Title says it all really. Planning a little get away with the missus. Berlin is on the table but having never been not got the foggiest where to start. Will probably be there for 3 nights / 4 days so appreciate that there is far too much to take in, but any recommendations for accommodation, activities or meals much appreciated.
Thanks.
Great City and fascinating history
For me the must 'go tos' are:
Bradenburg Gate and square just inside
Reichstag
Jew Museum
Jem Memorial
Stasi Museum
Checkpoint charlie and visitors centre
Walk through the Brand Gate and check out the number of Embassies!!
Big department store - cant recall name.
Walk round the old East Side.
Walk round the park and see statues
Have a great time, both of you
Jim
Meant to say:
I stayed in a hotel that was away from centre.
Bus fares are cheap and day or 3 day pass very good VFM.
EAting places are plentiful from budget to 5 star. Try the local cafes for good, wholesome food and lovely people.
Great place for a break. Easy and cheap train transfer from the airport, and cheap U-bahn and S-bahn trains.
I'd suggest the bike tours, run by these people: http://berlin.fattirebiketours.com/
Easy pedaling, amusing and well informed guides, and a great way to see much of the city centre and orient yourself. Beer garden for lunch too. A must-do, I reckon.
Museum quarter (far end of Unter Den Linden) is great, as are the other main museums - IIRC the modern art space is by van der Rohe. Brilliant building.
Have fun
Richard
Westin Grand is a great hotel right in the heart. Only a few hundred metres from the Brandenburg Gate, same again from Gendarmenmarkt. Close to the Humboldt University, Bebelplatz, the Berlin Dome, Lustgarten and Alexanderplatz. Not to mention the Deutsche History Museum which is great and of course Museum Insel. You could also try Clipper City on Behrenstrasse for accomodation. They do city apartments, are very clean, spacious, free wifi and so on. We were inBerlin for a week at New Year and will be back again in March. Best city on Earth!
Sorry, the hotels are close also to the Jewish Memorial, Friedrichstrasse for shopping (Bucherer and Wempe have some cracking watches in stock), Checkpoint Charlie, the site of Hitler's bunker and the wonderful Tiergaten. You are close enough to walk to everything I have pointed out from here without any level of fitness!
We had a great stay at the Hotel Berlin Berlin...
http://www.hotel-berlin.de/en/
Rod
I'm sure Carlton-Brown will be along soon with some great recommendations!
I found Berlin a facinating place to visit. I also found it one of the most miserable and depressing places I have ever been to. There is lots of history there, of course, but it's all depressing history. The weather when I was there was cloudy and miserable. The city itself iall seems to be grey too. I found it a city with minimal atmosphere, though I may have been going to the wrong places.
All the main sites to visit have been mentioned. Be prepared to walk lots, or a mate of mine did the Segway tour and said it was great. Try and visit the Sachsenhausen concentration camp if you can: a truely humbling experience.
This type of thread just shows how ignorant I am, I have started working in Europe and was in Berlin this week, stayed in a hotel which I believe was smack bang in the city centre, I didn't even think to take some time to look around. I really should start to see a little of where I travel to but when it's work and you're on your own it seems pointless.
I stayed in a Motel one Ł71 a night and a good clean basic hotel, small room but right next to a huge shopping centre, all high end designer brands.
Flew Ryanair to Schonefeld airport, taxi to centre was 35-40 euro airport is not great but has a great sandwich bar.
They have a small park, nothing special but in one corner is a small enclosure with a big brown bear living in it, used to be two but one died a year ago. Really odd.
We really like Berlin for a short break. As to thing to do, eat and stay, here's one of each:
Do: Museum Island, especially the Pergamon Museum
Eat: Cafe Oberwasser , 6 Zionskirchstrasse
Stay: Hotel Adelante
Obviously that's a snapshot of a zillion options but hope they help.
Had a lovely time there at the end of november- stayed in the H10 hotel in Ku'damm really nice 4*job.
great hotel and really cheap when booked with a BA flight
enjoyed all of it, took a river cruise, saw the Gate, the old east part and the shopping in the top store -KaDeWe was good- 6th floor has great eateries too for lunch
Nice watches at Wempe in kurfurstendamm along with any other shops you could want
lovely breakfasts at the Literaturhaus cafe
and that Carlton-Brown chappy is a jolly good sport too!
prepare to love it.
Riestag for definite, you can book tours in English and you end up walking around the dome too.
Cheers
And
I was in Berlin in Sept, I really found the Olympic stadium very interesting.
I'll try to come back to this thread to add stuff as I think of it. I don't remember the specifics but the combined flights and hotel deal that GOAT got sounded unbeatable. We've put a few people up in the guesthouse attached to the Swedish church if they're on a budget (about €50 for a double and they're nice people but it's obviously not a full service hotel.). You need to give some thought as to whether you want to be nearer to the centre of East (district is called Mitte and anywhere between the Gate and Alexanderplatz) or West Berlin (Zoo station and Ku'damm) as most people wouldn't want to walk between the two (though of course i did on my first day there). My feel is that if it's a first trip the East is probably better (however I would only want to live in the West). I would certainly avoid staying in Potsdamer Platz unless shopping malls and multiplex cinemas are your thing - there's a risk that it looks, from the map, to be very central but I normally find it a bit of a wasteland. For 3 or 4 days I'd say that have you got to go to the Pergamon and a day in Potsdam should be given some serious thought - it's sort of their equivalent to Windsor, being the weekend retreat of the Hohenzollerns. It's a world heritage site so gets busy and with lots of coach parties - so probably to be avoided at the weekend.
I'm on an iPhone so will try to write up more later.
Last edited by Carlton-Browne; 18th January 2015 at 22:09.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
As has been covered.
Museum Island is fantastic, you have to see The Pergamon at the very least.
The zoo is world renowned and with good reason.
Watch Hertha Berlin at the Olympic Stadium.
The transport is a doddle.
Before you go, watch The Lives Of Others and then go to the Stasi HQ .
You can do a tour in a Trabant
Such a brilliant city.
Funnily enough i watched The Lives Of Others this afternoon for the umpteenth time. Great film. You'll come away from Berlin wanting to hunt down every film ever shot there!
The East Side gallery is not what it used to be and, although iconic, there are now a few bits missing and being adjacent to a fairly windswept and busy road doesn't make it the most pleasant of walks. When I first arrived in Berlin lots of people told me that it's a must and I kept on saying that I'd cross it off the list - laughably it turned out that I'd already driven past it several times, loudly tutting about all of the awful graffiti.Originally Posted by Jimmcb
The city can be depressing when it's grey and appears to have been thus for a lot of the last few weeks. It normally transforms in Spring when the sun comes out. I can't imagine that the trip to Sachsenhausen would have done much to improve your mood - it's on the edge of a particularly dull suburb (technically a satellite town) and really needs a full day to do it properly - the subject matter clearly isn't very cheerful. Everything is in English as well as German so, assuming you have an interest in history, there's an enormous amount to take in.
Just to add that I've already written stuff on previous threads.
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...-w-e-in-Berlin
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?245871-Berlin
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...ny-suggestions
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...Little-Anxious
I'll attempt to keep the food and drink section here updated and thus have it all in one place.
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...=1#post1842771
There's some good stuff at Berlin Hidden Places but the info is starting to look a little aged. It might give you some ideas though.
http://www.berlin-hidden-places.de/yuba_web3/
Berlin Unlike can also be handy.
http://unlike.net/berlin
Obviously if I'm around it would be good to meet up.
I spent 2 years there in the early eighty's and enjoyed every minute of it even though my liver took a long time to recover. I don't know what it's like now but Chalottenburg palace was a pleasant place to spend the afternoon walking around, The Soviet memorial at Treptow park is worth a look as well.
Lots already pointed out above so I won't repeat it except to say two things......
currywurst - it was invented in Berlin.....eat some
Berliner Pilsner - possibly the horribliest,gassiest Pilsner known to man...avoid at all costs. Don't worry thought as there are loads of much nicer alternatives!
Eat Turkish food
Go to Kreuzberg... Coolest area in Berlin in my opinion!
The Berlin beer that I would have thought most closely matches that description is Schultheiss (alternatively known as Sh;thouse). I suggest that you try a Berliner in the Mommsen Eck - they insist on pouring with a proper 7 minute pour like Guinness which has a distinct advantage. It can be frustrating if you're thirsty though.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
In June/July I fancy a 4 day break to Berlin, then catch a train up to the Baltic coast and spend some time on the island of Rúgen, I like the look of the beautiful beaches around Binz. It looks not to be very popular with British tourists though, has anybody else visited the area? the sandy beaches look clean and as the 'Strandkorb' looks interesting.
I speak a little German, would I get by in the north.
Wow what a response! The collective never cease to amaze me on this forum thank you all so much. I will be looking at all the suggestions, with particular interest on the notion if EastWest areas and trying to decide which might suit us better if traversing it not really conducive with a relaxing time. Very much into the historical and cultural offerings but do enjoy an evening out as well.
You seem to be quite well covered with all the info provided so far but just wanted to add in one hotel. Depends on budget because it's on the upper end but it's one of my favourite hotels I've stayed in (probably second).
https://www.designhotels.com/hotels/...erlin/das-stue
Great hotel and great food too.
I was thinking of this one.... http://www.berliner-pilsner.de ....but I will,in future,avoid that one as well!
We went to Peenemünde about a year ago. The Baltic coast is beautiful and worth the effort - as you say people from the UK are not really going to go for a beach holiday to Germany when there are so many of our own. Compared to Berlin where you often hear so much English spoken you sometimes wonder if there are any Germans left the North coast is dramatically different. Rúgen is much more mainstream than Peenemünde so I think you'll get by with limited German without too much difficulty. Hiddensee is also worth considering though it has now sort of picked a bit of a reputation as a Hipster hangout - Camden-by-the-Sea, in a manner of speaking.
I would recommend a trip to the Peenemünde Technical Museum if you are in that area but transport links from Berlin are a bit more complicated than Rúgen. It's a very well presented museum and the V1/V2 project is very well documented (and, unusually for some museums in the former East, also in English).
http://www.peenemuende.de/en/
Now, the downside. I recently had a conversation from somebody who works as a curator at the Museum and this was the picture that she specifically asked me to send to her.
It was taken outside of the Pension that we stayed in on the morning we departed (It's not my car BTW). There is apparently quite a lot of latent neo-Nazism locally - nothing too obvious as that would get you arrested - but there neverthless. Colleagues have overheard conversations where people talk fondly of the Nazi era - the area enjoyed quite some prestige at that time and clearly, with one of the ground-breaking military technologies being developed in their midst, there was full employment. Apparently one person was invited back to a locals flat after a party who then proudly showed him is extensive collection of Nazi memorabilia. There's also some Ostalgia for the GDR days but that's not uncommon elsewhere in the former East - and also not illegal. So, I would say that you should be conscious of your security more so than any average beach holiday - don't stand out too much and avoid groups of skinheads. You'll be fine.
Finally you do of course realise that you will encounter lots of naked Germans - the problem normally is that those who should take all of their clothes off rarely do whereas those that shouldn't almost always do. The most irritating thing is that it's like the television on in the corner of the pub - you know you should be talking to your mates but your eyes can't help straying occasionally and then you get a fright. The other thing to consider is that it can get quite busy - if the weather is good then a lot of people may decide to escape to the coast and it's quite a populous country with a relatively short coastline.
Not too keen the rise of Neo-Nazism in Germany again, I suspect it has always been there, hidden in the background and also the rise of Periga have made me wonder about viability of going up to Rúgen. I am blond-haired and of Dutch descent so I shouldn't stand out too much from the crowds. Also naked Germans are not a problem, I have encountered them in Croatia and Austria on many occasions, both on beaches and in saunas. So nudity is not a problem.
Thanks for the great info, I will do further research and decide what to do, but I must admit Berlin looks a superb destination.
Rob
As I say, you'll be fine. You're a foreigner so normal rules should apply and it just calls for a tiny bit of self awareness. If you are unlucky or an idiot you can probably get mugged in Stratford-upon-Avon by somebody wearing an Elisabethan costume - I'm not a fan of people that say you can't go to such a place etc. I know we're verging on Bear Pit territory but I'm not sure there is a general resurgence of Neo-Nazism in Germany - there may be other trends which are worrying but I'm not sure that's one of them - neither is it cool.
In any case give me a buzz if you're in town - I'm sure it will be a pleasure (I'll be the short-arsed, pot-bellied Irishman masquerading as an Englishman and probably standing out a bit)
I've added a couple of updates. I'll try to think of more.
I have been watching this thread with interest as we will be in Berlin for a week next month.
There have obviously been a lot of changes since I was last there (the Tiergarten was littered with abandoned Trabants at that time) so many thanks to Carlton-Browne for all the recommendations. The Baltic coast has also been somewhere we have wanted to visit, perhaps later this year.
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