Berlin

Following the line of the Wall

Built on 13 August 1961, the Wall wrapped around West Berlin for 156.4 km until it fell on 9 November 1989. In the city centre, a double row of cobblestones now traces where it stood. Two rows, because for most of its length the Wall was really two walls, one facing west and one facing east. Step over those two lines and it dawns on you that you've just crossed, without a second thought, a border no one could once cross. At the Berlin Wall Memorial (Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer) on Bernauer Straße, 70 metres of the original Wall survive along with the border strip and a watchtower. The open-air exhibition is free and open daily from 8am to 10pm. On the banks of the Spree, the East Side Gallery is the longest continuous stretch of the Wall still standing. Right after the Wall fell, 118 artists from 21 countries painted its 1,316 metres. At the far end, cross the red-brick Oberbaumbrücke and you're in Kreuzberg.

Keeping memory in plain sight

Built between 1788 and 1791, the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) sat inside the restricted zone during the division, out of reach for people from East and West alike. Now anyone can walk through it. Just to the north stands the domed Reichstag building (Reichstagsgebäude). A few minutes' walk south is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas). Step in among some 2,700 concrete stelae of different heights, and the city's noise slips away. The memorial opened in 2005 and you can enter it 24 hours a day; the underground Information Centre is free too. Berlin chose to put its most painful history where everyone can see it.

Museum Island: five museums in the Spree

Museum Island (Museumsinsel), where five museums sit together in the middle of the Spree, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. If you only pick one, make it the Neues Museum. Badly damaged in the Second World War and left as a ruin, it reopened in 2009 after a restoration by architect David Chipperfield. The war's scars weren't patched over but worked into the restoration, so old walls and new ones meet in the same rooms. The Nefertiti bust is here too. It stands alone under a domed ceiling in a room finished in green and blue, and the queen's blue crown seems to pick up the colours around it. The Pergamonmuseum, known for the Pergamon Altar, is closed for renovation and due to reopen on 4 June 2027.

Street-corner flavours

Currywurst is said to have been first made by Herta Heuwer at a street-corner stand in Charlottenburg sometime in the 1940s or '50s. It's a humble plate: grilled sausage topped with a spicy curry-tomato sauce. Berlin also claims the döner kebab as its own. The story goes that in 1972 Kadir Nurman first tucked meat grilled on a skewer into bread. For something heartier there's Eisbein, cured pork knuckle, and for dessert, Pfannkuchen, the jam doughnuts called Berliners elsewhere in Germany. On a Thursday evening, head to Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg. Street Food Thursday runs from 5pm to 10pm, and the market hall fills with the smells of food from around the world.

Afternoons on the runway, summers by the lake

Tempelhof Airport closed in 2008, and in 2010 it was handed back to Berliners as Tempelhofer Feld, a 300-hectare park. Bikes and skates now roll along the concrete runways where planes once took off and landed. Opening hours change by month; in June and July it's open until 10:30pm. Stand in the middle of a runway with no end in sight and you'll wonder how a city ever held this much sky. In summer, Berliners head for the lakes. Strandbad Wannsee, the lakeside lido on the Wannsee in the southwest, opened in 1907. Rent a hooded beach chair on its 1,275 metres of sand and you can stay all day.

Berlin by night: techno and the TV Tower

In the heady years after the Wall fell, techno became the city's soundtrack, and the empty spaces of that time became the stage for its club culture. In 2024, Berlin's techno culture was added to Germany's national inventory of intangible cultural heritage. For a view over the whole city, go up the Berlin TV Tower (Berliner Fernsehturm) on Alexanderplatz. The lift reaches the 203-metre observation deck of the 368-metre tower in 40 seconds. That a tower built in East German times now stands for the whole city is very Berlin, too.

Suggested 5-day itinerary (4 nights)

Day 1 — Land at BER → Airport Express (FEX) to Hauptbahnhof, about 23 min → Brandenburg Gate and the memorial → Reichstag dome Day 2 — Museum Island (Neues Museum) → stroll along the Spree → sunset at the TV Tower Day 3 — Berlin Wall Memorial → Mauerpark (flea market and open-air karaoke on Sundays) → East Side Gallery → dinner in Kreuzberg Day 4 — Day trip to Potsdam (RE1 or S7 from Hauptbahnhof, about 30 min, ABC ticket) → Sanssouci Palace (Schloss Sanssouci) and Frederick the Great's grave, where people leave potatoes Day 5 — Morning walk on Tempelhofer Feld → currywurst for lunch → airport

What to eat

• Currywurst (born in Charlottenburg)
• Döner kebab (Berlin claims it)
• Eisbein (cured pork knuckle)
• Pfannkuchen (jam-filled doughnut)

Handy tips

• Stamp paper tickets in the yellow or red validators before you ride. An AB ticket covers the city for €4 (120 minutes, one way); to or from BER airport you need an ABC ticket (€5).
• Most shops close on Sundays and public holidays. Only a few supermarkets inside the big train stations stay open, so do your shopping on Saturday.
• The Reichstag dome is free, but you can only go up if you've registered in advance. There's an ID check at the entrance, so bring your passport.