Berlin

The gate was built between 1788 and 1791 and stood inside the Wall's border strip for decades; it reopened to pedestrians on 22 December 1989, which is why it became the emblem of German reunification. You can walk right through the passages and the square in front of it, Pariser Platz, is the start of Unter den Linden. It is free and always accessible, but busy all day, so come early in the morning or after dark when it is lit. The Berlin tourist information office in the south wing is open daily 9:00-18:00 if you need maps or tickets.

Free

The field of grey concrete stelae of different heights covers almost two hectares and the ground undulates, so walking in it feels disorienting by design. It is open day and night and free, and the stelae are meant to be walked through quietly. Beneath the field, the information centre tells individual family stories and lists the names of victims; it is free but emotionally heavy, involves a security check, and the foundation recommends it for ages 14 and up. An audio guide costs €3.

Free (audio guide €3)

Visitors ride a lift to the roof terrace and then walk up and down the spiral ramp inside Norman Foster's glass dome, looking down into the plenary chamber and out across the Spree, Tiergarten and Brandenburg Gate. Entry is free, but registration with names and dates of birth for everyone in your group is mandatory, and you need original photo ID (ages 16+) at the entrance. Slots are admitted every 15 minutes up to 21:45 and an audio guide (about 20 minutes, 12 languages, with a children's version) is included; evening slots at sunset are the most atmospheric. The roof-terrace restaurant is separate and needs its own booking.

Free

The lime-lined boulevard connects the Brandenburg Gate with the Schlossbrücke and is lined with the State Opera, Humboldt University, the Zeughaus and the equestrian statue of Frederick the Great. On Bebelplatz, look through the glass pane in the paving at Micha Ullman's memorial: an underground library of empty shelves marks the Nazi book burning of 10 May 1933. Nearby, the Neue Wache, a Schinkel guardhouse from 1818, is now the central memorial to victims of war and tyranny, with Käthe Kollwitz's sculpture of a mother holding her dead son under an open oculus. Walk it west to east in an hour or so; opening hours for the Neue Wache are not published in the sources checked, so verify them before a special trip.

Free

The paved square was fully rebuilt in recent years (about 6,000 tons of stone were replaced) and is now step-free. The German Cathedral (Deutscher Dom) is not a church but holds the Bundestag's free exhibition on parliamentary democracy, with free half-hour guided tours between 11:00 and 17:00 in German, English and French. The French Cathedral has a Huguenot museum on the ground floor (Tue-Sun 11:30-16:30) and a climbable tower platform with views over the rooftops; there is no lift, and tickets are listed from about €8 with seasonal hours, so check before going. A Christmas market was held on the square again in 2025, so the pre-Christmas season is lively; 2026 dates were not confirmed.

Square free; Deutscher Dom exhibition free; French Cathedral tower platform from about €8 (ticket listing)

The 'Band des Bundes' (Federal Ribbon) is a chain of government buildings that crosses the Spree to symbolise the reunion of East and West Berlin. You can view the Federal Chancellery (Willy-Brandt-Straße 1, nicknamed the 'washing machine') from the Kanzlerpark, and see the glass hall of the Paul-Löbe-Haus (U Bundestag, U5, is next to it). The Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus on the Spree holds the parliamentary library, which is open to visitors, and a memorial with reconstructed Wall segments; on the riverbank outside stand seven white crosses for people killed fleeing East Germany. The Chancellery itself is viewed from outside; the government invites visitors in once a year on an open day.

Free

Opened in 2012 in a small grove beside the Reichstag, the memorial is a 12-metre dark pool with a triangular stone in the middle, which is lowered into the water around noon each day and returned with a fresh flower on top. A poem by Santino Spinelli runs around the rim, slabs name 69 camps and killing sites, and a looped violin piece by Romeo Franz plays softly. It is free, open day and night and takes only a few minutes, so it combines easily with the Reichstag and the Holocaust memorial.

Free

Built between 1747 and 1773 under Frederick the Great, the round, Pantheon-inspired cathedral reopened on 24 November 2024 after renovation that began in 2018. The new interior centres on a round white altar under an oculus in the dome, and the crypt (reached by a lift) holds the grave of Bernhard Lichtenberg, who prayed publicly for Jews after Kristallnacht. Entry is free; remember that it is a working church, so dress modestly, keep your phone silent and do not eat or drink inside.

Free

Dedicated on 11 November 1945, the memorial has a curved colonnade topped by a bronze Red Army soldier and flanking T-34 tanks and guns, with more than 2,000 soldiers buried in the landscaped area behind it. It was placed deliberately across the avenue the Nazis had planned, and it is a quiet corner a few minutes from the Brandenburg Gate. The address is Straße des 17. Juni, but the city's official page says entry is via Yitzhak-Rabin-Straße. It is open to visitors as a place of remembrance and free; no opening hours are published.

Free

The current cathedral (1894–1905) is Germany's largest Protestant church; the ticket covers the sermon church, the baptism and wedding chapel, the Hohenzollern crypt with the family's sarcophagi, a small museum and the climb to the dome gallery at about 50 m. An audio guide is included. Plan around 1.5 hours; the church can close to visitors for services and concerts, so check the date, and note that bags larger than A3 are not allowed.

Adult €15; reduced €12; family (1 adult + up to 4 children under 18) €15; audio guide included (official site, 2026)

Built in 1866 and visible from afar thanks to its golden-ribbed dome, the synagogue survived Kristallnacht but was heavily damaged by bombing in 1943–44; the street-side parts were restored in 1988–93, while the main prayer hall was left unrestored. Inside, the permanent exhibition tells the building's story and Jewish life in Berlin, and three further exhibitions run from 28 August 2026. The dome is currently closed to visitors. Everyone passes through a metal-detector check, so keep bags under 55 x 40 x 23 cm; audio guides cost €3.

Adult €7; reduced €4.50; family (2 adults + up to 3 children) €20; audio guide €3 (official site, 2026)

Built in 1906 and renovated in 1996–97, the complex is billed as Germany's largest courtyard ensemble; the first courtyard has the polychrome glazed-tile Jugendstil facade by August Endell. Later courtyards are quieter, with designer shops, craft studios, cafes and a cinema. Entry is free all day, so stroll through in the morning before the crowds, then continue to the Anne Frank Zentrum and the Otto Weidt museum in the neighbouring courtyard at Rosenthaler Straße 39.

Free

This is where Berlin began around 1200; after wartime destruction it was rebuilt in the 1980s for the city's 750th anniversary, mixing replica houses with prefab blocks. The brick Nikolaikirche (begun c. 1230, now a museum on 800 years of Berlin) is the oldest church in town, and the Ephraim-Palais and Knoblauchhaus are small museums nearby. Wandering the lanes and the Spree bank is free; museum entry is €7 each, or €15 for a two-day ticket covering all three.

Free to wander; Museum Nikolaikirche, Ephraim-Palais and Knoblauchhaus €7 each, €15 two-day combi ticket; free under 18 (official site, 2026)

Named in 1805 after Tsar Alexander I and rebuilt in the 1960s–70s as a socialist city centre, the square has the 10 m Urania World Clock (1969, 24 sides for the time zones, monument-protected since 2015), the Fountain of Friendship and the TV Tower. Right beside it, St. Marienkirche (13th century, free entry, 22 m Dance of Death wall painting from c. 1484, usually 10:00–18:00, shorter in winter) is one of the oldest churches in Berlin, and the red-brick Rotes Rathaus (1861–69, Stone Chronicle frieze) can be entered free on weekdays 9:00–18:00 unless closed for events. It is a transport hub and busy; use it as a meeting point rather than a long stop.

Free (St. Marienkirche and Rotes Rathaus are also free to enter)

This was the crossing on Friedrichstraße used by Allied personnel and foreigners, and it became the symbol of the Cold War after the tank stand-off of October 1961. Today the street marker, the replica guard house and the famous sign are free and always accessible, and since March 2026 an open-air exhibition on the forecourt of the asisi Panorama tells the story of crossing the Iron Curtain in German and English, with photos, documents and maps. The private Wall Museum (Mauermuseum – Haus am Checkpoint Charlie) next door is a ticketed, crowded but absorbing collection of escape devices such as a homemade hot-air balloon, an armoured getaway car and a mini submarine; the old BlackBox pavilion closed in January 2026 and the site is due to be redesigned, so expect a place in transition. Come early or in the evening to avoid the crowds, and combine it with the Topography of Terror, a short walk away.

Free (street marker, guard-house replica and open-air exhibition). Mauermuseum: adult €18.50; student €14.50; child 7–18 and disabled visitors €12.50; under 6 free (official shop, 2026)

The permanent exhibition is called „Topography of Terror: Gestapo, SS and Reich Security Main Office on Wilhelm- and Prinz-Albrecht-Straße“ and follows the perpetrators, their institutions and their crimes through documents and photographs, both in the indoor documentation centre and in an open exhibition trench outside. Admission is free, so you can drop in for an hour or give it several hours if you like to read. The indoor halls are open until 20:00 and the outdoor area until dusk; free 60-minute public tours run on weekends in German or English. It is easy to combine with Checkpoint Charlie and the Gropius Bau nearby.

Free (official site, 2026)

This sandstone town hall from 1911-1914 served as West Berlin's city hall during the Cold War, and President Kennedy spoke from its steps on 26 June 1963; the square in front was renamed after him within days of his death that November. The tower holds the Freedom Bell, a gift from the United States installed in 1950 and rung daily at noon. Inside, the free exhibition 'Wir waren Nachbarn' tells the stories of Jewish residents of Schöneberg and Tempelhof in more than 170 biographical albums, and on Tuesdays and Fridays a weekly market fills the square in the morning.

Free (square and exhibition)

Bergmannstraße is a multicultural boulevard lined with well-preserved Wilhelminian buildings, vintage and antique shops and international cafés and restaurants, and it leads to Marheinekeplatz and its market hall, which has operated since 1892. Inside the 2,500 m² hall you will find fresh produce, Italian, Greek, Spanish and Middle Eastern specialities, a vegan supermarket and a range of eateries; behind it, four adjoining old churchyards are among Berlin's oldest burial grounds. The hall is closed on Sundays; reach it from U7 Gneisenaustraße or buses 140 and 248.

Free (market hall entry; pay per purchase)

Start at Kottbusser Tor, nicknamed Kotti, where the elevated U1/U3 line (running since 1902) wraps around a square dominated by the long Neues Kreuzberger Zentrum housing complex of 1969-74; the name comes from an 18th-century city gate on the road to Cottbus. From here Oranienstraße runs west past pubs, cafés, shops and the SO36 club through the Gründerzeit streets of the SO 36 postal district, with Oranienplatz and Heinrichplatz on the way and Victor Ash's big 'Astronaut Cosmonaut' mural nearby. Allow one to two hours, expect noise and crowds especially on weekend evenings, and combine it with the Admiralbrücke on the Landwehr Canal, a few hundred metres from Kotti.

Free

Bernauer Straße is where the border ran along the house fronts, so the street shows the Wall's human story better than almost any other spot. A kilometre-long open-air exhibition follows the former border, with a preserved section of the death strip that you look into between two tall steel walls; the Documentation Centre has a free exhibition and a viewing platform over the strip, and the nearby Chapel of Reconciliation stands on the site of a church the GDR tore down. Allow a couple of hours and start at the Visitor Centre; the indoor centres are closed on Mondays while the outdoor part is open daily, and the ghost-station exhibition at S-Bahnhof Nordbahnhof, a few minutes away, is free during S-Bahn hours.

Free (all exhibitions on Bernauer Straße; official site, 2026); public guided tours €5 (reduced €3), longer tours €7 (reduced €4)

Along Mühlenstraße between Ostbahnhof and Oberbaumbrücke, the longest surviving piece of the Wall carries paintings by 118 artists from 21 countries, created after 1989. The best-known images are the Brezhnev-Honecker „Brotherly Kiss“ and the Trabant breaking through the Wall; the murals were repainted in 2009, so what you see are renewed versions. The gallery is open around the clock and free, and a visitor information point is open daily; walk it from Ostbahnhof towards the river to finish at Oberbaumbrücke.

Free (open-air gallery; official site, 2026); guided tours €5 (reduced €3), longer tours €7 (reduced €4)

The site was a Soviet special camp and later the Stasi's central remand prison; the guided tour (about 1.5 hours plus an introductory film) covers the cells, interrogation rooms and the older underground „U-Boot“ cellars, often told by former prisoners. English tours run daily at 10:40, 12:40 and 14:40; the prison can only be entered with a guide, while the two permanent exhibitions are free. It is far out in Lichtenberg - tram M5 to Freienwalder Str. or M6/16 to Genslerstraße - and the content is heavy, so it is recommended from age 14.

Guided tour €9 (reduced €5; students €2.50); the two permanent exhibitions are free (official site, 2026)

This square, laid out in 1903 and hosting a weekly market since 1905, is surrounded by cafés, bars and restaurants. On Saturdays (about 09:00-15:30) stalls sell regional food; on Sundays 10:00-18:00 a flea market takes over with household goods, books, clothing, vinyl and street food, free to enter. It is a relaxed place for a slow weekend morning, and the nearby RAW grounds and Warschauer Straße are a short walk away.

Free (market stalls are paid individually)

Opened in 1896 and designed by Otto Stahn in North German brick Gothic, the bridge carries road traffic below and the U1 line on its upper deck, which makes it one of the most photographed spots in Berlin. During the division it was a border crossing, and the central span was rebuilt in steel to a design by Santiago Calatrava, reopening on 9 November 1994. It sits right at the end of the East Side Gallery, so walk across for the Spree views and the skyline; U1 stops at Warschauer Straße and Schlesisches Tor.

Free

Built from 1949 as Stalinallee, this 90-metre-wide, 2.3 km boulevard runs from Alexanderplatz to Frankfurter Tor, lined with ornate tiled apartment blocks, twin towers at both ends and later landmarks such as Kino International and Café Moskau. It was the stage of the 1953 workers' uprising and later of May Day parades. Café Sibylle at no. 72 doubles as a small permanent exhibition on the avenue's history (a listing shows 10:00-19:00 daily, admission price not published); the U5 runs underneath, so you can walk a section and hop on at Weberwiese or Frankfurter Tor.

Free (open-air street); Café Sibylle exhibition admission is not published

Kollwitzplatz is a small triangular square lined with 19th-century apartment blocks and cafés; at its centre stands Gustav Seitz's 1961 bronze of the artist Käthe Kollwitz, which generations of children have climbed on, next to a playground. The best time is Saturday 09:00-16:00, when a large weekly market of food, flowers and crafts fills Kollwitzstraße; the organic market runs on Thursdays from 12:00 to 19:00. Wander the surrounding streets towards the water tower and Husemannstraße for a good taste of the neighbourhood.

Free (open-air square; market stalls are paid individually)

The site began in 1867 as a Prussian railway workshop, closed in the 1990s and is now a self-managed cultural complex of roughly 70,000 square metres between Warschauer Straße and Boxhagener Platz, with covered halls, concert venues, artist studios, a skate hall, a climbing tower in a former bunker and plenty of street art. The most visitor-friendly time is the Sunday flea market (08:00-17:00, with street food) and daytime for the murals; most clubs are night venues and the area is better suited to adults and teenagers than to small kids. The entrance is at Revaler Straße 99, a short walk from S/U Warschauer Straße.

Free to walk around; venues and activities are charged separately

West Berlin's best-known landmark combines the ruined tower of the neo-Romanesque church of 1891-95, damaged in an air raid in November 1943 and kept as a reminder of the war, with the octagonal new church and hexagonal bell tower built by Egon Eiermann around 1961-63. Step into the new church to see its honeycomb walls filled with over twenty thousand blue glass inlays, which flood the room with deep blue light. Short guided tours of the ensemble run daily on a donation basis with no registration; the exhibition and mosaics inside the old tower are closed for restoration from 29 August 2026 with no reopening date published, but the ruined tower can still be seen from outside and the new church stays open. The church is closed to visitors during services and concerts.

No admission fee is listed on the official site; guided tours run on a voluntary-donation basis

Once the busiest traffic hub in Europe, then cut in two by the Wall, Potsdamer Platz was rebuilt in the 1990s as a district of glass-and-steel towers, the Sony Center with its tent-like roof by Helmut Jahn and the Daimler complex. The Panoramapunkt in the brick Kollhoff Tower (Potsdamer Platz 1) takes Europe's fastest lift to about 100 m in 20 seconds; up top you get a 360-degree view, an exhibition called Berliner Blicke on the square's history and a glazed café. The platform is open daily 10:00-19:00 (last ascent 18:30); sunny late afternoons and clear evenings are the best times, and the S/U-Bahn station Potsdamer Platz is directly below.

Panoramapunkt: adult €9; reduced €7; family €19.50 (2 adults + up to 4 children under 15); children up to 6 free; the square itself is free (panoramapunkt.de)

Start at KaDeWe (Tauentzienstraße 21-24, U-Bahn Wittenbergplatz), which opened in 1907 and offers around 60,000 sq m of retail; the sixth-floor food hall and its restaurants, bars and champagne counters are the main draw even if you do not shop. Then walk the 500 m Tauentzienstraße to Breitscheidplatz and on along the Kurfürstendamm, a 3.5 km boulevard that began as a 16th-century causeway to the Grunewald hunting lodge and was turned into a grand avenue from 1875; its stretch near the Memorial Church is lined with fashion shops, hotels and cafés, and further west you reach the Schaubühne theatre at Lehniner Platz. KaDeWe is open Monday to Saturday 10:00-20:00 and closed on Sundays; the sixth-floor venues keep their own hours.

Free to stroll; KaDeWe entry is free (shopping and food cost extra)

The Bendlerblock was the army headquarters from which officers around Claus von Stauffenberg organised the failed attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944; several of them were executed in its courtyard that night, where a memorial now stands. The permanent exhibition spreads over three floors and covers many strands of resistance, including officers, churches, political parties and exiles, with free audio guides in seven languages. Entry is free, and public tours run at 15:00 on the first Sunday (German) and third Sunday (German and English) of each month, about 75 minutes with no registration. It is a sober, text-heavy visit that suits anyone interested in 20th-century history.

Free

The palace was begun around 1700 as a summer residence for Queen Sophie Charlotte and grew into a long Baroque complex. Two separate tickets cover the Old Palace (royal apartments, chapel and the dazzling Porcelain Cabinet) and the New Wing (the White Hall, the Golden Gallery and a fine group of 18th-century French paintings), so decide whether you want one or both, or take the combined charlottenburg+ ticket. The park behind the palace is free, opens daily from early morning until dark and has formal French-style flower beds near the building and English-style landscape further out; the Mausoleum with the tombs of Queen Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm III (a small separate ticket, open April to October only) lies at its far end. The Belvedere tea house is closed until further notice, and the Schinkel-designed New Pavilion has only limited opening days, so check before planning around them. Take the U2 to Sophie-Charlotte-Platz or the bus to Schloss Charlottenburg.

Old Palace or New Wing: €12 each (reduced €8); charlottenburg+ combined ticket €19 (reduced €14); charlottenburg+ Family €45 (2 adults + up to 4 children aged 18 or under); palace park free (official site, 2026)

A ticket from the visitor centre lets you wander through the stands and the Olympic grounds on your own, with information displays along the way and an optional audio guide (about €4 extra) in several languages including English. For more depth, guided tours include the 60-minute Highlight Tour (VIP areas, changing rooms, warm-up hall), a 2-hour Premium Tour and a Hertha BSC tour; the Light Experience tour (strobe effects) and the Into-the-Roof tour (18+) are special formats. Allow one to two hours. The visitor centre closes on Hertha home-match days and for big events, so check the calendar first; the S-Bahn (S3/S9 Olympiastadion) is the easiest way in, about a 4-minute walk, or take the U2 and walk about 7 minutes.

Self-guided visit: adult €11, reduced €8, children 6-14 €6, family card (2 adults + 3 children up to 14) €27; guided tours from about €17 (official site, 2026)

Western Allied forces, with a major US presence, monitored Soviet and Warsaw Pact radio traffic from this hill, built over wartime rubble, until the Wall fell; today the abandoned buildings and radar domes are an open-air street-art gallery. Your ticket covers the grounds, the 360-degree platform and two exhibitions („Declassified“ on the station's secret history and „Allied in Berlin“); daily guided tours (a history tour and a street-art tour, plus a flashlight tour in winter) are booked separately online, and you can bring your own food to the beer garden. The big tower is closed to the public except on the flashlight tours, and the buildings are reached by stairs, so wear sturdy shoes and leave the stroller behind. From the S-Bahn at Heerstraße or Grunewald it is about 2 km (roughly 30 minutes) on foot; the last stretch up the private road takes about 10 minutes.

Adult €12; reduced (trainees, seniors 65+) €10; children and teens up to 17 €5; family (2 adults + up to 2 children) €27; under 7 free; guided tours cost extra (official site, 2026)

Savignyplatz is an oval garden square laid out in the 1890s, redesigned by Erwin Barth in 1926-27 and restored in 1987, with seven streets running into it. Kantstraße, Knesebeckstraße and Grolmanstraße around it have handsome late-19th-century housing, restaurants, cafés and bars; the Bücherbogen bookshop under the S-Bahn arches specialises in art, architecture, photography and history, and the Autorenbuchhandlung nearby has a literary café. The area was home to artists and writers such as George Grosz and Carl von Ossietzky, and the poet Mascha Kaléko lived on Bleibtreustraße in the 1930s. The Kurfürstendamm is close by, and the S-Bahn station Savignyplatz (S3, S5, S7, S9) sits right beside the square.

Free

Built in the second half of the 16th century on the site of older fortifications, the citadel is one of Europe's best-preserved Renaissance fortresses. One ticket covers the museums, the exhibitions and the Julius Tower (a medieval keep with 153 steps up to a view over Spandau and the Havel), including the Spandau city-history museum in the old arsenal and „Unveiled“, a collection of Berlin monuments that were removed from the streets. Thousands of bats winter in the vaults, and registered guided bat tours are popular with children. In summer the courtyard hosts the Citadel Music Festival and in the cold season there is a Christmas market. Take the U7 to Zitadelle (the bus X33 also stops at the gate); the trip from central Berlin takes about 30 minutes.

Adult €4.50; children 6-14, students and trainees €2.50; family (2 adults + up to 3 children) €10; under 6 free; audio guide €2 (official site, 2026)

Spandau is older than Berlin itself, and its old town has shopping streets, cafés and, in winter, a Christmas market. The centrepiece is St. Nikolai, begun around 1370, where Elector Joachim II took Lutheran communion on 1 November 1539; inside, look for the bronze font from 1398, the 8 m Renaissance altar, the Baroque pulpit and a cannonball still lodged in the north wall. The church is open to visitors Monday to Saturday 12:00-14:00 (Sunday after the service until 14:00), and on selected Saturdays and Sundays from April to October there are tower tours up 230 steps to a viewing level at about 54 m. Also nearby are the Gotisches Haus, one of Berlin's most important surviving medieval secular buildings and home to the tourist office at Breite Straße 32, and the half-timbered houses and town-wall remains of the Kolk. Take the U7 to Altstadt Spandau (the church is about 100 m away); the Citadel is a 10-minute walk beyond.

Free to explore; church free; church tower tours €2 (reduced €1) on tour days (tourist-office listing)

You enter through a granite arch and walk past a grieving Mother Homeland figure and two kneeling soldiers, then down a birch-lined avenue to a grassy mound crowned by a bronze soldier who carries a child and stands over a smashed swastika. Sixteen white limestone sarcophagi with reliefs, one for each Soviet republic of the time, line the sides, and several thousand soldiers who died in the Battle of Berlin are buried here; the complex was built in 1946–49 and carries a lot of Soviet propaganda, so a little reading beforehand helps. Take the S-Bahn (S8, S9, S41, S42 or S85) to Treptower Park and walk into the park; the memorial is entered from Puschkinallee in the north or Straße Am Treptower Park in the south, and buses 166 and 265 also stop at „Sowjetisches Ehrenmal“. It has no opening hours and no entrance fee, and Memorial Deutschland offers occasional free critical guided tours (German, English and other languages).

Free (open memorial; no entrance fee listed)

The old town sits on islands formed by the Dahme and the Spree, with a restored fishing settlement (the Kietz), the Laurentiuskirche and the Luisenhain park by the river. The Rathaus (Alt-Köpenick 21, built 1901–04, 54 m tower) is the star: in 1906 the shoemaker Wilhelm Voigt put on a second-hand captain's uniform and seized the town treasury here, and a bronze statue of him stands at the entrance. A permanent exhibition on the Captain is in the very room of the heist; the district museum lists it as open daily 09:00–19:00, but its entry price is not published, so check on arrival. Take the S3 to Köpenick station and then a tram (60, 61, 62, 63 or 67) into the old town; the Schloss Köpenick stop is a couple of minutes from the palace.

Walking the old town is free; the price of the Hauptmann exhibition is not published

Built 1925–33 by Bruno Taut and Martin Wagner with garden architect Leberecht Migge, the estate was designed as affordable housing with a kitchen, bathroom and, for ground-floor flats and terraced houses, a private garden; its colourful facades (deep red, ochre, blue, white) and the 350 m horseshoe-shaped block are the draw, and it is part of the Berlin Modernism UNESCO World Heritage. The Infostation at Fritz-Reuter-Allee 44 has a bilingual exhibition and café, open Fridays and Sundays 14:00–18:00 (€1 entry); people live here, so walk quietly. Schloss Britz (Alt-Britz 73) is a manor from around 1706 with rooms rebuilt as they looked around 1880 and a park with a very old ginkgo tree: open Tuesday–Sunday 12:00–18:00, €5 (€3 reduced), under 12 free. Take the U7 to Blaschkoallee or Parchimer Allee (about 0.4 km to the estate); Parchimer Allee is also the stop for Schloss Britz, together with buses M44, M46 and 181.

Walking the estate has no admission; Infostation €1; Schloss Britz €5, reduced €3, under 12 free

On 20 January 1942 fifteen senior SS, party and ministry officials met in this villa on the Großer Wannsee to coordinate the planned deportation and murder of Europe's Jews. Today nine rooms on the ground floor show documents, photographs and audiovisual material that follow the path from exclusion to mass murder; count on 1 to 1.5 hours, and rent the audio guide (about 1 hour, eight languages, €3) or use your own phone. To get there take the S1 or S7 to Wannsee station, then bus 114 (direction Heckeshorn) to the stop Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz. Entry is free, no ticket is needed for individuals, and the memorial itself recommends visiting from age 14.

Free (permanent exhibition; official site, 2026). Audio guide €3.

An open-air museum on the site of a real medieval settlement, with rebuilt houses, workshops, gardens and fields, heritage livestock (sheep, oxen and pigs) and volunteers demonstrating blacksmithing, pottery and other crafts. On weekends there are historical children's games and archery (five shots for €1). It is open only on weekends and public holidays between 14 March and 1 November 2026, plus daily except Wednesday in school holidays; bring walking shoes. Take the S1 to Mexikoplatz and then bus 115 (stop Ludwigsfelder Straße) or 118/622 (stop Clauertstraße), or walk about 1.7 km from the station; road works mean the entrance is reached via Berlepschstraße until mid-October 2026.

Adult €6; free under 18 and with concession (Stadtmuseum Berlin, 2026)

The star of the dinosaur hall is the huge mounted Giraffatitan (Brachiosaurus brancai) skeleton, displayed alongside a T. rex and other specimens. Elsewhere you can see the Berlin Archaeopteryx fossil, the minerals collection, the wet collection of preserved animals and taxidermy highlights such as Knut the polar bear. Kids love it, so allow 2-3 hours; buy a timed ticket online to skip the box-office queue and note that only bags smaller than A4 are allowed into the exhibition (use the cloakroom). It is on Invalidenstraße, and the nearby U-Bahn station is named Naturkundemuseum.

Adult €11; reduced €5; family (2 adults + up to 3 children under 14) €18; preschoolers free; free on the first Sunday of the month (official site)

The late-neoclassical station hall, the only surviving terminus building of its kind in Berlin, is wrapped in Dan Flavin's neon light at night and holds one of the biggest public collections of contemporary art in the world, including Joseph Beuys and Andy Warhol. In 2026 the programme includes the collection show 'A Thousand Times Berlin' (from 12 June), Ryuichi Sakamoto (11 Sept 2026 - 20 June 2027) and Sophie Calle (13 Nov 2026 - 4 April 2027). The museum is a few minutes' walk from the Hauptbahnhof, and Thursday is the late-opening day until 20:00. The Rieckhallen annexe is not step-free.

Adult €16; reduced €8; free under 18 (city of Berlin listing)

The glass-clad building on the Spree has three exhibition spaces called Human, Nature and Technology, plus the Futurium Lab where visitors try experiments from AI to timber construction, and a rooftop Skywalk. Admission is free, with free lockers (bring a coin), a free smartphone audio guide and an organic restaurant, and it is only about 350 m from the Hauptbahnhof. Plan 2-3 hours; it is open Thursday until 20:00 and closed on Tuesdays.

Free

Until 1990 this glass-and-steel hall was where East Germans said goodbye to Western visitors and went through passport and customs checks, which gave it its nickname. The exhibition 'Alltag der deutschen Teilung' uses original counters, personal stories and objects to show how the border shaped families' lives. It is free, with free audio guides in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish and free lockers, and it sits right next to Friedrichstraße station, so it fits well between Unter den Linden and the Spree. Plan about an hour.

Free

The baroque Zeughaus with the permanent overview of German history is closed for modernisation and has no reopening date, so a visit now means the Pei building behind it (entrance at Hinter dem Gießhaus 3). It currently shows 'Objects. Stories. History' (until October 2027), 'Nature and German History' (until January 2027) and, from 16 October 2026, 'Contested Kinship: Colonial and Nazi Violence' (until April 2027). Entry is free on 3 October, 9 November and 3 December 2026 and for everyone under 18. Quiet hours run Tuesday 16:00-18:00 and Saturday 10:00-12:00; the museum cafe is closed.

Single exhibition €7 (reduced €3.50); combined ticket €10 (reduced €5); free under 18 (official site, 2026)

Housed in the former Reich Post Office building on Leipziger Straße, the museum covers the history of the post and of communication. Highlights include the Blue Mauritius stamp, the pneumatic-post demonstrations and the robots ROBerta and ROBert in the atrium. Admission is €8 and free for under-18s, which makes it a cheap and dry option for families, and it is fully wheelchair accessible. Once a month (the third Wednesday) it stays open until 20:00.

Adult €8; reduced €4; free under 18 (official site)

Five museums built between 1824 and 1930 form a UNESCO World Heritage ensemble (listed 1999), with the glass-and-stone James-Simon-Galerie as the modern visitor entrance. In 2026 the Neues Museum, Altes Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie, Bode-Museum and “Pergamonmuseum. Das Panorama” are open, while the main Pergamonmuseum building stays closed for renovation until 2027. The Museumsinsel Ticket covers every venue on the island for one day, but you will realistically see two or three houses; pick by taste (Egypt and Nefertiti, ancient Greece and Rome, 19th-century painting, sculpture) and book online to skip the ticket queue. The museums are separate stops in the planner - add the ones you want to go inside; this stop is the walk around the island itself (Lustgarten, the colonnades and the James-Simon-Galerie).

Walking around the island is free. Museum Island day ticket €24 (reduced €12); single museums €14–16; free under 18 (official site, 2026)

The Neues Museum shows the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, with the famous bust of Nefertiti as the star, plus the Museum of Pre- and Early History, whose highlights include the Berlin Gold Hat. The building (opened 1859) was rebuilt after wartime destruction and reopened in 2009, and the restored walls are part of the experience. Enter through the James-Simon-Galerie, leave coats in its cloakroom and go to Nefertiti first before the rooms fill up.

Adult €14; reduced €7; free under 18; also valid with the €24 Museum Island ticket (official site, 2026)

Opened in 2006 on the Spree, the museum lets you open drawers, try on clothes, sit in a Trabant simulator and walk through a true-to-original prefab apartment to see how people lived in the GDR. It also covers education, work, ideology, the Berlin Wall and the Stasi. It is open every day until 21:00, so a late visit works well; tickets can be reserved online.

Adult €13.90; reduced €8.50; under 6 free (official site, 2026)

The Berlin Palace building on Schlossplatz (opened 2020, architect Franco Stella) holds the non-European collections of Berlin's state museums. Exhibitions include BERLIN GLOBAL on the first floor and the Ethnological Collections and Asian Art on the upper floors; several areas, such as the Palace Cellar, Sculpture Hall and the Humboldt Brothers show, are free. The roof terrace, about 30 m up and reached only by lift, looks over the Cathedral, TV Tower and Museum Island.

Entering the building and some areas is free; each exhibition €9; roof terrace €3 (reduced half); free under 19 (official site, 2026)

Opened in 1876, the gallery shows about 2,000 paintings and sculptures of the 19th century, with highlights such as Caspar David Friedrich's “Monk by the Sea”, Adolph Menzel's “Iron Rolling Mill”, Schadow's Princess Group and works by Manet, Monet and Max Liebermann. The special exhibition “Scandal!” runs until 15 November 2026. Expect a calm 1.5-hour visit; lifts are available but the building is only partly wheelchair accessible.

Adult €16; reduced €8; free under 18; also valid with the €24 Museum Island ticket (official site, 2026)

The main Pergamonmuseum on Museum Island is closed for renovation until 2027, and this exhibition in a separate building opposite the Bode-Museum is the stand-in. Yadegar Asisi's circular panorama shows the ancient city of Pergamon as it might have looked in 129 AD, with light and sound simulating day and night, and around 80 original objects from the Antikensammlung are shown alongside. Tickets are valid only for the booked date, and the Museum Island ticket is accepted.

Adult €12; reduced €6; free under 18; included in the €24 Museum Island ticket (official site, 2026)

The exhibition “Alles über Anne” follows Anne Frank's life in six phases, from childhood in Germany and the move to the Netherlands to persecution, hiding and her diary's legacy, using video interviews, letter-writing stations and objects you can touch. Texts are bilingual in German and English. It is a good, accessible introduction for families and teens; it sits in the courtyard building at Rosenthaler Straße 39, a short walk from Hackescher Markt.

Adult €8; reduced €4 (ages 11–18, students, seniors); family €17; under 10 free (official site, 2026)

The museum occupies the former workshop and office rooms in the Haus Schwarzenberg courtyard, where Weidt made brushes and brooms and employed mainly blind and deaf-blind Jewish workers during the Nazi era. Letters, photographs and documents tell stories of persecution and rescue, and you can see the windowless hiding room whose entrance was once concealed behind a wardrobe. Entry is free; use the lift from the courtyard, as the stairs are very steep, and plan about an hour.

Free

The Bode-Museum (1904) combines the Sculpture Collection (13th–18th century), the Museum of Byzantine Art and the Coin Cabinet, with some 500,000 coins and medals in the collection. Sculpture and paintings are arranged together by period in grand halls, and the building itself, reopened in 2006 after restoration, is a highlight. The entrance is on the Monbijou bridge side.

Adult €14; reduced €7; free under 18; also valid with the €24 Museum Island ticket (official site, 2026)

Karl Friedrich Schinkel's building (opened 1830) faces the Lustgarten and has a domed rotunda inside, and it houses the Antikensammlung with the permanent show on Greeks, Etruscans and Romans. A temporary exhibition on the museum's own founding in antiquity runs until January 2027. It is a calm, elegant museum that works well as a shorter visit; the entrance is on Am Lustgarten.

Adult €14; reduced €7; free under 18; also valid with the €24 Museum Island ticket (official site, 2026)

The core exhibition in the Libeskind Building is free for everyone, which makes this one of the best-value museum stops in the city; temporary shows in the Old Building are ticketed. For families, ANOHA is the draw: a play-and-discovery world for kindergarten and primary-school children with a recommended stay of about two hours; non-slip socks are required (you can buy them there or bring your own). The cafés, museum shop and garden can be used without an admission ticket. Reach it via U-Bahn Hallesches Tor (U1, U3, U6).

Core exhibition free; temporary exhibitions €10 (reduced €4), free under 18; ANOHA: €3 booking fee online, free if you get the time-slot ticket at the museum desk (official site, 2026)

The museum covers aviation, rail transport, computers and more across several buildings on the former rail yards, and the Science Center Spectrum (Möckernstraße 26) lets kids try out physical phenomena with their hands; one ticket covers both. Children and teens under 18 enter free, but you still need to get a €0 ticket online. Plan most of a day with children, and note that the photography, film technology and chemistry & pharmacy exhibitions are closed for renovation until further notice and that backpacks are not allowed in the Spectrum. The special exhibition „SuperCity 3000“ runs until June 2027.

Adult €15 online (€17 at the cashier); reduced €9 online (€11 at the cashier); free under 18 (€0 ticket needed online); free from 13:00 on the first Friday of each month (official site, 2026)

Best for visitors who want to see how Berlin's art scene developed through the twentieth century, from the 1880s to 1980, alongside architectural projects and temporary exhibitions by contemporary artists. It is quieter than the big museums, so it works as a calm break from the Kreuzberg crowds. Show your Jewish Museum ticket (or the other way round) for reduced admission, and note that the first Wednesday of the month is a €7 day for everyone.

Adult €12; reduced €7; free under 18; €7 for everyone on the first Wednesday of the month (official site, 2026)

The artist Yadegar Asisi's panorama of the divided city is shown in a purpose-built hall at Friedrichstraße 205, right at Checkpoint Charlie, and it is open daily 10:00–18:00. You see it from a 4-metre-high platform, with the picture also visible from the lower level, so it is a quick, atmospheric add-on to the free open-air exhibition outside. Tickets can be bought online, and a parent-child ticket is available for families.

Adult €14; reduced €11; child €7; parent-child ticket €32 (official site, 2026)

The neo-Renaissance building by Martin Gropius and Heino Schmieden opened in 1881, was badly hit in 1945 and reopened in 1981, and today shows rotating exhibitions rather than a permanent collection. Through the autumn of 2026 the programme includes a show on the East German artist Gabriele Stötzer (to 6 December), 'Kreuzberg: Art and Migration since 1960' (10 September to 17 January) and a Christoph Schlingensief retrospective (from 9 October to 17 January). It stands about 100 metres from the Topography of Terror, so the two combine easily; there is also a café-restaurant and a children's play area called BAUBAU.

Adult €15; reduced €10; children and teens free (age limit listed as under 16 or under 18 depending on the listing - check at the box office); BAUBAU play area free for children (museumsportal-berlin.de, visitBerlin, 2026)

Inside House 1 of the former Ministry for State Security complex in Lichtenberg, the museum shows the preserved offices of minister Erich Mielke, bugging and surveillance equipment (hidden cameras, microphones) and documents on how the Stasi monitored citizens. Audioguides in seven languages cost €2, and a public one-hour guided tour runs Monday-Saturday at 13:00 in German and 15:00 in English (€5). It is out of the centre: take the U5 to Magdalenenstraße (about 10 minutes' walk) or the S-Bahn to Frankfurter Allee.

Adult €12; reduced €9; children 13+ €6; audioguide €2; guided tour €5 (official site / Berlin city portal, 2026)

Founded in 1997, this is billed as the first permanent exhibition on digital games, and you can play much of it: early Pong and Computerspace, 1980s arcade halls, a 1990s living-room setup and quirky exhibits like the Pain Station and giant controllers. Public guided tours run on Saturdays in English and Sundays in German at 12:30. It is open daily until 20:00, a short walk from U Weberwiese (U5), and works well on a rainy day or as a break from the Wall sites.

Adult €12; reduced €8 (Berlin city portal listing, 2026)

The old Schultheiss brewery, a castle-like brick complex from the 1880s, is now a cultural centre with courtyards, a cinema, theatre and club venues. The free museum exhibition shows how East Germans lived and worked: recreated pub, living room and workbench settings, a green Trabant with a roof tent, and original documents and eyewitness accounts, with free audioguides in five languages. The museum says parts of the permanent exhibition are restricted because of renovation until early December, so check before you go.

Free (museum exhibition; official site, 2026)

Housed in the Mühlenspeicher at the Oberbaumbrücke end of the East Side Gallery, the museum uses over 100 screens and interactive displays across 13 rooms, with video interviews, original 1961 Wall elements and a reconstructed East German living room. It is a commercial attraction, unlike the free Wall Foundation sites, so it suits visitors who want an indoor, story-led overview after walking the gallery. It is open daily 10:00-19:00 and a short walk from Warschauer Straße or Schlesisches Tor.

Adult €12.50 at the door, €9.99 online; reduced rates for students and children; under 7 free (official site, 2026)

Around 1,250 paintings hang in 53 rooms on the main floor, following a calm layout around a large central hall. Highlights include an octagonal room devoted to Rembrandt, two paintings by Vermeer (The Wine Glass and Woman with a Pearl Necklace), and works by Dürer, Botticelli, Raphael, Titian and Caravaggio; the German collection is among the finest anywhere. Plan a minimum of two hours, wear comfortable shoes and use the cloakroom for larger bags. It is closed on Mondays, and tickets can be booked online up to four weeks ahead.

Adult €14; reduced €7; under 18 free; Kulturforum day ticket €22 (official site, 2026)

C/O Berlin shows changing international photography exhibitions in the Amerika Haus, built in 1956-57 as a US cultural centre and carefully restored; more than 2,500 square metres are used for shows, plus a bookshop and a café. It is open every day 11:00-20:00, which makes it a good evening option. Free public tours run on Saturdays and Sundays at 14:00 (German) and 15:30 (English). The official site currently reports an elevator outage, so check accessibility before you go if you need a lift. Lockers are limited and dogs are not allowed.

Adult €15 (€18 with donation); reduced €8; under 18 free (official site, 2026)

Founded in 1985 and moved in 2013 from Kreuzberg to a converted printing works at Lützowstraße 73, the museum has four exhibition rooms, a café, a research library of about 19,000 titles and a large archive of periodicals going back to 1896. Current shows run to 2 November ('Lieber glücklich als normal!' on queer experiences in Christian-fundamentalist settings, and 'Susan Sontag - Sehen und gesehen werden') and to 30 November ('Cruising the Countryside' on queer life in rural areas). Free public tours run on Thursdays at 18:00, Saturdays at 16:00 and Sundays at 16:00; the nearest U-Bahn stations, Kurfürstenstraße and Nollendorfplatz, are 750-900 m away.

Adult €10; reduced €5; solidarity ticket €15 (official site, 2026)

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's 1968 building is a worthwhile sight on its own: a black steel roof floating over a glass hall, with the permanent collection of classic modern art in the lower level. It holds Cubism, Expressionism, Bauhaus and Surrealism, with names such as Picasso, Kandinsky, Miró and Barnett Newman, and a sculpture garden with works by Henry Moore, Calder and Richard Serra. Special exhibitions in the glass hall are ticketed separately. Free admission applies on the first Thursday of the month from 16:00 to 20:00, and the museum stays open until 20:00 every Thursday.

Collection ticket €14 (reduced €7); Museum Ticket incl. special exhibitions €20; Kulturforum ticket €22; under 18 free; free first Thursday of the month 16:00-20:00 (official site, 2026)

Over about 3,000 square metres on two levels, the museum covers espionage chronologically with an original Enigma machine, miniature spy cameras, Stasi scent samples, James Bond displays and the 'Bulgarian umbrella' used in a 1978 assassination in London. You enter through a sealed circular chamber, which may bother people prone to claustrophobia, and hands-on stations let you crack codes or cross a laser corridor. It is open every day 10:00-20:00 using 15-minute time-slot tickets: arrive on time, then stay until closing. Prices are dynamic (from €8 to €18.50 for adults) and online is cheaper than on site.

Adult €8-18.50 (dynamic); reduced €6-13.50; online is cheaper than on site (official site, 2026)

Opened in 2017 in a renovated 1880s building at Bülowstraße 7, the museum was redesigned by the architects GRAFT with diagonal bridges and a graffiti-style wall, and it shows changing exhibitions with work by well-known street artists from many countries. Part of the appeal is outside: the building's own facade and neighbouring walls carry large murals, so allow time for a short stroll around the block. Entry is free, with donations welcome; it is just a few minutes from U Nollendorfplatz and works well as a short, rain-proof stop.

Free (donations welcome; official site, 2026)

The Kunstgewerbemuseum shows world-famous examples of European arts and crafts in its permanent collections, and hosts changing exhibitions on design and fashion (exhibitions have included Verner Panton and the Bauhaus chair-maker Erich Dieckmann). The Guelph Treasure is currently not on display while objects are prepared for a new permanent exhibition. The museum is only open Wednesday to Sunday, with shorter days than its neighbours; the combined Kulturforum ticket (€22) covers it and the other Kulturforum museums.

Adult €10; reduced €5; under 18 free; Kulturforum ticket €22 (official site, 2026)

More than 3,500 instruments from the 16th century onwards, of which about 800 are on show: Frederick the Great's flutes, a harpsichord associated with J. S. Bach, a folding harpsichord made for Queen Sophie Charlotte, a glass harmonica and the 1929 Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ with 1,228 pipes. The Wurlitzer is demonstrated at set times and heard in concerts and silent-film screenings, so check the museum's calendar. Through the end of October 2026 the museum runs reduced hours because of refurbishment; and on Fridays 18:00-19:30 (through October) a guide shows live instrument demonstrations, included in the ticket.

Adult €10; reduced €5; under 18 free; guided tour +€3; Kulturforum day ticket €22 (official site, 2026)

Housed in the former Landwehr Casino at Jebensstraße 2, the museum combines the Helmut Newton Foundation, including Newton's own work and collections, with the photography collection of the Kunstbibliothek. Through 15 November 2026 you can see the shows Rooms / Stages and Helmut Newton's One-off Album, and Intermezzo: Revisiting Helmut Newton runs until the end of 2027. It is open until 20:00 on Thursdays and closed Mondays; a same-day C/O Berlin ticket gives you €2 off, so the two venues pair well.

Adult €12; reduced €6; under 18 free; €2 off with a same-day C/O Berlin ticket (official site, 2026)

The museum grew from the collection of the entrepreneur Karl H. Bröhan, who gave it to the state of Berlin; since 1983 it has been housed on Schloßstraße. It shows decorative and applied art from the late 19th century to the eve of World War II: furniture, porcelain, glass, ceramics, metalwork, textiles and posters, alongside paintings and sculpture from the Berlin Secession. Temporary shows rotate through the year (a Cesar Klein exhibition opens on 15 October 2026), and a lift reaches every exhibition floor. On the first Wednesday of the month everyone pays a reduced €4. Buses M45, 109 and 309, the U2 to Sophie-Charlotte-Platz, the U7 to Richard-Wagner-Platz and the S-Bahn to Westend all stop nearby.

Adult €9; reduced €6; first Wednesday of the month €4 for everyone; free under 18, students and some card holders (official site)

The permanent show „Surreal Worlds“ follows dreamlike and fantastic art from the dark prints of Piranesi and Goya through Symbolism to Surrealism, with works by Dalí, Max Ernst, Magritte, Klee and Giacometti among more than fifty artists. The collection grew out of the early-20th-century holdings of the Berlin collector Otto Gerstenberg and was greatly expanded by his grandson; it fills the eastern Stüler building that once housed the Egyptian Museum. Many works are on paper and the rooms are intimate, so an hour is usually enough; a changing special exhibition and fortnightly „Cinema Surreal“ film screenings add variety. It combines easily with the palace, the Bröhan Museum and the Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum, all within a few minutes on foot; take the U2 to Sophie-Charlotte-Platz or the U7 to Richard-Wagner-Platz.

Adult €10; reduced €5; free under 18; Museum Pass Berlin 3-day pass €32 (official site, 2026)

Since 2022 the museum has occupied the Theaterbau next to the palace, having moved from its former villa on Fasanenstraße. It holds more than 200 prints, drawings, posters and sculptures, including the woodcut cycle „War“, the lithograph „Bread!“ and several self-portraits, with changing exhibitions that put her work in the context of her time. Her subjects are war, poverty and loss, so it is moving but sombre; allow about an hour. The nearest stop is Klausenerplatz (buses M45, 309), about 80 m away through the park; the S-Bahn at Westend is roughly 900 m and the U7 at Richard-Wagner-Platz roughly 1.1 km on foot.

Adult €8; reduced €5; free under 18 (official site)

The museum is a branch of the Bundeswehr's military history museum and is set on the former Luftwaffe and RAF station at Gatow. Outdoors you can walk among well over a hundred aircraft, including Cold War fighters such as the MiG-17; the permanent exhibition „Zwischenlandung“ (Stopover) covers 100 years of military aviation, with eyewitness accounts, interactive stations and a walk-in bunker, and the control tower hosts special exhibitions. Entry is free and there is a free public guided tour every Sunday at 14:00. It lies far out in the south-west: take the U7 to Rathaus Spandau, then bus 135 towards Alt-Kladow (about 21-22 minutes) to Kurpromenade or Seekorso, and walk about 10 minutes. Allow half a day for the round trip and the airfield.

Free (official site)

The building was a Wehrmacht pioneer school's officers' mess and later the Soviet military headquarters in Germany; the hall where the surrender was signed is preserved in its original state with a film about the signing. About 1,000 m² of permanent exhibition follow German-Soviet relations from 1917 to 1990 with a focus on the 1941–45 war, using photographs, uniforms, weapons and propaganda, and a Soviet T-34 tank stands outside. Admission is free and audio guides cost €3 (€1 reduced) in German, English, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, French and Polish. From the city take the S3 to Karlshorst and then bus 296, or the U5 to Tierpark and then bus 296.

Free (audio guide €3, reduced €1; official site, 2026)

The Great Refractor, built for the 1896 Berlin Trade Exhibition, has a 21 m focal length and a 68 cm lens, and it still works for guided tours and observing evenings. The same building holds a 31-seat planetarium, a free Museum of Celestial Science on the history of astronomy and the Einstein Hall, where Albert Einstein gave his first public lecture on general relativity in 1915. The €12 ticket covers guided tours, observations, lectures and planetarium programmes, so check the event calendar before you go. From the S-Bahn (S8, S9) get off at Plänterwald and walk about 12 minutes, or ride bus 165, 166, 265 or N65 to Alt-Treptow.

Adult €12; reduced €8; family (2 adults + 3 children) €31.50; museum free during event times (official site, 2026)

The palace was rebuilt for the later King Frederick I in 1677–82 and, in 1730, the court martial of Crown Prince Frederick and his friend Katte took place here. Today 21 rooms show furniture, wall panelling, porcelain and silver from the Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo, including a lacquer cabinet with chinoiserie scenes, the Wiesentheider mirror cabinet and Frederick I's silver buffet; the special exhibition on pewter runs until 4 October 2026. Tram or bus lines 27, 60, 61, 62, 63, 67 and 68 stop at Schloßplatz Köpenick, two minutes away, or take the S47 to Spindlersfeld. Note the museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays year-round and also on Wednesdays from October to March.

Adult €8; reduced half price; free under 18 (SMB, price list from 2024)

The exhibition "How Enemies Became Friends" follows the American, British and French presence in Berlin after 1945, housed in the 1953 Outpost Theater cinema of the former US sector next to the Nicholson Memorial Library (named after a US officer killed by Soviet forces in 1985). A newer 200 m² section covers 1945-49 with over 100 photos, documents and objects on denazification and the Berlin Airlift. The large objects - a British Hastings airlift plane, the original first Checkpoint Charlie guardhouse and a section of Wall - are shown separately and are currently charged at €1 (listed hours 11:00-17:00). Take the U3 to Oskar-Helene-Heim, or bus 115 or X83 to the stop AlliiertenMuseum on Clayallee; admission is free.

Free (large objects such as the airlift plane currently €1)

A low modernist building by Werner Düttmann (opened 1967) in a leafy setting, showing changing selections from about 400 paintings and sculptures plus thousands of drawings and prints by the Expressionists who founded Die Brücke in Dresden in 1905. It is small, so one to two hours is enough, and a combined ticket also covers the neighbouring Kunsthaus Dahlem, whose café is the one to use here (the museum's own toilets are not accessible and the café is in the Kunsthaus). Take bus 115 or X10 to the stop Brücke-Museum/Kunsthaus Dahlem; admission is half price in the last hour before closing.

Adult €6; reduced €4; free under 18 and for pupils, students and apprentices aged 18-27; combined ticket with Kunsthaus Dahlem €8 / €5 (official site)

The museum, reopened in 2006, occupies the villa and garden of the painter Max Liebermann on the Wannsee, with the art exhibition on the first floor; the museum celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2026 with tours, talks and summer concerts. It pairs well with the nearby House of the Wannsee Conference. To get there take the S1 or S7 to Wannsee, then bus 114 to the stop Liebermann-Villa, which is right in front of the building. Plan about an hour and book a time online if you want to be sure of a ticket.

Adult €12; reduced €6 (berlin.de museum listing; check the official ticket shop for current prices)

The permanent show "Cultural Contacts. Living in Europe" fills 700 m² with objects from the museum's huge collection (about 285,000 items) to ask how mobility, migration and trade have connected Europeans; its showpiece is a luxurious Venetian gondola from 1910. The other crowd-pleaser is a 15 m² mechanical nativity scene from the Ore Mountains with over 300 figures, some of them moving, which is especially popular in winter; temporary shows in 2026-27 cover traditional women's costume (until 29 March 2027) and Tyrolean postcards (until 25 April 2027). Take the U3 to Dahlem-Dorf (bus 101 or X83 also stop nearby) and combine it with Domäne Dahlem and the Botanical Garden.

Adult €10; reduced €5; free under 18 (SMB, 2026)

Opened in 1844, this 35-hectare zoo keeps about 1,380 species and over 20,000 animals, and is known for its giant pandas (twin cubs were born in 2019 and 2024). It has two main gates: the Elephant Gate on Budapester Straße, right next to the Aquarium, and the Lion Gate on Hardenbergplatz by Zoo station. It is open 365 days a year, but opening hours shift with the season and last admission is one hour before closing; animal houses and restaurants close 30 minutes earlier. Buying online is much cheaper than at the gate, and a combined ticket with the Aquarium (same day) saves money if you plan both.

Adult (16+) from €16 online / €25 at the gate; child 4-15 from €7.50 online / €12.50 at the gate; under 4 free; Zoo + Aquarium from €24 adult / €11 child online (official site, 2026)

Open since 1913 and run together with the Zoo, the Aquarium shows thousands of animals on three floors, from coral reefs and jellyfish to sharks, plus reptiles, amphibians and insects. Its crocodile hall has a suspension bridge, and Komodo dragons and tuataras (New Zealand 'living fossils') are among the residents. It is a good rainy-day option and easy to combine with the Zoo on one ticket (from €24 for adults online), as long as both are visited on the same day. On 2 October 2026 it was open 9:00-18:00 with last entry at 17:00; times change with the season, so check before you go.

Aquarium only: adult (16+) €16 online / €25 at the gate; child 4-15 €7.50 / €12.50; under 4 free; Zoo + Aquarium from €24 adult / €11 child (official site, 2026)

Inside the Sony Center (Potsdamer Straße 4), the centre has over 5 million LEGO bricks, Miniland Berlin with the city's landmarks in bricks, two rides, a 4D cinema, a DUPLO village and a NINJAGO city area. It is open 364 days a year, hours vary by date (on 2 October 2026 10:00-18:00 with last entry at 16:00, on Saturday 3 October 10:00-19:00 with last entry at 17:00); plan at least two to three hours. Online tickets start at €19.50 against €25 at the gate, with cheaper afternoon 'happy hour' tickets from 14:00 (from €18) and children under 2 free. Both rides need guests to hold the hand rails themselves.

Online from €19.50, €25 at the gate; happy hour from 14:00 from €18; under 2 free (official site, 2026)

Tierpark Berlin sprawls over roughly 160 hectares of lawns, ponds and old trees, so animals have a lot of space and you do a lot of walking; the rainforest house with tigers, leopards and tropical birds and the bear window are highlights, and the historic Schloss Friedrichsfelde stands inside the grounds (open Fridays to Sundays 11:00–15:00 during park visits). Plan a full day, wear comfortable shoes and note that animal houses and restaurants close 30 minutes before the park does. Take the U5 to Tierpark (main entrance at Am Tierpark 125, reached by bus 296 or 396 or by tram M17, 27 or 37) or bus 194 to the castle entrance; the zoo is open 365 days a year.

Adult (16+) from €14.50 online, €22.50 at the gate; child (4–15) from €7 online, €11 at the gate; under 4 free (official site, 2026)

FEZ describes itself as Europe's largest non-profit centre for children, young people and families: besides the Alice children's museum (a „sock museum“ where you explore barefoot or in grip socks), it has the orbitall space centre, the Astrid Lindgren stage, a swimming hall and an eco-island. Outdoors there are playgrounds with a giant rocket and slide, a dragon playground, Villa Kunterbunt, a large wooden climbing playground and a new inclusive play area, and you can hire pedal cars, boats and BMX bikes. Take the S3 towards Erkner or Friedrichshagen to Wuhlheide and walk 12–15 minutes through the park, or take tram 27 from Karlshorst or tram 60 or 67 from Schöneweide to the stop Freizeit- und Erholungszentrum; the main building is open Mon–Fri 09:00–21:00 and weekends 10:00–18:00. Alice itself is listed as open weekends and holidays 10:00–18:00 and longer in school holidays.

Prices depend on the attraction: orbitall €3.50–8, Astrid Lindgren stage €6–8.50, swimming hall €3.50–5.50 (listing); Alice is included in the FEZ day pass; check tickets.fez-berlin.de

An 800-year-old estate that is now an organic (Bioland) farm with cattle, sheep and chickens, the farm shop, a restaurant with beer garden and a Saturday organic market (8:00-13:00); the grounds are free, and a €5 ticket adds the manor house of 1560 with a historic grocer's shop and the "Culinarium" exhibition on food from field to plate. It is a rare farm you can reach by metro (U3 Dahlem-Dorf; buses 110, M11 and X83 also stop), so it suits a family morning, especially on market-festival weekends - the 2026 autumn programme lists a harvest festival on 3-4 October and a craft market on 17-18 October (market festivals cost extra, children under 12 free), and there are children's workshops on some Sundays (HofSonntag). Dogs are welcome on a lead outdoors but not in the museum.

Grounds free (donations welcome); museum adult €5, reduced €3; market festivals adult €4.50, reduced €2, children under 12 free (official site, 2026)

The GDR-era tower (1969) is 368 m tall; a lift takes you up in about 40 seconds to the observation deck at 203 m, with the Sphere bar and revolving restaurant just above at 207 m. On a clear day you can look out over the whole city, and the steel sphere is famous for the cross-shaped sunlight reflection Berliners once nicknamed the “Pope's Revenge”. Entry is by time slot (15 minutes of grace), prices are cheaper online than at the desk, and a clear morning or a sunset slot is best; the tower is not barrier-free, so wheelchair users cannot go up.

Adult from €20 online (dynamic pricing, cheaper than at the desk); children 4–14 from €14; under 4 free (official site; children's prices per visitBerlin listing, 2026)

Stern und Kreisschiffahrt runs one-hour historical city tours from two central piers: Friedrichstraße (Am Weidendamm 1A, daily sailings roughly every 30 minutes between 11:00 and 18:30) and Alte Börse (Burgstraße 27 near Hackescher Markt; in early October sailings run roughly 10:45–16:45). The route passes the Humboldt Forum, Nikolaiviertel, Cathedral, TV Tower, Museum Island, Reichstag, government quarter and Central Station, with a free audio guide in 12 languages including English and drinks on board. Both piers are reached only by stairs, which matters with strollers or wheelchairs; other operators such as Reederei Winkler, BWSG and Kaiser Friedrich run similar tours at about €19–24.

From €22.50 per adult for the one-hour tour (Stern und Kreis, 2026); other operators about €19–24; children's prices vary by operator

Built on the former Anhalter and Potsdamer freight yards, the park opened in stages between 2011 and 2014 and keeps traces of its past: rails, signal posts and sleepers, with wild ruderal vegetation left to grow. You can cycle or stroll the long paths, picnic on the lawns, watch beach volleyball and skaters, visit the neighbourhood-tended rose scent garden, or let children use the playgrounds and the nature discovery area for ages 6-12. It is open round the clock and free, with few parking spaces, so come by U-Bahn or S-Bahn (Möckernbrücke, Gleisdreieck or Yorckstraße); it lies a few hundred metres from the Technikmuseum, which makes a good pairing.

Free

Established in 1888 and named after Queen Victoria, the park climbs the hill that gave Kreuzberg its name, topped by Karl Friedrich Schinkel's cast-iron National Monument for the victory over Napoleon. The 24-metre waterfall runs from Maundy Thursday to mid-to-late October, daily 9:00–21:00 and weather permitting, so it is worth timing your visit for the season. There is also Wolf's Gorge, a rose garden and a playground with an animal enclosure that has existed since 1925. It lies at Kreuzbergstraße 15; the nearest U-Bahn is Platz der Luftbrücke (U6), 0.5 km away, and bus 140 stops at the entrance.

Free

The airfield opened to the public as a park in May 2010; its 300 hectares are used for cycling and skating on the old runways, kite-flying, picnics and gardening, and the open ground is also a habitat for skylarks. Cycling and skating are allowed on paved areas only, dogs must be on a leash outside the designated areas, and barbecuing is limited to three zones. The 1936–1941 terminal building, described as Europe's largest architectural monument, can only be entered on a guided tour: the English „Tempelhof Myths“ tour lasts two hours from the CHECK-IN visitor centre (Platz der Luftbrücke 5), is booked through visitBerlin from €17.50, and is not wheelchair-accessible. Come by U6 (Platz der Luftbrücke or Paradestraße), U8 (Leinestraße), or S41/S42/S47 Tempelhof.

Free (park); guided tour of the airport building from €17.50 (reduced rates for ages 6–14, visitBerlin 2026)

Opened in 1848, the park is a big green space with a swan pond, a restaurant and beer garden, playgrounds and sports areas. The centrepiece is the Märchenbrunnen at the western entrance, a neo-baroque fountain by city architect Ludwig Hoffmann (1913) with figures from Grimm's fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella and Snow White. Two hills built from WWII bunker rubble give views over the city, and an open-air cinema runs in the summer months; tram M4 stops at Am Friedrichshain.

Free

Built on the old border strip and the former Nordbahnhof railway land, Mauerpark keeps a stretch of the Wall that is now a legal graffiti canvas. On Sundays 400-450 stalls sell second-hand goods, vinyl, clothing and street food from 10:00 to 18:00, and from the afternoon, weather permitting, a crowd gathers in the amphitheatre for the free Bearpit karaoke. It is packed on summer Sundays, so come early for the market or on another day for a quiet park; the nearest U-Bahn station is Eberswalder Straße (U2).

Free (park); flea market entry is free

The 67-metre Victory Column stands on the Großer Stern roundabout in the middle of the Tiergarten, crowned by the gilded Victoria figure. A spiral staircase of 285 steps (no lift) takes you up to a platform just below the statue, with views over the park and Schloss Bellevue; the climb is not suitable if you have limited mobility. Tickets are sold on the spot and cash only, and the platform can close in storms or strong wind. Buses 100 and 106 stop at Großer Stern; the S-Bahn stations Tiergarten and Bellevue are a 15-20 minute walk away.

Adult €4.50; reduced (under 27) €3.50; children under 5 free; cash only (official site and berlin.de, 2026)

Around 210 hectares of woods, lawns and ponds in the middle of the city, a former royal hunting ground turned into a public landscape park. Rent a rowing boat on the Neuer See and stop at the café on its shore, wander to the rose garden and the English Garden, or pass the Soviet war memorial and the memorials to the Sinti and Roma and to homosexuals persecuted under the Nazis. Entry is free at any hour; the broad avenue Straße des 17. Juni cuts through the park towards the Brandenburg Gate, so it combines easily with the Victory Column and the Zoo. The tea house in the English Garden was reported damaged by a fire in September 2024, so check before planning a stop there.

Free

The tower, opened in 1926 and often compared to a mini Eiffel Tower, reopened to visitors on 24 March 2026 after a ten-month modernisation of the platform and the restaurant, as part of its centenary year. A glass lift takes about 33 seconds to the open-air platform at 126 m, with views from Teufelsberg across to the Alexanderplatz TV tower; a 1920s-style restaurant sits at 55 m and is open on Friday and Saturday evenings. Entry is by timed ticket from the online shop, and the platform stays shut in strong wind or ice, in which case the ticket turns into a voucher. The tower is listed as open through 31 December 2026, so check dates for 2027.

Adult €12; reduced €10; family €39 (press report, 2026; ticket shop sells timed slots)

Designed by Franz Schwechten and opened in 1899 in honour of Kaiser Wilhelm I, the tower stands on the Karlsberg hill and is a playful piece of brick Gothic, with a small memorial hall inside (golden mosaics and a marble statue of the Kaiser). There is no lift: 204 steps lead to the platform at 36 m, with views over the Havel and the Grunewald forest. A restaurant with a terrace sits at the foot of the tower, and the lakeshore and forest paths nearby make it a natural start for a walk along the Havel. Take the U2 to Theodor-Heuss-Platz, then bus 218 (direction Pfaueninsel) to the Grunewaldturm stop, which is about 100 m from the tower.

Adult €5; children 6-12 €3 (Berlin.de listing)

Walk through Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Balinese, Oriental-Islamic, Italian Renaissance, English, Christian and Jewish gardens in a single afternoon; the Chinese garden is the biggest, and the Balinese garden has a working Hindu temple. Kids have a hedge maze and several playgrounds, and the 1.5 km cable car runs from Kienbergpark via the Wolkenhain lookout to the gardens in about five minutes (daily 10:00–17:00; combo ticket with the gardens €12.90 in summer). From the centre take the U5 towards Hönow to Kienberg (Gärten der Welt); the main entrance is at Blumberger Damm 44 and a north entrance is at Eisenacher Straße 99. Note that the Brazil and Thailand garden cabinets are closed for renovation, and that Eisenacher Straße is closed from 5 October 2026, so bus 195 is diverted.

Summer (1 Mar–31 Oct): adult €9, reduced €4, child 6+ €4, under 6 free; with cable car €12.90 / €7.50. Winter (1 Nov–28 Feb): adult €4, child 6+ €2 (official site, 2026)

A four-kilometre riverside path runs along the Spree through this park, laid out in the 1870s–80s and the site of the 1896 Berlin Trade Exhibition. Cross the old Abteibrücke to the small Insel der Jugend, where Rent a Boat hires rowing boats (about €15 per hour for four) and pedal boats (about €23 per hour) daily 10:00–20:00 in season, cash only, no reservations, boats back by 18:30. Sightseeing ships of Stern und Kreis leave from Hafen Treptow (Puschkinallee 15), for example the roughly three-hour Spree trip to the Müggelsee from €24.50 (2026 listing: 11:00 and 15:00). Take the S-Bahn (S8, S9, S41, S42 or S85) to Treptower Park and walk to the river; arrive early on sunny weekends because boats go quickly.

Free (park). Rowing boat from €15/hour, pedal boat €23/hour (up to 4 people); Müggelsee cruise from €24.50 (operators' sites, 2026)

Built for the 1985 Federal Garden Show, the park has a lake of nearly 10 hectares, a rose garden, the Karl Foerster perennial garden, geological and herb gardens, water-play areas and a large sundial at the Kalenderplatz. Seasonal highlights are the tulip and rhododendron shows in spring and the „Dahlienfeuer“ dahlia display in autumn; there are also animals, a model-boat harbour and cafés such as Café am See, while the narrow-gauge park train is currently not running. Bikes and dogs are not allowed. Six entrances: Buckower Damm (S/U Hermannstraße plus bus M44), Mohriner Allee (U6 Alt-Mariendorf plus bus 181) and Massiner Weg (U7 Britz Süd plus bus 181) are the most useful by public transport.

Mar–Oct: adult €5, reduced €2.50, children 0–5 free; Nov–Feb: adult €2, reduced €1 (official site, 2026)

The Müggelsee covers about 7.4 km² and is up to 8 m deep, with Friedrichshagen on its north shore: stroll Bölschestraße's cafés and shops, look at the Spreetunnel and the waterworks museum in a pump house on the shore, or swim at the Strandbad Friedrichshagen (Müggelseedamm 216; summer season only, €6 weekdays and €8 weekends in 2026). In the Müggelberge south of the lake, the 30 m Müggelturm has a lookout reached by 126 steps; sources disagree on its hours and fee, so check the tower's own website before going, and reach it by bus X69 (stop Rübezahl) or bus 169 plus a walk through the forest. Take the S3 to Friedrichshagen and tram 60 or 61, or tram 60 to Joseph-Nawrocki-Straße for the beach; alternatively the Stern und Kreis ship from Treptow (about 3 hours, from €24.50) sails to the lake.

Free (lake and village); Strandbad Friedrichshagen €6 weekdays / €8 weekends in 2026; Müggelsee cruise from Treptow from €24.50

Opened in 1969 as the Kulturpark Plänterwald and closed after the operator's insolvency, the park is being rebuilt by Grün Berlin; the Ferris wheel, English village and Cinema 2000 dome are still under construction, with the full park announced for 2027. What you can visit now is the restored Eierhäuschen by the river: the free Spreepark Art Space (Kiehnwerderallee 2, Wed–Sun and public holidays 11:00–18:00; exhibition „A Place to Stay“ by Iván Argote until November 2026) and a seasonal beer garden from April to September. Free 90-minute construction-site tours in German are offered on selected dates by registration (hello@spreepark-artspace.berlin) and were fully booked; the site is not accessible for disabled visitors. Get there by S-Bahn to Treptower Park or Plänterwald and then a 20–35 minute walk, by bus 265 to Neue Krugallee/Dammweg, or by ferry to the „Am Eierhäuschen“ jetty.

Free (Art Space and construction-site tours; official site, 2026)

Three leaning human figures, riddled with holes that stand for the molecules making up people, rise about 30 m out of the river between the Elsenbrücke and the Oberbaumbrücke; Jonathan Borofsky's work was installed in 1999 and marks the point where three former districts meet. You can see it from the two bridges, from Stralauer Allee and from the riverbank by the Treptowers, and it looks especially striking in the evening light. It takes only a few minutes, so pair it with Treptower Park: from the Treptower Park S-Bahn (S8, S9, S41, S42, S85) walk down to the Spree towards the Treptowers.

Free

A big university-run botanical garden with open-air plantings and a set of greenhouses, a good half-day out for plant lovers and for families, since children and teenagers up to and including 14 get in free when accompanied by an adult. There are two entrances: Königin-Luise-Straße 6-8 (bus X83 or 101, stop Königin-Luise-Platz/Botanischer Garten) and Unter den Eichen 5-10 (bus M48, stop Unter den Eichen/Botanischer Garten); the S1 station Botanischer Garten is about a 10-minute walk away. The Botanical Museum is currently closed for renovation, there is a seasonal coffee truck (Wed-Sun) but no car park, so come by public transport.

Adult €10; reduced €5 (also for everyone after 17:00); free up to and including age 14 with an adult (official site, 2026)

Schlachtensee (about 42 ha, up to 8.5 m deep) has a 5.5 km shore loop of wide forest and park paths that takes roughly 1.5 hours and works with a stroller; the old fisherman's cottage on the shore, now the Alte Fischerhütte restaurant and beer garden, and the Paul-Ernst-Park playground make good stops. Neighbouring Krumme Lanke has a shorter loop of about 2.8 km with three bathing areas and a shallow sandy beach, and walkers sometimes join both loops into a longer walk. For Schlachtensee take the S1 to Schlachtensee; for Krumme Lanke take the U3 to its terminus Krumme Lanke. Both lakes are very busy on warm weekends and the A115 motorway can be heard on the western side.

Free

A municipal lido that has been Berliners' summer beach since 1907: about 1.2 km of sand, beach-chair and cabin rental, volleyball and football pitches, a playground, a snack bar and a separate naturist area, all behind the long modernist 1929-30 building complex by Richard Ermisch and Martin Wagner. The 2026 swimming season (from 1 May) ended on 13 September; until 4 October the grounds stay open only for sunbathing and a lakeside barrel sauna, so outside May-mid-September check berlinerbaeder.de before you go. Take the S1 or S7 to Nikolassee (not Wannsee station); in summer holidays bus 312 runs to the beach, and guests aged 14 and over need a photo ID at the gate.

Day ticket adult €6.50; reduced/child (5-14) €3.80; family ticket (3 people, at least 1 adult and 1 child) €12; under 5 free (Berliner Bäder, 2026)

A short ferry ride brings you to a landscaped island with a small late-18th-century palace and dairy, nearly 400 old oaks, the oldest rose garden in Berlin and water buffalo; the palace is visited on a guided tour (in German, with information sheets in other languages) and its tower room, the Tahitian Chamber, is decorated like a bamboo hut with painted palms and peacocks. From the S-Bahn station Wannsee (S1/S7) take bus 218 to the stop Pfaueninsel, where the ferry leaves roughly every 15 minutes (on demand, :15/:35/:55). Palace tickets are sold only on the day at the ferry house, so go early; stay on the marked paths and check conditions after dry spells, when falling branches are a hazard.

Ferry €6; reduced €5; family ferry ticket (2 adults + up to 4 children) €12. Palace tour €8; reduced €6 (SPSG, 2026)

The bridge over the Havel was a closed border crossing during the Wall years and the scene of the 1962 Abel–Powers exchange of agents (more swaps followed in 1985 and 1986); a metal strip across the roadway still marks the old border. A few minutes' walk away, Schloss Glienicke was remodelled by Karl Friedrich Schinkel for Prince Carl of Prussia in the 1820s and sits in a Lenné-designed park with a lion fountain, the Casino pavilion and lake views; the park is free, while the palace interior (colourful salons and a court-gardener museum) can only be seen on a guided tour. From S Wannsee (S1/S7) take bus 316, which ends at the bridge (about 10 minutes), or get off at the stop Schloss Glienicke (served by 316 and the night bus N16); allow an hour for bridge and park, plus about an hour for the palace tour.

Bridge and park free; palace guided tour €8, reduced €6, family ticket (2 adults + up to 4 children) €16 (SPSG, 2026)

The F10 runs about 4.4 km from the pier near S Wannsee across the Großer Wannsee and past Schwanenwerder island to Alt-Kladow in Spandau, taking around 20 minutes and leaving roughly once an hour. It is a normal BVG boat, so a single AB ticket is enough (short-trip tickets are not valid), and the ship takes up to 300 passengers and 60 bicycles. Kladow has a green waterfront promenade and walking routes, so many people make it a lake trip with a stroll before taking the boat back. The pier is about 200 m from S Wannsee (S1/S7); check the exact departure minutes on bvg.de, as hours change with the season.

A regular BVG single ticket for zones AB (€4.00 in 2026) or any valid AB day ticket; the short-trip ticket is not valid.

The Palast is a revue theatre with a 2,854 m2 stage and a resident ballet of dancers from many countries. The current grand show, 'BLINDED by DELIGHT', has costumes by Jeremy Scott and runs about two and a half hours (typically 19:30-22:00 in the evening and 15:30-18:00 for matinees), on sale from October 2026 into 2027. Tickets are listed from about €64 and it is performed in German with live audio description available; a young-audience show, 'SPOOKY Charlottenburg', premieres on 19 November 2026. Book ahead, as some dates sell out.

Tickets from about €64 (ticket listing, 2026; prices vary by date and seat)

Markthalle Neun is a market hall for artisan food, and its main draw for visitors is Street Food Thursday, running since 2013 every Thursday from 17:00 to 22:00, with more than 30 rotating vendors serving Mexican, Thai, Indonesian, Ukrainian, African and Indian dishes, and not everyone is there every week. On Fridays a larger market runs from 12:00 to 18:00. Go hungry and early on Thursday before the evening rush. It is at Eisenbahnstraße 42/43, a short walk from U1 Görlitzer Bahnhof (bus 140 also stops nearby).

Free entry; pay per stall

Held every Tuesday and Friday from 11:00 to 18:30 along Maybachufer, the market mixes fresh produce from several continents, organic goods from Brandenburg, Turkish and other specialities, street food and textile stalls, and is often compared with Munich's Viktualienmarkt. Arrive around lunchtime to eat there and then stroll along the canal; the Admiralbrücke, Berlin's oldest surviving wrought-iron canal bridge from 1880-82, is roughly a kilometre west and is a popular evening meeting spot, cleared at 22:00 because of noise. Nearest stations are Schönleinstraße (U8, about 250 m) and Kottbusser Tor (U1/U8), and buses M29 and 140 also stop nearby.

Free entry (food and goods paid per stall)

Opened in 1987, the planetarium has a 307-seat dome that projects about 9,500 stars through fibre optics plus 8K fulldome imagery, and a separate 160-seat cinema; programmes cover astronomy, music shows, films and children's shows. Entry to the main halls is only by ticket for a specific show, so pick a programme online in advance, but the foyer exhibition on the universe is free. The old Zeiss projector is on display in the foyer; the box office is closed on Mondays.

Science programmes €12 (reduced €8); music shows €16 (€12); cinema €10 (€7); family ticket (2 adults + 3 children) €31.50 (official site, 2026)

Hans Scharoun's 1963 hall pioneered the vineyard-style layout, with terraced seating wrapped around a central stage; the Grand Hall seats about 2,440 and the Chamber Music Hall about 1,180. The building has no walk-in visiting hours: you either buy a concert ticket or join a public guided tour (about an hour, in English or German, €10 / €5 reduced, children free), which are published on the 20th for the following month and can only be booked online. Tours start at the artists' entrance on Potsdamer Straße and are limited to 25 people. Advance sale for December-March concerts opens on 10 October, popular dates sell out.

Public guided tour €10; reduced €5; children free; concert prices vary by programme (official site, 2026)

The 1950s Bikini-Haus was reopened in 2014 as a concept shopping mall of small design shops, pop-up 'boxes' and a Kantini food area. The walkable terrace on the north side looks onto the Zoo grounds, a pleasant free place for a coffee break and a view before or after the zoo. The terrace is open daily 9:00-21:00, while the shops are open Monday to Saturday 10:00-20:00 (the mall itself 9:00-20:30). It is right next to the Memorial Church and Zoo station.

Free

The company dates from the Deutsches Opernhaus of 1912; the present house, designed by Fritz Bornemann, opened in 1961 with Mozart's Don Giovanni and seats 2,098. Tickets use dynamic pricing, with seats from about €18 in the cheapest category to €149 in the top one; under-30s can get €18 seats through the ClassicCard app, and under-18s pay €10 for selected children's productions such as Hansel and Gretel. Guided tours of the house (from €13.50) and family tours run on selected dates from October 2026 to June 2027. Go by U2 to Deutsche Oper, or U7 to Bismarckstraße; the day box office at Bismarckstraße 35 is open Friday and Saturday 12:00-19:00, and the evening box office opens an hour before curtain.

Tickets from about €18 to €149 depending on category and date; selected children's shows €10 for under 18; house tours from €13.50 (official site, 2026)