I am not going to Berlin

...but my Husband is!

Markus Spiske

Tair and his mom are off to Berlin for a long weekend of mother-son bonding time before our big move in May. Since her husband, Boris, and I are the resident trip planners in the family, I still did most – okay pretty much all – of the all the travel planning.  And because neither Boris or I are going along to make sure everything goes smoothly, I was extra meticulous in my instructions for the two travel novices. I have to say after planning this trip I really want to take my own German excursion.

So! If you're luckier than me and will be traveling to Berlin sometime soon, here's my March 2018 city guide. I'll let you know when they get back if I gave good advice or not! 😉

➳ Jump straight to the interactive map

Food: What to eat in Berlin

So let's start with the most important.
Here's a great list from Bon Appetour to get you started on the types of chow you should be looking for in Berlin: Foods to try in Berlin

Even if you don't find yourself at one of the hotspot restaurants, you can make your experience more authentic by trying the city's local cuisine. Who knows, maybe you'll discover the next big thing while it's still a hole in the wall!

That being said, here are the places I found with great reviews across a few different websites for getting some classic German food at very reasonable prices.  I kept my search focused on the Mitte district since Tair and Alla would be doing most of their traveling on foot and that's where their hotel is. There are also a lot of highly lauded restaurants outside of the central tourist zone if you don't mind taking a bus or cab to dinner.

Curry61
Currymitte Berlin
Steel Vintage Bikes
Markthalleneun

Food Tours - Full disclaimer: I've never done a food tour in any city, every in my whole life. But I like walking and I like eating so I think this could be something fun to do. These tours were both recommended and cost €29 per person, including price of food:

Berlin Classics
Berlin Food Adventure

Berlin Museums

Museum Island, located in the middle of the Spree river in the central Mitte district, houses some of the most famous museums in Berlin. Each museum on the island costs a €12 entry fee, or if you want to go museum-hopping you can get a pass for all six museums for €18. Obviously if you plan to visit more than one (and I think you should) then go for the pass.

When we were in London, we went to the British museum twice and loved it both times (okay so Tair fell asleep on the second visit but that's a different story). So when I was looking for museums for him to check out with his mom, I kept those kind of collections in mind and specifically for Tair I suggested the Neues and Pergamonmuseum.

Neues Museum - Tair is nuts about ancient Egypt, so with it's prized bust of Nefertiti and countless other Egyptian treasures, the Neues Museum is a must-stop for him.

Pergamonmuseum - This museum houses huge facades and edifices featuring Greek, Roman and Islamic art and architecture.

Less Conventional Museums

DDR Museum - This Interactive Museum about East Germany came highly lauded on various travel blogs and websites. You can drive in a simulation of a Trabant P601, listen in on a Soviet wiretap and the best part, touch just about everything. My only concern is that as a family friendly museum, it might be overflowing with young kids, especially on the weekends. If kids aren't your thing, shoot for a time during the week or around lunchtime. Regardless, at only €5.50, I definitely would check it out.

Currywurst Museum - They may be using the word "museum" a little loosely here. This exhibit tells the history of Berlin's favorite street food, the Currywurst Sausage. I'm not sure that it's worth the €11 entry fee, but any museum with a giant sausage-shaped couch had to go on a list for Tair.

Berlin Underwelten - Tair and I love to visit abandoned and run-down places. We made our own walking tour of the UN buffer zone in Cyprus, peeking through cracks in the barriers and we signed up months in advance to tour the crypts under St Peters Basilica in the Vatican so this one I really want to visit and will be very envious if they do make it part of their itinerary. The Underground Museum features four different tour options guiding visitors through underground bunkers in Berlin that were used during WWII and the Cold War. Each tour costs about €12 and must be purchased from the bookshop at Brunnenstraße 105 on the day of the tour.

Top Sights in Berlin

Ingo Joseph

Reichstag/Bundestag - There are a few options for visiting the Reichstag building. You can go on a guided tour which lasts about 90 minutes, watch a plenary sitting from the public gallery, or like most visitors, pop straight up to the dome with an audio guide for a nice view. Tair and his mom are opting for the dome visit. All of the tour options are free but require a registration in advance.

The registration process is a little confusing so I'll lay it out for you. First you'll need to visit this site and choose your tour option at the bottom. In this case we chose "Visit the Dome". You'll be asked to add the number of visitors and then choose a date; if you're looking for a guided tour the options fill up pretty quickly so I'd suggest that you book early if you can. You can choose up to three dates/times that suit you and the Reichstag staff will assign one to you. Then you'll need to fill out all of your contact details and save your request. Once you have saved your request, you'll get an email with a link to a page where you will have to list the visitors coming with you. Finally you'll get an email with an invitation letter that you'll need to present when you arrive at your allocated time.

Berliner Fernsehturm - The big TV tower costs €19.50 for a fast pass which saves you time waiting in line. There is a restaurant at the top so it may be better to avoid meal times if you want to miss the crowds.

Other Can't-Miss Photo Ops

Brandenberg Gate
Alexander Platz
Gendarmenmarkt
Unter den Linden - Street

Shopping

Berlin Shops for normal people

Rausch Chocolate Shop - Okay so it may look like I'm dropping hints by putting a world class chocolate shop on suggested shops to visit, but is it really hinting anymore if my last text to Tair before he flew was "Don't forget my chocolate!"?

Winterfeldt Markt - Market with food, flowers, vegetables

Shops for Tair aka: Where to by diecast models in Berlin

Tair collects diecast model cars so before every trip we take, I research model car shops and local toy stores to be sure that we don't miss any model-buying opportunities while we're abroad. I will say that typically we find the best deals in toy and hobby shops that aren't dedicated to models but if you're looking for something specific or rare then the model shops are definitely the way to go. Either way it's fun to visit dedicated models shops just to see the sheer variety of vehicles that they offer.

CK-Modelcars - If you like classic cars, this is the ultimate model car shop to visit, located in the heart of Classic Remise, you'll be shopping for model cars surrounded by full-size restored classics.

Modellautos - 42 Leibnizstraße, Berlin, Germany

There's a Toys R Us and a few other toy/hobby shops in the Mall of Berlin

Getting from Berlin Tegel to Mitte

The cheapest and quickest way to get into Mitte from Tegel airport is to take the express TXL bus from the airport, outside Terminal A, to the right of the taxi stand. The bus costs €2.80 for a single trip and has space for your luggage. It runs every 6-10 minutes and takes about 20- 30 minutes to get into Mitte.

German Wifi and SIM Cards

At the time of publishing it looks like O2 has the best deal on prepaid sims with 3GB data for €15 or 1.5GB for €10. When we were in Prague I found that O2 did not have the best coverage but I'll let you know how it goes for Tair in Berlin.

If you're not worried about constant connectivity, Berlin offers dozens of free WiFi hotspots around the city. You can find the full list of hotspots here and see all of hotspots in the Mitte district in purple on the map below. I've also mapped some McDonalds (red) and Starbucks (green) locations since they both typically offer free Wifi as well.

Map of Berlin Sights, Museums, Restaurants and more