Explore
Go on a Walking Tour of Berlin - the Mitte and surrounding districts are sufficiently compact to allow a number of excellent walking tours through its history-filled streets. You'll see amazing things you would otherwise miss. Details are usually available from the reception desks of hostels and hotels. Some options include:
Berlin with Merlin Tours. Runs on a tips-only basis. Brandnew English tour starting at 10am outside Burger King at Zoologischer Garten Station every day except Tuesday and Friday. Brings you to the hidden spots of West-Berlin avoiding the tourist-ridden areas in the city centre. Fantastic for people that want to see more than just the main attractions.
Brewer's Berlin Walking Tours. English language walking tours. Famous for their 'All-Day' tour, the most complete introduction to the city's history, and 'Free Tour', their shorter sightseeing tour, on a tips-only basis. Tours meet outside the Bandy Brooks Shop (formerly Australian ice-cream) at Friedrichstrasse S/U-Bahn station.
Insider Tours. English language walking tours with no reservation required. Simply show up at the pre-designated time and place. Choose the tour that interests you most. The classic 'Insider Tour' and 'Red Star' tours are both excellent. They also have a good Pub Crawl, where you get to see the coolest pubs in Berlin!
New Berlin Tours. Runs on a tips-only basis. English and Spanish tours starting at 11am and 1pm and 4pm some of the year outside Starbucks at the Brandenburg Gate. Entertaining and performed by young people living in Berlin and interested in its history.
The Original Berlin Walking Tours.
Humboldt Tours Berlin. High quality tours. All guides are local PhD and graduate students in German history or American Fulbright exchange students. Comprehensive and entertaining general tours as well as various more detailed tours such as Architecture, Jewish History, bike tours and a Wild East Pub Crawl.
Guide yourself:
Berlin By Numbers Free guide in English using your mobile phone browser. Linked Wikipedia articles in all languages.
If you prefer a private tour, there are several possibilities, such as:
Berlin Tour Guide. In Hebrew and English.
Berlin Trails. Offers several unusual guided tours ending in a beer tasting at a typical, authentic German brewery or pub. Sights include the hidden Bunkers of Berlin, the Stasi prison and city sightseeing tour although individual tours are also available.
Jewish Tours
Milk & Honey Tours. This Jewish-owned and run tour company works with 16 guides, specialists of Jewish History, and provides individuals and groups with high quality tours of "Jewish Berlin".
Jewish Berlin offer Jewish themed tours in Berlin, including tours in the Berlin vicinity, such as tours to Potsdam and to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camps. Guides are all active in various Jewish initiatives in the city.
Berlin is also great for cycling due to its many bike paths and flat geography.
New Berlin Free Bike Tour
Fat Tire Bike Tours. Non-strenuous and entertaining city bike tours of Berlin. Tours start daily at the TV Tower at Alexanderplatz at 11am (and 4pm in summer months) and stop every couple hundred meters to discuss the sights as well as at a traditional beer garden in the park.
Berlin On Bike. Offers "Berlin's Best" and "Berlin Wall Tours" on alternating days. Tours are 4 hours long and start at the Kulturbrauerei at 3pm.
Boat trips
Stern und Kreisschiffahrt is by far the biggest boat company in Berlin. They offer tours on most lakes.
Recreation
Pick up a copy of Exberliner the monthly English-language paper for Berlin to find out what's on, when and where. It provides high quality journalism and up-to-date listings. If you understand German, the activity planners for the city, zitty [79] and tip [80], are available at every kiosk. Be prepared to choose among a huge amount of options.
Parks
Berlin has many great parks which are very popular in the summer. Green Berlin operates some of them.
Tiergarten is Berlin's largest park and hosts the Love Parade in July. In the summer and on weekends you will see loads of families with their barbeques.
Viktoriapark (Kreuzberg) offers superb panoramic views across south Berlin. National monument by Schinkel on top of it.
Schlosspark Charlottenburg is inside the area of the Castle of Charlottenburg, but the green area of the park is free, so you can go there to have a walk even if you are not interested in the Castle. It covers a really large area and you can get in from the entrace just near the "New Pavillon" (Neuer Pavillon a.k.a. Schinkelpavillon) placed on the right of Luisenplatz. The nearest station is Sophie-Charlotte Platz on the U2.
World's Garden (Gärten der Welt) in Marzahn. Inside you can find a quite large and well established Chinese garden, a Korean garden, a small Bali's Garden/Glasshouse, an Oriental Garden with nice fountains and a cloister and a Japanese garden which is a project by the city partnership of Berlin and Tokyo. Open from 1st April until 29th October. Entrance is 2 €.
Lakes, Beaches
Wannsee is called Berlin's "bath tub". The Strandbad Wannsee is the most famous bathing area with locals. Take the S-Bahn lines S1 or S7 to the station Nikolassee and follow the crowd!
Müggelsee in the south east of Berlin is a popular swimming spot.
Festivals
Berlin Film Festival / Berlinale. The city's largest cultural event and an important fixture in the global film industry's calendar (up there with Cannes and Venice). 150,000 tickets sold, 500 films screened and a host of associated parties and events every year. In contrast to e.g. Cannes, most screenings at the Berlinale are open to the public. Tickets are inexpensive and relatively easy to get for the "International Forum of Young Film" screenings and the "Berlinale Panorama" (movies which are not in the competition).
Lange Nacht der Museen, InfoLine tel. 90 26 99 444. A large cultural event in January and August with museums open until 2AM and extra events around the city. For details refer to the website.
Fête de la Musique. 21st of June. All kinds of music around the city on this day co-ordinating with a similar day in several French cities.
Oberbaumbrücke Festival, near the East Side Gallery (just under the Oberbaumbrücke). In August (check the exact dates). Artists are selling their works, amateur tango dancers are giving public performances and you can contribute to a collaborative painting on a very long canvas spread on the street along the festival.
Parades
Fuckparade. The Fuckparade (Hateparade in the early days) started as an antiparade or demonstration against the commercialized Love Parade, first at the same date as the Love Parade but later the date was shifted. The Fuckparade is a political demonstration, with political speeches at the beginning and the end and the parade with music between. The general motto of the Fuckparade is "against the destruction of the club scene". The music is quite different than at the Love Parade: mostly independent/alternative/extreme electronic music. The next Fuckparade will take place on 18th of August, 2008.
Hanf Parade takes place on 25th of August 2008. The Hanfparade is the biggest European political demonstration for the legalization of hemp for use in agriculture and as a stimulant.
Christopher Street Day - as the Germans name their gay prides - is a well-known annual political demonstration for the rights of the gay culture organized in all major German cities. Even if you are indifferent about the issue, the Christopher Street Day is usually a worthwhile sight as many participants show up in wild costumes.
Karneval der Kulturen. In May or June (on Whit Sunday). The idea of the "Carnival of Cultures" is a parade of the various ethnic groups of the city showing traditional music, costumes and dances. Other more modern, alternative and political groups also participate. Similar events are also held in Hamburg and Frankfurt.
Karneval. In late February or early March. As a lot of people in Berlin originally came from the southern or western area of Germany where Fasching, Fastnacht or Karneval is celebrated, a carnival parade was also established in Berlin. It grew bigger and bigger (about 500.000 to 1 million people watching), but the costumes and cars are rather boring and the people are not as dressed up as in the "original" big carnival parades (Cologne, Mainz, Düsseldorf). Since 2007 the traditional route across Kurfürstendamm was chosen.
Theatre, Opera, Concerts, Cinema
Berlin has a lot of theater houses, cinemas, concerts and other cultural events going on all the time. The most important ones are listed here.
Theater
Deutsches Theater. Classical theater with impressive line up of actors and directors.
Volksbühne am Rosa Luxemburg Platz. Sometimes controversial, modern theater.
Schaubühne am Leniner Platz. Modern theater.
Theater am Kurfürstendamm. Popular theater with tv celebrities in modern plays.
Theater des Westens. A historic theater in the former West Berlin, only musicals today.
Friedrichstadtpalast. Cabaret shows and revues with actresses from the former East German ballet.
Berliner Esemble. Contemporary theater.
Opera
Komische Oper. Modern operas.
Deutsche Oper. Classic opera house of West Berlin.
Staatsoper Unter den Linden. The impressive building and royal history make the building alone worth a visit.
Neuköllner Oper. Voted several times best off-opera house and known for its modern and contemporary pieces. Most in German as usually relating to developments in Germany. Very creative and innovative.
Cinema
There are about a hundred cinemas in Berlin, although most of them are only showing movies dubbed in German, without subtitles. Listed below are some of the more important cinemas also showing movies in the original language (look for the OmU - "original with subtitles" - notation). Most movies which are dubbed in German are released a bit later in Germany. Tickets are normally €5 to €7. Monday to Wednesday are special cinema days with reduced admission.
Cinestar. The "Cinestar Original" cinema located inside the Sony Center at the Potsdamerplatz shows only movies in English.
Babylon Kreuzberg. Also non-mainstream movies in this small cinema build in the 1950s.
Central. Repertory cinema located in an ex-squat near Hackesche Höfe.
Eiszeit.
Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe. Located on the 4th floor of the Hackesche Höfe. Very broad range of movies.
Neue Kant Kinos. One of the few old cinemas (founded 1912) left in Berlin's city west. Mostly non-mainstream European movies.
Concert Houses
Philharmonie. Berlin Philharmonic orchestra is one of the best in the world. Famous building and outstanding musicians make a reservation essential. Cheaper tickets usually available 2-4 hours before the concert if not sold out.
Konzerthaus at Gendarmenmarkt
Sport
In Berlin you can do virtually all sorts of sports
The most popular sport is soccer, which is played all over the city.
The Berlin FA lists all the clubs. Not to be missed is the Olympic Stadium, which hosted the 2006 world cup final.
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