Second Time In...Berlin

Recommending any itinerary of Berlin is trickier than most cities.  Not because you’re short of things to do, far from it.  No, it always boils down to how much of Berlin’s history do you want to be confronted with.  

My own view is that it’s impossible to understand Berlin without a grasp of its history and this means grappling with a past that is often dark and nearly always complex so I both unapologetically include it here and take the assumption you’ve already seen much of it on your first visit.  There’s frankly too much to absorb in any one trip.   Plus you need to spare time to pay an influencer to dress you to get into Berghain (no BS, that’s actually a thing!)

This itinerary leans heavily on different eras of Berlin’s history whilst offering glimpses into the modern nightlife and offbeat attractions (while you’re here, have a read of my ‘Top 5 offbeat bars’ post).  Did I mention Berlin is my favourite city on the planet? 

You’ve already done:  Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag Tour (if not, book it – it’s free!), Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Potsdamer Platz, the Wall at Bernauer Strasse, Siegessaule, Checkpoint Charlie, Museum Island and the Berliner Dom, Hackescher Markt and surroundings, been turned away from Berghain despite paying an influencer to dress you.

Day One

Morning: Topography of Terror

• Address: Niederkirchnerstraße 8, 10963 Berlin

• Opening Hours: Daily from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM

• Price: Free entry

• Nearest Public Transport: U-Bahn: Kochstraße (U6); S-Bahn: Anhalter Bahnhof (S1, S2, S25)

Berlin is a city that doesn’t shy away from its past.  As you may know from your first visit, it puts it on full display, nowhere more starkly than at the Topography of Terror.  Situated on the former site of the Gestapo and SS headquarters, this open-air and indoor exhibition walks you through the mechanics of Nazi repression with an unflinching eye.  It’s not light reading, but it’s essential for understanding how a modern democracy was hijacked by ideology and hatred.  Somehow we don’t seem to learn.

The outdoor exhibit is particularly powerful, where you can see the ruins of the SS buildings juxtaposed against a long stretch of the Berlin Wall: two regimes of oppression, side by side. It’s not the most cheerful way to start the day, but Berlin is not a city for sugar-coating.

If you need a moment to process, head outside and stand where the Berlin Wall once divided the city. It’s a visceral reminder of how fragile democracy can be.

Lunch Stop: Curry at the Wall

After your history lesson, set yourself up for the rest of the day with some classic Berlin street food Currywurst. Whether stone cold sober at midday or a trifle tipsy at 2am, it’s impossible to visit Berlin without trying it.  This small stand (Zimmerstrasse 100) next to your afternoon activity and close to Checkpoint Charlie serves one of the best. The sausage, smothered in ketchup and curry powder, is simple but deeply satisfying. It’s fast, messy, and utterly Berlin.

If you didn’t make it the first time, Checkpoint Charlie and its ramshackle yet fascinating museum is just around the corner so swing by. You'll need at least 45 minutes for the museum and that's at a rapid clip.

Afternoon: Trabi Safari

• Address: Zimmerstraße 100, 10117 Berlin

• Opening Hours: Tours typically run from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

• Price: From €70 per person (75-minute tour - wise to book in advance)

• Nearest Public Transport: U-Bahn: Kochstraße (U6)

If the morning was all about the dark history of this city, the afternoon is a full-blown celebration of its most absurd icon.  Introducing the Trabant (‘Trabi’ to her friends), the delightfully clunky, smoke-belching car that was once the pride (and – simultaneously - embarrassment) of East Germany. With the Trabi Safari, you get to drive one of these relics through Berlin, clattering along like a 1970s washing machine during its spin cycle.

If you drive any vehicle made in the 21st century, you’ll find the Trabi simultaneously  infuriating and hilariously impractical: the steering is stiff, the acceleration is questionable and when you inevitably stall it, you’ll assume (incorrectly) you’ve finally driven it to an early grave.  

The tour takes you past Berlin’s key landmarks: Checkpoint Charlie (again), the Brandenburg Gate, the TV Tower, while a guide narrates history and witticisms (and occasional calmin guidance that you're not the first driver ever to struggle with handling a Trabi!) over a crackling radio.  Pairs get to swap over halfway so you won’t miss out on the fun.  Stalling to a halt on six-lane Karl-Marx Allee wasn’t my finest hour, getting it back in one piece 75 minutes later arguably ranks up there. 

You’ll certainly develop a new found appreciation for modern German engineering. Return to your hotel/Air BnB afterwards for a lie down and a stiff drink to calm the nerves!

Early Evening: East Side Gallery

• Address: Mühlenstraße 3-100, 10243 Berlin

• Opening Hours: Open 24/7

• Price: Free entry

• Nearest Public Transport: S-Bahn: Warschauer Straße (S3, S5, S7, S9); U-Bahn: Warschauer Straße (U1)

You’ll catch a glimpse of this while coaxing your Trabi through East Berlin, now head back and see it up close. If the Berlin Wall was once a symbol of division, the East Side Gallery has transformed it into a global canvas for freedom and artistic expression. Stretching just under a mile along the Spree River, this is the longest surviving section of the Wall, and rather than being left as a blank slab of concrete, it has been turned into a intriguing and occasionally provocative outdoor gallery.

Over 100 murals by artists from all over the world cover the Wall, each painting a different interpretation of unity, liberation, and political satire.  The most famous is Dmitri Vrubel’s decidedly homoerotic "My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love", depicting Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker locked in an awkward socialist kiss.  We’re awaiting the Trump-Putin equivalent with interest.

Even if you saw this the first time, it’s worth returning as with nearly a mile of canvas, works are always being updated.

Night Time  Kneipe Kulture

Close to the East Side Gallery’s start point. For a relaxed but sophisticated meal, Michelberger (Warschauer Straße 39-40) serves farm-to-table dishes with a focus on local ingredients. Expect fresh, seasonal flavors and a cozy ambiance.

Grab the U-Bahn back across the city to Nollendorfplatz and pay a visit to Stagger Lee (Nollendorfstrasse 27) – an imaginative speakeasy where late 19th century St Louis decor crashes headlong into 21st century Berlin inventiveness.  The Nick Cave themed cocktail menu will live with you for quite some time. It certainly made an impact on me as it appears in my 5 Quirkiest Berlin Bars, which I'd highly recommend you have a read of. Klo, which also features on here, is a 5 minute Uber ride away. Just in case you fancy a pint served out of a urinal.

If you prefer to stay local, Nollendorfplatz is the heart of queer Berlin with ample livelier locales found just around the corner from Stagger Lee.  Good times pretty much guaranteed under usual heading of ‘…provided you’re not an asshole…’. Hafen's (Motzstrasse 19, cash only) theme nights are superb if you need some initial inspiration.

Day 2

Morning: Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) & Wannsee Conference House

• Pfaueninsel Address: Pfaueninsel, 14109 Berlin

• Wannsee House Address: Am Großen Wannsee 56-58, 14109 Berlin

• Opening Hours:

  • Pfaueninsel: April–October: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM; November–March: Closed

  • Wannsee House: Daily from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

• Prices: Pfaueninsel: €4 (island entry); €6 (castle tour); Wannsee House: Free

• Nearest Public Transport: S-Bahn: Wannsee (S1, S7), then Bus 218 (Pfaueninsel) / Bus 114 (Wannsee House)

After a day of urban exploration, it’s time to escape the heart of the city.  Pfaueninsel, or Peacock Island, sits in the middle of the River Havel.  As the name suggests, it’s home to a flamboyant population of peacocks. The island is an 18th-century fantasyland, complete with a white fairytale-style castle, hidden pathways, and sweeping meadows. 

Getting there requires a 30-minute bus ride (catch the 218 from S-Bahn station Wannsee), followed by a short ferry across the river.  Once you arrive, it feels like stepping back in time. The island was once the pleasure retreat of Prussian kings (and Nazi gauleiters), and its romantic, overgrown gardens make it easy to see why.  It's a peaceful contrast to Berlin’s hustle and a very pleasant place for an unhurried morning stroll in and around the castle (and peacocks.)

On your way back, stop off at Wannsee.  Here, you’re confronted with the incongruity of an affluent suburb with a delightful beach butts up against one of the darkest periods of Germany’s history. The Wannsee Conference House is a lakeside villa where Nazi officials planned the "Final Solution" in 1942.  Now a museum, it remains unfathomable that this elegant interior is where a group of a dozen men planned and documented the annihilation of eleven million human beings.  Sobering doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Close by, Restaurant Seehaase (Am Großen Wannsee 58a) is a good spot for lunch, offering classic German cuisine and a good selection of fish.

If you need some fresh air post-lunch, on the way back stop at Teufelsberg (nearest S-Bahn: Heerstraße (S3, S5, S7, S9)- connects directly from Wannsee).  Romantically translated as ‘Devil’s Mountain’ this hill is a sizeable mountain of World War 2 rubble, shoved to the edge of the city.  Never one to miss an opportunity, the Americans erected a U.S. spy station on its peak to keep an eye on the goings on further East.  Long abandoned, it’s still well worth a visit for the views over Berlin alone.   Try and do better than my 2006 self who puffed his way up in 38C summer heat, only to find he’d climbed the wrong hill.  I gather it’s now properly signposted.

Afternoon: The Stasi Museum – Spies, Surveillance, and Paranoia

• Address: Ruschestraße 103, 10365 Berlin

• Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM; Saturday & Sunday: 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM

• Price: €8 (adults), €6 (concessions)

• Nearest Public Transport: U-Bahn: Magdalenenstraße (U5)

If you worry about today’s governments being invasive, wait until you visit the Stasi Museum. Located in the former headquarters of East Germany’s Ministry for State Security (better known as the Stasi), this museum reveals how the most feared secret police force in the Eastern Bloc kept an iron grip on its citizens (and their Trabis).  If you’ve watched the superb 2006 film The Lives of Others you’ll have some idea what you’re dealing with.

The decor is peak Cold War aesthetic, wood-panelled offices, clunky typewriters, and walls of beige filing cabinets stuffed with detailed reports on everyday East Germans. Exhibits include hidden cameras disguised as buttons, bugging devices sewn into coats, and an actual listening post where thousands of phone calls were monitored.

The most unsettling room is the office of Erich Mielke, the Stasi's long-time leader. His desk, telephone, and even his brown leather chair remain untouched, a quiet testament to the paranoia and repression that defined East Germany.  Alongside being fascinating and chilling in equal measure, contemporary debates on core freedoms being eroded by over-reaching states make it surprisingly relevant.

Evening: Unwind at the Tempodrom – Berlin’s Futuristic Spa & Concert Venue

• Address: Möckernstraße 10, 10963 Berlin

• Opening Hours: Liquidrom: Monday – Sunday: 9:00 AM – Midnight

• Price: Liquidrom: Starts at €27 for two hours

• Nearest Public Transport: U-Bahn: Möckernbrücke (U1, U7); S-Bahn: Anhalter Bahnhof (S1, S2, S25)

After some pretty heavy history – and a shoulder still sore from trying to wrench the Trabant into second gear – you’ve definitely earned this. Berlin isn’t known for its thermal baths, but the Liquidrom, housed inside the futuristic Tempodrom, is the perfect place to wind down.

It’s not just any spa. The main attraction here is a dark, domed saltwater pool where you float weightlessly as ambient music plays through underwater speakers. It’s like entering a sci-fi dream sequence. There are also hot baths, saunas (where you’ll need to embrace Berlin’s unabashed nudity culture), and a Japanese-style onsen.

The Tempodrom itself hosts a wide range of evening performances, from live music and circus acts to comedy and theater.

Dinner and Nightcarp: BRLO Brewhouse and Kumpelnest 3,000

Just around the corner from Tempodrom, BRLO Brwhouse (Schöneberger Straße 16) serves up craft beer and modern German cuisine in a repurposed shipping container. Expect fantastic vegetarian options, locally sourced meat, and some of Berlin’s best beer. 

If you’re feeling particularly silly (and after the dark history, you’d be forgiven for wanting to blow off some steam), call in at the close-by Kumpelnest 3,000 (Luetzowstrasse 23) described on its website as a reformed brothel. 

Another entry in my ‘5 Quirkiest Bars in Berlin’ summary, seeing is most definitely believing...if you can see anything through the low-level red glow. After a couple here, you're squarely in 'see where the night takes you' territory!

In Summary...

Berlin is a city that both lives in the shadow of its past whilst simultaneously never stops evolving. If you leave Berlin still feeling like you haven't seen it all, I wouldn’t worry. No-one ever really does. It just gives you a reason to come back.  Even if it’s just to ensure you climb the correct bloody hill at Teufelsberg.