Charlottenburg Palace

Charlottenburg Palace is the grandest royal residence still standing in Berlin itself, and the best place in the city to step into the world of the Prussian kings. It began in the 1690s as a modest summer house for Sophie Charlotte, the clever, music-loving wife of the Elector Frederick III, who became the first King in Prussia in 1701; after her early death the palace and the town around it were named Charlottenburg in her honour. Successive kings extended it into the long Baroque facade you see today, crowned by a central dome with a gilded figure of Fortuna, set behind a great forecourt with an equestrian statue of the Great Elector. The palace is run by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation and divided into two main visits. The Old Palace holds the Baroque parade apartments of Frederick I and Sophie Charlotte, with the palace chapel, the bedchamber of Frederick I and the famous Porcelain Cabinet, a room whose walls are covered from floor to ceiling with hundreds of pieces of Chinese and Japanese porcelain, one of the most spectacular interiors of its kind in Europe; the Silver Vault displays royal dining silver. The New Wing, added for Frederick the Great in the 1740s, contains his rococo apartments and the Golden Gallery, a long ballroom of gilded, pale-green decoration, along with later royal rooms. Behind the palace, the gardens run down to the Spree, with a formal Baroque parterre giving way to an English-style landscape park with lakes and woodland, the Mausoleum of Queen Luise and the New Pavilion by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The palace is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 4:30pm and closed on Mondays. Single tickets for the Old Palace or the New Wing cost around 12 euros; the charlottenburg+ day ticket, around 19 euros, covers all the open buildings with a timed entry for the Old Palace.

How to visit: if you are choosing one part, take the Old Palace for the Baroque state rooms and the Porcelain Cabinet; if you love art and rococo, add the New Wing for Frederick the Great's rooms and the Golden Gallery. The charlottenburg+ ticket is the best value for anyone who wants both, plus the garden pavilions and the day's special exhibition. Audio tours in several languages are available free through the SANSSOUCI app, but the palace does not lend headphones, so bring your own. The Belvedere tea house in the gardens is currently closed. Last admission is half an hour before closing, and in winter the early closing time means you should arrive by early afternoon.

The gardens and the season: walking in the palace gardens is one of the great free pleasures of west Berlin, with views back to the palace across the carp pond and paths along the river. In late November and December, the forecourt hosts one of the most romantic Christmas markets in the city, set against the illuminated palace facade; it opens in the second half of November and runs until just after Christmas, and it is best visited on weekday evenings. In summer, concerts are held in and around the palace on some evenings.

Getting there and around: the palace is in the west of the city, about twenty minutes from the centre. Take the U7 to Richard-Wagner-Platz or the U2 to Sophie-Charlotte-Platz and walk ten minutes, or take bus 109 or M45, which stop in front of the palace. The surrounding streets are pleasant for a coffee, and the Berggruen Museum and the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection, with Picasso, Klee and Surrealist art, are just across the road. Combine the palace with an afternoon on the Kurfuerstendamm and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church for a full day in City West.