Two days in Berlin

Berlin is a great city with an excellent public transportation system. Use the U-Bahn (underground transportation), the S-Bahn (fast train) trams, or buses to get around.

There's so much to see and do that with 2 days you'll have to prioritize. We enjoyed the museums (Pergamon Egyptian, and Checkpoint Charlie), the East Side Gallery, the Brandenburg Gate, and much more. Rick's book provides details on a "Do-It-Yourself" Tour using Bus #100--it would be a great orientation.

There have been some museum renovations in progress so check Museum Island Website for updates.

We're heading to Berlin for a few days in October, and from what I've read, you might want to get a WelcomeCard. It's good for unlimited rides on the buses, U-Bahn, and S-Bahn, and it also gives you 25% off a lot of the big museums/sights. Here is a website with info on that. It's available in 48- and 72-hour versions, so if you'll be there for at least two full days, it's probably a good deal.

Berlin is such a large city that truly the best way to see it and its many sights is to take one of the walking or bike tours that are on offer there. Most of them only cost 12-15 euro for a 4 hour tour! This is a bargain and you will get so much more out of your visit than just walking around with a guidebook. Do it your 1st day there and you will also have a great orientation to the city.

I usually recommend reading the tour reviews over on Trip Advisor as they are very current and you can compare the quality companies easily. (The Graffiti Wall here, seems to be overtaken with Rome tours.)

Check out Insider Tours, Original Walk Tours, Fat Tire Bike Tours, or Berlin Walk tours.

My friend and I were there for 3.5 days and it was actually cheaper for us to buy a daily transportation pass for 6.10 euros (not sure if it included buses, but we never had to take a bus because the S-bahns and U-bahns were so convenient) instead of a discount card. I studied art history and love museums, but even I burned out after a few hours at the Pergamon Museum (which was awesome and definitely worth seeing). We decided against getting a card because even though it gives you discounts to museums, you won't get the most out of the card unless you visit over half of the museums on the discount list.

We were trying to save money so we only went to 2 museums (the second was the Museum for Photography, also very good) and the rest of the time saw free things: the Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden, the Gedaechtniskirche, the Reichstag (you can take an elevator to the rooftop for free). If you'll be there on a Sunday, there's the Flohmarkt (flea market) in former East Berlin and every Sunday night is a free orchestra concert outside the Bode Museum on Museumsinsel.

Bear in mind that it's a HUGE place and forget trying to walk around!

Definitely the Brandenburger Tor and the Checkpoint Charlie museum.

In addition to the good suggestions by the previous posters, I found it interesting to walk for a while where the Wall used to be and just contemplate. There is a small brick trail that shows where it was. My husband and I had someone take a photo of us on opposite sides, touching hands across the divide. I suppose a lot of people do that, but it was still interesting for us.

Making lumps of "the wall" for sale to tourists is quite an industry. Don't buy any!