The Wandering Hart

Berlin is a city full of history, museums, and a diverse array of food options. In 4 days you can definitely cover some of the highlights and my family and I had a great time touring around the city.

Sites & Itinerary

On our first day we stayed close to our hotel, Hotel Mercure at Checkpoint Charlie, and toured the sites around Checkpoint Charlie. The Checkpoint itself is pretty cool to see, especially with the zone entry signs, and you can see remaining parts of the wall on some nearby streets. One of the other sites we really liked in this area was Die Mauer Panorama, which shows a panoramic mural of what life around the wall looked like in the 1980’s. We also checked out the Topography of Terror museum about the Gestapo, which was very informative but also very dark (of course). It’s a free museum on the former site of the Gestapo headquarters.

On day two we focused on some classic Berlin sites: the Brandenburg Gate and a beer garden. We started the day walking towards the Brandenburg Gate, which is at one end of the Tiergarten (one of Berlin’s best parks). From the gate we slowly wandered through the park to the Cafe am Neuen See where we were able to grab food and some beers and rest near a beautiful lake.

On the way to the Brandenburg Gate we also managed to stop at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which was an impressive and touching monument. There is also a museum underneath for those that would like to learn more about the victims of the Holocaust, but we chose to focus only on the aboveground display.

For our third day we took the bus to a different section of town to go to the top of Fernsehturm, see some museums around Museum Island, and check out the Berliner Dom. Honestly I wouldn’t recommend the Fernsehturm – it’s very expensive and I actually enjoyed our views from the top of the Berliner Dom more. I definitely do, however, recommend heading towards Hackescher Markt if you’re in the area on a Thursday because they have a nice outdoor market that day. There’s also a cool graffiti art alley nearby (Haus Schwarzenberg).

From Hackescher Markt we went to the DDR Museum, which is right across from Museum Island and is a very interactive display about what daily life was like in East Berlin. It was one of my favorite museums of the trip and I’d definitely recommend it. Before moving on to Museum Island we opted to take a boat tour down the river for an hour! It ended up being a good time and was a way to see parts of the city we wouldn’t have otherwise. Once the boat tour was over we rushed over to Museum Island and to the top of Berliner Dom. Berliner Dom, which is Berlin’s most famous cathedral, is gorgeous and if you’re willing to take about 280 steps up to the viewing platform you’ll get some amazing views of the city (again, I’d argue cooler than those at the Fernsehturm). The rest of Museum Island is, of course, full of museum options but we chose to end our day with just a walk around the area and then head home.

For our final day in Berlin it was unfortunately pouring rain so we chose some indoor activities. First we took the U-Bahn and did a 2 hour tour of Templehof Airport, which is a former airport that closed in 2008. The airport building and airfield are now being used as a park, museum, and office rentals. I’d recommend booking the tour in advance as it can fill up. It was really interesting to hear about the history of the building, especially the US military usage of the space as a base and during the Berlin airlift. After that tour we took the U-Bahn back towards our hotel and walked to the Berlin Story Bunker. This is a museum about Hitler including a recreation of the bunker where he killed himself inside a real bunker from WWII. There was a ton of content inside and I thought it was really amazing and well-curated. We spent hours browsing the displays and listening to the audio guide.

Overall we really enjoyed our trip! Most of the itinerary we were able to group each day based on sites near one another and we managed to escape into some museums to beat the heat!

Recommended Restaurants

Berlin has some incredible food options. Below are the places we enjoyed the most.

Café am Neuen See: This beer garden along a lake in the Tiergarten is beautiful and the perfect place to spend a few hours drinking excellent German beer and enjoying some classic wurst.

Döner Kebab Restaurant TERAS: While in Berlin two dishes are basically mandatory to try – döner kebab and currywurst. This location close to Potsdamer Platz had excellent döner meal options, which were really delicious! They also happened to have currywurst but I did not try the dish there.

Yarok: This Syrian restaurant has multiple locations. We went to the one near Checkpoint Charlie. The platter for 2 provided a sampling of a ton of different items including some delicious hummus and the best falafel I’ve ever had.

Sagrantino: Italian might not be the first thing you go for after arriving in Berlin, but this small restaurant partway between Museum Island and Checkpoint Charlie was incredible. The pastas were so good we seriously considered going back a second night.

Brammibal’s Donuts: This is a local chain of vegan donuts. We got a sampling of several flavors and honestly couldn’t even tell they were vegan! In my opinion the best flavor was the salted caramel.

BBQ Kitchen: This place is I think a little more touristy but it was a convenient location to rest near Hackescher Markt and it’s where we got to try currywurst as well as grün (green) Berliner weisse, which is a wheat beer mixed with woodruff syrup which makes the drink green and sightly vanilla flavored. You can also order the beer in rot (red) and then it will be mixed with raspberry syrup.

Where to Stay and Transportation

I thought the Hotel Mercure at Checkpoint Charlie was a great hotel. Breakfast each morning was excellent and the location was super convenient. In general I’d recommend trying to stay somewhere around Checkpoint Charlie if you can because it will be walkable to many sights as well as public transit.

Public transit in Germany is very easy to navigate. To take the bus you can purchase tickets in advance via an app or in the bus, but to be honest the bus driver when we rode just waved us on. For the U-Bahn (subway) you purchase tickets right by the tracks, but it’s important to know that you need to validate them at machines near the ticketing machines before boarding the train! Validating will stamp your ticket with your transit start time and your ticket isn’t considered valid without that stamp.