Few Days in Berlin
Discussion
Anything good to see? Quite like history so will do the usual Brandenberg gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the like. Anything a little more left-field for a single mid 20's male? Good nightclubs (not quite the KittyKat club, more dance/trance, although alternative adult clubs a possibility), quite bars, nice resturants etc? I am there for 4 nights, so probably do a German Market if any are open, the rest is pretty much free.
Go see unter berlin. Tours of the cold war bunkers especially. It will blow your mind. Also there is a prison in the north used by East German police. Can't remember the name but it is popular.
If you have 2hrs for a walk go to Treptower park. Walk along the path through park and in the centre is a grave for 40,000 Russian soldiers. I found it to be a very interesting place as did my parents when I brought them.
If you have 2hrs for a walk go to Treptower park. Walk along the path through park and in the centre is a grave for 40,000 Russian soldiers. I found it to be a very interesting place as did my parents when I brought them.
kicks said:
If you have 2hrs for a walk go to Treptower park. Walk along the path through park and in the centre is a grave for 40,000 Russian soldiers. I found it to be a very interesting place as did my parents when I brought them.
Walk a bit further and you come to Plänterwald and see the disbanded amusement park Spreepark, which appeared in the film Hana.My two recommendations are:
Berliner Unterwelten - a choice of tours, we did Tour 1 (Dark Worlds). An informative 90 minutes of an underground shelter within an underground station. Cost €10 and worth every cent. Unfortunately some of the tours close in October so missed out doing them.
Stasi Prison - a bit out of town but easy to get to via Tram 5 or 6 from Alexanderplatz. A bargain at €6 for a tour that lasted about 75 minutes.
Edited by Planet Claire on Tuesday 14th November 08:17
The Reichstag building is worth a visit - need to book in advance.
East Side gallery.
Street art tour.
Loads of very cool bars.
Berghain nightclub is supposedly very good - it has a very random door policy, but one of the group I went with last year split off and chanced getting in, which he did. Said it was the best club he'd ever been to.
East Side gallery.
Street art tour.
Loads of very cool bars.
Berghain nightclub is supposedly very good - it has a very random door policy, but one of the group I went with last year split off and chanced getting in, which he did. Said it was the best club he'd ever been to.
Just for completness now Ive been there I'll add some comments.
Firstly thanks for the suggestions.
The bunker tour was great.
The Statsi prison was interesting, the bloke guiding us was fantastic.
Branderburg gate, bit meh, just a gate.
German christmas markets are fantastic.
BUT
In general it didnt do a lot for me. A proper concrete jungle with little in the way of pre 1900 history, and the post 1900 is hardly something to be celebrated. The museums are not proud displays of power. influence or great works by great people, as they are in most countries. They are very sad, very sobering affairs which portray the general population, as well as its leaders, in a pretty poor light. I hadnt quite realised how complicit people were, firstly with the Nazi party, and then later with the communist government.
So hey, an interesting place to visit, but not somewhere I have any desire to go back to. There are better cities for a holiday. .
Firstly thanks for the suggestions.
The bunker tour was great.
The Statsi prison was interesting, the bloke guiding us was fantastic.
Branderburg gate, bit meh, just a gate.
German christmas markets are fantastic.
BUT
In general it didnt do a lot for me. A proper concrete jungle with little in the way of pre 1900 history, and the post 1900 is hardly something to be celebrated. The museums are not proud displays of power. influence or great works by great people, as they are in most countries. They are very sad, very sobering affairs which portray the general population, as well as its leaders, in a pretty poor light. I hadnt quite realised how complicit people were, firstly with the Nazi party, and then later with the communist government.
So hey, an interesting place to visit, but not somewhere I have any desire to go back to. There are better cities for a holiday. .
OP I have just got back myself. To add to the attractions you already mentioned:
TV tower (Alexanderplatz) - excellent views and if you can get in the restaurant it is a very nice setting for a meal, a bit pricy maybe if you add the cost for entry and the meal together.
Menschen museum (bottom of the TV tower) - the home of the Body Worlds exhibition by Gunther von Hagen. Basically a big science/anatomy display but using 'plastinated' bodies and organs. There was also an audio guide for each exhibit, it was fascinating but wouldn't recommend it to sensitive people.
Holocaust memorial (nr Brandenburg gate) - interesting subterranean exhibit under the memorial, some of the stuff in there does make you stop and think (the letters to relatives, family photos with the fate of each family member listed, definitely made it hit home). No entry fee as such but they do ask for donations.
Checkpoint Charlie - basically a wooden shed but with a lot of history behind it,, there were guards in period dress who seemed more than happy to engage with the tourists. Off to the side there was a small museum centred around the history of the wall with various videos/displays/artefacts which was interesting.
Berlin zoo - It was pretty much empty when we went due to drizzly weather. A lot of the signs in the zoo part were in German only (although still interesting to look at the animals), we also opted for aquarium/insect house tickets. The signage was multi lingual and it seemed popular, there were plenty of creatures to look at (took us about 3 hours to do the zoo and that was probably us going faster due to the rain.
Boat tours - we took a tour on the Spree which included a lunch. Quite nice to relax and the crew were friendly. They did forget our starter (soup) but didn't charge for our drinks, not sure whether that was intentional or not but we took it! The audio guide was a bit out of date. 'Construction on this building is expected to finish in 2009'.
Travel wise, once I got my head around the system (with help from PHers!) we managed to get around OK. I think the bus to the airport was €2.70 for a 35 minute trip, try that in the UK and see how far you get!
All in all, enjoyed the trip, we were staying in Alexanderplatz which isn't the prettiest area, there were quite a few beggars and drunks around the S-Bahn station. We got harassed once or twice. I would agree with the OP, nice to have had the experience and would recommend to others but not a 'must go back sometime' type trip.
TV tower (Alexanderplatz) - excellent views and if you can get in the restaurant it is a very nice setting for a meal, a bit pricy maybe if you add the cost for entry and the meal together.
Menschen museum (bottom of the TV tower) - the home of the Body Worlds exhibition by Gunther von Hagen. Basically a big science/anatomy display but using 'plastinated' bodies and organs. There was also an audio guide for each exhibit, it was fascinating but wouldn't recommend it to sensitive people.
Holocaust memorial (nr Brandenburg gate) - interesting subterranean exhibit under the memorial, some of the stuff in there does make you stop and think (the letters to relatives, family photos with the fate of each family member listed, definitely made it hit home). No entry fee as such but they do ask for donations.
Checkpoint Charlie - basically a wooden shed but with a lot of history behind it,, there were guards in period dress who seemed more than happy to engage with the tourists. Off to the side there was a small museum centred around the history of the wall with various videos/displays/artefacts which was interesting.
Berlin zoo - It was pretty much empty when we went due to drizzly weather. A lot of the signs in the zoo part were in German only (although still interesting to look at the animals), we also opted for aquarium/insect house tickets. The signage was multi lingual and it seemed popular, there were plenty of creatures to look at (took us about 3 hours to do the zoo and that was probably us going faster due to the rain.
Boat tours - we took a tour on the Spree which included a lunch. Quite nice to relax and the crew were friendly. They did forget our starter (soup) but didn't charge for our drinks, not sure whether that was intentional or not but we took it! The audio guide was a bit out of date. 'Construction on this building is expected to finish in 2009'.
Travel wise, once I got my head around the system (with help from PHers!) we managed to get around OK. I think the bus to the airport was €2.70 for a 35 minute trip, try that in the UK and see how far you get!
All in all, enjoyed the trip, we were staying in Alexanderplatz which isn't the prettiest area, there were quite a few beggars and drunks around the S-Bahn station. We got harassed once or twice. I would agree with the OP, nice to have had the experience and would recommend to others but not a 'must go back sometime' type trip.
Edited by 5-Oh on Sunday 22 November 20:37
In case anyone else finds this topic, for nightclubs I can thoroughly recommend the 'House of Weekend'. It's located on the top floor of an office block, great for watching the sun rise at 5am when (not if) you're still going.
http://www.houseofweekend.berlin/photos/
http://www.houseofweekend.berlin/photos/
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