Berlin is Germany’s historic and modern capital. This once-divided city was the epicenter of the Cold War, but there is so much more to this city than its turbulent 20th century. One could easily spend more than a week without running out of things to do in Berlin.
The tourists’ Berlin is very spread out, much like Paris or London, so be prepared for lots of walking and use of public transport – but more on that later.
Download a list format of this itinerary below.
This itinerary covers Berlin and its surroundings. We visited Berlin in late June 2022. Like many of our itineraries, this trip relied on full days with early mornings and late nights, however, we encourage travellers to go at their own pace, trying to maximize the sights without sensory overload.
DAY 1: ARRIVAL IN BERLIN
Arrive in Berlin. Depending on your flight or train times, decide whether you should start sightseeing. Unless you arrive late in the evening, we recommend taking a walk to combat jet lag. Aim to go to bed at a normal time in order to adjust time zones as quickly as possible.
6-8pm: Dinner in Berlin
Our first night, we sought out Dicke Wirtin, a delicious and cozy German restaurant from the communist days in East Berlin.
DAY 2: TIERGARTEN, UNTER DEN LINDEN, REICHSTAG
8am: Tiergarten Walk
To start your day off right, join the locals on a walk through the Tiergarten, a massive park space.
9am: Berlin Unter den Linden Walk
Next, give yourself a little intro to the city. There are many free self-guided tours that cover a similar route. We liked the Rick Steves’ Europe free audio tour that you can download on your phone.
To cover the most sights possible on Berlin’s main drag, begin at the Reichstag building. From there, walk through the Brandenburg gate onto Pariser Platz. Sidestep a block to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, then continue onto Unter den Linden. Continue straight, passing the Opera, Museum Island (tour the cathedral while in the area), the statues of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and the TV tower, to finish at Alexanderplatz.
We reverted back to visit the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe on a later day for a more focused visit. While on Unter den Linden, be sure to stop into the Ampelmann store. This store (there are a few in the city) celebrates the East German little traffic crossing men that were the pedestrian symbols for stop and go at intersections. Berlin and much of East Germany have retained these quaint symbols.
12pm: Lunch and Shopping in Berlin
Berlin is a gastronomic melting pot. You can find excellent food from all over the world. Sample some Chinese food for lunch at GOJI, or continue onto Kaufhaus des Westens, or KaDeWe for short, which is a shopping mall/department store located in old West Berlin. It feels like the epitome of capitalism and is full of energy. There is a grocery section where you can buy food for a picnic lunch.
Spend the rest of the afternoon shopping or sightseeing.
If you’re not a shopper, get a head start on some of the other sights. You can choose to visit the Topography of Terror, Palace of Tears, or East Side Gallery, where a remaining section of the Berlin Wall has been turned into an outdoor art exhibit.
3pm: Kaffee und Kuchen
Relax in the afternoon with a coffee and cake. You can head to The Barn to grab your coffee, and Princess Cheesecake to indulge in their delicious cheesecake. The Einstein Kaffee chain also has excellent cheesecake in our opinion.
8pm: Reichstag dome
The Reichstag is the German parliament building. Although it has undergone renovations since WWII including the addition of the glass dome, you can still see the bullet holes from the war – evidence of the fighting that took place in Berlin. The glass dome looks down into the chambers where parliament is held and is a reminder that democracy must be transparent. It is free to ascend the dome, but you must book an advanced, timed ticket.
We recommend ascending in the evening for two reasons. First, it frees up time during the day for other sites that are not open late. Second, it really is a beautiful view of the city at sunset.
DAY 3: POTSDAM AND PRENZLAUERBERG
Take a day trip outside Berlin for a look at its royal past. Potsdam was the seat of power of the kingdom of Prussia and has many worthwhile sites from the region’s history. We hired a guide in the morning to show us around and give us the historical background, and then visited the palaces on our own in the afternoon.
8am: Depart Berlin for Postdam
Getting there: To reach Potsdam, you can take the S7 train line all the way to the end. This makes it one of Berlin’s easiest day trips.
9am: Old town and city palace
Walk around Potsdam’s old town. Today, Potsdam is undoubtedly a university town, but back in the 18thcentury, it was the home of Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I (the Solider King) and his son Friedrich the Great.
Dutch quarter
Potsdam also had a large Dutch population. In the Dutch quarter, you’ll feel like you’ve just stepped into Holland. This is a beautiful place to stop for a coffee or breakfast.
Brandenburg Gate of Potsdam
Yes, Potsdam has one too! Don’t miss one of Potsdam’s iconic sites.
Protestant Church of Peace (Marly Gardens)
Enter the Sansoucci Palace gardens. Stop at this church and admire the mosaic above the altar. In the courtyard, keep an eye out for a bodybuilder-looking statue of Jesus.
1:30pm: Sanssouci Palace
This is the summer palace of Friedrich the Great, King of Prussia. Named after the French expression for “no worries” (hakuna matata, anyone?), this small palace is beautiful. Book a timed ticket online in advance to ensure you get in.
2:30pm: Orangery Palace
We also visited the Orangery Palace to see some beautiful artwork and architecture. Although it is possible to book tickets online, we did not find it necessary. Consider purchasing a combination ticket which may be worthwhile depending on the number of sites you visit.
You could spend a day or more wandering through the gardens and visiting the various palaces and fountain complexes, like the New Palace or Chinese House. Visit the Prussian Palaces website for more information here.
3:30pm: Cecilienhof Country House
Moving forward in history, we come to the Cecilienhof. This is where the Potsdam conference was held in 1945, when Joseph Stalin, Harry Truman, and Winston Churchill met to discuss the division of Europe after WWII. This was one of our favourite places in Potsdam. The rooms where the conference was held are maintained as they were in 1945. You can almost feel the tension in the air and smell Mr. Churchill’s cigar as the three leaders jockeyed for their post-war positions.
5pm: Glienicker Bridge (Bridge of Spies)
Fast forwarding to 1962, Francis Gary Powers, an American pilot, who was shot down by the USSR and held as a prisoner for espionage, was returned to the Americans in exchange for the release of Soviet spy Rudolf Abel on this very bridge. This prisoner exchange was immortalized in the movie “Bridge of Spies” starring Tom Hanks. A worthwhile sight for history buffs and fans of the movie.
Evening in Prenzlauerberg
Upon returning to Berlin, head to Prenzlauerberg, the trendy hipster district. Find the best food, indie boutiques, bars or music to entertain yourself.
We ate at Vietnam Village (Van Anh Restaurant) on Oderberger Straße 7. Although hard to find online, this place was very busy. This meal was easily the best and most authentic Vietnamese food we have ever had outside of Vietnam (and of course, Vietnam itself is still on our bucket list!). There are countless other international food choices in this area.
DAY 4: THIRD REICH, COMMUNIST BERLIN, JEWISH QUARTER
8:30am: Third Reich and Communist Berlin sites
Spend the morning visiting sites from the Nazi and communist era. Visit the Memorial to the Roma, the site of Hitler’s bunker and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe to expand your understanding of Germany’s capital city under Nazism.
Visit the ghost train stations and the Berlin Wall Memorial, to cover the time from 1945-1989 when Berlin was divided into East and West: communist and capitalist.
We hired a guide for the morning which was a great way to break up the intense sightseeing and provide context. Truthfully, we think it would be challenging to link these sites without a guide, especially as you only view many of them from the outside. We could write pages to describe what we saw, but for our readers’ sake, we will highlight those that made the biggest impressions on us.
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a striking (and massive) structure. Walk through it and develop your own opinion of what it represents. It is a place for reflection and peace. The information centre which is located underground, is an absolutely worthwhile visit but is very busy so look to see if online tickets are available and if not, be prepared to wait. The information details stories and provides artifacts of Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. The last exhibit is the Room of Names where you sit in a dark room while names of individuals who perished in the Holocaust are read out and projected on the wall.
Not too far from the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, is the site of Hitler’s infamous bunker (the Führerbunker). It is a parking lot today but there is an information board at the sight. Look for these information boards all across the city depicting former Nazi or Communist historical sites.
Ghost Stations
When Berlin was divided between east and west during the communist years, the existing metro system ran across all sectors and a few train stations in East Berlin were closed off and patrolled by East German guards to prevent people from escaping from East Berlin to West Berlin. These were known as the ghost train stations. The Nordbanhof S-Bahn station was one of these and houses a very interesting exhibit about the ghostly locations.
The Berlin Wall Memorial (on Bernauer Strasse)
This section of the wall, which contains both an outer and inner wall with the space in between being a sort of no man’s land, has been preserved to show what it was like living in the divided city. There is also a Documentation Centre that is worth visiting. All around Berlin, there is a “scar” in the road which marks where the Berlin Wall stood. It’s a constant reminder of both difficult times and the will for freedom.
1pm: Lunch at Mogg Deli
Head to the Scheunenviertel neighbourhood, the former Jewish quarter of Berlin. Before touring the area, go for lunch at Mogg Deli.
Mogg Deli is a New York-Jewish-inspired deli that is famous for its Reuben sandwich. This place is very popular, so make reservations! The food was delicious.
1:30pm: Old Jewish quarter walk (Scheunenviertel)
After lunch, head to Hackescher Markt. If you’re lucky, you will find an open-air market on the square.
Head to Hackesche Höfe, a German Art Nouveau building, and walk through its impressive courtyards. Don’t miss Haus Schwarzenberg, with the classic Café Cinema and interesting Otto Weidt Workshop for the Blind museum, that tells the story of a Berliner that protected blind and deaf Jews during WWII.
Visit the destroyed Jewish Cemetary and Sophienkirche on Grosse Hamburger Strasse and take a walk through the Heckmann Hofe courtyards.
Visit the New Synagogue. Note the security detail posted outside – a reminder of reconciliation of the decimation of the Jewish population by the Nazis. End at Monbijoupark for some of the best people-watching in Berlin.
5pm: Dinner at Zum Schusterjungen
Dine at Zum Schusterjungen for some authentic regional specialities.
7pm: Free evening in Berlin
We spent this evening back in Prenzlauerberg and Mauerpark, but there are also many other ways to spend your time. Seek out some entertainment or hunt for the liveliest beer hall.
DAY 5: GLEIS 17, KAISER WILHELM CHURCH, MUSEUM ISLAND, BOAT TOUR, DDR MUSEUM
8am: Gleis 17 (Platform 17) memorial at Grunewald Station
Take the train to… another train station. This touching memorial remembers the many people who boarded the trains headed for concentration camps. At this early time, you’ll likely have the memorial to yourself. You can see the platform where the prisoners were loaded onto the trains as well as the train tracks that disappear into the woods. The memorial itself consists of large train tracks engraved with the dates of deportation, the number of people deported and their location. We found this particularly emotional but very worthwhile.
9am: Palace of Tears
Take the train to Friedrichstrasse to visit the exhibit in the Palace of Tears. This building was the railway border crossing between East and West Berlin, where many friends and families would share tearful goodbyes as the West Berliners returned to their sector.
This exhibit is well done and informative about the border control process and espionage during the time of divided Berlin.
10am: Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
This beautiful church was bombed out and remains but a shell of its former self. Nevertheless, mosaics and paintings show the life of the first emperor of Germany. They also have an exhibit about the bombing of the church.
10:45am: Lunch at Hasty Pastry
Near the church, grab a light lunch at Hasty Pastry, an Italian-style flatbread sandwich joint. Follow our advice: get the large size!
12pm: Berlin’s Museum Island tour – Pergamon, Neues, Bodes museums
In the afternoon, tour the excellent museums on Museum Island. We visited the Pergamon, Neues, and Bodes museum, but there are many more. For more information, visit the website here.
The highlight for us was the Pergamon museum. This museum contains buildings fully transplanted from their native lands into this museum. Don’t miss the Pergamon Altar, Ishtar Gate, Assyrian artifacts, and Roman gate of Miletus.
The Neues museum is best known for its stunning bust of Nefertiti and other Egyptian treasures, as well as a walk through pre-historic times and ancient Troy.
The Bodes museum which we did not visit has the finest building architecturally and contains some of the best Byzantine mosaics anywhere.
Pre-book your tickets online (with timed entrance to the Pergamon museum). Decide which museums you want to visit and do the math: it may be cheaper to purchase a combination ticket.
5pm: Bratwurst dinner
Find a bratwurst stand near Museum Island. You might want to sample currywurst, a Berlin specialty, consisting of a sausage with curry-ketchup sauce.
6pm: Boat tour on the Spree river
Book a boat tour in advance for the evening. Many of them begin near Museum Island. It is a beautiful and relaxing way to enjoy Berlin’s architecture and atmosphere while boating down the Spree.
8pm: DDR Museum
This museum, tucked next to the riverbank, was yet another outstanding museum. This interactive museum is open late and teaches visitors about life in East Germany (the DDR).
This museum is complete with an old communist car (the Trabi), a prison cell, interrogation room, an apartment with listening devices and a surveillance room. The DDR Museum is loads of fun for adults and kids alike and not to be missed. You can book your tickets online, or just show up and take your chances (like we did).
DAY 6: SACHSENHAUSEN AND JEWISH MUSEUM
8am: Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Getting there: Take the train or the bus to the town of Oranienburg. From the main train station, it is a short walk to the concentration camp memorial.
Sachsenhausen was established in 1933 and was mainly a camp for political prisoners. Tour the memorial to learn about this horrible chapter in history. Climb up the guard tower where there is a good display of information, visit the barracks, the morgue, and the remains of the gas chambers and crematorium.
We hired a guide for our visit to Sachsenhausen. He arranged the transportation and led us through the camp, telling stories we never would have heard otherwise. If you had to pick one place to hire a guide in Berlin, we think Sachsenhausen is that place.
1:30pm: Jewish Museum
This museum is creative and interesting. And, it’s free! We recommend booking your free ticket online with a timed entrance to ensure you get in.
This museum is not simply about the Holocaust. It’s about the Jews and Jewish culture in Germany from the time of their arrival, to the Holocaust, to the present. For those who are not Jewish, the exhibitions about Jewish religious celebrations and traditions are very interesting and provide historical context from cultural expansion, to oppression under the Nazi regime, and then revival.
Afternoon and evening: free time.
We spent our last evening touring the exhibits at Checkpoint Charlie and the Topography of Terror.
Topography of Terror
The Topography of Terror is an indoor and outdoor museum depicting the rise and fall of Nazism in Germany. At this point, if you have not already learned the story, this museum provides an excellent history lesson complete with photos and stories. Located on the site of the former Gestapo and SS leadership headquarters and backing up against a section of the Berlin Wall, this museum is a must see.
Checkpoint Charlie
Last and perhaps least, is Checkpoint Charlie. This was the main location for street and pedestrian traffic crossing between the American and Soviet sectors of Berlin during the Cold War. Today, there is a replica of the guard station with re-created signage advising that you are leaving the American sector and there are also posters of an American soldier and Soviet solder facing each other as if taking a stand. There is really not too much else to it but you can say that you were there.
DAY 7: DEPART FROM BERLIN
Head home or travel to your next destination. We combined this 7-day itinerary with our 3 days in Saxony itinerary visiting Dresden, Leipzig, and Gorlitz. Dresden and Leipzig are both within day-trip distance.
Alterations to the itinerary
With more time, you could visit more museums, parks, attend events, or take more day trips. Museum enthusiasts might return to Museum Island for the Altes Museum, Old National Gallery, German History Museum, or endless numbers of art galleries and churches. Cold War buffs might make the trek to the Stasi Museum, although if you’re going to Leipzig, the Stasi museum there is better in our opinion. Maybe you could find a nice restaurant to relax with a drink or catch a show at the Berlin Konzerthaus.
With less time, skip Potsdam, Sachsenhausen, Neues museum, and Bodes museums unless you have a special interest. Absolutely not to be missed are the Berlin Wall Memorial, Reichstag, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, DDR Museum, the Old Jewish quarter, and Prenzlauerberg.
Eating in Berlin
Berlin is a foodie’s paradise. Not only can you find excellent German fare in frozen-in-time DDR-era restaurants, you can also savour flavours from around the globe. And don’t forget the gourmet street food!
Our favourite places we ate at were Vietnam Village, Mogg Deli, and Zum Schusterjungen.
Transportation
Berlin is massive and public transportation is a must. Luckily, it is well laid out and user friendly.
The S-bahn and U-bahn train lines can take you pretty much everywhere in the city and run regularly. Trams are also good for neighbourhood-hopping and generally run every 15-30 minutes. We tend to avoid buses in general as they can be unpredictable – you don’t want to be stranded waiting for a bus that’s not coming.
If you’re in a group of 2 to 5 people (more if there are children), the best deal in town is the group metro ticket, which allows you and your party to travel together on trains, metros, or buses. Especially if you’re a group of 4 or 5, this option is particularly economical. Otherwise, buy 1-, 2-, or 3-day tickets for each member of your group, or whatever meets your needs..
Single tickets are likely going to be more expensive than a day ticket in a city like Berlin where you may be taking transit 5 or more times a day. For most of the tourist sights, an AB zone ticket will suffice. To visit Potsdam and Sachsenhausen or other sights further from the centre, you will likely need an ABC zone ticket.
Find all the information on Berlin’s public transport website here.
THE BIG PICTURE
Susan visited Berlin in 1991 and saw a completely different city than what we saw in 2022, albeit 31 years later. In 1991, although Germany was reunified, there was still a clear divide between east and west and there were sections of the Berlin Wall still standing and touchable. It was a much different visit.
The Berlin of today is a bustling, vibrant city in modern Germany that has done a wonderful job bouncing back from a rough 20th century. Berlin has something for everyone – you’ll never get bored here!
