Flight time
1h 55m
Best season
May–September
Budget
Budget to mid-range
Best for
History, nightlife, culture, art
Overview
Why Berlin for a city break?
Berlin is the most compelling capital city in Europe — and the most complicated. A city that was divided by a wall within living memory, bombed to rubble within the last century, and was the epicentre of the worst crimes in human history is also, improbably, one of the most creative, tolerant, forward-looking and energetically alive cities on earth. The contrast between that history and the present-day city — the nightclubs built in former power stations, the memorials in the centre of the government district, the art galleries in Cold War watchtowers — is what makes Berlin unlike anywhere else.
From most UK airports it's under two hours. Berlin is genuinely affordable by capital city standards — a decent restaurant meal costs half what it would in London, hotels are reasonable, and the city's extraordinary museum and memorial infrastructure is largely subsidised and cheap. The best time to visit is May to September when outdoor life takes over the parks, lakes and canal banks. The Christmas markets are excellent. Winter can be bleak but culturally intense.
Where to stay & explore
Berlin's best neighbourhoods
Mitte & Museum Island
The historic centre — the Pergamon Museum, the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial and the government district. More monument than neighbourhood but essential to understand the city.
Prenzlauer Berg
The best-preserved 19th-century neighbourhood in Berlin — beautiful Wilhelmine apartment buildings, the Mauerpark flea market on Sundays, excellent independent cafés and restaurants, and a young-family energy.
Kreuzberg & Neukölln
Berlin's most diverse and creative neighbourhoods — Turkish market on Tuesdays and Fridays, the best street food in the city, the canal in summer, and a bar scene that invented the template for everywhere else.
Things to do
What to see in Berlin
1
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Peter Eisenman's 2,711 concrete stelae — undulating, disorienting, impossible to categorise — occupy an entire city block a minute's walk from the Brandenburg Gate. The underground information centre beneath it is one of the most carefully designed Holocaust memorials in the world. Go quietly, early, and give it time. The topography of terror exhibition nearby (on the site of the Gestapo HQ) is a necessary companion.
2
East Side Gallery
The longest surviving section of the Berlin Wall (1.3km) has been painted by 118 international artists since 1990, creating the world's largest open-air gallery. The famous images (Trabant breaking through the wall, Brezhnev and Honecker kissing) are here alongside less-reproduced works that are equally powerful. Walk it from the Warschauer Straße end in the morning before the tour groups arrive.
3
Pergamon Museum (Museum Island)
One of the world's great archaeological museums — the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, the Pergamon Altar (under restoration, partially visible), and the Market Gate of Miletus are reconstructed at full scale inside the building. Museum Island (five museums on a river island, UNESCO World Heritage Site) also contains the Neues Museum (Nefertiti bust) and the Alte Nationalgalerie. Book online; queues are significant without a ticket.
4
Topography of Terror & Checkpoint Charlie
The Topography of Terror documentation centre stands on the excavated foundations of the SS and Gestapo headquarters — a rigorous, devastating account of how ordinary institutions became instruments of mass murder. Free entry. Checkpoint Charlie, five minutes' walk away, is now largely a tourist circus but the surrounding context — the outdoor exhibition on the history of the Wall along the nearby Zimmerstraße — is genuinely informative.
Food & drink
Where to eat in Berlin
Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap
Street food / Döner
The most famous Döner kebab in Berlin — a vegetable kebab of roasted peppers, feta, salad and sauces in a grilled flatbread, with a queue that regularly stretches 40 minutes. At the Mehringdamm U-Bahn exit in Kreuzberg. Worth the wait. Under €5.
Nobelhart & Schmutzig
New Nordic / one Michelin star
Berlin's most uncompromising restaurant — a prix fixe menu of 10 courses using ingredients sourced exclusively from the Brandenburg region, with a natural wine list that's one of the finest in Germany. The cooking is extraordinary. Book months ahead.
Markthalle Neun
Food market / Kreuzberg
A beautifully restored 19th-century market hall in Kreuzberg hosting the Thursday Street Food Market (5–10pm, the best in Berlin), the Bread & Butter bread market on Fridays, and regular specialist food events. The permanent vendors during the day are excellent too.
Itinerary
3 days in Berlin — a suggested itinerary
Day 1
Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, East Side Gallery
Berlin Brandenburg airport is 30 minutes from the centre by the FEX express train (€4.70). Get settled — Prenzlauer Berg or Mitte are ideal bases — and walk to the Brandenburg Gate for orientation. The Reichstag dome (book free timed entry online weeks ahead via bundestag.de) is a 10-minute walk. The Holocaust Memorial is directly south of the gate — spend 30 minutes in the stelae field and 30 minutes in the underground information centre. Lunch in the neighbourhood around the Gendarmenmarkt (the most beautiful square in Berlin). Take the U-Bahn to Warschauer Straße for the East Side Gallery — walk the whole 1.3km. Dinner in Kreuzberg: the Markthalle Neun Thursday market if it's the right night, or the Turkish restaurants along Kottbusser Damm.
Day 2
Museum Island, Topography of Terror, Prenzlauer Berg
Museum Island opens at 10am — the Pergamon for the Ishtar Gate and the Market Gate of Miletus, then the Neues Museum for the Nefertiti bust (Room 2.10, ground floor — the most beautiful object in Berlin). Allow four hours for both. Walk south to the Topography of Terror — an hour here is enough and necessary. The Checkpoint Charlie area: ignore the tourist circus and walk the Zimmerstraße outdoor exhibition about the Wall. Lunch at one of the Vietnamese restaurants along Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg. Afternoon in Prenzlauer Berg: the Kollwitzplatz neighbourhood, the Kulturbrauerei (a brewery converted into a cultural centre), and a beer at Prater Garten — Berlin's oldest beer garden, open since 1837.
Day 3
Mauerpark, the Tiergarten, one last Currywurst
Sunday morning means Mauerpark — Berlin's most famous flea market on a section of the former Wall death strip, with the Sunday afternoon karaoke bear pit (a 2,000-person outdoor amphitheatre) building up from noon. The flea market is genuinely good for vinyl, vintage and curiosities. Walk or cycle (Berlin is extremely cycle-friendly) through the Tiergarten to the Siegessäule (Victory Column) — the views from the top are the best in central Berlin. The Charlottenburg Palace and its gardens are worth the 20-minute journey if you have appetite for more history. Final meal: Currywurst at Curry 36 (Mehringdamm, Kreuzberg) — the Berlin street food that's been sliced, sauced and sprinkled with curry powder since 1949. €3.50. Perfect.
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