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
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
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
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!
