Sights and landmarks in Berlin

Sights and landmarks in Berlin

1. SeeTreptow-Köpenick

   Aerodynamic Park

   This aeronautical experimental park on the grounds of Germany's first air field Johannisthal consists of a group of several individual technical monuments such as the walkable Großer Windkanal (High-speed wind channel, 1932–34), the Trudelturm (Fatty tower), a vertical wind tunnel for spinning tests (1934–36), the Schallgedämpfter Motorenprüfstand (Sound-insulated engine test bed, 1933–35) and the Isothermische Kugellabore (Adlershofer Busen, Isothermal spheric laboratories, 1959–1961), which are about 500 metres away from the other monuments.

2. SeeCity West

   Akazien-/Goltzstraße

   Restaurants abound here, with cuisines ranging from Afghan to Nepalese and Thai, plus several pizzerias and sandwich places. Prices are low, especially compared with other locations in the tourist centre of Berlin. Around Eisenacher Straße (extension of Goltzstr.) you’ll find even more bars and cafés situated in the basements of nice old houses. During World War II, this part of Berlin was not destroyed by bombs as much as other parts of Berlin, so you can get an impression of how 19th-century Berlin's architecture looked.

3. SeeReinickendorf and Spandau

   Alt Lübars

   One of the most authentic and oldest villages (1247) in the outskirts of Berlin, it looks the same way it did some hundred years ago. Take S-Bahn 1 to Waidmannslust and then bus 222 to Alt-Lübars.

4. SeeMitte

   Alte Nationalgalerie

   Old National Gallery

   Specializes in 19th-century painting and sculpture; Monet, Manet, Cézanne, C. David Friedrich and other important 18th- and 19th-century artists are well-represented.

   Admission: €10, discounted: €5, children under age of 18 free

5. SeeMitte

   Altes Museum

   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.

   Admission: €10, discounted: €5, children under age of 18 free

6. SeeTreptow-Köpenick

   Altstadt Köpenick

   The old town of Köpenick is surrounded by water. Especially noteworthy are the Köpenick Palace which houses a museum of applied art and the Neogothic town hall.

7. SeeMitte

   Aquarium

   The largest aquarium in Germany with over 9000 animals that are presented on three storeys in a historic building. Aquarium Berlin is found on the premises of the Zoo, but can also be visited separately. One of the best places on a rainy day with children.

   Closed · opens 9 am tomorrow·Adult €15.50, student €10.50, family ticket €41

8. SeeTreptow-Köpenick

   Archenhold Observatory

   The longest moving refracting telescope is 21 m long with a lens diameter of 68 cm. This giant telescope was built in 1896 by Dr. Friedrich Simon Archenhold but is now part of the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin. It was the place where Albert Einstein presented his Theory of Relativity to the public in 1915.

   Museum: Wed-Sun 14:00-16:30. Guided tours: Thu 20:00; Sat Sun 15:00·Free, guided tour €6

9. SeeMitte

   Art Center Berlin Friedrichstraße

   Four floors of exhibitions with a relatively good variety of genres and artists. A very nice oasis of calm from the busy Friedrichstraße.

10. SeeMitte

    Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung

    Closed for renovations; the temporary Bauhaus-Archiv is at Knesebeckstraße 1-2 in Charlottenburg. Building designed by Walter Gropius. Inside a museum, library, cafe and shop.

    Wed-Mon 10:00-17:00·Sa-M €7/€4; W-F €6/€3

11. SeeCity West

    Bayerischer Platz

    The Bayerischer Platz is the centre of the Bayerisches Viertel ("Bavarian district", with many streets named after Bavarian cities), which was destroyed a lot more during World War II (about 60%). Somewhere around there Albert Einstein lived once. You’ll find several memorial signs providing information about the Nazi regime's persecution of gays and Jews.

12. SeeMitte

    Bendlerblock

    The Bendlerblock building complex has long held ties to the German military, first serving as the offices of the Imperial German Navy and today housing the Berlin offices of the Ministry of Defense. It was here where, on 20 July 1944, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and other officers led a coup that sought to remove Hitler and the Nazis from power. They failed and were summarily executed in the courtyard, where a memorial stands for these men who are considered German heroes by many. Inside the building you'll find the German Resistance Memorial Center, a permanent exhibit dedicated to the July 20 plot and other individuals in the German resistance.

    Mon-Wed Fri O9:00-18:00, Thu 09:00-20:00, Sat Sun and holidays 10:00-18:00·Admission and guided tours are free of charge

13. SeeEast Central

    Bergmannstraße

    K61

    Like Oranienstraße a street full of shops, cafes and restaurants, but in the other, more middle-class part of Kreuzberg.

14. SeeMitte

    Berlin Musical Instrument Museum

    Museum established in 1888, with a collection of 3,500 instruments.

15. SeeMitte

    Berlin Wall Memorial

    Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer

    The memorial site stretches along the full 1.5-km length of Bernauer Straße. The listing marker points to the visitor centre. Various monuments can be found along the entire length of the street, documenting nearby escape attempts and tunnels; captions are in German and English. The documentation centre across the street on Bernauer Straße/Ackerstraße is excellent (although most of the documentation is in German). The viewing platform next to the documentation centre gives you a tiny hint of the true scale of the Wall and how terrifying the "no man's land" between the two sections of walls must have been. The monument (that you can see from the platform) is a complete section of 4th generation wall - both inside and outside sections, and you can 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 -- and why so many died doing it. The memorial site is often missed by tourists but an absolute must for anyone interested in this part of the city's history. It's a memorial to those who died crossing, so you won't, fortunately, get the tackiness of the Checkpoint Charlie area; instead you will be left with a haunting feeling of what life with the wall may have been really like. Bernauer Straße is a street with a great deal of Wall history: it came to tragic prominence on August 13, 1961 when East German authorities closed the border and the street (with houses in the East but the street in the West). Border guards walled the doors and windows shut to keep Easterners from escaping by jumping out the window while Westerners (including police and fire brigades who brought life nets to help catch refugees) looked on in horror. The first recorded Wall-related death - the notorious Peter Fechter case (he bled to death in the "no-man's-land" with both sides unwilling or unable to help him) - was here, as was one of the fam

    Memorial grounds daily 08:00–22:00. Visitor Centre and Documentation Centre: Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00, Mon closed·Free; guided tour €3.50

16. SeeEast Central

    Berlin from below

    Berliner Unterwelten

    Go on guided tours below Berlin to the World War II bunkers, flak towers, Cold War defence shelters, etc.

    Several daily tours 10:00-16:00 in different languages

17. SeeCity West

    Berlin sculpture

    Once part of the Skulpturenbulevard project, this sculpture was made for the 750th anniversary of Berlin (in 1987). It consists of four steel tubes looping but not touching each other, symbolizing the division of the city.

18. SeeTreptow-Köpenick

    Berliner Bürgerbräu

    The building of one of Berlin’s oldest breweries is a ravishingly beautiful and heritage-protected industrial monument.

19. SeeMitte

    Berliner Dom

    Berlin Cathedral

    The city's Protestant cathedral and the burial place of the Prussian kings. You can climb to the top and get a view of the city.

    Mon-Sat 09:00–20:00, Sun and holidays 12:00–20:00·€7, concessions €5

20. SeeCity West

    Berliner Funkturm und Messehallen

    Radio Tower Berlin and Messe)

    150 m high lattice tower with open-air observation deck 124 m above ground.

    Tower viewing platform: Mon 10:00–20:00, Tue–Sun 10:00–23:00, limited access during trade fairs·Tower viewing platform: €5, concession €2.80

21. SeeEast Central

    Berlinische Galerie

    A museum of modern art, photography and architecture. Its collection focuses on art created in Berlin.

    Wed-Mon 10:00-18:00·Adults EUR 8, concessions EUR 5, under 18 free. Every first Monday of the month €4. Reduced admission if you show a ticket from the nearby Jewish Museum

22. SeeSteglitz-Zehlendorf

    Bierpinsel

    Turmrestaurant Steglitz

    The Bierpinsel ("beer brush") is a building in Steglitz which resembles an observation tower and is famous for its pop-art appearance. The futuristic, landmarked building was built from 1972 to 1976 and has since been used as restaurant, night club, bar, radio station and art café.

23. SeeMitte

    Bode-Museum

    The museum’s treasures include the sculpture collection with works of art from the middle ages to the 18th century. The Bode museum is best known for its Byzantine art collection and the coin cabinet.

    Fri–Wed 10:00–18:00, Thu 10:00–20:00·Admission: €10, discounted: €5, children under age of 18 free

24. SeeEast Central

    Boxhagener Platz and surroundings

    Boxhagener Kiez

    The area around Boxhagener Platz is filled with bars, cafes and small shops. Boxhagener Platz itself is a small park with a playground and a cafe, and the nearby Simon Dach Straße is filled with cheap bars and restaurants. At the weekend you can find many places that serve the famous, cheap Berliner brunch. On Sundays there is a small flea market worth strolling around

25. SeeMitte

    Brandenburg Gate

    Brandenburger Tor

    The only surviving Berlin city gate and a potent symbol of the city. This is the point where Straße des 17. Juni becomes Unter den Linden. The gate was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans in 1791 and was intended to resemble the Acropolis in Athens. The Brandenburg Gate now symbolizes reunification, after dividing East and West Berlin for decades. This is the site of Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev open this gate, Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall" speech.

    Open now · open 24 hours·Free

26. SeeCity West

    Bröhan Museum

    A small but interesting collection of decorative arts from the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods

27. SeeSteglitz-Zehlendorf

    Brücke-Museum

    Works from the Dresden art collaborative called "Die Brücke".

    Wed-Mon 11:00-17:00

28. SeeCity West

    Buchstabenmuseum

    Like the name says, this museum showcases letters that have been used in signage as well as entire signs, illuminated and non-illuminated with focus on Neon sign.

    Thu-Sun 13:00-17:00·Adults €12, reduced price €6.50

29. SeeMitte

    Bundeskanzleramt

    Federal Chancellery

    The building houses the personal offices of the Chancellor and the Chancellery staff. The Berlin Chancellery is one of the largest government headquarters buildings in the world. By comparison, the new Chancellery building is ten times the size of the White House. A semi official Chancellor's apartment is on the top floor of the building. The 200-m², two-room flat has thus far only been occupied by Gerhard Schröder chancellors since then have lived elsewhere. It is usually not possible to visit the building, but on occasion there are tours, usually around August. The building was deliberately designed in a way to symbolize the German constitutional system - it's in the line of sight of the Bundestag and lower in height, symbolizing the role of parliament in controlling government and "the people's house" being the higher power in the relationship between the two. Or at least that's the idea.

30. SeeCity West

    Charlottenburg Palace

    Schloss Charlottenburg

    One of the oldest buildings in Charlottenburg and actually the reason for the whole city to be built.

    Apr-Oct: Tue-Sun 10:00-17:30; Nov-Mar: Tue-Sun 10:00-16:30·€10, reduced €7

31. SeeEast Central

    Checkpoint Charlie

    It was the only border crossing between East and West Berlin that permitted foreigners passage. Residents of East and West Berlin were not allowed to use it. This contributed to Checkpoint Charlie's mythological status as a meeting place for spies and other shady individuals. Checkpoint Charlie gained its name from the phonetic alphabet; checkpoints "Alpha" and "Bravo" were at the autobahn checkpoints Helmstedt and Dreilinden respectively. Checkpoint Charlie's atmosphere was not improved at all on 27 Oct 1961 when the two Cold War superpowers chose to face each other down for a day. Soviet and American tanks stood approximately 200 m apart, making an already tense situation worse. Now the remains of the Berlin Wall have been moved to permit building, including construction of the American Business Center and other institutions. At the intersection of Zimmerstraße and Friedrichstraße (U-Bahn Kochstraße U6) is the famous "You Are 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. This is a private museum with kitschy memorabilia from the Wall and the devices GDR residents used to escape the East (including a tiny submarine!). There are also people who set up booths here offering to stamp your passport with souvenir stamps in exchange for a small fee. You are highly advised not to put these stamps in your passport, as these are not official stamps and could invalidate it. Instead, bring along an expired passport or a small booklet to put the stamps in.

32. SeeEast Central

    Computerspielemuseum

    Exhibition of digital interactive entertainment culture. You can actually play almost all of the exhibits making it a more "hands on" museum than most.

    Wed-Mon 10:00-20:00·€8, reduced €5

33. SeeMitte

    DDR Museum

    A museum dedicated to everyday life in communist East Germany. The museum has very relaxed rules and you are allowed to touch and examine almost every object, which adds greatly to the experience.

    Sun–Fri 10:00–20:00, Sat 10:00–22:00·€7, concession €4

34. SeeMitte

    Deutsches Historisches Museum

    German Historical Museum

    German historical museum covering everything from pre-history up to the present day. One can spend many, many hours here! The building from 1695/1730 was the Zeughaus (Arsenal) until 1876.

    10:00–18:00·€8, concession €4, under-18s free

35. SeeReinickendorf and Spandau

    Dicke Marie

    Not far away from Schloss Tegel (at the "große Malche") you can take a look at the oldest tree in Berlin, an oak which has been growing there since about 1192 (so it's actually older than Berlin itself). The name ("fat Mary") allegedly stems from the brother Humboldt who named the tree after their overweight cook.

36. SeeEast Central

    East Side Gallery

    The longest stretch of the Berlin Wall still in existence, painted by artists in 1991 and restored in 2009, after years of decay. At Mühlenstraße, next to the river Spree. The murals are painted on the east side of the wall after the fall of Communism; so they are not from the Cold War, during which murals could only be painted on the west side. Make sure not to miss the famous mural of a car seemingly crashing through the wall with Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing above it. It is actually on the back side of the gallery (it is facing away from the street.) It is just inside the entrance of the Eastern Comfort Hostel, near the east end of the gallery.

    Open now · open 24 hours·Free

37. SeeSteglitz-Zehlendorf

    Ethnological Museum

    Again one of the world's most comprehensive ones. At the museum district of Dahlem.

    Closed as of August 2017

38. SeeMitte

    Fernsehturm

    Television tower

    At 368 metres, the Fernsehturm is Berlin's tallest and indeed EU's second-tallest building, complected between 1965 and 1969. The main function of the building is television broadcasting, but the shiny sphere atop the tower houses a viewing platform, a restaurant and a Berlin Tourist Information point. The viewing platform sits 203 metres above ground, affording views of as much as 42 km away and featuring a bar. Given how flat Berlin is, it's not a very interesting view however and the state of the glass means that you can't get good photos either. The Sphere restaurant at 207 metres rotates at a speed of one full spin per 30 minutes. There are two lifts from the base to the platform and cafe, taking 40 seconds to reach the top, as well as a 986-step staircase. The Fernsehturm is not accessible to wheelchair users. Not all of the Berliners liked the tower and the overall composition of the Alexanderplatz afforded by the socialist city planners. East German T.V. tried to establish the nickname "Telespargel" ("television asparagus") which however doesn't seem to have caught on. During certain times of day, sunlight reflecting from the top caused a large cross-shaped light to shine down on the city. Called the Rache des Papstes (Pope's revenge) by nominally atheist East Berliners, the light-cross was an ironic result of socialist architecture. Rumour has it the architect was deprived of more than his next commission after that fiasco. At night, the Fernsehturm sometimes appears to be shooting light beams from the tower section, giving the impression it's a Death Star à la Star Wars.

    Mar–Oct 09:00–00:00, Nov–Feb 10:00–00:00·€13, children €8.50 (if prebooked, slightly more walk up). Discount with voucher from other attractions

39. SeeMitte

    Französischer Dom

    French Cathedral

    The French cathedral houses the Hugenottenmuseum. It represents the ongoing influence on Berlin by the Huguenots who emigrated from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Crown Prince Friedrich William encouraged them to settle here because most of them were skilled workers or otherwise useful to the kingdom. One memorable artwork, in room nine of the museum, pictures Crown Princess Dorothea exclaiming "But he's a refugee!" upon being presented a very valuable set of jewels by Pierre Fromery. The generally agreed-upon view of refugees as poor, without resources let alone diamonds, was blown apart by the talented French Protestants forced to leave their country due to religion. 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, though that etymology is not universally accepted) are unique to the area. The Französischen 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. Closed till 2019

    Tue–Sun 12:00–17:00·€2

40. SeeMitte

    Friedrichswerdersche Kirche

    Friedrichswerder Church

    Nice church near Unter den Linden/Museum Island, finished in 1830 by Schinkel in English Neogothic style. Nice exhibition inside (neoclassical statues and an exhibition about Schinkel's life and work upstairs).

    Free

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Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Berlin (CC BY-SA 4.0).