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Berlin, Germany

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and one of the 16 states (Länder) of the Federal Republic of Germany. Berlin is the largest city in Germany and has a population of 4.5 million within its metropolitan area and 3.4 million from 190 countries within the city limits. Berlin is best known for its historical associations as the German capital, for its internationality and tolerance, for its lively nightlife, for its many cafes, clubs, and bars, for its street art, and for its numerous museums, palaces, and other sites of historic interest. Berlin's architecture is quite varied. Although badly damaged in the final years of World War II and broken apart during the Cold War, Berlin has reconstructed itself greatly, especially with the reunification push after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It is now possible to see representatives of many different historic periods in a short time within the city center, from a few surviving medieval buildings near Alexanderplatz, to the ultramodern glass and steel structures in Potsdamer Platz. Because of its tumultuous history, Berlin remains a city with many distinctive neighborhoods.

Districts

Mitte (Mitte, Tiergarten, Wedding)
The historical center of Berlin, the nucleus of the former East Berlin, and the emerging city center. Cafes, restaurants, museums, galleries and clubs are abundant throughout the district, along with many sites of historic interest. The northern (Wedding) part of the borough is more humble and working class.

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg)
Associated with the left wing youth culture, artists and Turkish immigrants, this borough is somewhat noisier than most, packed with lots of cafes, bars, clubs and trendy shops, but also with some museums in Kreuzberg near the border to Mitte.

Pankow (Prenzlauer Berg, Weißensee, Pankow)
Prenzlauer Berg is a trendy district in the former East Berlin which is undergoing gentrification and is located north of the city center. Popular with students, artists and media professionals, it is made up of lots of cafes and bars. Pankow was once synonymous with the East German government, and the villas the SED leaders inhabited still exist.

Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (Charlottenburg, Wilmersdorf, Ku'Damm)
This borough is the heart of City West and contains the Schloss Charlottenburg. Ku'Damm (short for Kurfürstendamm) is, along with Tauentzienstraße, one of the main shopping streets in former West Berlin, especially for luxury goods. Many great restaurants and hotels are here and also on the side roads. The Olympic Stadium in the northwest of the borough is home to soccer club Hertha BSC and large concerts.

Spandau (Spandau)
Spandau, at the far northwestern end of Berlin, is very much its own city to the locals, so much so that Spandauers "go to Berlin" when travelling east. Older than Berlin, it developed around its beautiful old town, and the imposing Zitadelle (citadel) regularly plays host to excellent concerts well worth the detour required.

Steglitz-Zehlendorf (Steglitz, Zehlendorf)
Zehlendorf is one of the greenest and wealthiest districts in Berlin and the biggest university in town (Freie Universität) is located here, but often ignored are the great museums and some important historical buildings, as well as the city's primary botanic garden and beautiful lakes in the south.

Tempelhof-Schöneberg (Tempelhof, Schöneberg)
This borough is something of a mismatch. The north is generally a cosy area for ageing hippies, young families and homosexuals. Famous are the markets on Saturdays, the street cafes (e.g. Akazienstraße) and the laissez-faire life style. The southern part (Tempelhof) is more suburban in character, but the visitor may be interested in the Trabrennbahn Mariendorf, a harness racetrack.

Neukölln (Neukölln)
Neukölln has had it rough. It is commonly perceived by outsiders as a hotbed of failing schools, violence and petty crime. The visitor who gives it a try however might find much to like between the cautiously gentrifying areas around Hermannplatz with its quirky pubs and the Britzer Garten, a spacious park that played host to the 1985 Federal Garden Show.

Treptow-Köpenick (Treptow, Köpenick)
Treptow is a struggling postindustrial district with much unemployment that has a rather limited range of offerings to the visitor. Köpenick is different. The swaths of forest around Berlin's largest lake, Müggelsee and the nice old town of Köpenick itself beg to be discovered on bikes and using the S-Bahn.

Marzahn-Hellersdorf (Marzahn, Hellersdorf)
This eastern borough has a not entirely deserved reputation for being a vast collection of dull highrise apartment blocks. After all, it contains the Erholungspark Marzahn, a large park where various ethnic styles of garden design are explored.

Lichtenberg (Lichtenberg, Hohenschönhausen)
In Karlshorst in the south of this underappreciated borough, the museum at the site of the 1945 surrender to the Soviet army is of interest, the Hohenschönhausen part contains the former Stasi prison, an essential visit for anyone interested in East German history. Berlin's Eisbären ice hockey team plays here as well.

Reinickendorf (Reinickendorf)
Reinickendorf has pretty lakes in the northwest and Lübars, a charming rural enclave with a historic village square and church, in the northeast. Tegel Airport, located here as well, is due to close in 2011.

In Berlin there is more than one downtown area. Berlin has many boroughs or districts, called Bezirke, and each borough has its distinctive style. Each Bezirk is composed of several Kieze - a Berlin term referring to "neighbourhood," with their unique style. Some boroughs of Berlin, as noted below, are more worthy of a visitor's attention than others.
Since January 2001, Berlin has been officially divided into 12 new large boroughs (Bezirke), which is a consolidation of the 23 old, smaller districts (Stadtteile, Bezirke) undertaken for administrative efficiency. The smaller districts still remain foremost in popular conceptions of the city and are generally of a more practical size and cultural division for visitors as well. New borough names are usually compounded from the old district names (e.g. Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf merged to Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf). To make things more confusing, the name Mitte, which was the name of one of the old smaller district that was consolidated, is also used for the new large borough. So much for efficiency.

Get in

As the city was divided into two during the Cold War, many major parts of Berlin's infrastructure - such as airports - were built on both the east and west side. After the demolition of the Wall, the challenge has been to merge these formerly independent systems into one that serves all people in the metropolitan Berlin area.

By plane
Berlin has two airports:
Tegel International Airport (ICAO: EDDT, IATA: TXL) located in the north-west of the city it's the main airport for flag carriers (Lufthansa, BA, Air France-KLM, Delta etc) and hub for domestic flights as well. The original airport was designed as a hexagon but today two other terminals try to handle the flights of Air Berlin (most flights in Terminal C) and other budget carriers (mostly in terminal D). All flag carrier flights leave from the main terminal building A (Terminal B nowadays contains just the bus gates of Terminal A for Non-Schengen flights), and is also where all airlines lounges are.

By bus
Berlin is serviced from over 350 destinations in Europe. Due to a German law supporting the German national railway there is only one bus corporation connecting Berlin with these destinations. Long distance buses arrive at Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof (Central Bus Terminal) in Charlottenburg. From there take the S-Bahn (station Messe Nord) or bus into town.

By train
Berlin is served by ICE, InterCity and EuroCity trains by the national German train corporation Deutsche Bahn (DB) which offers connections between Berlin and other German and major European cities. If you arrive in Berlin on a national (non-regional) DB trip, you are entitled to use your ticket in the whole local transport to your final destination within the city (Zone A).
Several night trains from/to Amsterdam, Paris, Zurich, Vienna and Budapest (special offer for 29 euros in one direction) travel every day. They are popular with backpackers so reservations are recommended. Long-haul trains to Eastern European cities (Warsaw, Kaliningrad and Moscow) mostly use the Bahnhof Lichtenberg in Eastern Berlin. Make sure you have a reservation because these lines are also very popular.
Some private train companies such as Veolia offer connections to smaller cities in Eastern Germany.

By car
All main roads and motorways join the Berliner Ring, or the A10, from which you can access the inner city. The city motorway is usually very crowded during rush hour.
As of January 1, 2008, Berlin requires all cars to have a "Low Emissions" sticker in order to enter the city center (Low Emision Zone, "Umweltzone"). Information on obtaining a sticker (which must be done at least several weeks in advance) is available here.

Get around

Berlin is a huge city. You can make use of the excellent bus, tram, train and underground services to get around. Taxi services are also easy to use and a bit less expensive than in many other big Central European cities. You can hail a cab (the yellow light on the top shows the cab is available), or find a taxi rank (Taxistand). Taxi drivers are in general able to speak English. If you ask for a short trip (Kurzstrecke), as long as it's under 2km and before the taxi driver starts the meter running, the trip normally is cheaper, €4. This only applies if you flag the taxi down on the street, not if you get in at a taxi rank.
Check the Berlin route planner (in English) to get excellent maps and schedules for the U-Bahn, buses, S-Bahn and trams, or to print your personal journey planner. The route planer can also calculate the fastest door-to-door connection for you destination for any given day and hour. The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) have a detailed fare list on their web site.
If you don't know how to get somewhere, or how to get home at night, call +49 30 19449, the Customer Service of the BVG. There are also facilities in most U-Bahn and some S-Bahn stations to contact the Customer Service directly. In 2005 the BVG introduced Metro lines (buses and tram) that run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All lines are marked with a big orange plate and a white M.
It's also worth noting that the house numbers do not necessarily run in one direction (up or down). On a lot of streets, the numbers ascend on one side and descend on the other. Especially on long streets check the numbering scheme first: you can find the name of the street and the numbers on that block at nearly every street corner.
Different to what is usual in some English-speaking countries, Germans usually add the word for "street", "square", "park", etc. when they mention the name of a locality. Thus, they would not simply refer to "Kurfürsten" when talking about Kurfürstenstraße (Kurfürsten street), as this could also mean "Kurfürstendamm", which is a different road at a different place. "Schloss", which simply means "palace", could refer to any of the palaces in Berlin, as well as to one of the two roads called "Schlossstraße", a shopping centre called "Das Schloss", or the "Schlossplatz" in the Mitte district.

By train
Berlin has an amazingly efficient S-Bahn, trains run roughly every 10 minutes during daytime, every 5 minutes during rush-hour and every 20 minutes during the night and on weekends. Most S-Bahn lines run on an east-west route between Ostkreuz and Westkreuz via the stops Warschauer Straße, Ostbahnhof, Jannowitzbrücke, Alexanderplatz, Hackescher Markt, Friedrichstraße, Hauptbahnhof, Bellevue, Tiergarten, Zoologischer Garten, Savignyplatz and Charlottenburg. Other lines run along a circle track around the city, most notably the S 8 and the S 41, S 42, S 45, S 46 lines.

By underground
The Berlin U-Bahn (subway/metro) is something to behold; it is so charmingly precise! There are no turnstiles to limit access, so it is technically possible to ride without a ticket, but if caught by a ticket checker you will be fined €40 so it is probably not worth the risk. All U-Bahn stations now have electronic signs that give the time of the next train, and its direction based on sensors along the lines.

By tram
The trams are mostly in East Berlin, as in the West the tram lines were removed to facilitate more vehicular traffic. If you don't have a ticket already, you can buy one inside the tram.
Two types of tram service are available. Metrotrams frequent more often as well as by night. Tram routes not so identified stop more frequently and may even include picturesque single-track rides through forested areas far east of the Mitte district.

By bus
Although buses are the slowest form of public transport, the yellow double-decker buses are part of Berlin's transit landscape and they will take you to almost anywhere in Berlin. Besides the normal metro buses, there are also express buses (indicated by an X), but these don't halt at every stop.
The most famous bus line, especially for tourists, is bus route 100, which leaves from Zoo Station ("Berlin Zoologischer Garten") or - if you want to go the other way round - Alexanderplatz. This crosses most of historic Berlin, including many of the sites listed here. For the price of a city bus ticket or daily pass, it's possible to see many of the landmarks of Berlin from one of these yellow double-decker buses. Sit up top as it's easier to see the Reichstag, as well as the many historic buildings on Unter den Linden. If you're lucky, you'll get the legendary bus-driver who delivers a commentary (in Berlin-accented German) on the trip. Line 200 takes nearly the same route, but it goes through the modern quarters around Potsdamer Platz. Either ride is a must for any visitor to Berlin.

See

Museums
Berlin has a vast array of museums. Most museums charge admission for people 16 years of age or older - usually €6 to €8 (a day ticket with which one can also visit the other state museums is the only thing available and doesn't count for special exhibitions) for the big museums. Discounts (usually 50%) are available for students and disabled people with identification. However, the state-run museums grant free entrance four hours before closing every Thursday. A nice offer for museum addicts is the three day pass 'Museumspass' SchauLUST-MuseenBERLIN[24] for €19 (reduced €9.50), which grants entrance to all the normal exhibitions of the approximately 70 state-run museums and public foundations. Most museums are closed on Mondays; notable exceptions include the Altes Museum and the Deutsches Historisches Museum, which are open daily. Museumsportal Berlin, a collective web initiative, offers easy access to information on all museums, memorials, castles and collections and on current and upcoming exhibitions.

A short list of important museums (for a more detailed list check the district articles) are:

• Museumsinsel. Literally "Museum Island", this area is best known for the vast Pergamon-Museum, which houses an extensive collection of ancient Greek, ancient Middle-Eastern and Islamic art and architecture. Other museums which belong to the Museum Island are the Altes Museum (with the Egyptian and the antique collection), the Alte Nationalgalerie (with mainly German paintings of the 19th century) and the reopened Bode-Museum with its fantastically presented sculpture collection and Byzantine art. The recently reopened Neues Museum houses the Egyptian collection, Neaderthal and other pre-historic archeological finds, and some of the treasures unearthed at Troy. This is the only museum on Museums Insel that requires a timed entry ticket. It's best to get a timed ticket online ahead of time as time slots fill up quickly.
  
• Deutsches Historisches Museum, Unter den Linden 2, Tel. +49 30 203040. German historical museum covering everything from pre-history right up to the present day. One can spend many, many hours here!
  
• Jüdisches Museum, Lindenstraße 9-14, Tel. +49 30 25993 300 [30]. 10AM-8PM. Jewish Museum. Learn about the history of Jews in Germany. Permanent exhibition on two millennia of German-Jewish history, changing exhibitions and impressive modern architecture by Libeskind. There is a small unrelated Jewish Museum at the Oranienburger Straße Synagogue.
  
• Gemäldegalerie, Matthäikirchplatz, Tel. +49 30 266 2951. At the Kulturforum. Thousands of European paintings from the 13th to the 18th century. Works from Dürer, Raffael, Tizian, Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Rubens.
  
• Neue Nationalgalerie, Potsdamer Straße 50, Tel. +49 30 266 2951 [32] At the Kulturforum. Art from the 20th Century. This museum often houses temporary exhibitions during which the permanent collection is usually not on display. (As of December, 2009, the permanent collection is closed while the building undergoes repairs.)
  
• Museum für Naturkunde. Near the main railway station. Natural science museum with a big collection of dinosaur skeletons, fossils and minerals. Reopened after restoration in late 2007.
  
• Mauermuseum at Checkpoint Charlie. This museum is situated at the most famous historical checkpoint between the two Berlins.
  
• Museum of European Cultures. The biggest of its sort in Europe. At the museum district of Dahlem.
  
• Ethnological Museum. Again one of the world's most comprehensive museums. At the museum district of Dahlem. Well worth a visit for its splendid collection of Pre-Columbian archaeology! It now includes the:
  Topography of Terror. This open-air museum documents the terror applied by the Nazi regime. It consists of excavated prison cells located directly under a remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall.
  
• DDR Museum Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 1, 10178 Berlin. This small museum just over the river from the Berliner Dom. Really interesting with all the displays in German and English, it gives a good insight into life in the former GDR.
  
• Musikinstrumenten-Museum Tiergartenstraße 1 (am Kulturforum), 10785 Berlin. This museum is part of the Staatliches Institu für Musikforschung PK and has an amazingly wide range of historic and unusual instruments on display.
  
• Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charité Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin. Interesting exhibition charting the development of European hospitals from the 14th Century to the present day.
  
• Ramones Museum Berlin. The Ramones Museum Berlin pays tribute to the Punk band The Ramones. It displays more than 300 unique and original Ramones memorabilia.
  The "Berlinische Galerie" is the city museum for modern art, architecture, and design. The museum is just around the corner from the Jewish Museum at Alte Jakobstraße 124-128.

Churches
There are some historically interesting and architecturally remarkable churches which are the following:

• Berliner Dom - The biggest and most impressive church in Berlin, built at the turn of the century (19th/20th) as an expression of imperial power. Located next to the museum island. Entrance is €5, and you can climb on top of the dome for a beautiful view over the Berlin center.
  
• The Twintowers of the Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral) and the Französischer Dom (French Cathedral) face each other at the Gendarmenmarkt in Central Berlin, flanking the Konzerthaus.
  
• Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche - Highly symbolic church, dating back to 1891-95, with two modern buildings designed by Egon Eiermann in 1961, a hexagonal bell tower and an octagonal worship hall, aside the ruins from World War II.
  
• Marienkirche - Located near Alexanderplatz, this is not only the highest church tower in Berlin (90 m), but also one of the oldest churches left in the historical center of Berlin (which is totally torn down in this area). Entrance is free and inside are many treasures from the old days.
  
• Nikolaikirche - The oldest church in Berlin, dating back to the beginning of 13th century (at least the stones next to the ground). Does not serve as a church. Changing exhibitions inside, entrance free.
  
• St. Hedwigs Kathedrale - Domed Church located at Bebelplatz/Unter den Linden, the oldest (mid 18th century) and one of the biggest Catholic churches in Berlin, interior was redesigned in a modern style in the 1950s - but still many treasure chambers in the basement.
  
• Friedrichswerdersche Kirche - Nice church located near Unter den Linden/Museum Island, finished in 1830 by Schinkel - English Neogothic style. Nice exhibition inside (neoclassical statues and an exhibition about Schinkel's life and work upstairs), entry is free.

Theatre, Opera, Concerts

Berlin has a lot of theater houses, concerts and other cultural events going on all the time. The most important ones are listed here.

Theater

• Deutsches Theater. Classical theater with impressive line up of actors and directors.
  
• Volksbühne am Rosa Luxemburg Platz. Sometimes controversial, modern theater.
  
• Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz. Modern theater.
  
• Theater am Kurfürstendamm. Popular theater with tv celebrities in modern plays.
  
• Theater des Westens. A historic theater in the former West Berlin, only musicals today.
  
• Friedrichstadtpalast. Cabaret shows and revues with actresses from the former East German ballet.
  
• Berliner Ensemble. Contemporary theater.
  
• English Theater Berlin. Theater that features all plays/music theater in English
  

Opera

• Komische Oper. Modern operas.
  
• Deutsche Oper. Classic opera house of West Berlin.
  
• Staatsoper Unter den Linden. The impressive building and royal history make the building alone worth a visit.
  
• Neuköllner Oper. Voted several times best off-opera house and known for its modern and contemporary pieces. Mostly in German as usually relating to developments in Germany. Very creative and innovative.

Source: wikitravel.org