🇩🇪 Germany

10 best places in Berlin

Berlin is a city of contrasts, where Prussian grandeur sits next to raw industrial spaces and twentieth-century history is written straight onto the streets. It's cheap, unpretentious, and never short of something happening, from techno basements to museum islands.

Sight

Brandenburg Gate

The city's defining landmark and symbol of a reunited Germany, anchoring the end of Unter den Linden.

Sight

Reichstag Building

Norman Foster's glass dome offers sweeping views and a pointed reminder of parliament's turbulent past.

Museum

Museum Island

Five UNESCO-listed museums packed onto a river island, home to the Pergamon Altar and Nefertiti's bust.

Sight

East Side Gallery

The longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall, painted by artists from around the world.

Park

Tiergarten

A vast central park perfect for cycling, picnics, and escaping the city buzz minutes from downtown.

Sight

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

A field of 2,711 concrete slabs near Brandenburg Gate that stops visitors in their tracks.

Market

Markthalle Neun

A covered market hall in Kreuzberg famous for its global street-food stalls and weekly Street Food Thursday.

Café

Five Elephant

A cult coffee spot by the Landwehr canal roasting its own beans and baking the city's best cheesecake.

District

Kreuzberg

A multicultural neighborhood of Turkish markets, punk bars, and street art on every corner.

Restaurant

Curry 36

The legendary currywurst stand where Berliners of every stripe queue side by side.

FAQ

When is the best time to visit Berlin?

May to September: long daylight, parks, lakes and open terraces. Winter is grey and dark early, but museums are empty and the Christmas markets run in December. The weather is changeable year-round, so bring a rain jacket whenever you come.

How many days do you need in Berlin?

Four days cover the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Museum Island, the East Side Gallery and a couple of neighbourhoods like Kreuzberg and Prenzlauer Berg. The city is spread out, so budget time for getting around. Register in advance for the Reichstag dome.

Is Berlin expensive to live in?

Cheaper than Munich, Paris or London, but it stopped being a bargain years ago. The hard part is finding a flat at all - viewings routinely draw dozens of applicants. Food, transport and culture stay affordable, though high taxes and mandatory health insurance add up.

How do you move to Germany?

The main routes are a work visa or EU Blue Card, study, a job-seeker visa, and the freelance visa that Berlin's creative scene relies on. Germany has rewritten both its immigration and naturalisation rules in recent years, including the timeline to citizenship. Verify the current requirements before you file anything.