Berlin, Germany — Where to Go
Berlin Sightseeing Overview
No city in the world has had as dramatic a recent history as Berlin - the decadent and artistic Weimar Berlin of ‘Cabaret' fame gave way in the 1930s to Hitler's Nazi capital earmarked to be rebuilt as the world capital Germania, though the massive destruction brought about by first allied bombing and then the Red Army put paid to that.
The city was divided into four sections after the war, and from 1962 the infamous Berlin Wall imprisoned East Berliners and became the Cold War's most visible scar. The wall fell in 1989, and as Germany reunited, Berlin became Europe's biggest building site - refusing its fragmented neighborhoods and no man's lands into one modern metropolis.
The densest array of sights in Berlin lies to the east of the Brandenburg Gate, on either side of Unter den Linden, which is lined with many 18th- and 19th-century buildings. At its end are the artistic and architectural treasures of the Museumsinsel, where the city's best museums and main cathedral, the Berliner Dom, can be found.
Further on is the Communist-era Fernsehturm (television tower), on Alexanderplatz, which used to mark the center of East Berlin. Just south of the Brandenburg Gate is the extraordinary and deeply moving Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which opened in 2005. Beyond the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) is the Reichstag, sporting Lord Foster's glass dome, the Siegessäule (Victory Column), and the Tiergarten, Berlin's largest park.
Berlin Tourist Information
Visit Berlin
Tel: (030) 250 025.
Website: www.visitberlin.de
Hauptbahnhof (Main Station)
Opening hours: Daily 0800-2200.
Brandenburg Gate (South Wing), Pariser Platz (East Berlin)
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1800, opens later Apr-Oct.
The City of Berlin provides online information (www.berlin.de), some of it in English.
Berlin Sightseeing
Berlin Tourismus Marketing offers the WelcomeCard, (www.visitberlin.de/welcomecard) which gives discounts on museums and attractions (including Schloss Sanssouci and Zoologischer Garten) as well as guided tours, boat trips and performances in both Berlin and Potsdam.
Berlin Sightseeing
Berlin Tourismus Marketing offers the WelcomeCard, (www.visitberlin.de/welcomecard) which gives discounts on museums and attractions (including Schloss Sanssouci and Zoologischer Garten) as well as guided tours, boat trips and performances in both Berlin and Potsdam.
Key Attractions in Berlin, Germany
Berliner Mauer (BerlinWall)
Only a few sections of this most famous of cold war relics remain. The East Side Gallery (www.eastsidegallery.com), along Mühlenstrasse (S-Bahn Ostbahnhof), emerged in the post-Wall years as a poignant symbol of new hope, as it was covered with inspiring artwork. But the best place to see the wall as it was is at the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer, a small graffiti-free stretch of the Wall that has been preserved by the authorities. A visitor center has information about the Wall years, while a chapel is dedicated to the 80 or so victims that died trying to cross it.
Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer, Bernauer Strasse 119, 13355 Berlin
Tel: (030) 4679 86666.
Website: www.berliner-mauer-dokumentationszentrum.de
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 0930-1900 (Apr-Oct); Tues-Sun 0930-1800 (Nov-Mar) (visitors center).
Admission charge: N.
Disabled access: Y.
Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), UnterdenLinden
Once Berlin's main avenue and still one of its best preserved historical areas, Unter den Linden (‘under the lime trees') is a wide, lime tree-lined boulevard that runs from Berlin's most recognizable landmark, the Brandenburger Tor, to Alexanderplatz, the center of east Berlin. Along the way, the street takes in many of Berlin's real treasures, including the Deutsche Staatsoper (German State Opera), the Neue Wache (New Guardhouse), which is now a memorial to the victims of fascism and tyranny, and the Zeughaus (Arsenal), which houses the Deutsches Historisches Museum (German Historical Museum).
Unter den Linden, 11011 Berlin
Admission charge: N.
Disabled access: Y.
Reichstag
British architect Norman Foster has transformed Berlin's Reichstag, which was built at the end of the 19th century and has long since been emblematic of the German State, but was left as a burned out husk at the end of the war. Foster's dome is meant to symbolise the transparency of the democratic government and visitors can pass between its layers to witness the decision-making chamber of the government. The walk through the dome itself is stunning, culminating in sweeping views of the city. The rooftop restaurant provides a way to beat the queues.
Platz der Republik, 11011 Berlin
Tel: (030) 2270.
Website: www.bundestag.de
Opening hours: Daily 0800-2400 (last admission 2200).
Admission charge: N.
Disabled access: Y.
Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe)
This extraordinary site is an unforgettable rendering of the holocaust in sculpture that never fails to impress visitors despite it looking like nothing remarkable from a distance. As you enter the enormous field of stelae, you gently descend into unseen depths through the regimented rows of the giant concrete slabs, a disorienting and disturbing experience. There's a visitor center underneath the memorial where individual testimonies from holocaust survivors are on display, as well as a room where every known holocaust victim's name is read out on a loop lasting six years.
Cora-Berliner-Strasse 1, 10117 Berlin
Tel: (030) 200 7660.
Website: www.stiftung-denkmal.de
Opening hours: Daily 24 hours (Memorial); Tue-Sun 1000-1900/2000 (visitor center).
Admission charge: N.
Disabled access: Y.
Fernsehturm(TVTower)
The best views in east Berlin are from this iconic Berlin landmark at Alexanderplatz. Looking vaguely like the 'Death Star' on a concrete spit, the television tower is Berlin's tallest structure at 368m (1,207ft) and makes for a good reference point as well as being much loved by locals. The communist designers inadvertently made it so that sunlight reflecting on its facets forms a Christian cross. In a sign of changing times, a glare of advertising neon surrounds the base of the tower. Visitors can take an elevator up 203m (666ft) to the viewing platform or the wonderfully communist-era revolving café, for a good look over the city.
Fernsehturm, Panoramastrasse 1A, Alexanderplatz, 10178 Berlin
Tel: (030) 2475 7537.
Website: http://tv-turm.de
Opening hours: Daily 0900-midnight (Mar-Oct); daily 1000-midnight (Nov-Feb).
Admission charge: Y.
Disabled access: Y.
JüdischesMuseumBerlin(JewishMuseum)
The striking design of this Daniel Libeskind-designed memorial to Jewish life in Berlin is based on a shattered Star of David. Even before the installation of the permanent exhibits (recalling the life and history of German Jews through the centuries), visitors came to experience the evocative spaces within this incredible structure.
Lindenstrasse 9-14, 10969 Berlin
Tel: (030) 2599 3300.
Website: www.juedisches-museum-berlin.de
Opening hours: Mon 1000-2200, Tues-Sun 1000-2000; closed on Jewish holidays.
Admission charge: Y.
Disabled access: Y.
Stiftung Neue Synagoge - Centrum Judaicum (New Synagogue - Jewish Center)
The beautiful gold domed New Synagogue was completed in 1866 and was the center of Jewish life in the Scheunenviertel (Berlin's Jewish district) until it suffered serious bomb damage in 1943. Thanks to renovation in the mid-1990s, its Moorish dome can now be seen in its original glory. The synagogue houses a Jewish Center, with an exhibition. The Alter Jüdischer Friedhof (Old Jewish Cemetery) is a short walk away, at Schönhauser Allee 23-25 (open Monday to Thursday 0800-1600 and Friday 0800-1300).
Oranienburger Strasse 28-30, 10117 Berlin
Tel: (030) 8802 8300.
Website: www.cjudaicum.de
Opening hours: Sun-Thurs 1000-1800, Fri 1000-1400 (Nov-Feb); Sun-Mon 1000-2000, Tues-Thurs 1000-1800, Fri 1000-1700 (Apr-Sep); Sun-Mon 1000-2000, Tues-Thurs 1000-1800, Fri 1000-1400 (Mar and Oct); closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays.
Admission charge: Y.
Disabled access: Y.
SchlossCharlottenburg
The Charlottenburg Palace was built in 1699, as a summer residence for Sophie Charlotte, the wife of King Frederick III. Visits to the Old Palace are by guided tour only. Prices and hours vary for the New Wing, the Orangerie, the mausoleum and other parts of the complex. The museums and galleries that are in and around the palace include the Berggruen Collection, opposite the palace, which contains 100 artworks by Picasso, as well as a representative collection of his contemporaries.
Spandauer Damm 10-22, 14059 Berlin
Tel: (0331) 320 911.
Website: www.spsg.de
Opening hours: Old Palace: Tues-Sun 1000-1800 (Apr-Oct); Tues-Sun 1000-1700 (Nov-Mar); New Wing: Wed-Mon 1000-1800 (Apr-Oct); Wed-Mon 1000-1700 (Nov-Mar).
Admission charge: Y.
Disabled access: Y.
Further Distractions
Bode-Museum
Bode-Museum houses one of the best collections of antique and Byzantine sculptures in the world. Closed in 1939 and left to decay for over six decades, the museum reopened its doors in 2006 after a £102 million (US$203 million) renovation project. Boasting over 1,700 exhibits, the museum, now back to its former glory, is a must-see not just for sculpture fans, but for anyone with an interest in the arts.
Am Kupfergraben 1, 10178 Berlin
Tel: (030) 2090 5577.
Website: www.smb.museum
Opening hours: Fri-Wed 1000-1800, Thurs 1000-2200.
Admission charge: Y.
Disabled access: Y.
Tiergarten
There are few cities in the world where one can lie naked in the middle of town at noon and not be arrested. Besides having delightful tree-shaded walks, canals and flower gardens, Berlin's Tiergarten also has a couple of open fields on either side of Hofjägerallee, where the locals sunbathe au naturel. While the sunbathers cannot be seen from the Siegessäule (the Victory Column in the center of the park), it does provide a good view of the other major sights around Berlin. The angel at the top of the 69m (226ft) column was the perching place for the angels in Wim Wenders's film WingsofDesire (1987).
Strasse des 17 Juni, 10115 Berlin
Admission charge: N.
Disabled access: Y.
