Visiting Berlin - any recommendations?

[kevin993]

Visiting Berlin at the end of May for three and a half days. Never been there before and interested in tips and hidden gems that may not be in the general guidebooks. We're particularly looking for history and good local places to have a beer. We'll be staying in the heart of downtown within easy walking distance to the main sights, but obviously can use public transport. We want to make the most of our time, so we're willing to hire a good English speaking guide for a day if we can find a good one that can focus on historical places of interest and the places we wouldn't find on our own.

We have some other time for areas outside of Berlin (i.e. Saxony), so not looking for day trips or other destinations outside Berlin.

Thanks much!

[Joeaksa]

Where are you staying? If possible stay inside the city and closest to downtown as possible. The KuDamm area is nice but bloody expensive. We usually stay at the Courtyard just inside the old East Berlin wall, or at the Marriott right near the city center.

The U-Bahn (underground trains) are excellent and a very cheap way to get around. You will probably fly into S-h-i-t-t-yfield (schonefeld airport, the old East Berlin airport and a LONG ways away from the real Berlin. Take the train or get a taxi to drive you into Berlin.

See the Reichtag and the old remnants of Checkpoint Charlie. Also a must see is the museum at Checkpoint Charlie. If you are there on the weekends I always visit the 17 Juni strasse Flea Market as its a "slice of Berlin" all in one lump. The underground tour of Tempelhof Airport is well worth seeing but getting on their schedule can be difficult and the last time I looked it was all in German. Still really worth seeing.

You have to have a Doner Kebap as well as a CurryWurst mit pommes (curried wurst with french fries) and a Berliner Kindl beer with them!

I may know of someone who could guide you if needed.

[Rick Lee]

Berlin is a HUGE city. Back in the day you could spend a week there and never see the Wall. Yes, you must go to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. It's the best and has gotten better in recent years. Also go to the the Stasi Museum:

Stasimuseum Berlin - Forschungs- und Gedenkstätte Normannenstraße

Though it's mostly for Germans and I can't recall if they have English translations. I was last there when it first opened. If you're into bikes, Berlin is where BMW motorcycles are made. Don't know if they give tours.

It's one of the world's greatest cities, but it's so chic and touristy now, I think it's lost a lot of its old world charm. Be sure to rent the dvd's Goodbye Lenin and The Lives of Others so you get some sense of what it was like back in the day.

Do try the Berliner Weisse mit Schuess - rot oder gruen. Best local Pilsener is Berliner Kindl, though you can't really go wrong with beer in Germany unless you try foreign beer (other than from the Czech Rep.).

[Rick Lee]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

[Rick Lee]

This is what it was like in September.



Even the gypsy beggars speak English now.

[b142]

If you want to try good traditional german food and beer, Mutter Hoppe is a nice inexpensive restaurant. Location is very central, a five minute walk from Alexander platz.

Mutter Hoppe - Alt-Berliner Gasthaus im Nikolaiviertel

[widgeon13]

What everyone has recommended, Berlin is a beautiful city. Walk a lot, enjoy the food. One thing I remember from being there a few years ago is how really attractive the young women are and how well dressed they were.

[kevin993]

Thanks for the feedback. Just the kind of stuff I'm looking for. We're staying at the Hilton in the downtown area which is only a few blocks from Unter den Linden and no more than a 15 minute walk to the Brandenburg gate or the museums, so we'll be centrally located. We're flying in and out of Tegel, so will be doing the taxi thing to get from the airport to the hotel when we arrive.

Any good locals restaurants in the area? Not looking for fine dining, but also don't want to get stuck with boring tourist places for our food and beverage.

Joe - if you have a guide recommendation, I'd love to get it from you.

[Rick Lee]

Cafe Kranzler is the famous place for Berliner Weisse mit Schuss. It's on the KuDam, near the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechtniskirche. You will certainly pass by it. Stop in for a beer and maybe some torte.

There are some decent places on Unter den Linden, outdoor seating, though touristy. I had a pretty good meal at one of them. Be sure to try Radeberger beer. It's one of eastern Germany's best kept secrets.

[Joeaksa]

Kevin,

Let me email a couple of people and see who has some time and wants to help.

Joe

[kevin993]

Will keep an eye out for Radeberger. We're suckers for the darker beers, so we're planing to stop by Bad Kostritz in the second part of our trip to check out the Kostritzer brewery. Gotta love the schwarzbier!

[Rick Lee]

Where else are you going to be in Germany? I know eastern Germany very well. And it has way more interesting and historical stuff than western Germany, IMHO. Though the best dark beer in Germany is the Altbier around Nordrhein Westfalen. Schloesser Alt, Diebels Alt, Frankenheimer, etc. are super.

[Dottore]

My old hometown. I think it's magic.

Food? You're in the Hilton so the KaDeWe is close by. This is a huge department store that has a top floor devoted to gourmet food, German specialities and food from around the world. It's sensational and not to be missed. You can drink beer or wine there and order small tasting portions or massive sausages etc. Can easily spend a few hours or days there. You might just end up eating all your meals there.

Our current favourite restaurant (we were there last week) for great combination of style and value and food is "e.t.a.hoffmann". Very cool spot with sublime food. Again, your concierge can help you.

Do not miss seeing Berlin by boat from a canal/lake cruise. You will see Berlin from an entirely different angle that surprising few people take advantage of. Get your concierge to book a "beer cruise"—that combines a bit of the inner city canals with the lakes that surround the city.

If you like classic cars—don't miss the Meilenwerk, the Mecca for this scene in Berlin. The Hilton concierge will point you there. Not to be missed.

Check out the new shopping area around the Gendarmenmarkt. Very cool. very funky. Spend some time in Kreuzberg and check out student bars.

My personal favourite bar has always been Die Weisse Maus in Wilmersdorf. But if you want some serious beer and pork knuckle near the Hilton check out "Hardke"—just off the KuDamm.

Also: spend an afternoon in Potsdam. You can get there by bus, train or boat. See the palace—or better yet just walk around the old town. Magic. Like Paris 100 years ago. Lots of great little bars, and a complete change from the hustle of Berlin. Very charming. There's also a very depressing Stasi Museum there.

Please PM me with any specific questions.

[Rick Lee]

Oh yes, forgot about Potsdam. Cecilienhof and Sansouci are not to be missed. I haven't been there in 20 yrs., but it was very cool to see then and is probably much better maintained now.

[kevin993]

More good suggestions. Thanks.

After leaving Berlin, we're heading to Gorlitz and Bautzen on the way to Dresden. We'll spend some time in and around Dresden - VW factory, Zwinger, Pirna, Konigstein and Bathei Bridge. Then off to a tour of Codlitz, Querfurt, Eisleben, and Obhausen. (Think some of those may have come from a Rick recommendation in another thread.) Also stopping at two small towns called Abend and Russeina where my family roots trace back to the early 1800s.

The off to the Ore Mountains - Sieffen, Olbernhau, Schneeberg, and surrounding areas. Then continue down towards Hof and Plauen, check out the border museum at Modlaruth, Bad Kostriz, Wiemar, Buchenwald and Erfurt. Also will stop at Werningshausen where another branch of the family dates back to the mid 1800s.

That's probably about all we can hope to hit on this trip.

[Rick Lee]

Kevin, if you speak good German, I'll hook you up with my friends in Obhausen. But they don't speak a word of English. And honestly, their dialect is hard to get even if you're a good German speaker. It's a very cool village, but there's nothing to see or do there. There is a nice castle in Querfurt about 7km away. Decent 30 Years War stuff in the castle museum too. Eisleben is totally redone now and pretty nice. If you head south from there, be sure to check out Freyburg and Naumburg. In Dresden you must, must go to the Green Vault or Gruenes Gewoelbe museum. Look for the cherry pit with over 100 faces carved in it under the magnifying glass. Can't remember if it was in the Zwinger or where exactly, but there's an amazing medieval weapons exhibit there too. That's when men were really men.

Colditz is VERY hard to find. That part of the world is like home to me and I had to stop a few times to ask how to get there. Lots of construction and detours when I was there. Also, that landmark/museum at Moedlareuth is very hard to find. The signage for it sucked. National landmark and museum signs on the highways in Germany are sort of like the ones we have in that they're brown. Problem is that they don't usually have exit numbers on them, so you need to take the very next exit after you come across the sign. And oftentimes, there are no subsequent signs. I found Moedlareuth by typing "museum" in my GPS and it went to the closest one. Still very hard to find.

I'm so jealous of your trip. I'm going again in two mos., but will only have about 10 days, will catch a Rush concert in Frankfurt and then need to do some wrenching in Duesseldorf with a buddy who just bought is first 911. Don't know if I'll be able to head east.

Hey, Bautzen is where their main prison was for political prisoners. There's one in Halle too called Rote Ochse. I was there when they were starting to convert it and the workers let me run around there on my own. I got to go see some of the cells before they were renovated. Man, the old smell of the DDR is one you can't forget. When you come across it later, it really brings you back. I got a whiff of it again at the Spy Museum in DC when they had a real Trabbi there with the windows down. Stuck my head in and what a rush of memories that brought back.

[kevin993]

Rick,

Thanks for the offer in Obhausen, but my German isn't good enough to take you up on your offer. Those little towns are fantastic though. We like checking out the towns and countryside more than the museums, so we may swing through just to see what there is to see.

Thanks also for the heads up about the difficulty of finding places. I've heard that elsewhere as well. I presume that the effort was worth the visit though - yes?

[Rick Lee]

Colditz Castle is ok if you don't know the story and pretty good if you do. Nothing else really to see there. I don't know the story that well, but I know that part of Germany is pretty far from any realistic escape route. I don't know what those guys were thinking, building a glider. Where the hell were they going to fly it?

[kevin993]

I started the thread, so figure I'd better provide the ending. We came, we saw, we toured. Several days in Berlin, off to Gorlitz, then to Dresden, then touring around farmland west of Dresden, running around the Erzgebirge south of Dresden, Modlaruth, checking out Erfurt, Jena and Querfurt, and making a quick fly-by through Potsdam.

Berlin:






Obhausen (courtesy of Rick's recommendation):

[kevin993]

Modlaruth:







Rural saxony: