A Guide to Berlin

I completed my 2021-2022 study abroad in the magnificent city of Berlin. Whilst I was there, I created a 'guide' that I sent to others who were visiting and had asked for recommendations. The guide gathers a few of my favourite spots, restaurants, cafes, galleries, and some top tips surrounding transport and language barriers. I absolutely adored my time there and truly had the best year of my life, so it's only fair to share some of my highlights! The guide doesn't include everything I enjoyed whilst there (that would result in a 500 page document) and is more of a long list than a detailed account of each recommendation, but it does have some key gems (my favourites are in bold). Enjoy!

Must-See Tourist Sights

• Brandenburg Tor (Brandenburg Gate) - a must, and the Holocaust Memorial is just around the corner

• Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) - the outer walkway has a stunning panoramic view of Berlin

• Fersehturm (TV Tower) - you can pay to go up the tower or just admire it from the outside, you can see it from pretty much anywhere in Berlin!

• East Side Gallery - Berlin wall walk, covered with beautiful artwork

• Schloss Charlottenburg - palace

• Reichstag - government building

Museums/Galleries

Most of Berlin's museums can be found in Museuminsel (Museum Island) which also has one of the prettier Ubahn stations, if you're big on museums then check for ticket bundles that give access to several.

• Jüdisches Museum (Jewish Museum) - my top recommendation

• Berlinische Galerie - my favourite art gallery in Berlin

• DDR Museum - interactive museum in Karl-Liebknecht-Straβe next to the cathedral

• Museum in the Kulturbrauerei - free museum of DDR history

• Berlin Story Bunker - perhaps the most extensive war museum I have ever seen, you'll need to set aside a few hours for this one

• Humbolt Forum – various exhibitions all in one building, some are free

• Pergamonmuseum – extremely popular, in the centre of Museum Island

• Neue National Galerie – one of my favourite art galleries

• Designpanoptikum – a museum of surreal industrial objects that I stumbled across accidentally, very weird but fun and run/organised all by one man

• Topography of Terror - an amazing war museum built on the site of the former headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS

• Gemäldegalerie – European art from 13th-18th centuries

• Museum für Fotografie - photography museum

• Petzel Gallery – really small free art exhibition

• Dark Matter – quite an expensive art exhibition but also the coolest in Berlin (there are several rooms that play with light/sound)

• Futurium – free museum all about the future and what it could look like, interactive and super interesting

• König Gallerie – exhibition changes artists often but google will tell you what is going on each month

• Urban Nation – small exhibition on street art/photography (picture above)

• Anne Frank Zentrum – exhibition on Anne Frank but also worth going just for the location (Eschloraque)

Markets/Squares

Sunday is flohmarkt (flea market) day in Berlin aka one of my favourite days.

• Eschloraque (Hackesche Höfe) - the Hackeschen courtyards have alleys full of shops. Eschloraque is my favourite as it's full of street art with a cool bar/café and an independent cinema. If you walk straight down you'll find a door at the very end, go up the graffitti covered staircase and explore the two art shops with changing exhibitions

• Hackescher Markt - market on Saturdays with lots of food and different stalls

• Mauerpark - the biggest Sunday market with food, vintage clothes, antiques etc + a huge field full of people playing music, games, karaoke and so on - a MUST if you are here for Sunday

• Boxhagener Platz - lively square in Friedrichshain with lots of restaurants and cafes, on Sunday there’s a flea-market (picture above)

• Nowkoelln Flowmarkt - Sunday flea-market along the canal

• Gendarmenmarkt square – where you'll find the German and French cathedrals and concert hall

• Raw Gelande – lots of street art, bars and clubs

Parks/outdoor areas

• Templehof Feld – abandoned airport where the runway is now used by cyclists, roller skaters etc and the fields are full of people on sunny days having bbqs or playing music

• Tiergarten – biggest park, full of lots of memorials and fountains

• Treptower Park – lovely park next to the river

• Volkspark Friedrichshain

• Schlachtensee/Krumme Lanke - if you're visiting in Summer for a longer period of time I recommend devoting a day or afternoon to venturing to one of these lakes on the outskirts, on hot days lots of people gather to eat and swim and I made some amazing memories there (picture above is from Krumme Lanke)

Cafes

• La Maison - lovely outdoor café by the canal

• Shakespeare and Sons - the best bagels, bookstore and café

• Steel Vintage Bikes Café – 2 locations, super cool theme and delicious brunch food

• Markthalle Neun – indoor farmers market with food from all over the world

• Kala - artsy coffee shop, lots of vegan option

• Milch & Zucker

• Königliche Gartenakademie - quite far out of the centre (it was near the university I studied at on my year abroad) so if you find yourself in the Dahlem district then visit this café and garden centre

• Breakout Café - a lovely café with seating in a hidden courtyard

• Kaffee Marlene – good location on the main street of Prenzlauer Berg

• bRICK - great brunch spot

• Krone

• The Greens – hidden café covered in plants (picture above)

• Zeit für Brot - various locations around the city, amazing cinnamon buns

• Café am Neuen See - a lovely outdoor cafe/restaurant near a river where you can rent little boats, also open in the evening for German food and biergarten

• Café Strauss

• Cozys Coffee

• Silo Coffee

• 19grams

Bars

• Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo – my favourite bar ever, they do jam sessions every Wednesday night with guest singers followed by open mic that the in house band improvise to (picture above) - click here for the literal love letter I wrote to this bar (yes I adore it that much)

• Yorkschlössen - Jazz/blues bar, better to book a table in advance if you want to sit as it gets busy, has food too

• Klunkerkranich - a wonderful rooftop bar

• An Einem Sonntag Im August - outdoor seating on the main street of Prenzlauer Berg, indoor seating with a dj some evenings

• b-flat - Jazz bar, classy

• Loophole - a very strange but wonderful bar, lots of different evenings events

• Madame Claude - used to be a brothel!

• Posion - a karaoke bar

• Ä – one of the most popular bars in Berlin

• Fitchers Vogel – cosy candle lit bar, they do an amazing gin bazil smash

• Holzmarkt 25 – street food stalls, bars etc all outdoors and with cool decoration

• Brauhaus Neulich – their house beer is soo good, on Thursdays there is an open mic night which is brilliant, this was one of my most frequented spots

• Mein Haus Am See – v popular amongst students, nice chill bar with a dj and cool seating

• Clash – an extremely Berlin bar, graffitied walls & loud music

• Zosse Bar - a lovely small bar with cosy interior and a cute beer garden for nicer evenings

• Prater Garten - huge beer garden open in the summer

• MacLaren's Pub - a pub full of references to the shop How I Met Your Mother

Restaurants

• Peter Schlemihl - adorable little restaurant in a beautiful district, German cuisine

• Kitten Deli - possibly my favourite restaurant in Berlin! Mediterranean Cuisine, so so delicioussssss (picture above)

• Restaurant Pasta & Passione - my favourite Italian restaurant

• The Flying Monkey – dim sum, so so good

• Lisboa Bar am Boxi – Portuguese food

• Zensation - my favourite sushi restaurant in Berlin

• Pizza Vira – another Italian

• II Ritrovo – and another Italian

• Gazzo Pizza - I'm sorry! I love Italian food! This one has delicious sourdough pizzas

• Hako Ramen original am Boxi – amazing ramen, a few of these in the city but the one in Boxi is my favourite

• Like Thai Vegan - nice vegan restaurant, usually a queue

• Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap Mehringdamm – supposedly the best kebab you can get in Europe excluding Turkey (I queued for 2 HOURS… yes it was worth it)

• Gemüse Kebap & Friends – if you don’t fancy queuing, this is my favourite Berlin kebab (it’s in Warschauer Straβe)

• Maloa poké bowl

• Facciola – Italian, super nice food but slightly more expensive

• Tinys Pizza - a lovely pizza restaurant with nice outdoor seating

• Kotti Dang - Vietnamese Cuisine, cool inside seating

• Chikogi - delicious Korean food

Attractions/Activities

• Teufelsberg – old spy centre from the war which is now an art/graffiti goldmine, it’s on top of a hill and has a beautiful viewpoint especially at sunset

• Botanical Gardens – a little far out but worth the trip if you have extra time (picture above)

• Mall of Berlin – shopping centre

• Alexa – another shopping centre

• Staatsoper Berlin – Berlin’s opera house

• Dussman das Kulturkaufhaus – my favourite bookstore

• Zoo/Aquarium

• Skatehalle – skate park in RAW Gelande, there’s a little pop up café and you can watch the skaters

• Kino International – historic cinema built in the 1960s and located in former East Berlin

• Checkpoint & Cinema - despite the name, this is actually a big vintage store in Berlin (my favourite!) - for other vintage/thrift shopping look up Pciknweight or Made in Berlin

Clubs

Berlin is most known for its techno scene, the clubs listed below are my favourites. Research club etiquette before going, it is very different to the UK, I may write an article about it. Download the RA app to find the best events/buy tickets.

• RSO

• Club OST

• Kit Kat - research before going so you know what you're letting yourself in for

• Æden

• About Blank

• Anomalie

• Watergate

• Ritter Butzke - this one is a little more tourist friendly

Fancy a Day Trip?

Potsdam is nearby!

• Schloss and park Sanssouci – beautiful palace and gardens

• Potsdam Cecilienhof – where the Potsdam Conference of 1945 was held – you can do a guided tour and go into all of the rooms (Stalin’s Office, the Conference room etc)

• Rent paddle boats on the river

• Completely different vibes to Berlin, significantly calmer

OR Wannsee!

• Slightly closer than Potsdam

• Massive beautiful lake that you can take a boat across - the fare of the boat is included in the BVG ticket that covers all of your transport in Berlin (picture above)

• Vintage Buses

• A little beach to sunbathe and swim

• Lots of cafes, beer gardens and BBQs

• Hus der Wannsee Konferenz (House of the Wannsee Conference) - memorial and education centre in the house where functionaries of the Nazi government apparatus and the SS met and planned the extermination of European Jews during the war

Other Tips and Tricks!

Transport

• The U-Bahn, S-Bahn, and tram are your 3 new best friends (there are buses too)

• One ticket is valid for all forms of transport

• Buy tickets at stations or on the BVG app on your phone – if you buy them at the station make sure you validate them by slotting them into the machines provided which stamp the date/time – unvalidated tickets are considered void

• AB zone tickets cover most of the city

• A single ticket lasts 2 hours but day tickets and other kinds are available

• There are no ticket machines (unlike the London underground) so you are just expected/trusted to have one – some people take the risk and don’t buy a ticket as the only regulations in place are random ticket checks by controllers but IF you were unlucky to be caught out it’s a 60 euro fine

Language

• Because it's a multicultral capital city, a lot of people speak some English; however, you should never assume! Always greet people with "Hallo" and ask "Sprechen sie English?"

• It is also nice to learn some basic phrases/key words like "Danke schon" (thank you), "tschuss" (bye), "entschuldigung" (excuse me)

• Download the google translate app, there is a camera feature that enables you to take a photo of any German writing and have it translated to English (this is super handy in restaurants and supermarkets)

Cinemas

• Cinemas may not be a big part of your trip, but as a film student they were a big part of mine!

• Yorck Kinos were my favourite (the picture above is of one called Passage) - download their app for film times and locations

• Films labelled OV mean the film is shown in its original language without subtitles, OmEU means the film is in its original language with English subtitles, and OmU means the film is in its original language with German subtitles

There are my key suggestions! Below are the links to some of my Apple Map guides to Berlin with even more recommendations :) I hope you enjoy and love the city as much as I do!

Berlin Bars Map

Berlin Cafes Map

Berlin Food Map

Berlin Culture Map

Berlin Gems Map