8 ways to improve your Berlin city break

Great ways to improve a Berlin city break include exploring Bernauerstrasse, drinking in a former brothel and going on a Trabi Safari.

See the Berlin Wall remnants of Bernauerstrasse

Bernauerstrasse, just north of the city centre, is home to some remnants of the Berlin Wall. But most importantly, it has been largely preserved as a memorial. It shows clearly how it was not one wall but two, with a ‘death strip’ in the middle, and has museum-esque displays on the guards, split families, escape tunnels and those who died trying to cross.

Elsewhere, you can go canoeing and sing karaoke along the path on the wall.

Go old school on a Trabi Safari

Berliners have a semi-fond nostalgia for the divided Cold War era, and the Trabi Safari is an example of this. These tours of the city take place in old East German Trabants, the largely hapless, spluttering engine-propelled cars of the time. The novelty factor of getting behind the wheel makes it far more fun than a generic bus tour.  For an extra dose of East Germany, head to the DDR Museum.

Get a culture overload on Museum Island

Berlin’s big, serious traditional museums are concentrated in one place. Museum Island in the central Mitte neighbourhood hosts the Neues Museum, which majors in Ancient Egypt and the Altes Museum, which hones in on Greece and Rome. Meanwhile, the Pergamonmuseum focuses on monumental ancient architecture and the Alte Nationalgalerie has a massive collection of 19^th century art. Berlin Cathedral is also here.

Walk, drink and boat in the Tiergarten

Formerly a royal hunting ground for the Elector of Brandenburg, the Tiergarten is now where Berliners go to chill out. It’s easy to find your own spot, as woodland trails emerge at pompous statues, the neatly primped Rose Garden, sprawling beer gardens and cutesy little man-made islands. Lakes are used for boating in summer and ice skating in winter.

For more wildlife in this corner of West Berlin, the Berlin Zoo is next door.

Get unsettled by the Holocaust Memorial

Deliberately abstract and incredibly disturbing to walk through, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a field of 2,711 grey concrete stelae of varying heights. It looks a little like a cemetery, while the pathways through them are intentionally narrow to ramp up the sense of intimidation and unease. It’s next to the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s most famous symbol.

Hang out at RAW Gelände

RAW Gelände in the former Friedrichshain train yards is Berlin’s most impressive street art hotspot, but it also hosts nightclubs, an artificial beach bar, a poser-friendly pool inside the shell of an old factory, plenty of food trucks and art galleries. Basically, it is much of what makes Berlin cool in one grungy setting.

Enjoy the weird at Madame Claude

A fine encapsulation of Kreuzberg quirk, Madame Claude is a former brothel, accessed via dingy stairs. Once down there you can enjoy rudimentary cocktails and local craft beers, if you’re not too weirded out by the upside-down theme. Tables, chairs – even cigarette packets and decks of cards – are hanging down from the ceiling. There’s live music or DJs most nights.

Indulge in doner kebabs

The doner kebab as we know it was supposedly invented in Berlin. Pay tribute to this magical creation at one of the many, many Turkish restaurants and ‘imbiss’ stalls. Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg has a not-so-healthy cluster of Germany’s finest immigrant invention.

More Berlin travel

Other Berlin travel articles on Planet Whitley include:

• Taking the Berlin to Munich train.
• Is it realistic to do a Berlin to Prague day trip by train?
• How the Berlin Wall inspired a boom of creativity.
• How the Ampelmann became a beloved symbol of Berlin.
• Berlin to Dortmund train times and prices.