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The best experiences in Berlin
July 10th 2018
By The Telegraph
From museum hopping and hanging with hippos in Berlin zoo to picnicking in an abandoned airport and scoping out city views from an erstwhile Cold War radio station, Berlin does not lack for fun and quirky activities. Telegraph Travel's destination expert Paul Sullivan gives the low-down on the best things to do in Berlin.
Explore the seat of German Parliament
The (literal) highlight of a visit to the Reichstag is its famous glass dome. Built by Sir Norman Foster, the structure is lined inside with photogenic, light-catching mirrors, and offers views down into the Bundestag, as well as sweeping vistas across the city. Take a guided tour to learn about the building’s history and architecture, and the workings of German government. (Passport ID required).
Insider's tip: The most popular part of a visit is the dome; its roof terrace offers a restaurant as well as impressive views over the city. It’s also possible to see preserved war damage such as bullet-holes and Russian graffiti throughout the main building.
Contact: 00 49 30 22 73 21 52; bundestag.de
Opening times: Daily, 8am-12am (last admission 10pm)
Nearest Metro: U Bundestag
Price: Free
Go museum hopping
The Unesco heritage Museum Island comprises five conveniently adjacent museums. Each is a destination in its own right and deserves at least half a day to explore. The Pergamon Museum has vast treasures from the Ancient Near East and Islamic art; the Neues Museum holds Egyptian, prehistoric and classical treats, while the Bode Museum has an outstanding sculpture collection.
Insider's tip: You can get a one-day Museum Island ticket, but if time allows bag the three-day Museum Pass, which gets you into 30 museums. If you only have time for one museum, do the Neues.
Contact: 00 49 30 26 64 24 24 2; smb.museum
Opening times: These vary from museum to museum, see website
Nearest Metro: S/U Hackescher Markt
Admission: £
Visit the world's most famous checkpoint
Checkpoint Charlie was the main entry point for visitors wanting to cross the infamous Iron Curtain to East Berlin. The Mauer Museum comes with fake border guards outside and exhibitions relating to tales of escapees, both would-be and successful. It can be overwhelming, not least because it’s always so busy and there is no clear route through all the rooms – but some items of note are the cars (and wooden carts) that were used for escapes, and examples of care packages dropped into West Berlin during the airlift.
Insider's tip: Save time for the several excellent related museums and exhibits nearby, including the small but comprehensive Black Box Cold War, the fascinating large-scale Asisi Panorama, and an outdoor exhibition of black-and-white images that document the checkpoint’s history.
Contact: 00 49 30 25 37 25 0; mauer-museum.com
Opening times: Daily, 9am-10pm
Metro Station: U Stadtmitte
Price: £
Immerse yourself in 2,000 years of Jewish history
Daniel Libeskind’s zig-zag, zinc-clad Jewish Museum is a singular architectural sight in Berlin. Of the various items on display, the personal items and letters from local Holocaust victims are by far the most poignant, but exhibits from other eras and places such as Marc Chagall’s 'Old Man With Beard' painting, and the historic stereoscopic photographs of the 'Holy Land' are equally compelling.
Insider's tip: For a deeper look into the personal histories of Jewish residents in Berlin throughout the ages – as well as some more striking architecture – visit the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy opposite the museum. Its impressive documentation spans religious, and cultureal life as well as personal experiences.
Contact: 00 49 30 25 99 33 00; jmberlin.de
Open: Mon, 10am-10pm; Tue-Sun, 10am-8pm; entry allowed until one hour before closing time
Metro station: U Hallesches Tor / U Kochstrasse
Price: £
Hang with the hippos at Berlin Zoo
Germany's oldest zoo occupies a generous corner of the Tiergarten park. World famous for cuddly starlets like Bao Bao the panda and Knut the polar bear, the zoo’s contemporary highlights include two new panda babies (Meng Meng and Jiao Qing, from China), a treetop canopy trail with hundreds of free-flying birds, plus an Antarctic-style Penguin World. There are also narrated feedings of various animals (elephants, hippos, chimps, sea-lions) each day.
Insider's tip: Check out the adjacent aquarium for snakes, crocodiles, sharks, and other amphibians and creepy crawlies. Buying a ticket for the zoo and aquarium together gets you a significant discount.
Contact: 00 49 30 25 40 10; zoo-berlin.de
Opening hours: Open daily, opening times vary; check website for details
Metro Station: S Zoologischer Garten
Admission: £
Scope out the striking Brandenburger Tor
Napoleon’s army 'borrowed' it, Ronald Reagan called for Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" from behind it, and Jacko held a baby from a balcony near it. Instantly recognisable, Brandeburger Tor also has a suprisingly hi-tech museum spanning everything from John F. Kennedy’s famous 'Ich bin ein Berliner' speech at the gate, to previous World Cup celebrations.
Insider's tip: Save some time to visit the Room of Silence on the north side, built specifically for visitors to rest and reflect.
Contact: 00 49 30 25 00 23 33; brandenburgertor-museum.de
Opening hours: 24hrs a day
Metro Station: U Brandenburger Tor
Admission: Free (museum £)
Visit the Memorial to the Murdered Jews
Peter Eisenman’s controversial Memorial to the Murdered Jews consists of 2,711 concrete slabs (stelae) arranged in a neat grid near the Brandenburger Tor. They’re deliberately built at varying height to give visitors a sense of disorientation and confusion. The memorial’s underground visitor centre, full of heartbreaking personal stories, is often missed but very poignant.
Insider's tip: Close by, towards the edge of the Tiergarten park, are related memorials to other prominent victim groups of the holocaust; namely homosexuals, Roma and Sinti people and those murdered in the Nazi’s notorious Aktion T4 euthanasia program.
Contact: 00 49 30 26 39 43 36; holocaust-mahnmal.de
Opening times: Varies; see website for details
Metro station: U/S Potsdamer Platz / U Französische Strasse
Price: Free
Laze by Landwehr Canal
Berlin’s 19th-century Landwehr Canal might not be as famous as the Spree, but its meandering seven-mile length will take you through a host of inner city districts and sights, including Kreuzberg’s café-lined embankments, Paul-Lincke-Ufer and Maybachufer; Mies ran der Rohe’s striking Neue Nationalgalerie; the 1930s modernist ShellHaus building; the city’s celebrated Bauhaus Archiv; and a part of the Tiergarten park.
Insider's tip: If you stroll the canal in summer, be sure to drop into one (or both) of the beer gardens en route, namely, Cafe am Neuen See and Schleusenkrug.
Browse art in a Second World War Bunker
One of Berlin’s most idiosyncratic art spaces, Boros Sammlung is a gallery hidden inside a monolithic, five-floor Second World War concrete bunker. The exhibition changes every four years, and has no overarching themes; it’s simply a selection from the owner’s collection. Visitors can expect everything from installations and video art to painting and sculpture – all with a thought-provoking twist – by some of the contemporary art world’s best-known names.
Insider's tip: Given the structure of the gallery/bunker and its popularity, it’s not possible to drop by. Sign up on the website a good few weeks prior to your visit if you want to be sure to get a spot.
Contact: 00 49 30 24 08 33 300, sammlung-boros.de
Opening hours: Thurs–Sun 9am–6pm
Metro Station: U Oranienburger Strasse / U/S Friedrichstrasse
Admission: £
Picnic at an abandoned airport
One of the largest public spaces in Europe, Tempelhofer Feld used to be a functioning airport: for the Nazis (who expanded it into its current form) during Second World War as well as for the Berlin Airlift during the Cold War, and then a commercial airport. It has been used as a recreational space, and makes a unique day-trip for picnickers, kite-surfers, cyclists and rollerblade fans alike. Bikes (for adults and children), as well as pedal cars, GoKarts and rollerblades can be rented from the park’s Mobilcenter.
Insider's tip: If you can’t be bothered to make your own picnic, you can order a pre-made one here. The historic areas of the main buildings, open only for tours, contain Second World War bunkers and tunnels, and Cold War paraphernalia.
Contact: 0049 30 200037441, thf-berlin.de
Opening hours: Daily, from dawn until dusk
Metro Station: U Platz der Luftbrücke
Admission: Access to the park is free.
Embrace your inner spy with a hike to 'Devil's Mountain'
A trip out to Cold War radio base Teufelsberg (Devil’s Mountain) is something of a pilgrimage for locals as well as visitors. Hidden away in the Grunewald forest, on top of a mountain made of rubble, the base was used by Allies to spy on Russian-controlled East Germany. Today its distinctive radomes and tower are completely dilapidated, street art adorns the interior, and the views on a clear day are superb.
Insider's tip: The best way to see the site is with the management company, whose 90-110-minute tours (Fri-Sun; there is a fee) explain the history and artworks. No pre-registration necessary.
Contact: teufelsberg-berlin.de
Opening hours: Tours run daily 10am–7pm
Metro Station: S9 or S75 to Heerstraße, or S1 to Grunewald
Admission: £