How to Berlin – the Ultimate Insider Tourist Guide

Ever since I´ve decided to call this place my second home, I´ve been asked like a trillion times what to do when in Berlin by people who have never been here before, and only have a couple of days to discover this city.

Now, since I happen living here a little while (nearly three years now) in this crazy city of lost people, start-ups, hipsters, creatives, Berliners; I take the freedom to give you some advice on what to do and how to do it when you´re here. (And because I´m a little lazy and not want to repeat myself all the time, and so I can just redirect those questions to this post, and also because I want to show you a little bit of my favorite places and get-aways in Berlin.)

Ready? Ok, let´s start with some pictures!

Canal in Kreuzberg

Berlin Zoo

View from a Neukölln Rooftop Terrace Bar, the "Klunkerkranich"

The Tempelhof, an abandoned airport which is now...

...a highly frequented place on weekends for barbeques and sports

One of the Berlin Bear Statues standing around everywhere

River Spree with Statue "Molecule Men" and TV Tower in the background

Sunrise from a bridge at Friedrichstraße in Berlin Mitte

Food (We all know the way to someone´s heart goes through the stomach)

Sahara for best Libanese Falafel in town, with peanut cream that will make your mouth water (there´s one at Reuterplatz (where Reuterstraße meets Weserstraße) and one at Wildenbruchstraße)

Mustafa´s Gemüsekebab for best Kebab in town! But plan to queue up for some time since it´s always busy but it´s soooooo yuum!@U-Bahn Station Mehringdamm

Curry 36 for best Currywurst in town! @U-Bahn Station Mehringdamm

Also make sure to drink some Club Mate while here – it´s the Berlin Hipster drink that keeps you awake like coffee and is with natural Mate tea. For partying, Berliners mix it with Vodka – you can just order Mate Vodka and get the party started ;)

Burgermeister – head to Schlesisches Tor to the famous Burger Place located in an old public toilet – but don´t worry, the Burgers are clean and absolutely fantastic!@U-Bahn Station Schlesisches Tor

Burgerbox with the Oberbaumbrücke in the background

Just as good: BerlinBurgerInternational (BBI) @Pannierstraße 5 near corner Sonnenallee in Kreuzkölln and Schillerburger @Herrfurthstraße 7 near Tempelhofer Flugfeld.

Hofbräuhaus for German food – dig into Knödel, Brezn, Sauerbraten and Eisbein oder Käsespätzle while enjoying a Maß of Beer @ near U-Bahn Station Alexanderplatz. On weekends they even have Oktoberfest-music and it gets pretty crowded with people wearing Dirndls and Lederhosn(or for smaller, and way cheaper: Spätzleexpress @Wiener Straße 11 near U-Bahn Görlitzer Bahnhof)

Oh, and don´t miss out on the Berliner Pfannkuchen (Krapfen filled with jam) that you can buy in every bakery. Germany-wide they´re called Berliner, but here the Berliners call them Pfannkuchen (=pancake). For carnival, you can get them with all sorts of fillings such as egg-nogg, baileys, coconut and chocolate. Mnomm!

Sightseeing

The Bus 100 takes you from Alexanderplatz to Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten with all the important touristy sights like Brandenburg Gate, Schloss Bellevue and Museumsinsel along the way – and this cheap Hop-On-Hop-Off version is for the normal bus fare!

Berlin Government Building - The "Reichstag"

The "Weltzeituhr" ( which means literally translated World Time Clock), at Alexanderplatz

Bellevue Palace, the official residence of the President of Germany

There´s a Free Walking Tour leaving every day 11am and 1pm from in front of the Starbucks at Brandenburg Gate taking you to all important  sights around there with fabulous explanations and you only pay how much you think it´s worth.

Brandenburg Gate

Nightlife

A little Berlin vocabulary: Check out the Kiezes in every part of the city. There´s a Kiez in Neukölln , in Kreuzberg, everywhere. It´s basically a neighbourhood and at its heart there´s always a street with lots of restaurants, bars and cafés on it that is as lively in the daytime for food and cakes as it becomes well sought after in the evenings with young people and everyone else going for strolls and having drinks. A few examples I like: Bergmannstraße in Kreuzberg, Weserstraße in Neukölln (starting at Hermannplatz), Friedelstraße just close by (just coming up and known recently, check out for great ice cream @Frollein Frost or the best American cheesecake @Katie´s Blue Cat. There´s also Oranienstraße near Kottbusser Tor, and Simon-Dach-Straße near Warschauer Tor, just to name a few.

Pubcrawls are the best way to get to know people and the city! I recommend the alternative pub crawl that starts every night at 9pm in Yesterday Bar near Senefelderplatz, I´ve done it myself several times and it´s tons of fun! @Alternative Pub Crawl 

Still not had enough? Head out for serious Berlin clubbing to Watergate,Wilde Renate, Suicide Circus, Sysiphos, Griessmühle or the famousBerghain (where I´ve never been myself, because it´s also famous for its super-long queues and hard door policies). But it´s all electro music, make sure not to dress up too much (I always dress down rather than dressing up for going out. A normal leggings and baggy shirt plus eyeliner will do perfectly, for guys: pretty shoes and shirt? No service, sorry. In these places, people look like second-hand store rather than pretty Armani.) Berliners don´t head out before 1am and drink at home before (beer is available 24/7 cheaply in the Spätis that are plastered everywhere around town), and do afterhour in places like Club der Visionäre, which is great for chilling with electro music at the canal.

The waterside nightclub/bar "Club der Visionäre"

How to get around

Buses and Trains run regularly and frequently, in fact, lots of people think our public transport system is the best ;) They run all night at Friday and Saturday nights, in the weeknights there are nightbuses that are ok to use, too. Check out www.bvg.de if you want to know how to get somewhere, or download the app fahrinfo mobil. For tickets: Either use single tickets for 2,70 that you can use for 2hrs once stamped in every bus and train any direction, or get a day ticket for 7€, or a 7-Tage-VBB Umweltticket for a whole week (29€). Areas AB are usually enough, you only need C if you want to go to Potsdam and visit the Potsdam Schloss Sanssouci.

Sanssouci Castle 

The Old Palais in the Sanssouci Park in Potsdam

Chinese Teahouse in the Park of Sanssouci

And finally:...

Random Impressions and Sights of the City

The "Gedächtniskirche" at Kuhdamm

The Körnerpark around the corner of our apartment

Cherry Tree Blossom in Spring, in Prenzlauer Berg

Picknicking with a View to the Museum Island, here you see the Dome 

Going Kayaking in Rummelsburger Bucht

Waiting for the Train U1 at Hallesches Tor

Again, the View from the Rooftop bar Klunkerkranich

The Gendarmenmarkt with the Opera House and the German Dome

What I like about here is that you can travel the world without leaving the city. Feel like authentic vietnamese food? Go to Hamys. Want some Arabian Nights feeling? Walk down Herrmannstraße or Sonnenallee in Neukölln, there are Arabian families swirling around and shisha smoking men lounging on the sidewalk, especially on warm summer nights. Want an Asian Spa treat? Go to Vabali for a few hours and let yourself get steamed and peeled for a few hours (an alternative is the Liquidrom, just as relaxing!). 

Like in any other metropolis, you meet some celebrities on the streets. I don´t recognize many of them because I don´t watch much TV, but only a few weeks ago a girl from a German casting show asked me for sugar in a café, and I also took a meditation course with my teenage boyband crush (who in the meantime had become a normal person, started university courses and came out as gay. Also,it turned out he was in therapy to come back to terms with life after-boyband-time. Funny, still. When I recognized him I made a very un-adult sqealing noise in my head). 

Now...

Have a great time in this crazy, cheap, drug-and start-up-infested town that looks back on a history of nearly 1000 years!

If you have any questions or you think that I forgot something - Feel free to contact me anytime!

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