Travelling to Berlin?
Berlin was cut in two by a wall for twenty-eight years, and the seam still shows: in the width of the avenues, in the design of the traffic lights, in which districts have nineteenth-century buildings and which have seventies blocks. It’s a poor capital for its size, very green, with more bridges than Venice, and the only one in the world where half of what you come to see are absences.
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What to see in Berlin
8 ROUTESOur routes, not a list of everything. Places that have been there for centuries: no opening times or prices, which go stale.
- 01
Berlin in a day
9 hAlmost everything to see runs in a straight line, along where the wall stood. You walk it, and you understand the whole city on the way.The Brandenburg Gate · The Reichstag and its dome · The Holocaust Memorial · Unter den Linden and Museum IslandRead the full guide - 02
A weekend in Berlin
20 hOne day for the centre and another for the wall and the east, where Berlin stops being a monument and starts being a city.Saturday: the central axis · Saturday afternoon: Bernauer Straße · Sunday: the East Side Gallery and Friedrichshain · Sunday afternoon: Tempelhofer FeldRead the full guide - 03
What to see in Berlin
14 hA city where half the visit is absences: a wall that’s gone, a palace demolished and rebuilt, and a museum closed until 2037.Museum Island, and what’s open · Checkpoint Charlie and the Topography of Terror · Alexanderplatz and the television tower · The Humboldt Forum and the palace that comes and goesRead the full guide - 04
Eating and drinking in Berlin
3 hThe sausage with curried ketchup was invented here in 1949, and the döner as you know it too: in bread, with salad.Döner and Turkish food · The Currywurst · The old-fashioned German tavern · The Späti and the long breakfastRead the full guide - 05
Where to stay in Berlin
1 hBerlin doesn’t have a centre, it has several. Choosing a district matters more here than in any other European capital.Mitte · Kreuzberg and Neukölln · Prenzlauer Berg · Friedrichshain · Charlottenburg and the westRead the full guide - 06
Day trips from Berlin
10 hA palace where Frederick the Great wanted to be buried with his dogs, and a concentration camp an hour away on the local train.Potsdam and Sanssouci · The Sachsenhausen memorial · Spreewald · Dresden, if you have the whole dayRead the full guide - 07
From Berlin airport to the centre
1 hBerlin’s ordinary ticket doesn’t reach the airport: BER is in zone C and you need an ABC one. It’s the easiest fine in the city.The FEX, the express · The S-Bahn, if you’re heading east · The regional trains, and the lines that no longer call · Neither Tegel nor Schönefeld: there’s one airportRead the full guide - 08
Berlin: practical tips
1 hNot a shop opens on Sunday, some places still don’t take cards, and the little man on the traffic light is East German.Sunday, closed · Cash, which here hasn’t died · Transport and the ticket you stamp · The Ampelmännchen and other eastern legacies · Mobile dataRead the full guide
Airport to city centre
4 OPTIONSThe real options, with what actually decides it: which terminal it leaves from and where it drops you. Fares and timetables live with the operator, who keeps them current.
- TrainFEX (Flughafen-Express)Berlin Hauptbahnhof, vía Südkreuz y Potsdamer PlatzThe airport express: about twenty-three minutes to the main station, every fifteen minutes, calling only at Südkreuz and Potsdamer Platz. The station is beneath Terminal 1, on level U2. You need an ABC ticket: the airport is in zone C and Berlin’s ordinary AB ticket doesn’t cover it.23-23 minFares and timesDB / VBB
- TrainS9 y S85Este de Berlín, vía Ostkreuz y Alexanderplatz (S9)The suburban train, every twenty minutes. Slower than the FEX because it stops everywhere, but it drops you straight in the east of the city (Ostkreuz, Alexanderplatz) with no change, and if your hotel is out that way it pays off. Same ABC ticket requirement.·Fares and timesS-Bahn Berlin
- TrainRE20, RB22, RB24 y RB32Berlín y el área de BrandeburgoThe regional trains, roughly hourly each, and the RE20 takes the same time as the FEX to the main station. Beware old guides: the lines calling at BER today are these plus the S9/S85. The RE7 and S45 still quoted around the internet are not. ABC ticket again.·Fares and timesDB / VBB
- TaxiCentro de BerlínThe ranks are outside Terminals 1 and 2. BER lies to the south-east, some twenty-five kilometres from the centre, considerably further out than old Tegel, so a taxi is a long ride and you feel it. With the FEX taking twenty-three minutes, it only pays off late at night, with a lot of luggage or in a group.·Fares and timesTaxi