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Berlin Tourism - Travel to Berlin

        

Berlin is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Germany and has a population of approximately 3.4 million people. In area, Berlin covers 892 square kilometres (as large as Munich, Stuttgart and Frankfurt combined). The city is situated on the Spree River and sprawls across the North German Plain.

Table of contents

Districts in Berlin

Berlin has been divided into 12 large districts since January 2001:

Previously, Berlin was organized into 23 smaller districts ("Stadtteile", "Bezirke") - many of these are still to be found in guidebooks and in popular conceptions of the city: Charlottenburg, Friedrichshain, Hellersdorf, Hohenschönhausen, Köpenick, Kreuzberg, Lichtenberg, Marzahn, Mitte, Neukölln, Pankow, Prenzlauer Berg, Reinickendorf, Schöneberg, Spandau, Steglitz, Tempelhof, Tiergarten, Treptow, Wedding, Weißensee, Wilmersdorf, Zehlendorf.

Understand Berlin Tourism

Berlin was multicultural before Berlin existed! The surrounding area was populated by Germanic Swabian and Burgundian tribes, as well as Slavic Wends in prechristian times, and the Wends have stuck around. Their modern descendents are the Sorbian Slavic-language minority who live in villages near the Havel and Spree rivers.

(That's Sorbian, not Serbian! The Sorb language belongs to the West Slavic group with Czech and Polish - all written with Latin characters - while the Serbs use Cyrillic, like Eastern Slavic languages such as Russian. As with many European minority groups, there has been a linguistic revival, and Sorbian has been actively taught in schools since 1948.)

Starting in the 1600s, with large numbers of French Huguenots fleeing religious persecution, Berlin has welcomed asylum seekers, religious, economic or otherwise. During the last fifty years, Turkish Gastarbeiter (guest workers) and large numbers of emigres from communist countries, including the former Yugoslavia and Vietnam, not to mention Soviet soldiers who refused to return home, have made Berlin more multicultural than ever.

Berlin is also a youth-oriented city. Before German unification, West Berliners were exempt from the West German civil/military service requirement. Social activists, pacifists and anti-governmental people moved to Berlin for that reason alone. Musicians and artists were given state subsidies, it was easy to stay out all night thanks to liberal bar licensing laws, and studying years at the university was a great way to kill time. Prenzlauer Berg is said to be the place in Europe with the highest baby-per-capita rate.

Berlin is a relatively young city by European standards, dating only to the thirteenth century, and it has always had a reputation as a place filled with people from elsewhere. Someone who has lived in Berlin for ten years will see themselves as a "true Berliner," looking down on the person who has only been there for five. It's sometimes tough to find someone born and raised here! This is part of Berlin's charm: it never gets stuck in a rut.

Germany took in more refugees than any other European country during and after the former Yugoslavia's civil war in the early 1990s. Most ended up in Berlin and Munich. Berlin's reputation as a liberal haven for artists and minorities is no doubt aided by the enormous student population filling three universities and countless technical schools.

But it's not all beer bashes and café-sitting. One of the most important "products" produced in Berlin by both academic and company-sponsored institutes is research. Research is exported around the world just like something tangible. It makes more sense to export research than products. German labor costs are tremendously high: unions such as IG Metall make the American auto industry's unions look like tea parties, and high labor costs mean expensive products. Today we have student strikes for no tuition fees. The universities are overfilled and most schools do not get enough money for material. The rate of 18% joblessness of Berlin is calculated without students.

Some famous artists of the region and their best-known works include Lucas Cranach the Elder, Lucas Cranach the Younger, Johann Gottfried Schadow, Marlene Dietrich (The Blue Angel) , Leni Riefenstahl (Triumph of the Will), Bertold Brecht (Threepenny Opera), Käthe Kollwitz, Kurt Tucholsky, Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Walter Gropius, Paul Klee, FW Murnau (Nosferatu), Fritz Lang (Metropolis), Volker Schlöndorff, Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire (German: Der Himmel über Berlin)), Blixa Bargeld/Einstürzende Neubauten, Christopher Isherwood, Gunter Grass (The Tin Drum), members of the Bauhaus architectural movement.

Berlin's Eastern and Western halves have an uneasy detente between them. Wessi is a derogatory nickname for a West German; its corollary is Ossi. The implication here is that after reunification, the West Germans automatically assumed the way they do things is the right way, and the way the Easterners should start doing it, too. Westerners got a reputation for being arrogant. They saw the Easterners as stubborn Communist holdouts only interested in a handout from the "rich West." Consider a shirt for sale in a shop inside the Alexanderplatz Deutsche Bahn station: Gott, schütze mich vor Sturm und Wind/und Wessies die im Osten sind ("God, protect me from the storm and wind, and Wessies who are in the East").

Get into Berlin

Travel to Berlin By Plane

Berlin has direct flight connections with a large number of European capitals and major cities. Low cost carrier EasyJet now flies from and to 13 destinations. Outside Europe, however, it is virtually impossible to find a direct flight to the city - long-haul travellers mostly fly into a major hub airport first (such as Frankfurt), before transferring to a flight to Berlin.

Berlin is served by a number of airports, of which Berlin Tegel (TXL) and Berlin Schönefeld (SXF) are the most important. The small airport Berlin-Tempelhof (THF) was used with the Berlin Air-Bridge (Berliner Luftbrücke) 1948 till 1949 and featured in movies like Billy Wilders "One Two Three" with James Cagney, Horst Buchholz and Lilo Pulver.

For all Berlin airports, consult: http://www.berlin-airport.de/PubEnglish/index.html

A large Project for the Berlin and the Brandenburg region is the new Airport "Berlin Brandenburg International" (BBI), see for details: http://www.berlin-airport.de/bbi/rubEnglish/index.html

See also discount airlines in Europe.

Travel to Berlin By Bus

See bus companies in Europe.

Get around in Berlin

Berlin's city centre is conveniently compact and most of the major sights and venues can be accessed easily enough on foot. Failing that, or in case of bad weather or little time, traveller can make use of the excellent bus and train services to get around. Taxi services are also easy to use, if much more expensive. (There is a fixed discount price for short distances with a taxi, named "Kurzstrecke", amounting to 3 €)

Check the Berlin route planner (in English) to get excellent maps and schedules for U-Bahn, Bus, S-Bahn and Tram or to print your personal journey planner. The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) (in English) have a detailed fare list on their web site. All tickets are valid for all means of public transportation even including ferries! Most people will be happy with a single-trip ticket inside Berlin (Zones AB) for 2.00 € or with a one-day ticket for 5.60 € (Zones AB). When travelling together with at most five people a group-one-day ticket for 14.00 € (Zones AB) might be the best choice. Day tickets are valid until three of the following morning.

Bicycle is another great way to tour Berlin. Berlin offers many Radwegs throughout the city (although not all are very smooth), and has very few steep hills . Bicycle is a very popular method of transportation among Berlin residents, and there is almost always a certain level of bicycle traffic. Bicycle rentals are available in the city, although the prices vary. In addition, the Deutsche Bahn (DB) placed many public bicycles throughout the city in 2003. These can be unlocked by calling a number on the bicycle with a cellphone (handi). Seeing Berlin by bicycle is unquestionably a great way, that will acquaint the traveler with the big tourist sites, and the little Sprees and side streets as well. Although its good to carry a map, in Berlin maps can be found at any U-Bahn station, and many Bus Stations, thus often eliminating the need to carry a map at all times. For more information on cycling Berlin, look to Berlin by Bicycle and ADFC Berlin

U-Bahn

The Berlin U-Bahn is something to behold. It is so charmingly precise! There is no immediate turnstiles to limit access, although trying to scam rides will inevitably lead to a ticket that can easily be more than 50 euro (and most residents claim see Ticket checkers once a month). In addition, all U-bahn stations now have signs that give a time of the next train, and its heading.

Detailed maps can be found in every U-bahn station, and route maps can be found on every train. U-Bahn stations can be seen from afar by their big, friendly blue U signs. Together with the S-Bahn, the U-Bahn provides a transportation network throughout the greater Berlin that is extremely efficient and fast. On the weekend nights of Friday and Saturday almost all U-Bahn and the major S-Bahn lines run all night, so returning from late night outings is easy, especially given the average start time of most 'parties' in Berlin (11pm?).

Bus

The easiest way to see the city

Bus 100 leaves from Zoo-station ("Berlin Zoologischer Garten") or U-Bahn station Alexanderplatz and crosses most of historic Berlin, including many of the sites listed here. For the price of a city bus ticket or daily pass it's possible to see much of the city from one of these double-decker tour buses. At the far end of the line is the stop Großer Stern, where the Siegessäule is located. Sit up top - it's easier to see the Reichstag. The Bus 200 takes nearly the same route, but over the Potsdamer Platz too.

See Berlin

Berlin does not attempt to hide the less savoury parts of its history: a visit to the Topography of Terror (Mitte), for example, provides interesting but sobering insights into the activities of the Gestapo in Berlin during the Nazi years (1933-1945). Many of the walking tours also discuss scenes both of Nazi activity and Cold War tension and terror.

The main floor houses the antiquities collection in an ongoing exhibit called "Neue Antike im Alten Museum" (New Antiquities in the Old Museum). Directly through the front door, entering from the Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden, now under reconstruction), there is a domed rotunda with red and white cameos, Greek-style, with statues of the gods. To reach the Hildesheim silver collection, go to the back of the rotunda, turn left, walk through the long gallery and turn left into a small room at the end.

When entering the square it's easy to miss the monument. Look dead center: the monument is underground. A piece of plexiglass allows the viewer to look underground into a large, white room, filled with entirely empty, blank white bookcases. The absence of books reminds the viewer just what was lost here: ideas. But the event did reveal things to come, as Author and philosopher Heinrich Heine, whose books were burned, said in 1821: "This was only the foreplay. Where they burn books, they will also burn people". He was correct.

But the original intentions for this square on Unter den Linden were much more positive when planned by Friedrich II and his court architect/builder Wenceslas von Knobelsdorff. In the mid-eighteenth century Friedrich intended to build an area called the Forum Fridericianum which would include buildings representing his, and ultimately, society's ideals. There would be an opera house to represent art, a building for education and research to serve Science (a concept which warranted increased funding by "enlightened" European monarchs during this time) and of course, a new downtown palace for the king.

On account of the Schlesian War, one of many petty Prussian territorial squabbles turned bottomless money pit, the palace could not be completed right away, but the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, designed by Knobelsdorff, was started behind what became St Hedwig's Cathedral (1773). Friedrich's Prinz-Heinrich-Palais took some time to build (1748-56). The last building of the Forum and Friedrich's monument to education, the Königliche Bibliothek (Royal Library, now known as the Alte, or Old Library) was completed 1775-80. Its immense, complicated Baroque facade led to its nickname, the "Kommode," as it is reminiscent of a large chest of drawers.

Renamed Bebelplatz in 1947 (after August Bebel, founder of the SPD, Germany's Social Democratic Party), today the area is best known for the bookburning monument by Micha Ullman (built 1994-95). It's no longer obvious that the surrounding buildings built by Friedrich were meant to be part of a unified whole.

It's located on Bernauerstrasse which itself is a street with a great deal of Wall history - the first recorded Wall related death was here, one of the famous tunnels and that famous photograph of the DDR border guard leaping over the barbed wire. At the memorial itself you can see a complete section of 4th generation wall - both inside and outside sections as well as peer through from the east side to see the remains of the electric fence and anti tank devices in the death strip. It really helps you understand what an incredible feat it was to get from one side to the other. Across the road is a museum to the Wall with a huge amount of info (almost entirely in German - but still worth a visit) There's now a viewing platform where you can look down on the death strip. Don't forget to walk up as much of Bernauerstrasse as you can as there are really good information boards highlighting the key events of the area.

At the intersection of Zimmerstrasse and Charlottenstrasse is the famous "You Are Now Leaving the American Sector" sign. The actual guardhouse from Checkpoint Charlie is now housed at the Allied Museum on Clayallee. For a more interesting exhibit, go to the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, a private museum with kitschy memorabilia from the Wall, as well as the devices GDR residents used to escape the East (including a tiny submarine!).

How did the checkpoint get its name? From the American military spelling alphabet - checkpoints "Alpha" and "Bravo" were at the autobahn checkpoints Helmstedt and Dreilinden. Checkpoint Charlie's atmosphere was not improved any 27 October 1961 when the two Cold War superpowers chose to face each other down for a day. Soviet and American tanks stood approximately 200 meters apart, making an already tense situation worse.

In the same building as the Kupferstichkabinett (Copperplate Etchings Gallery), the Gemäldegalerie contains an astounding array of paintings, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Goya, Velasquez and Watteau. The collection contains works from the old Bodemuseum on Museuminsel in the East, now closed, and the former Gemäldegalerie in Dahlem. Its strong points are German paintings of the 13-16th centuries, Netherlandish painting of the 15th and 16th centuries, Flemish paintings of the 17th century, and miniature paintings of the 16th-19th centuries. In the newer section of the museum, designed by architects Heinz Hilmer and Christoph Sattler, there is enough space to display 1,150 masterpieces in the main gallery and 350 in the studio gallery - of the almost 2,900 pieces in the European painting collections.

One of the most notable effects of having such a large French population was their influence on the infamous Berlin dialect. Berlinerisch words such as Kinkerlitzchen (from French "quincaillerie" - kitchen equipment) and Muckefuck (from French "mocca faux" - artificial coffee) are unique to the area.

The Französischen Dom (Dom = Cathedral) itself was built to resemble the main church of the Huguenots in Charenton, France, destroyed in 1688. It has housed the museum since 1929.

Controversy arose after the war over the various options presented by the half-ruined cathedral - should it be torn down completely and rebuilt? Or should the destroyed sections be left standing as a memorial, like the infamous Frauenkirche in Dresden? (Firebombed with the rest of Dresden by the Allies, only now is the Frauenkirche finally undergoing reconstruction). The four major sections of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedachtnis-Kirche (central space, foyer, new tower and chapel) placed around the ruined tower from the old church bridge the time gap between old and new. Mosaics and other remnants from the old church serve as a monument against war.

Today Karl Hochreiter leads performances of Berlin's Bach Choir in the new octagonal section of the church: the old section is more or less open to the elements, with net in the windows to keep out the birds instead of glass.

When the church was destroyed in 1938 and rebuilt in the 1970s, the communist officials intended to use it as a museum, which did not open until 1987. The museum includes sacred textiles and religious sculpture from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The Nikolaikirche is the showplace of the Nikolaiviertel, which isn't saying much.

For a glimpse at the Olympiastadion when it was new and not falling apart, rent Leni Riefenstahl's movie Olympia. Riefenstahl has been accused of purposefully producing propaganda for the Nazis, though in her autobiography she denies it. There is no argument, however, that she is an excellent filmmaker. Though the Nazis may have helped fund some of her productions, Riefenstahl's artistic vision is undeniable.

While it should have been finished at the end of 1998, Potsdamer Platz's revitalization is still going strong, making up for over fifty years of neglect. A 3-story American-style shopping mall (Potsdamer Platz Arkaden), the Sony Center, several large office highrises and Daimler-Benz's complex are some of the new business attractions on Potsdamer Platz, which was historically a heavily-trafficked area of Berlin. The Wall divided the Platz during the Cold War, but once more it plans to become the business center of Berlin (whereas Alexanderplatz is more a cultural and diplomatic center).

It has a rotating restaurant in the ball with spectacular views of the city. It's a 60's design classic inside and has a sort of James Bondesque feel about it.

Prices in the restaurant are more than at street level but still reasonable compared to most places - expect to pay about €15 a head min. The staff are notoriously brusque.

Legend has it... that the reflected cross that is visible on the ball on a sunny day is 1. a curse from the pope - as money earmarked for the catholics of the DDR was spent on the tower and 2. that the atheist communist government debated what to do about the cross - i.e. coat the ball, change the tiles etc, until some mentioned that it wasn't a cross at all but really a great plus sign for socialism.

Do Berlin

Parades

Learn

Work

Under the current economic climate, work is very scarce in Berlin. If you don't speak good German it's unlikely that you will find work easily, though if you are an EU citizen, a student or have a work permit you may be able to scrape by teaching English or working in a bar but it'll be tough, there's not much work around.

Buy

Since shopping hours were extended last year until 8pm on a Saturday in most places shopping has become much easier. Previously you had to rush around to get everything done before 4pm, or even 1pm in some parts of town. Sunday opening is still sadly not on the horizon, though if you have time to queue you can go to Friedrichstrasse or Ostbahnhof Stations to supermarkets there on Sundays. Note, the queue is usually to get IN the supermarket!

Ku'damm remains the main shopping street even now that the Wall has come down. KaDeWe (Kaufhaus Des Westens) at Wittenbergplatz is a must visit even if just for the vast food dept (which has an extremely confusing layout). It's reputedly the biggest department store on Continental Europe and still has an old world charm, with very helpful and friendly staff. Be aware that on a Saturday this shop can be unbearably busy, and seems to be full of rich, arrogant and extremely rude customers, so go during the week if you can.

Eat - Travel to Berlin

Eating out in Berlin is ridiculously cheap compared to any other West European Capital, or indeed even most other German cities. The city is very multicultural and most cultures' cuisine is represented here somewhere.

For eating out, note that it is best to ask if credit cards are accepted before you sit down - it's not that common to accept credit cards in restaurants in some parts (especially the former East) of the city.

One of the main tourist area to eat is Hackeschermarkt / Oranienburgerstrasse. This area has dramatically changed from what it was even two years ago. Once full of squats and probably not entirely legal bars and restaurants it had some real character and was a great place to be. However, it is rapidly becoming developed and corporatized, even the most famous squat and former Jewish department store burned out by the Nazis "Tacheles" has had a bit of a face lift.

So this means that, while there is a now a good choice of restaurants and bars in the area, they are very overpriced and the food is at best average quality. The "Assel" (it means Woodlouse:) on Oranienburgerstrasse furnished with DDR cast off furniture is still relatively authentic and worth a visit, especially on a warm summer night.

Oranienburgerstrasse is also an area where prostitutes line up at night, but don't be put off by this. Prostitution is legal in Berlin and the area is actually very safe.

For good cheap food Kastanienallee is better, again not what it once was since the developers moved in but still not yet as exploited as Hackeschermarkt. It's a popular area with artists, and students and has a certain Bohemian charm. Also home to the Prater, Berlin's oldest beer garden and an excellent place in the summer.

Note that the custom here is to tell the waiter what the price would be for the meal including the tip when you pay, rather than leave the money on the table. Normally 10% is ok, but waiters don't get paid much anywhere so if the service has been good feel free to tip more. Berlin is famous for bad service, though my experience generally is that it's rarely bad per se, just a little cold in some places. The service by contrast is far far better than what you would get in Vienna.

Drink

The Starbucks-ification of Berlin began about a year ago. A wholly unnecessary addition to a city which has had cafe culture and good coffee for at least 200 years. They seem to be popular with US tourists and it is one of the few places in the city where smoking isn't permitted, but probably has the among the most expensive coffee in the city. However, a few short strides away from most Starbucks are places to get great coffee.

===Clubs==

Sleep - Berlin Tourism

Contact

Stay safe - Berlin Tourism

Berlin is a remarkably safe place to be. There is very little crime anywhere. You can walk about alone pretty much most places any time of day or night.

Highest crime rate in the city centres around the U-Bahn Station at Kottbusser Tor, and this is really a pretty unpleasant place that tourists have little reason to visit.

The areas to the far East of the city, Marzahn etc, are notorious for gangs of Neo Nazis and best avoided - again there's not much for any tourist to see in this area.

Note that technically it's against the law to insult someone in public, so swearing at, or sticking the finger up at, someone on the street or in a car is pretty rare.

Biggest danger is crossing the road in some areas - don't assume drivers will stop! Jaywalkers should be warned, that few people in Berlin jaywalk because of the high speed of traffic.

Get out

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