1) Go on a Walking Tour

There are many free walking tours all around Berlin that you can take which give a good taster of the city the first day that you're there. Information can be found here and here.

2) Visit Checkpoint Charlie

Probably one of the most famous places in Berlin and a chilling reminder of Germany's past, Checkpoint Charlie was the name given to the best known crossing point between East Berlin (GDR: German Democratic Republic) and West Berlin (FRG: Federal Republic of Germany).

Tip: For a couple of euros you can take a picture with two "guards" by the checkpoint, or you can do what we did and go round to the other side where there is literally no one and take a picture for free (without the guards of course).

3) Visit the Reichstag Building

The Reichstag Building, or Deutscher Bundestag - Plenarbereich Reichstagsgebäude is the German Parliament. You can visit it by booking online (you have to do this in advance - we didn't manage to get a place, cry), or by going to them in person 1-3 days before, depending on availability. You can book online here.

4) Find some of Berlin's Buddy Bears

The bear is the symbol of the German city, appearing on its coat of arms. In 2001 Klaus and Eva Herlitz decided to start a street art project in Berlin. Choosing a bear as their symbol, over 100 bears were created and placed all over the city. The project was very successful and each bear was unique in its identity. 16 years later, the bears are part of Berlin's cityscape and we stumbled across a couple when we were there - they're just so cute!

5) Go to Berlin's Cathedral

The Berlin Cathedral or Berliner Dom is located on Museum Island in Mitte and was first constructed in 1454 as the Roman Catholic St. Erasmus Chapel - the building that stands there now was finished in 1905. Both the inside and outside are beautiful and admission is €7.

6) Try a currywurst

One of the famous fast food German dishes is the currywurst aka a sausage cut into slices and seasoned with curry ketchup - I don't eat meat so didn't try it but apparently it's a must do for meat lovers!

7) Walk along the East Side Gallery

This is another great thing that you can do in Berlin for free. The East Side Gallery is a 1316 metre long section of the Berlin Wall, in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district. It's a memorial for freedom and has 105 paintings / murals from artists all around the world.

The most famous one is probably Dmitri Vrubel's Mein Gott, hilf mir diese tödliche Liebe zu überleben (My God, help me to survive this deadly love) which depicts a kiss that Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker shared in 1979 in the 30th anniversary celebration of the foundation of the German Democratic Republic - who knew that 10 years later the wall separating the two countries would come down and the two would be painted on there forever.

8) Admire the Brandenburg Gate

Also known as the Brandenburger Tor, this beautiful gate is one of the best-known landmarks in Germany. It's built where the former city gate was and was completed in 1791 - I love how so many European cities have these grand gates / arches.

9) Go back in time in the DDR Museum

This was my absolute favourite museum that we went to during our stay in Berlin, and it's not hard to see why - the museum covers almost, if not all, aspects of life under the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) which lasted from 1949-1990. It is super interactive and they even have a mock DDR-style apartment that you can go into and 'explore'.

Tickets are €9.50 or €6 for concession - definitely worth it, it gives you real insight into what life was like. 

10) Pay a visit to the Jewish Museum

The Jewish Museum is also another museum that you must see when you visit Berlin - it opened in 2001 and you start downstairs where the museum focuses on the atrocities of the holocaust. As you make your way up the exhibitions focus less on the war and more on famous Jewish people, customs etc. When we were there they had a very interesting exhibition called cherchez la femme, meaning find the woman in French, which focused on head and body coverings, traditional ideas confronted with current trends which was really interesting.

Tickets are €8 or €3 for concession.

11) Walk through the Holocaust Memorial

The Holocaust Memorial, aka "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe" is a site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs which opened in 2005. According to the architect, the concrete slabs are "designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason". It definitely has an eerie atmosphere about it, almost having a graveyard-like effect.

12) and then visit the Information Centre

There is also an information centre that you should definitely go to (despite the long line), which gives you an overview of what happened as well as a look into individual Jewish families. It's quite an emotional, yet important experience.

13) Stroll the halls of the Charlottenburg Palace

The Charlottenburg Palace, aka  Schloss Charlottenburg was where the Prussian royals lived in the 18th and 19th centuries - Prussia is what is known nowadays as parts of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Russia. It was built in the 18th century and then expanded in the 19th, and is honestly so so beautiful. My favourite was the Tiffany blue & gold room (pictured).

It's a little further out from the city centre, however very easy to get to with the metro.
Tickets are €12 or €8 concession.

14) Indulge in a Berliner doughnut

A Berliner Pfannuchen (aka Berliner doughnut) is a traditional German pastry, pretty similar to a doughnut just without a hole in the middle and filled with jam. No trip to Berlin would be complete without trying one of these.

15) Look out for all of the street art

My last piece of advice would be to look at all of the street art. Berlin is an amazing city for this, and everywhere you look you see something new. We stayed in the Kreuzberg district which had loads.

I hope that you found these tips useful - if you're going to Berlin soon have the most amazing time!

59 Rue de Rivoli used to be an abandoned building in the heart of Paris until three artists broke in in 1999 and turned it into an artistic hub where artists could "create, live and expose". 18 years later, it's now a (legal) modern art "gallery", housing 30 artist studios as well as an abundance of art everywhere you look.

We made our way inside, got greeted by a lovely lady who explained the history to us, and then were advised to go all the way up to the top floor and slowly make our way down, stopping on each floor to take a peek into the artists' studios.

Which is exactly what we did...

Having a look into the artists' studios on the way down...

The building actually became legalised when the press became interested in their artistic squat and pressure was put on the French state to not evict the artists (which they had been trying to do).

Not only is the building full of art, they also put on concerts in the gallery from 6pm every Saturday and Sunday which must be so fun to go to - it's definitely on the 'to do' list!

Useful Information

• Entry is absolutely 100% free, although you may want to leave a contribution to the artists, it's completely up to you!
• No bookings are needed
• It's open Tuesday to Sunday from 1pm until 8pm
• If you're taking public transport, the closest station is Châtelet which runs on metro lines 1, 7 & 4
• You can take pictures (obviously, as there are about a million in this blog post, but some artists don't want you to so either ask or look out for "pas de photo" signs).