i’ve stayed at this hostel international
http://old.web02.djh.de/international/html/01-hostels/extended_jh.jsp?IDJH=613

one thing you cannot miss it’s checkpoint charlie museum.

have a nice trip, enjoy, because it’s a beatiful beatiful city.

Both times I went to Berlin I stayed in the Circus hostel in Rosenthal Platz. It’s not right in the middle of everything but the rooms are clean and the staff speak english. They also have a fun bar in the basement that is perfect for meeting people and great mexican restaurant across the street. The staff are very helpful at helping you plan too and they have a good knowledge of what you can do during the day (cultural sightseeing, shopping, etc.) as well as where to go at night (including how to get there, dress, costs, etc.)

Eat currywurst. I always love to ask people from a particular city what are some of the simple cheap, fun foods to eat in town like a Philly Cheesesteak or a Po’Boy in New Orleans.

Currywurst is available from sidewalk vendors. Just a nice grilled sausage with a great flavour of cumin and a curry sauce to dip in.

Watch for the bullet holes. As you walk the city take a closer look at any pre war building. Most of the ones that survived are of big heavy limestone construction but you will be absolutely amazed at the care and detail that went into patching all the bullet holes from the war. Just walk the streets and look from the sidewalk up to the height of your average man and you will be blown away at the amount of lead that must have flown around that city.

Have to see the Pergamon Museum. Absolutely fantastic.

I recommend seeing the remains of some of the berlin wall near Ostbanhof.
If you like modern art then ‘Hamburger Banhof’ is a great gallery worth seeing….the ‘friedrich click collection’ is some of the best art I’ve ever seen http://www.hamburgerbahnhof.de/ tells you how to get there under information.

Hope you have a good time

Me and a couple of friends working in the Berlin film mines. I was there in 1998, so some of this might be a bit out of date, but here it is…
I didn’t go, but I heard the Zoo there is great if you’re into Zoos. They’ve got articulated Rhino’s there. I saw a picture. Incredible.
Near the Zoo there is a Sex museum, if you’re into sex. Interesting art and, ahem, paraphernalia from various parts of the world. It’s a cool place to visit, really.
Also in that vicinity, I’m not really sure what vicinity that is, but you’ll find it in your guide book, there is the Botannischer Gartens. A Victorian era botannical garden. Amazing. 60’ bamboo, waterfalls, water lily-pads you could float away on, meat eating orchids, cacti from all over, you name it, they’ve got it. It’s like a little bit of the tropics in the middle of winter in the middle of Berlin.
Clubs. Check out the Sage club, you can find their address online. Great DJ’s and the club goes on forever. Berlin is a party town, ask around, there all kinds of places to go.
One of my great regrets is not visiting Nick Cave’s bar there. He’s co-owner of the place, with Blixa Bargeld or someone. If you make it there let me know. It’s in Mitte, somewhere.
Climb to the top of the Golden Else. Can’t miss her, she’s right at the head of Unter den Linden, I think. Near the Brandenburg Gate. Which is right near the Reichstag.
Go into the ReichStag and climb up into the dome on top. It’s free, I think, and it’s a great view of the city. Very cool at night. Try sliding down the curvy seat things when you get to the top. That’ll make sense if you go there.
If you are into fetish kinks, you might want to try and find the Kit Kat Klub if it’s still around. You could find that out online as well. There’s a dress code. If you are into fetish wear, you’ll know what that is….
Down on Museum Island there’s a museum there, what’s it called… the Pergamon Museum. The Germans extracted the entire facade of a huge Greek temple, from Greece of course, and reconstructed it inside this museum. It’s hard to conceive of if you haven’t seen it. Also the Gate of Ishtar is inside that museum which is as mysterious and beautiful as it sounds. And a host of other objects that I’m sure that all of the respective countries of origin want back. I know for a fact that the Greeks would like to have the Pergamon back. If you see it you’ll know why.
Doesn’t really matter what you do there. The subway system is great, just hop on and go, get off and wander around.
If you can’t get the subway ticket dispensers to take your small coins 50 pfennig or whatever, rub the coin against the face of the machine and try again. It works, Berlin magic.
Have a great time. It’s a fantastic place. It’s an adventure there every time you walk out onto the street.
Food. Try the “bauernfreustock” (I’m not sure I spelled that right) basically “farmer’s breakfast”. A good German dish and not too strange. Or if you like meat and want to go “whole hog” so to speak, Eisbein. It’s a boiled pig’s knuckle or something. Typical German fair, they like to boil things. Horrifying really.
And last but not least, hit a grocery store and try the choco-milch. It’s chocolate milk, but not like any chocolate milk you’ve ever had before.
One more thing. Go into a German drugstore. Not an “Apoteka”, that’s a true drugstore, they make distinctions there, but a drugstore like we know them that sells toilet tissue and Kleenex and cough syrup and whatnot and check out the herbal products that are available there. Excellent quality and something for just about anything that ails you.
Can you tell I loved Berlin???
Tschussss! Berliner’s say it to each other as a form of greeting or saying goodbye. Sounds like “Shoes”. Let me know how it goessss??

We were just there for New Year’s Eve, so I’m full of suggestions!

Go to the top of the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) - you can walk all along the outside of the dome - it’s very impressive!

And make sure to see the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

There’s a tall building in Alexander Platz that is called Chyrsler Panaroma (or something similar)—if you go up to the top you have a great view of the city.

The Tiergarten is the “Central Park of Berlin” and is a lovely break from the grittiness of Berlin.

Hey,

For a youth hostel, go to jetpack.de

For food, go to Cochin on Hackescher Markt and QBA (http://qba.newspool.info/)

For sights, go to the Pfaueninsel and ride out to Cottbusser Tor U-Bahn stop for the urban / turkish scene. Drinks at Magnifica Bar near the Spichernstrasse U-Bahn stop.

(http://www.berlinatnight.de/locationdetail/710/magnifica-lounge.html)

Contact me again if you want some information about anything else in Berlin.

Go to the Brücke Museum in Dahlem for German expressionist art – it’s in the Tiergarten way down in the semirural western part of berlin…

Go to Potsdammer Platz and see a film at the Arsenale – a place of worship almost for film fanatics – definitely “art house” fare…

Einstein Café is a must – eat apple struddle for hours and read newspapers and read a long, highly intellectual novel while getting endless coffees. the original one is near Nollendorfplatz (an UBahn stop).

There are some great flea markets.

Oranienstrasse is a cool alternative, punk zone with interesting cafés and shops. Kreuzberg – used to be the edge of west berlin, now somewhere in the middle…

There’s a Bauhaus museum that’s totally worth visiting.

Great bookstores around Savignyplatz. Also cool Indian “Imbisse” which is like fast food – order at the counter then sit and eat. Cheap and awesome. That is if you wanna forget the currywurst and go right for the curry sans wurst… haha

the national gallery could have some good exhibits – check the current schedule

hey, wasn’t Pergamon in Turkey? check it. you could get in a fine mess confusing greeks and turks…

if you see blixa bargeld tell him that his last good album was Tabula Rasa and if you see nick cave, tell him that his last good album was Tender Prey…

as for places to stay, it’s worth checking out the offerings on tablethotels.com [“unique hotels for global nomads”] – they offer some high end stuff but also some deals and know what’s good and happening at any given moment, unlike me who’s knowledge of berlin is highly dated… though i was there last feb. for a bit and still the city has that wonderful feel to it… by the way the film festival is feb 10-20 or so and is one of the best in the world…

East Side Gallery. I can’t remember the name of the nearby S-Bahn station but it’s one of the last on the south-eastern line, after Neukoln.

Also check out the Kunsthaus Tacheles. I think it’s Tacheles has a fighter plane parked outside.

Note that it has been 8 years since i have been there, so things may be different:
- All of the museums are closed on Mondays, so plan accordingly
- There is a really neat place right over the bridge to east berlin called ICI. It was in one of my travel guides, and it was really neat – i recommend eating there
- The hostel we stayed in was Die Fabrik Hostel Kreuzberg
Schlesische StraBe 18 10997 BERLIN
Empfang is 030/611 71 16
Enjoyed my stay there, but it is an open hostel, which means you stay in a big rooms with beds everywhere – only scarey if you are travelling alone and you are a woman – I woke up with an Australian on me one night – no real harm done though, so I would recommend this hostel – breakfast is included as with most.
k, so have fun!!! enjoy! there is a wonderful park which hosts many festivals, you must at least go look at what is left of the Berlin wall though it is not much to see, drink lots of German beer, appreciate all of the wonderful statues about town, go see the neat monument for all of the books that were burned right in front of the old Nazi headquarters, etc..Anyway, you’ll have a blast!! Enjoy!

Take the tour called “Alternative Stadtrundfahrt”, make sure this is available in English too, dunno.
Sorry, don’t have a URL handy.

Have fun, this is the youngest metropole in Europe!

You asked about places to stay. As a previous resident of Berlin, I have two recommendations.

First is the Hotel Transit Loft in Prenzlauerberg (map). I stayed here twice and I have had numerous friends stay here. The entire experience is a wonderful value. It’s pretty trendy, like the rest of Prenzl’berg, it’s walking distance to Kollwitzplatz, a fantastic area to get brunch on Sundays and loaded with cool bars. It’s on the Tram 2,3,4 lines which will take you to the Ringbahn or to the main Sbahn lines at Alex. Just across the street there is a great place called “Club” where you can get a great pils and potato pancakes that’ll rock your socks off. The grocery store is just down the block (Kaiser’s). Around the corner on Griefswalderstr. is Tiger Thai, one of many cheap thai/chineese places but incredibly delicious. Al Dente, one of my favorite italian restaurants in Berlin is just down the street on Griefswalderstr as well. If you do go there, order the linquine al Parmesiano, because it’s a real treat to watch how it is served. Seriously, this is a great destination. The breakfast is a normal german breakfast and comes with your room and the rooms are very bright and clean. There are private rooms as well as hostel-type dormitory rooms.

Secondly, if you’re willing to spend the bucks, the Hotel Adelon is the place to stay. Spend the big bucks.

Must do: Reichstag tour, walking tour of the city, visit to Pergamon, visit to Icon club, eat pizza at Die Zwolf Aposteln, brunch at Kollwitzplatz (or a bit farther away, Frieda Kahlo’s).