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Things to visit during the day

Sights worth seeing

Mitte district

Museuminsel area

The entire museum island is a UNESCO world heritage site and is currently being thoroughly renovated.

  • Berliner Dom:

    • Finished in 1905, restorations after the war until 2006.
    • See for example www.berlinerdom.de
    • A Protestant church, and actually very recent. Construction began in 1893. The organ is spectacular.
    • Backpacks must be in a locker. Ticket: €10.

  • Pergamon Museum: In the Northwest of the museum island

  • Neues Museum

    • Rebuilt at the beginning of this millennium, open again since 2009
    • Collections of the Egyptian Museum and the Museum of Prehistory and Early History.
    • Web site
    • Open daily from 10am to 6pm (Thursday until 8pm), ticket €14 (€19 in combination with the other museums on the island), and is also possible with the museum pass.

  • Bode museum: In the far northwest of the island, behind the Pergamon Museum

    • Statues and Byzantine art
    • Web site
    • Closed on Mondays, open other days from 10am to 6pm (Thursday until 8pm). Ticket is €10.

  • Alte Nationalgalerie

    • Building in the shape of a Greek temple
    • Pieces from classism to early modernism
    • Web site
    • Closed on Mondays, other days 10am-6pm (Thursday until 8pm), ticket €10 (€19 in combination with the other museums on the island)

  • Altes Museum

    • Neoclassical building from 1830, being renovated
    • Greek and Roman art.
    • Web site
    • Closed on Mondays, other days 10am-6pm (Thursday until 8pm), ticket €10 (€19 in combination with the other museums on the island)

Alexanderplatz area

  • Alexanderplatz

    • An example of socialist architecture.

  • Fernsehturm: At Alexanderplatz

    • Web site: www.tv-turm.de
    • A beautiful viewpoint over Berlin. Entrance €22.50, but waiting times can be longer. With a more expensive VIP ticket (28) the waiting time is shorter.
    • Open daily from 9am to midnight in the summer months,

  • St. Marienkirche, next to the Fernsehturm, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 8

    • Gothic church from the 13th century later updated with Baroque elements.
    • Now an Evangelical church

The North

  • Berlin Wall Memorial: Bernauer Straße

    • Rather in the north of the center, on the transition to Wedding and near the Nordbahnhoff
    • The site is accessible daily between 8:00 am and 10:00 pm, the visitor center between 9:30 am and 7:00 pm (summer) or 6:00 pm (winter), but it is closed on Mondays.

  • Museum für Naturkunde: Humbold Universität, Invalidenstraße 43

    • Close to the Berlin Wall Memorial
    • Closed on Monday. Tue-Fri: 09:30-18:00, Sat and Sun: 10:00-18:00, entrance €8, included in the museum pass

South

  • Checkpoint Charlie: Friedrichstraße 43

    • With the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie museum with lots of information about the many escape attempts from the East to the West
    • On the border between Mitte and Kreuzberg
    • Open daily from 09:00 to 22:00, entrance €17.50 (and €5 for an audio guide and €5 to take photos)
    • Web site for the museum next to the checkpoint: www.mauermuseum.de

Tiergarten district

  • Brandenburger Tor: Pariser Platz, on the border with the Mitte district

    • Built in the 18th century.
    • Was one of the passages between East and West Berlin
    • Connects to Unter den Linden, a well-known East German street in the Mitte district that connects to the museum island
    • On the official portal of Berlin

  • Reichstag: Just North of the Brandenburg Gate

    • Built between 1884 and 1894. There was a major fire in 1933 and the building was destroyed during WWII. The building was rebuilt in a simplified form between 1961 and 1971, and after reunification the building became the seat of parliament again in 1999. It is also after the reunification, during the renovation to turn it into a modern parliament, that the glass dome is placed.
    • Web site of the Bundestag
    • The roof terrace and dome are accessible from 8am to midnight, but you must register in advance.

  • Holocaust Denkmal: Cora-Berliner-Straße, just below south of the Brandenburg Gate

    • A field of 2711 concrete blocks, with an underground information center, both designed by the New York architect Eisenmann
    • Information at www.stiftung-denkmal.de
    • The field is permanently freely accessible, the information center is closed on Mondays, open on other days from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (7 p.m. in winter) and also freely accessible

  • Denkmal für die im Nationalsozialismus verolgten Homosexuellen: Near the Holocaust Denkmal

  • Siegessäule: Großer Stern, in the Tiergarten park area

    • Erected in 1873 in memory of the victory in the Franco-Prussian War. This column initially stood in front of the Reichstag but was moved to its current location in 1938.
    • Information on berlin.de and on visitberlin.de
    • It is possible to climb the monument. Admission is €2.20, open daily from 9:30 am to 6:30 pm (week) or 7 pm (weekend).

  • Berliner Philharmonie: Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1

    • When to visit?

  • Schwules Museum: Lützowstraße 73

    • Closed on Tuesdays, and only open in the afternoon: Saturday 2-7 p.m., other days 2-6 p.m. (and Thursday 2-8 p.m.). Entrance €9.

  • Zoo Berlin: Hadenbergerplatz

  • Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche: Breitscheidplatz, close to the Zoo

    • Ruins of a neo-Romanesque church, not rebuilt after the Second World War, with a new church next to it.
    • Open daily from 9am to 7pm, free admission.
    • This is also on Kurfürstendamm, a very well-known shopping street

Kreuzberg

There are two interesting zones, “Kreuzberg 36” and “Kreuzberg 61”. The numbers refer to old zip codes. Kreuzberg 36 has a more rebellious past.

  • The heart of Kreuzberg 36 is the area around Kottbusser Tor. The Oranienstraße, just north of there, is recommended for the many cafés and pubs.

  • Kreuzberg 61 is the western part, around the Mehringdamm.

Prenzlauer Berg

Previously a working-class district, with attractive old homes.

Other areas

  • East Side Gallery, in the east of the city along the Spree. A 1.3 km stretch of wall edited by a hundred artists. (And pretty close to Lab.oratory)

  • The Wall Museum, a very new museum at the East Side Gallery (Mühlenstrasse 78)

  • Schloss Charlottenburg: Spandauer Damm20

    • Baroque castle in the West of Berlin, quite a bit outside the center. It is located in a nice park area.
    • Accessible via S-bahn station Westend or U-bahn station Richard-Wagner-Platz
    • Web site castle and web site castle garden
    • Closed on Mondays, other days 10am-6pm in the summer months. €12 entrance fee for the old wing, more if in combination with the other castles.

Check out:

Examples of alternatives for popular tourist traps:

  • Fernsehturm Alexanderplatz: replace by

  • Hop-on hop-off tour bus

    • Bus line 100 also passes most points. There used to be an app "CityPirates" with audio guide for the route but that seems to have disappeared (checked early 2024, website was www.citypirates.net)

  • Teufelsberg radar tower where the spies also worked. Now €5 entrance fee and another €5 to take photos, and you can no longer go on the tower.

    • Flugplatz Johannisthal: Second oldest airport in the world, opened in 1909. Also looks like a nice place to photograph people in fetish clothing. Unfortunately closed to visitors, so most of those pictures come from people who broke in URBEX-style

    • Blub - Berliner Luft- und Badeparadies: Abandoned swimming and relaxation center, also nice for photography. As it burned down in 2016, it is up for demolishment.

  • Simon-Dach-Straße: Street with many restaurants and bars, but expensive and more of a tourist trap

    • Weserstrasse in Neuköln also has a nice range of bars and restaurants. Neuköln as a whole is good for bars.

  • KaDeWe department store: Very expensive

    • There are many small designer shops elsewhere, especially in Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Schöneberg

    • Bikini Mall close to the Zoo is also very nice

  • Bernburger Strasse area for the graffiti on the walls (via Anhalter Bahnhof on the S-network)

  • Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art, not far from Nollendorfplatz: Modern art, and free. Closed on Monday,

  • Holtzmarkt 25: On the Spree (right bank), east of the center. Alternative neighborhood, also with restaurants.

  • Oranienstraße in Kreuzberg: Nice area, with nice cafes, including Café Bateau Ivre

  • "Little Istanbul" near Kottbuser Tor in Kreuzberg. Some very industrial looking buildings

Some trips

Theme WWII and the Berlin Wall

Monday is not a good day for this trip, a number of visitor centers are closed, although the outdoor part can always be visited.

Homosexuality theme

Museumspass Berlin

Gives access to over 30 museums for 3 days for €32. (List last updated in January 2024)

Likely not included anymore:

  • Deutsches Spionagemuseum

  • Science Center Spectrum