Berlin in 2-3 days
Beat the crowds to the Reichstag’s dome for a view of the city before enjoying a walking tour of the city via the Brandenburg gate, down past the Tiergarten, through the Holocaust Museum and down to the Potsdamer Platz.
While away an afternoon in one of the scores of museums dotted around the city before hitting Kreuzberg or Frederichshain in the evening for a spot of bar hopping and/or clubbing.
Begin your next day with a leisurely buffet breakfast, Berlin style, possibly in the trendy suburb of Mitte then head to Alexanderplatz for a trip to the top of the Fernsehturm (TV Tower) before zipping over to the East Side Gallery to admire the post-wall art and then onto Checkpoint Charlie for some more Cold War history.
On the third day, if you’re not all Cold War-ed out head for the Stasi Prison or Stasi museum to appreciate how oppressive life was under the old GDR. If you’ve had enough spend some time exploring Berlin’s rich Jewish history with a trip to the Juedisches Museum.
In one week
As above but spend some time in Tiergarten, possibly with a picnic. Those looking to shop should hit the shops along the Kurfustendamm (Ku’damm for short), Berlin’s temple to consumerism.
Design buffs should check out the distinctive Bauhaus Archiv a design museum, once a school founded by Walter Gropius but shut down by the Nazis in 1933. Art lovers should bolt on more time for art with a visit to Museum of Contemporary Art housed in the former Hamburger Bahnhof or the Neue Nationalgalerie.
Everyone should take a boat trip from Mitte through the former East Berlin along the Spree or soak up the beautiful surroundings at Schloss Charlottenburg, Queen Sophie-Charlotte’s palace dating back to the 17th Century.
