Hi, all. We are doing the RS Poland tour October 2027, but have always wanted to visit Berlin. We are avid cyclists and are interested in renting bikes and cycling the Mauerweg. Any suggestions about how many days to spend in Berlin to see the highlights + a couple of days to do the ride?
I’ve been searching through the room and have seen great recommendations for the Adina hotel.
Our tour starts in Gdansk, so fly or train there? We prefer not to drive on vacation.
Thanks in advance!
It all depends on what your interests are…museums, memorials, neighborhoods, shopping, food tours, music….we spent 3 days walking and still didn’t see everything we wanted to.
I absolutely loved Berlin and was there a year ago in early October during the marathon. I had 5 full days and would have liked a couple more! I saw just a tiny part of the trail at one erywhere is so powerful.
https://berlinwallmap.info/cycling-the-berlin-wall-the-berliner-mauerweg
I looked it up just now- how prefect for you, with public transport built into the route. I would absolutely suggest the tour/time reservation for the Reichstag one of your days. For the rest (mine was history/politics/Jewish history) as noted, it depends what your interests are, for more suggestions.
Thanks, margie and Bon Voyage!
We like everything except shopping...museums, memorials, food, cycling, hikes/walking tours, music and dance performances...the works!
I just put a bug in my husband's ear about the Berlin Marathon...he always wanted to run that! We're both former marathoners, but have switched to cycling (me for knees). Maybe he has one more in him...ha! I see registration will open soon for the lottery for next year's race.
Appreciate your input!
With only a few days available, this would be down several places on the my list but you might find it worthwhile -
Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) food floor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaufhaus_des_Westens
6th and 7th floors are entirely devoted to food, and are advertised as having two football fields of food.
6th floor: food hall, famous for its wide variety of groceries, food and beverages. It has around 110 cooks and 40 bakers and confectioners, supplying 35 gourmet counters and restaurants.
7th floor: (added in the early 1990s) includes a winter garden with a 1000-seat restaurant surrounded by an all-windowed wall offering a view over Wittenbergplatz.
Not sure but when I was there in the wall route was marked with a dotted line and before the wall opened we used it for patrolling every night.
I was stationed in Berlin 1991-1994
They don't call them P & T tickets, but they have 24 hour passes costing 11.20 EUR for zones A & B, or 12.90 EUR for zones A,B & C. Good for all public transport, bus, tram, U-Bahn and S-Bahn.
https://www.bvg.de/en/subscriptions-and-tickets/all-tickets/24h-tickets/24h-ticket
Obviously, you can spend any amount of time you like and probably still not see everything there is to see, but if you've got the time, a week would be great. I was there in 2022 and spent 4 nights at the beginning of my trip and then another 3 nights at the end. That was a really nice amount of time to see a lot of the sites and much of what Berlin has to offer.
If you tack on extra nights, you can always add in day trips outside of the area, but Berlin itself certainly has enough to keep you occupied for at least 4-5 nights.
We did 6 nights/5 days in Berlin in 2023 (we then headed to Munich for Oktoberfest) and on a trip back in 2015, I think I spent about 4 days there.
In 2023, we fit a lot in but also enjoyed chilling in the late afternoon/evening at urban beer gardens and bars. Berlin is a fantastic city and I would definitely go back to spend more time exploring.
I spent nine nights there, which was about right for me. But I didn't get involved in any cycling or marathons or such, that would have added time (plus recovery time in my case).
