Berlin
Capital Of Germany; The Reichstag Dome, Unter Den Linden, Museum Island, The Surviving Stretches Of The Berlin Wall And Europe'S Largest Concentration Of Clubs · Berlin, Berlin
Berlin keeps its twentieth century in plain sight. The ceremonial spine runs from the Brandenburg Gate east along Unter den Linden, past the Staatsoper and the Humboldt University, to Museum Island, the Berliner Dom and the rebuilt Humboldt Forum, then on to Alexanderplatz and the television tower of about 368 m. Around that spine stand the glass Reichstag dome, the Holocaust Memorial's field of concrete slabs, Potsdamer Platz where the death strip once ran, and the long green of the Tiergarten. The city is scruffier and cheaper than Munich or Hamburg, and that is the point: low rents left room for clubs, galleries, Turkish and Vietnamese kitchens and Sunday flea markets, and gave Europe its densest nightlife. It is also enormous and flat, so plan around the U-Bahn and S-Bahn rather than walking between districts. Three things are worth saying plainly: Checkpoint Charlie is a tourist trap, building sites are permanent, and a great deal of what people come to see here is a memorial rather than a sight.
Central Berlin, from the Brandenburg Gate and Unter den Linden east to Museum Island and Alexanderplatz, Berlin, Berlin, Germany
The streets, squares, parks and surviving stretches of wall are open at all hours and cost nothing. The state museums generally open daily except Monday, with later evenings at some houses - confirm. The Reichstag dome is free but needs an advance online registration with passport details and runs in timed slots through the day. Shops close on Sundays by law apart from station shops, bakeries and a handful of trading Sundays before Christmas. Bars run until the small hours and the big clubs only fill after midnight. U-Bahn and S-Bahn run roughly from before 5 am to about 1 am on weekdays, with night buses and trams covering the gap, and all night on Friday and Saturday - confirm current times.