Luxury hotels in Berlin

Berlin guide

Berlin: the Brandenburg Gate and Museum Island

The Reichstag dome, Nefertiti, the remains of the Wall and a city that reinvents itself.

The Brandenburg Gate, symbol of a divided and then reunified Germany, is Berlin's most cited sight, beside the Reichstag, whose glass dome can be visited free with advance registration. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a short walk away.

Museum Island, a UNESCO site, holds the Pergamon and the Neues Museum with the bust of Nefertiti; some galleries are closed for renovation, so we check before you go. The East Side Gallery and the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse tell the story of the Wall.

The Berlin Wall: East Side Gallery and Bernauer Strasse

The East Side Gallery, the longest surviving section of the Berlin Wall, about 1.3 kilometres along the Spree covered with murals painted in 1990, is one of Berlin's most cited sights. The Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse preserves a stretch with its death strip and watchtower.

Checkpoint Charlie and the Tränenpalast, where East and West Berliners said goodbye, add to the story, and the DDR Museum shows daily life in the East. A guided walk by bicycle along the former Wall line is a great way to understand the city.

Potsdam and Sanssouci

Potsdam, about forty minutes from Berlin by train, is the most cited day trip from the capital: Sanssouci, the rococo summer palace of Frederick the Great, stands above terraced vineyards in a park of palaces that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visits to the palace interior are timed.

The New Palace, the Chinese House and the Cecilienhof, where the Potsdam Conference was held in 1945, are also in the park area, and the Dutch Quarter of red-brick houses is lovely for lunch.