1 destination · 28 things to do
Germany
Berlin is the European capital where history is not behind glass but under your feet: a line of cobbles where the Wall ran, a glass dome on a parliament that burned in 1933, a field of grey concrete stelae a few steps from the Brandenburg Gate, and a river island of museums that has been collecting the ancient world for two centuries. It is also the least stuffy big city in Europe, a place of courtyard cafes, flea markets, lakes inside the city limits, late nights and a food scene that runs from a currywurst stand under the U-Bahn to tasting menus in old bank vaults. This guide books Berlin properly — Museum Island and Nefertiti in the Neues Museum, with honest notes on the Pergamon closure until June 2027, the free Reichstag dome with registration, the TV Tower above Alexanderplatz, the Berlin Wall Memorial and the East Side Gallery, the DDR Museum, Charlottenburg Palace, a Spree cruise, the Humboldt Forum and a day among the palaces of Sanssouci in Potsdam — and pairs it with the Holocaust memorial, the Christmas markets and the City Tax you will see on your bill. Then it matches you to the right hotel, from the Adlon beside the Brandenburg Gate to a converted bathhouse with its own pool in Prenzlauer Berg, because in a city this spread out, the neighbourhood you sleep in shapes the Berlin you get.
