Berlin June 2018

There is no need to buy a first-class rail ticket.

Your friend has very little time in Berlin. If she is arriving after a transatlantic flight, she may be too brain-dead to absorb anything at all. And then you're off to Hamburg the next day (right?), so I think you should focus on what you want to do during the extra time you have. She is just not going to be able to see much of anything.

You could probably spend 2 weeks in Berlin, visiting nothing much beyond the WW II and Cold War sites. I found them fascinating, but had only 6 days in the city, so I did not see everything. I list below some other possibilities for your consideration, but don't agonize over it; you have limited time, and many of the sites take hours. In fact, I spent at least two hours at every place I visited except the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, where I did not go inside the visitor center. In fact, I'm not sure I spent less than four hours in very many places.

You should prioritize what you want to see and start with #1, deviating from your priority list only when geography indicates that it is highly desirable to do so. Otherwise, there's a high risk that you'll miss seeing something that's really important to you. Predicting time at each site would be extremely difficult, so I would avoid pre-purchasing timed tickets except possibly for the first visit of the day. I didn't experience significant lines at any of the historical sites/museums, just crowding inside them (DDR Museum and Checkpoint Charlie Museum).

Ticket/entry lines are most definitely an issue for the art museums and the Pergamon on Museumsinsel. Hour-long waits were the order of the day during my summer 2015 visit.

Although not all of the historical sites are called "museums", most are museum-like in that there is much explanatory material posted. I wouldn't feel as if I got as much out of visiting them if I didn't read a lot of that material. The Checkpoint Charlie Museum is an example: You can see a little car in which people were smuggled to West Berlin, but if you don't read about all the people who died making other attempts, you're missing most of the story. Because of potential crowding, I'd suggest going very early in the morning or later in the day. There really isn't anything to see at Checkpoint Charlie if you don't go in the nearby museum. The little gatehouse at the site is a replica.

• Tranenpalast (focuses on the period when West Berliners could apply to visit family living in the East; text-heavy)

• DDR Museum (life in the DDR, in all its polyester glory; might appeal to someone who's not a museum person, but it can be very, very crowded)

• Former Stasi prison (time-consuming to reach by tram and walking, but very interesting; museum-like area is not totally necessary if you take a tour through the prison area itself)

• Berlin Wall Memorial (This is where you can see remaining bits of the wall)

I didn't have time for the Reichstag or the DDR Museum, but both have been highly recommended by folks on this forum.

Berlin is AWESOME!

I was there for 5 pre-RS tour days. There is sooo much to do. Did not see it all, but I saw a lot.

I took several walking tours via "Insider Tours".......Cold War, Potsdam, and Third Reich.

The Brandenburg Gate is near the Reichstag. Don't miss it. Going to to the Reichstag was interesting.....especially going up to the glass dome. You will need to make reservations. Do it as soon as possible.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is always open. Don't miss it. The Jewish Museum of Berlin is excellent. Checkpoint Charlie was a disappointment.....really touristy and kind of underwhelming....been there/done that. I went to that museum, but I found it a little overwhelming with sooooo much to look at in a small space.....really cluttered. One could spend a week in the Topography of Terror museum......again, sooo much to see.....well laid out.....just a lot. The museums on Museum Island are awesome......you could spend A LOT of time here, too......Neues Museum, Pergammom, and the German History Museum......and others. The site of Hitler's bunker?

I enjoyed going to the East Side Gallery. Very interesting art work on part of the old Berlin Wall. I went up into the TV Tower. That was good. The views are good, but not great (just my opinion). The Berlin Wall Documentation Center is interesting. Worth a visit.

You need to decide what interests you the MOST and do that. Going and seeing the Nazi and Cold War sites is very educational and worthwhile, but it can also become a wee bit depressing. Find some "lighter" things to do to balance your time there. I went to a couple of concerts, there is a fun chocolate store (RS book), eating at the top of KaDeWe was fun, and the musical instrument history museum. Potsdamer Platz was modern and interesting (shopping?)

Hope this helps.

Thanks. You sound like my kind of museum person. I read alot. I found a deal on a 5 star hotel Radisson Blu Hotel, Berlin for $129 and they pick you up at the airport. I can be assured I have wifi in the room, a comfortable bed. It shows to be 2.3 miles from city center and .5 miles to Alexanderplatz.

Do you remember who the walking tours were through? Do you remember the name of the chocolate store. Since I'm only going to be in Germany for a few days I wasn't going to buy Rick Steves book.. Is the glass dome where you walk up in the steps. That looked interesting! Thanks for the shopping tips.

I don't know where they are defining the "centre" of Berlin, but the Radisson Blu is very central.

Radisson Blu is in a GREAT location. It is very near Alexanderplatz and Museum Island.

Rausch Schokoladenhaus is the chocolate store. It has chocolate recreations of the big Berlin sites......and great chocolate! I do not recall having to walk up steps to get to the dome....there is an elevator. To get to the very top of the dome there is a circular ramp that takes you up. It is an easy walk. Great views. I went in the morning and late evening. Again, you have to go to the site and make reservations.

I do not get a commission, but you might check out the Berlin Snapshot version. It is cheaper than the full version. It might give you some direction.

I also went out to the 1936 Berlin Olympic Stadium....but still being used. As has been mentioned......lots and lots to do.

I used the Insider Tours for my walking tours. RS also lists Brewer's Tours and Original Berlin Walks, The time frame for the Insider Tours worked best for me. Other tour members used the others and liked them.

Congrats on going to Berlin! I'm another Berlin enthusiast.

I would encourage you to read the Berlin portion of the Rick Steves Germany guide that deals with the city's sites. It will give you an overview of the "greatest hits" for Berlin and will probably help you prioritize what you want to see. If you don't buy it, that's okay, but at least go to the library or your local bookstore to read that section of the guide.

Definitely do a walking tour with one of the companies John mentioned; it will incorporate a lot of the Berlin sites that you want to see, including THE FORMER Checkpoint Charlie, which is now just a fake guard house with fake guards in the middle of a busy urban intersection. The best place to feel the enormity of the Berlin Wall (IMHO) is the Berlin Wall Memorial (Gedenkstaette Berliner Mauer), which has an excellent documentation center and a surviving portion of the Wall in its 1989 form (minus the dogs and the trip-wire machine guns). The video at the end of the documentation center made my eyes well up with tears.

Walking the dome of the Reichstag is also quite special. It's open late, so you can do it in the evening. I did it at twilight -- went up when it was light and stayed until it was dark. The Rausch Schokoladenhaus is super. The second story of the shop has a restaurant/cafe (good to reserve a spot on their website, which usually gets you a window seat) with nice views of the Deutscher Dom. It's a really nice place to sit and watch the busy-ness of Berlin while enjoying a dreamy dessert or cup of hot chocolate. Don't get the ice cream! It's disappointing.

I will once again agree with John and encourage you to find some light stuff to do. If you like classical music, think about a performance at the Philharmonie, or, closer to where you are staying, Konzerthaus Berlin. If you want to see what a German public library is like, wander over to the Berliner Stadtbibliothek; Google maps says it's a 12-minute walk from your hotel. John mentioned some shopping options; there are Ampelmann (the "green guy") stores all over the place that sell touristy items (like the Ampelmann key chain I have in my pocket right now!). If you want a shopping experience that is different from the usual commercial stuff, check out Prenzlauer Berg, which has interesting stores like VEB Orange (sells vintage DDR goods), St George's English Book Shop, Onkel Phillipp's Spielzeugwerkstatt (toy store with second-hand toys, many repaired in the workshop), and others.

Hi,

I'll focus on answering your Hamburg question on the cruise port since you did not get an answer. Forget the googling, not necessary, I don't use that anyway or know how.

Getting from the main train station in Hamburg (Hamburg Hbf) to the cruise port is ca. 5 mins once you board the U-Bahn or S-Bahn from Hamburg Hbf. It is the next stop from Hbf. called " Landungsbrücken." That is where you get off. You walk across the street to the big red buildings on the left in sequence with "Brücke 1, Brücke 2, " etc. You board there.

There are several historical sites connected to the war in Mitte. In Germany I almost always go to history museums alone. If your focus on the war is on man's inhumanity to man, there is a one grim, poignant place Americans don't mention as a war related site in Berlin to see...Gedenkstätte Plötzensee, ie the Plözensee Memorial, where the conspirators of July 20 met their horrific fate, Field Marshal von Witzleben, Helmut James von Moltke, etc You'll see it there. meat hooks and all.

More sites too, esoteric ones in Berlin if you want to see victims, if you are interested.

Gedenkstätte Plötzensee made it on my first itinerary in Berlin as a way to honor one of my favorite WWII figures... Helmuth Hübener, the youngest German executed by the Volksgerichtshof, an extra-constitutional tribunal established by the Nazis to try (in a very loose sense of the word) political prisoners. Hübener was 17 years old when he was arrested in 1942 along with three of his friends for printing and posting anti-Nazi pamphlets in Hamburg. Hübener, who wrote and printed the pamphlets, was defiant before the tribunal, deflecting its wrath from his friends onto himself. When he was sentenced to death, he told the tribunal, “Now, I must die, even though I have committed no crime. So, now it’s my turn, but your turn will come.”

The memorial at Plötzensee consists of a two-room shack that was used for executions. One room is the execution room, where death was by guillotine or "meat hook" for hanging. There's a drain in the floor where the guillotine stood; the meat hooks are still in place. The other room contains an exhibition about those who were executed there. The memorial is surrounded by the former prison for political prisoners that now serves as a correctional complex for youth offenders.

It's a little bit out from the city center... close to Tegel. It was incredibly important for me to see it, but I also had 8 days in Berlin.

Oh, yeah... food. Whatever you do, eat a Döner. They're cheap but incredibly delicious. Currywurst? It's a Berlin original but not my favorite. You probably should try it since you'll be in Berlin, though.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe -- definitely go to the visitor center (museum) downstairs. We were there several hours, reading all the stories, looking at photos. Not what your companion would like.
The open-air portion of the Memorial is open all the time, but the visitor center has specific hours.

Here is the trip report for what I did with 8 days in Berlin on my first trip there in May 2016 (as part of a longer trip).
Here is the trip report for what I did with 9 days in Berlin on my second trip there in May 2017 (also as part of a longer trip).
Next up: 10 days in Berlin in May 2018!
...and there are still things I want to do in Berlin that I won't make it to on this trip.

Another Insider Tours fan, pick your theme. Have done 5 of them. http://www.insidertour.com/

Other historic sites to see would be either Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp or Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. Both are near Berlin, but in opposite directions. Ravensbruck was for women which most people don't know about.
Perhaps visit Track 17? Very moving memorial. In the city itself there are memorials to other groups of persecuted people like the Roma & Sinti, Homosexuals, and the T-4 Program.

If you stay in a small hotel or Pension, don't expect to find an elevator....normally. . You will have to drag your stuff up at least one flight of stairs, maybe two flights. I've always stayed in Pensionen in Berlin, no elevator, lugged my luggage up the stairs.

What Fred said about getting to the cruise ship from the Hauptbahnhof (main station) in Hamburg is only partly correct. There is no single cruise port, but there are four possible departure points. See https://www.hamburgcruisecenter.eu/en/all-terminals
There you can also find out how to get to the various departure points.