Visiting Berlin for the First Time

Berlin is a city that we had long wanted to visit and, thanks to the recent introduction of direct cheap flights from our local airport, we couldn’t resist booking a few days to explore Germany’s cool and cultured capital. Berlin is an amazing city with so many attractions, it’s difficult to know what to prioritise. Here’s our guide to visiting Berlin for the first time.

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Getting To Berlin

Many people fly into the airport Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which is located around 40km from the city centre. It takes around forty minutes to an hour to get to central Berlin using public transport.

The Airport Express (FEX) will take you from the airport to Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Hbf), although you could also use the S-bahn (lines S9 and S45) which is much cheaper but takes a bit longer. You can buy train tickets using machines at the airport.

If you’re travelling from other European countries, international and regional trains are available and will take you into Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Hbf).

Getting Around Berlin

The Mitte district of central Berlin is very walkable. The main street Unter den Linden connects many of the city’s famous sights.

If you’re travelling around the city, Berlin has an excellent public transport system. The U-bahn (underground) and S-bahn (overground) trains are a great way of getting around. Beware, though, when transferring from U-bahn to S-bahn you may have to climb the steps over- or under-ground and walk a few hundred metres to change platforms at what is ostensibly the same station.

You can buy transportation cards for a single journey or purchase a card that is valid for a particular time period. A 24 hour card is good value if you will be using public transport three or more times during the day. You can buy a card at stations via a machine. Multiple language options are available. Berlin transportation lines are divided into zones – so check the maps to see which zones your ticket needs to cover.

Transportation is on an honesty basis so you don’t need to present your ticket when you enter or leave the station. But it is important that you carry a valid ticket with you – random checks can take place and you will be fined if you can’t produce your ticket.

Remember! You need to validate your ticket. Just insert it into the machine located on the platform to get a time stamp. We totally failed to do this when travelling on the train from the airport – fortunately a local young couple sitting opposite us noticed that our tickets were not validated and the lovely man leapt out of the train to validate our tickets on the platform at the next stop before returning them to us. What a great first impression of the city – they were so helpful and friendly!

Where To Stay in Berlin

Berlin has a huge variety of accommodation to suit all budgets. We stayed at the Movenpick hotel on Schöneberger Str. 3. It takes approximately 15-20 minutes to walk from Potsdamer Platz. We can highly recommend this hotel, with its large rooms and excellent facilities. A fabulous buffet breakfast is available until 10am every day.

Essential Berlin – The Famous Sights

For anyone visiting Berlin for the first time, there are some key sights to explore in the city centre. Unter den Linden is Berlin’s main street, a broad boulevard that is around 1500m long and lined with shops and restaurants. At one end is the Brandenburg Gate and at the other Museum Insel, an island on the river Spree, cram-packed with museums, and a UNESCO heritage site.

Brandenburg Gate Area

The Brandenburg Gate is one of Berlin’s most recognisable landmarks, an imposing monument that has featured throughout German history. It was originally the gateway that denoted the start of the route to Brandenburg.

Just beyond the Brandenburg Gate is the Reichstag, Germany’s Parliament Building. One of the key features of this imposing building is its impressive glass dome. You can visit the building and climb up to the dome to see views across the city. Alternatively you can take a guided tour. There is no cost for these but you need to book a timed ticket online. Tickets do sell out at popular times, so we recommend booking at least a week or two in advance.

Tiergarten, located adjacent to The Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate, is an extenstive and very lovely park. There are plenty of paths and green spaces to enjoy here. The park also features a number of cultural sights including Siegessäule (Victory Column). You can climb the spiral staircase to the top to see panoramic views of the city.

Museum Insel to Alexanderplatz

Walk east along Unter den Linden and cross the river to visit Museum Insel. This is an island on the river Spree which is home to Berlin Cathedral and some of Berlin’s most famous museums, all housed in grand buildings.

Altes Museum – this was the first museum to be constructed on the island. It was originally planned to display the royal art collection but now shows exhibits from Greece and Rome.

Neues Museum exhibits antiquities from Egypt, including the famous bust of Nefertiti.

Alte Nationalgalerie has exhibitions of classical art and sculpture.

Bode Museum offers sculptures and Byzantine art.

Pergamon Museum houses a vast collection of Greek and Roman art. Its most renowned attraction is the Pergamon Altar, a monumental construction that was built in the 2^nd century in Asia Minor. The Pergamon is closed for renovations and won’t be reopening its galleries until 2027.

Alte Nationalgalerie Museum Insel, Visiting Berlin for the first time

We recommend pre-booking tickets to the museums you wish to visit, so that you can skip the queue.

Crossing the bridges on the other side of Museum Insel will take you to the Fernsehturm TV Tower, a 368m structure that dominates the city skyline. It was constructed in East Berlin between 1965 and 1969 and was a functioning broadcast tower and a grand representation of Communist power in its time. It’s possible to visit the observation deck to get fantastic views across the city as well as enjoy a meal in the restaurant or something stronger in the bar.

And just further along is Alexanderplatz, probably Berlin’s best known square. It’s lively and bustling, and has a large number of shops and restaurants.

Berlin History

It is impossible to visit this city without acknowledging its history and particularly that of the Berlin Wall, which divided the city both physically and ideologically between 1961 and 1989.

Located alongside a section of the Berlin wall on Niederkirchnerstrasse is the Topography of Terror exhibition. This was the site of the former SS Command and it gives a very honest history of National Socialism which isn’t easy to learn about but is important to understand.

Further along Niederkirchnerstrasse is Checkpoint Charlie, probably the most famous crossing between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. To be honest, it’s not that exciting but it seems to attract lots of tourists, so you’ll have to get in line if you want to have your picture taken there.

Far more interesting is The Wall – Asisi Panorama, just across the road. This is an installation by artist Yadegar Asisi depicting a huge mural showing life on both sides of the wall.

Climb the 4m platform and watch as day turns to night and the audio backdrop pervades the space. There is also an exhibition about the wall and a video documentary about the artist. You can pre-book tickets.

The Berlin Parliament Museum at Deutscher Dom adjacent to Gendarmenmarkt is housed in a grand building that looks like a cathedral. (Dom means cathedral.) The friendly staff will point you in the direction of the exhibition which documents the history of Germany’s parliament from the March Revolution of 1848 to today. Most of the exhibits have explanations in German only, but they are very visual and feel free to ask the English-speaking staff if you need further information.

Random Berlin Trivia: You can tell whether you are in the former East Berlin or West Berlin by looking at the pedestrian crossings. The little red or green man, Ampelmännchen, will be wearing a hat if he was located in the East. You can also buy souvenirs of Ampelmännchen in Berlin.

Berlin Art and Culture

Galleries

Alte Nationalgalerie on Museum Insel offers fine art in the form of classical paintings and sculptures, and includes works by some of Germany’s most famous painters.

Kulturforum, just west of Potsdamer Platz, is a large arts centre which showcases a broad range of exhibitions from classical to modern art.

Nearby, the Neue Nationalgalerie is a modern art museum. It has a permanent collection, which is highly interactive, and also hosts temporary exhibitions and retrospectives, including some big names in the art world. Andy Warhol and Gerhard Richter artworks were exhibited when we visited.

Bauhaus was a school of art and design that operated between 1919 and 1933 and produced some iconic designs that were both functional, artistic and deeply cool. Sadly, the Bauhaus Archive is currently closed as it undergoes a full renovation.

However, you can visit the temporary Archive on Knesebeckstraße, just down the road from Ernst-Reuter-Platz (U-bahn U2, Hardenbergstraße exit). This houses a small exhibition and shop as well as an excellent interactive electronic archive where you can explore a plethora of designs, even searching by shape and colour.

Bauhaus archive temporary interactive exhibition

Cinema

We were lucky on our visit that we managed to explore the Deutsche Kinemathek at Potsdamer Platz which has recently closed for renovation. An excellent archive showcasing the best of German cinema throughout its history, the museum will be relocating over the coming years. In the meantime, check out their streaming programme.

If you want to explore the joys of German cinema, you can do a day trip to Potsdam to visit the Filmmuseum Potsdam, the oldest film museum in Germany. Line S7 on the S-bahn will get you there from central Berlin in around an hour. (You will need an ABC zone travel card.) We thoroughly recommend this museum which offers a fascinating insight into the movies that were made at these iconic studios.

Street Art

Berlin is famous for its street art scene, particularly in the east side of the city. Strictly, the art is illegal, but many artists have made their names showcasing their works on the streets. They usually paste their art in the form of posters, not only because it’s quicker to get their artwork out there but also the fines for spray painting onto walls can be hefty if they are caught by the authorities.

The East Side Gallery is possibly the ultimate street art location but this street is very legal. The longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall has been adorned with murals painted by more than 100 artists from all around the world. Start at Warschauer Straße (U-Bahn, S-Bahn or Tram).

You can view the paintings for 1.3 kilometres along the wall from Oberbaum Bridge to Ostbahnof.

Additionally, Haus Schwarzenberg Street Art Alley has loads of art to view.

Haus Schwarzenberg Street Art Alley picture of Anne Frank

There are a number of street art walking tours available. These a great way to discover the best places for viewing street art and the guide can tell you more about the artists and their particular style and way of working.

Berlin Shopping

Of course there are many places to indulge in some retail therapy. Berlin’s biggest department store is KaDeWe on Kurfürstendamm. Leipziger Platz has the ‘Mall of Berlin’ and nearby Potsdammer Platz also has a large number of shops. Friedrichstraße is the area for those looking for a more upmarket experience. We prefer not to spend too much time shopping when exploring a city, but we did pop into Dussmann das KulturKaufhaus, which describes itself as a culture house and has a massive range of books, movies and music. If you are exploring the main shopping areas, do take time to check out the side streets, many of which have smaller shops and lively cafes.

Berlin Nightlife

Berlin’s nightlife is famous the world over. Amongst the many clubs in the city some of the most famous include Sisyphos, Berghain and Anomalie. A lot of the clubs have a door policy – the bouncers will decide whether you feel right for the vibe. And if you don’t, you ain’t getting in.

Worth knowing: Clubs will either ask you to lock away your phone or place a sticker over the camera. This means that everyone’s privacy is respected.

We indulged in enjoying some of Berlin’s vast and diverse number of bars which offered more sedate drinking opportunities – especially the excellent range of beers or cocktails. If you are looking for local beer, Berliner Weisse is a wheat ale that is a specialty of the region.

Berlin for Foodies

Berlin currywurst is the city’s signature snack. There are loads of street stalls and restaurants all over the city. Currywurst is a sausage doused in mildly spiced curried ketchup. You can eat it on its own or with potato fries. If you want to indulge in a tipple as well, it’s the perfect dish to enjoy with beer.

There are a large number of restaurants along Unter den Linden and Potsdamer Platz (located around a 10 minute walk from the Brandenburg Gate) where you can enjoy plenty of German dishes. The Bavarian restaurant Paulaner Wirtshaus Berlin offers delicious, filling and hearty food, from small plates to full dinners. The Bavarian Trio is a taster platter offering luscious pork knuckle with crispy crackling, sausages and schnitzel, accompanied by potatoes, salad and sauerkraut. The restaurant also has a wide range of beers on offer – don’t forget to order a stein! (You’ll also get a workout as you drink because steins are really heavy.)

Manifesto Markt near Potsdamer Platz is a food court which hosts loads of street food stalls and a bar. There is food from all over the world and plenty of seating, so there will be something to suit everyone. However, it is closed on Sundays.

If you’d like to enjoy German fine dining, Peter Paul on Torstr. 99 offers tasting plates of Berlin specialties, including ‘posh’ currywurst; matjes herring with potato chips; “Himmel und Erde”, a black pudding with apple compote and potato cream; cured pork with sauerkraut; and roast beef, crème fraiche, shallot, pickled gherkin amongst many yummy dishes. There is a good selection of German wine on offer. They also offer a range of veggie/vegan options as well, which is useful to know because the local cuisine can be a bit meat-heavy.

black pudding with apple compote and potato cream

roast beef, crème fraiche, shallot, pickled gherkin

Make sure to eat lots of bread. Did you know that Germany has over 3000 different types of bread? Any country which has a national bread day – Butterbrot (buttered bread) on the last Friday of September each year – is worthy of laudation. We made sure to try as many breads as possible at breakfast every morning. The seeded breads are particularly delicious.

Rausch Schokoladenhaus on Charlottenstraße 60 has loads of Berlin’s famous landmarks brilliantly recreated in chocolate. These are for display only but the shop has a huge range of delicious chocolates to indulge in.

Rausch Schokoladenhaus Reichstag model in chocolate

Rausch Schokoladenhaus Brandenburg Gate in chocolate

And for a more, er, unusual foodie experience, the Museum of Disgusting Food on Schützenstraße 70 will challenge both your tastebuds and your perceptions of food.