2 days in Berlin

Go to the Reichstag! Best piece of "Living History" you can find in the city. And book one of the free guided tours, they are free, offered in English, and let you see spots that you cannot access otherwise (e.g. Russian graffiti from 1945 ...). Make sure to book it ahead of time!

http://www.bundestag.de/htdocs_e/visits/besgrupp/fuehr

Do one of the excellent walking tours as offered by Insider Tours or one of the other recommended companies from the Rick Steves guide. This is the best way to get a good overview of the city, see many of the top sites, and have fun while learning history. For more intensity, join a 3rd Reich Tour or Cold War tour.

Cost is 12 € per person, so quite a bargain.

Where to stay is kind of up to you, depending on the dates and your budget. I usually find my hotels on www.hrs.com, then read reviews of them on Trip Advisor, as well as check their websites to see if they are cheaper. Often, hrs has the better bargain and the better cancellation policy. I am quite fond of the hotel chain called Motel One and they have several locations in Berlin. Best beds and showers in a hotel, plus AC.

Hi Denise,

We really enjoyed visiting Berlin! Highlights for us: Brandenburg Gate, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Guided Tour of the Reichstag and dome, walking tour with Bernhard was worth every penny, so amazing! http://www.steubentoursberlin.com/stbbln/en/ Our tour with Bernhard covered all the major sites you would want to see and he lived through the Wall coming down and has so many amazing stories to tell.

Don't miss the beer garden inside the Tiergarten park, the pizza, beer and wine are good but the ambiance is even better!! Especially at night!

Another highlight was the Pergamon Museum but not sure if it's under renovation right now; Berlin Cathedral, Jewish Museum, Potsdam, lots to see and do.

We stayed at Mittendren http://www.boutique-hotel-berlin.com and loved it! Great location, walk everywhere, fantastic included breakfast and beautiful rooms, reasonable price.

Have a great time! Happy Travels!

I'm going to second the Reichstag as one of the top sights. I also found the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe to be very moving. When I first visited the Checkpoint Charlie museum back in the 70's I thought it was terrific. When I revisited it 7 or 8 years ago, I was a bit disappointed. Maybe it's been refurbished since then.

I also went to the Gemäldegalerie and enjoyed the art. It's not far from Potsdamer Platz and Sony Centre which was had movies in English. :)

We did a walking tour of the area near the where the wall was and that was most impressive. But if you are interested in WWII you should go to the Deutsches Historisches Museum. Hitler's desk is there. It has more than WWII history, but you could go for that alone.

Pam

Thank you all! I have written to the Reichstag to request a tour! and will definitely book a walking tour. It sounds like we need to stay for a week there is so much to see and do!

Hi,

I would suggest that if you really wanted to pursue these WW II sites and museums in Berlin and the surrounding area, ie, spend the time tracking down these sites, go Seelow (Gedenkstätte Seelow)...the battle field memorial and the museum adjacent to it. It's all in German (the museum), but they may have audioguides by now. Take the train to Frankfurt an der Oder, then the S-Bahn to Seelow. Yes, it's backtracking.

In Berlin there are the Flak towers near the Berlin Gesundbrunnen train station, also the Invaliden Friedhof , the Prussian-German military cemetery that also has a WW2 section, the Museum on the war at Berlin-Karlshorst (direct on the S-3 from Berlin Hbf). Like Seelow the Museum was all in German. I've been there twice but years ago when audiophones were not available. They may be there now if you feel you need one.

If you want to see a site with photos prior to WW1, I would suggest the Köpenick district, see the Rathaus (city hall) of Berlin-Köpenick. All these places (and more) are well served by public transportation.

You are right, a week would be better! Very early in the morning, walk through the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Very moving experience.

The Memorial is surely best seen in the early morning. I went in the middle of the day and it was like a playground with kids running through and playing hide-and-seek while young adults were leaping from the top of one pillar to another, and people of varying ages were sitting on the lower ones, chatting, eating, and so on.

The DDR Museum is a very good hands-on experience of life in the East under the Soviets from WWII until reunification. It gave me an appreciation for what Germany accomplished after the fall of the Wall. I also went the the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and was disappointed. It's very expensive and the exhibits felt haphazard and repetitive.

We did 2 tours with Original Berlin Walking Tours- Discover Berlin and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.
Both were EXCELLENT and so affordable. We actually had same guide for both tours and she was very very good. No need to book ahead- just show up at meeting point and sign up/pay at that time. Discounts given if you have a Berlin Welcome Card
http://www.berlinwalks.de/public/

Enjoyed the Deutsches Historisches Museum very much, Neues, Gemaldegalerie, Topography of Terror (allow a lot of time for this site!)

We stayed in Mitte- near Gendarmenmarkt- close to UBahn, SBahn station yet still walked to most every sight. Very convenient location.

Denise,

Two days won't be enough! However, if you plan your touring carefully you should be able to cover a few significant sites. If you're interested in WW-II history, I would also highly recommend Original Berlin Walks tours. They offer a variety of tours and the guides are excellent. Depending on your main interests, you could limit your sightseeing only to Berlin or perhaps take a day trip to Sachsenhausen, which is about an hour or so outside Berlin in the town of Oranienburg.

If you'd like to try something a bit unusual, a Segway tour will allow easy transportation as well as visiting some historic locations, such as the site of the former Bunker (not much to see there now, as it's a car park).

Hi,

Is this your first time in Berlin? If so, I do recommend a tour to get the general overview unless you only want to concentrate on specific historical sites relating to the two wars.

Yes, It is our first trip - I have been looking into the walking tours. Unfortunately the Reichstag has no openings for a tour, do we still want to go there?

Hi,

Yes, go to the Reichsstag even without a tour. I went shortly after the Küppel (cupola) was added, went in the summer, stood in line which wasn't that long of a wait ca 30 mins, and entered...no tour.

I'm following this thread -- I've got 4 days in Berlin coming up in October.

What do people think of purchasing a Berlin Welcome Card? Is it worth the cost?

What about the multi-day public transportation tickets?

I did purchase the Berlin Welcome Card, we were in Berlin for 4 days- so the first day we hit the free sites or things that were not covered by the card (Gemaldegalerie, Topography of Terror are 2 I remember there may have been another? ) and just walked that day then started using it on our 2nd day.

My daughter has an ICOM which gets her into museums free but she even purchased the card for the few things she needed if it for and the transportation component.

You have to do the math- list what you know you will want to see and determine if paying out of pocket for each site is more or less than the value you will get out of the card.
The transit part of it was quite handy- although we walked a good bit we did take UBahns, SBahns and trams enough to make that part of it worthwhile.
In addition the Welcome Card gives you a decent discount on tours with Berlin Original Tours.

If you don't have a ticket for the Reichstag tour - there is a kiosk across the street from the Reichstag visitor centre where you can line up for last minute tickets. No idea how long the wait is. Most guided tours are in German - the English speaking tour was offered once a week on Tuesdays and filled up fast.
Try to visit Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Centre (open 24/day) and has a Starbucks. Very interesting architecture. On the plaza sidewalk is a Wall memorial with original pieces from the Berlin Wall.
For an inexpensive Berlin Tour, take the Bus 100 (public transit) from either Tiergarten (Zoo) or Alexander Platz. It goes past most tourist sites (Zoo, Symphonie Hall, Potsdamer Platz, Reichtag, Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden, Museums Island, Humbold University etc), comes as a double decker and costs just E 2.65 - a real bargain.

Or 6.90 for a day pass, then it isd a hop-on hop-off bus as well as getting you anywhere else in Berlin if you don't have a Welcome Card.