exhibits, Tue-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat-Sun from 11:00, closed Mon, Schlossstrasse 70, tel. 030/266-424-242, www.smb.museum.
Visiting the Museum: At the start of the collection stands the huge Kalabsha Gate, salvaged from an ancient Egyptian temple before it was moved to make way for the Aswan Dam. Then head into the exhibits, with works by big names including Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, Paul Klee, Jean Dubuffet, and Francisco de Goya, juxtaposed with lesser-known Germanic artists, such as Otto Dix, Max Ernst, and George Grosz. The Surreal Worlds exhibit shows just how freaky the world looked to artists—a jumbled existence of subjects and emotions.
This tidy museum—with lesser-known works by some big-name modern artists (especially Picasso)—is a pleasant surprise. It’s worth ▲▲ for fans of Picasso or Paul Klee, and would be a big deal in a city with fewer blockbuster sights.
Cost and Hours: €10 combo-ticket includes audioguide and Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection, Tue-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat-Sun from 11:00, closed Mon, Schlossstrasse 1, tel. 030/266-424-242, www.smb.museum.
Visiting the Museum: The highlight here is the fun, substantial, best-in-Germany collection of Picassos. The first floor features some of his earlier works: Blue Period, newspaper collages, and early Cubism (including a study for the seminal Les Demoiselles d’Avignon). The second (top) floor shows off how the prolific artist dabbled in virtually every medium: ceramic, mixed media, doodles, pencil sketches, and, of course, painting. The ground floor has a fine collection of Italian sculptor Alberto Giacometti. In the annex are notable works by Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne, and a huge collection of pieces by Paul Klee. Everything is thoughtfully described in English.
This beautifully understated museum displays decorative arts from the early 20th century on three floors (permanent exhibits on ground floor, temporary exhibits upstairs). This collection makes you wish you were furnishing a 1900s Berlin apartment. Wander through a dozen Jugendstil and Art Deco living rooms, a curvy and eye-pleasing organic world of lamps, glass, silver, and posters. English descriptions are posted in some rooms, and the included audioguide does a fair job describing the rest. Rotating exhibits feature various subjects associated with the design history of the Art Deco and Art Nouveau movements.
Cost and Hours: €8, more with special exhibits, Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00, closed Mon, Schlossstrasse 1A, tel. 030/3269-0600, www.broehan-museum.de.