How We’ve Done Berlin

Berlin is a city we’ve been back to more than once and each trip felt different. The first time we went together with Dylan when he was 12 and focused on museums outdoor spaces and places that balanced history with lighter moments.

On a later visit Erin went back with friends from Los Angeles and spent more time with the heavier parts of Berlin’s history including memorials and former camp sites.

Dylan has also been back on his own with friends doing Berlin very differently the TV Tower the East Side Gallery and a soccer game.

This post isn’t a checklist or a fixed itinerary. It’s how Berlin has worked for us across different trips and different stages.

Checkpoint Charlie

This is one of those Berlin stops that works without much effort. The history is right there on the street and easy to take in even if you do not go inside a museum. We spent time reading the outdoor panels and watching how the space functions now as part landmark and part everyday city corner.

The checkpoint itself is small and staged but the context matters. Knowing what happened here makes the location feel heavier than it looks. We liked that the information was accessible outside and did not require tickets or a time commitment. It fit naturally into a walking day and did not feel like something we had to plan around.

We stopped into the shop nearby and bought a small piece of the wall. It is touristy and we knew that going in but it still felt meaningful as a physical reminder of the city’s history. This is an easy stop to pair with a walk through Mitte or on the way to other nearby sites.

Details:
Checkpoint Charlie
Friedrichstraße 43–45, 10117 Berlin
Free to view outdoors
Good stop for context without committing to a full museum visit

Spree River Boat Tour

A boat tour might sound like a tourist thing, but in Berlin it actually makes sense. We’ve done the Spree River cruise twice, once on our first visit and again later, and it worked both times for different reasons. It’s an easy way to get oriented without bouncing between neighborhoods or feeling like you’re constantly backtracking.

The route passes government buildings, older museums, modern glass towers, and long stretches of graffiti along the riverbanks. The audio guide is straightforward and useful without being overwhelming. It can be cold on the open deck, but we bundled up, grabbed drinks onboard, and stayed outside for most of the ride. Being on the water gives Berlin a bit of breathing room.

It’s not something you need to overthink. If it’s your first visit, it helps put the city into context. If you’ve been before, it’s still a calm way to see how different parts of Berlin sit next to each other.

Details:
Boats leave from several docks near Friedrichstraße and Museum Island
Daily departures, seasonal schedule
Around €18 per adult
Drinks available onboard
If the weather cooperates, sit on the upper deck

Topography of Terror

This was a return visit to Berlin, and it felt very different from our first trip. I went back with friends from Los Angeles and spent more time with the parts of the city that don’t lend themselves to quick stops or casual sightseeing. Topography of Terror was one of those places.

The site sits on the former headquarters of the Gestapo and SS, right along a remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall. Most of the exhibition is outdoors, laid out in long panels that walk you through the rise of the Nazi regime, the mechanics of terror, and how ordinary systems were used to carry out extraordinary harm. It’s direct, detailed, and unsparing.

We spent much longer here than expected. The information is dense, but it’s presented clearly, with photos, documents and timelines that make it hard to rush through. Standing there, outside, with the wall behind you and modern Berlin moving along the street nearby, adds another layer to the experience.

This isn’t a place you pair with something light afterward. It’s worth giving it its own time and space in your day.

Details:
Topography of Terror Documentation Center
Niederkirchnerstraße 8, Berlin
Free entry
Outdoor exhibition open daily, indoor museum has set hours

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

From Berlin, we took the train out to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, knowing this would take most of the day. The camp sits just outside the city, and the shift happens quickly. You leave busy platforms and cafés behind and arrive somewhere quiet, open and heavy.

Sachsenhausen was established in 1936 and became a model camp for the Nazi system. Tens of thousands of people were imprisoned here, and many did not survive. The layout is still largely intact. Long gravel paths, barracks, watchtowers and open space that feels intentionally exposed. There’s nothing theatrical about it. It’s stark and matter-of-fact, which somehow makes it worse.

Walking through the grounds, I felt physically ill. Not from anything graphic, but from the weight of it. The scale, the repetition and the knowledge of what happened there settled in my body in a way I wasn’t prepared for. We moved slowly, read less than we usually would and didn’t talk much. It’s not the kind of place you rush through or pair with something else.

This isn’t a visit to schedule casually. It requires time, energy and space afterward. We didn’t plan anything for the rest of the day, and I’m glad we didn’t. Some places stay with you long after you leave. This was one of them.

The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall, now covered in murals painted after reunification. It doesn’t feel like a gallery in the traditional sense. It feels like a reminder that’s still out in the open, still part of daily life.

Some of the paintings are sharp and political, others are playful, and a few are instantly recognizable even if you don’t know their backstory. We walked the entire length, stopping often. Dylan gravitated toward the sections with handprints and bold color, and it turned into one of those rare history stops where he didn’t feel like he was being taught something. It felt active, not preserved behind glass.

What makes this stretch work is that it isn’t contained. Trains pass, people bike through, and the city keeps moving alongside it. You’re not stepping into a museum. You’re walking through something that never fully stopped being part of Berlin.

If you only see one visible piece of the Wall while you’re here, this is the one that makes the most sense.

Details:
The East Side Gallery runs along Mühlenstraße in Friedrichshain
It’s always open and free to walk
Go early in the morning or later in the day for better light and fewer people

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

From the street, it almost feels accidental. You’re walking through a busy part of Berlin and suddenly the ground drops away into rows of gray concrete blocks. There’s no gate, no entrance, no moment where you decide to go in. You just step off the sidewalk and you’re there.

Once inside, everything shifts. The paths narrow, the blocks rise, and the city noise fades out in a way that feels unsettling rather than peaceful. We walked the length of it slowly, without talking much, and the physical feeling was hard to shake. The deeper you go, the more disoriented it feels, like the space is pressing in on you.

What stayed with us most was how exposed it is. People pass by on their way to work. Tour groups drift through. At one point, kids were playing between the columns. It felt uncomfortable, but also honest. This memorial isn’t set apart or protected. It exists right in the middle of daily life, which somehow makes it heavier.

The underground information center adds necessary context and weight. It’s small, quiet, and direct, with personal stories and names that make the scale of the loss impossible to ignore. Walking back up into daylight afterward was disorienting. The sadness lingered in a physical way, like it sat in your chest for a while after you left.

This isn’t a place you rush through or photograph and move on from. It’s something you pass through, and it stays with you long after.

Details:
Cora-Berliner-Straße 1, 10117 Berlin
Memorial open 24 hours
Information center open Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00–18:00
Free

Brandenburg Gate

We passed through Brandenburg Gate several times. It’s one of the most recognizable landmarks in Berlin, but there isn’t much to do here beyond taking it in. It sits at the edge of Tiergarten and near several other major sights, which makes it more of a marker than a stop. The gate itself is impressive, especially at night when it’s lit up, but it’s not a place you linger. You see it, you move on, and that feels right.

Details:
Pariser Platz, 10117 Berlin
Always open
Free
Website
Best visited early morning or late evening when the crowds thin out.

Tiergarten

We explored Tiergarten, Berlin’s version of Central Park. It’s big, it’s spread out, and it doesn’t feel designed in the way most city parks do. Long dirt paths, trees in every direction, and just enough people that it never felt empty.

We rented ebikes and rode through the park for a while, which made more sense than walking the whole thing. At one point Dylan grabbed a Bird scooter and took off on it. That didn’t last long. There’s an age requirement for scooters in Berlin and he wasn’t old enough, so we got stopped and told to switch back to bikes.

Once we did, we kept riding through different sections of the park and stopped when we felt like it. It’s an easy place to slow your pace without planning anything. You can pass straight through or spend hours wandering. Both work.

Details:
Straße des 17. Juni, 10785 Berlin
Open 24 hours
Start at Brandenburg Gate and walk straight in. There are plenty of benches if you need a break.

Berlin Zoo

We weren’t planning to visit the zoo, but it ended up being one of our favorite stops. The layout is smart, the exhibits are large and clean, and the animals actually looked well cared for. There were pandas, elephants, monkeys and a big indoor aquarium.

The elephant exhibit stood out in particular. It’s spacious, thoughtfully designed, and one of the better ones we’ve seen.

The best part overall was the playground, which was massive and beautifully done. Dylan could have stayed there for hours. We all could have.

Details:
Hardenbergplatz 8, 10787 Berlin
9:00–18:30
€17.50 adult / €9 child
Website
Arrive right at opening if you want to avoid the school groups.

DDR Museum

This museum is cramped and chaotic, and that ends up being the main thing to know going in. It’s very hands-on. You can sit in a Trabant, walk through a reconstructed apartment, and open drawers filled with everyday objects from East German life. It’s not polished or spacious, but it does give a clear sense of how people actually lived under the regime.

That said, it was too crowded for us to really enjoy. The rooms are tight, people bottleneck quickly, and it can feel overwhelming fast. Dylan liked it more than we did, probably because he could touch things and move through it at his own pace. For us, it was difficult to navigate and not somewhere we wanted to linger.

Details:
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1, 10178
9:00–21:00 daily
€13.50 adult / €7.50 child
Website
Get there right when it opens. It fills up fast and gets hard to move around.

Berlin Cathedral

We went inside and it was worth the stop. The main hall is grand without feeling overdone, and the climb to the top isn’t as bad as it looks. From the dome, you get wide views over Museum Island and the surrounding area. We didn’t stay long, but it felt like enough.

Details:
Am Lustgarten, 10178 Berlin
Mon–Sat 10:00–18:00, Sun 12:00–18:00
€10 adult / €7 reduced
Website
Do the dome climb. It’s not too hard, and the view is worth it.

Teufelsberg (Dylan Went Without Us)

This isn’t something we did together. Dylan went with friends, and it ended up being one of their favorite experiences in Berlin. Teufelsberg is a former Cold War listening station built on a hill made from WWII rubble, now partially abandoned and covered in graffiti.

They said it felt like total freedom. You walk, climb, open doors, and explore at your own pace. The views over the city are huge, and the whole place feels slightly surreal. It’s not polished, it’s not curated, and it doesn’t feel like a museum.

This is very different from the Berlin we experienced as a family. Less structured, more raw, and probably best for older teens or adults who like exploring places that still feel a little uncontained.

Details:
Teufelsseechaussee 10, 14193 Berlin
Daily hours vary by season. Generally open late morning through sunset
Paid entry. Prices vary slightly by age and time
Website

Museum of Computer Games

This museum is a win if you’re traveling with a gamer or grew up playing video games yourself. It covers everything from early consoles to more modern systems, and a lot of it is hands-on. You can sit down and actually play the games, not just look at them, and there’s a full walk-through of how gaming evolved over time, including plenty of odd experiments that never caught on. It’s quiet, well laid out, and easy to move through. Dylan could have stayed here all day.

Details:
Karl-Marx-Allee 93a, 10243 Berlin
Mon–Fri 10:00–20:00, Sat–Sun 11:00–21:00
€12 adult / €7 reduced
Website
Go on a weekday if you want space to actually try the games.

What We Ate

Berlin is easy when it comes to food. There’s something for everyone, it’s affordable, and there’s very little pressure to plan ahead or dress up. Across multiple trips, we kept things casual and still ate well.

Zollpackhof
A classic beer hall stop near the Reichstag and Spree. This is where you go for hearty German food, big portions, and a lively atmosphere. It’s tourist-friendly but still fun, especially after a long day of walking.
Elisabeth-Abegg-Straße 1
Website

Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) Food Hall
We ended up here more than once. The top-floor food hall is massive and surprisingly easy, with everything from Italian pasta and pizza to seafood, pastries, and sit-down counters. It’s a good option when everyone wants something different or when you need a reset between sightseeing and shopping.
Tauentzienstraße 21–24
Website

Good Friends
A long-standing Cantonese favorite and an easy choice after long days out. Fast, comforting, and reliable, especially when you want something familiar that still feels local.
Kantstraße
Website

Kuchi Kant
A solid Japanese option with a lively atmosphere. Not quiet, not fussy, and exactly what we wanted that night.
Kantstraße
Website

Aroma
Fast noodle soup and dumplings near Hackescher Markt. Not fancy, but great when you need something quick and warm between stops.
Rosenthaler Straße 5
Website

Brammibal’s Donuts
Vegan donuts that don’t taste vegan. We stopped twice. That’s all that needs to be said.
Multiple locations
Website.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission if you book through our links, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend hotels we’d stay at ourselves.

Where We Stayed

On our first trip, we booked a family room at Hotel Berlin, Berlin. It wasn’t a design-forward hotel, but it worked. The room was clean, well priced and genuinely functional for traveling with a kid. The Murphy beds made it easy to spread out, and the location was convenient for walking and hopping on transit. There were bikes and scooters right outside, the gym was fine and breakfast was solid.

The only real downside was the Wi-Fi, which barely worked in our room. Everything else made up for it, especially the location, which made getting around easy without much planning.

On a later trip, we stayed at the Novotel Berlin Mitte, which felt more polished and quieter. The rooms were comfortable, the layout made more sense for a longer stay, and being in Mitte put us closer to many of the sites we wanted to revisit. It felt like a better fit for a more reflective trip, especially after spending time at memorials and museums.

When Dylan went back with friends, he stayed in a hostel. That setup worked well for them since they were out most of the day and wanted something social and inexpensive. Berlin has no shortage of good hostel options and it’s an easy city for teens to navigate independently.

Details

Hotel Berlin, Berlin
Lützowpl. 17, 10785 Berlin
Book here
If you’re traveling with kids or want extra space, ask for a family room.

Novotel Berlin Mitte
Fischerinsel 12, 10179 Berlin
Book here
A quieter option with a more polished feel, well located for central sightseeing.

Planning More Time in Europe?

Check out our other favorite cities and stops:

Vienna – grand cafés, museums, markets and a few surprises
Prague – castles, cobblestones and cold beers in a beautiful city
Amsterdam – canals, museums, bikes and casual day trips
Oktoberfest – tents, beers, outfits, and everything we packed for Munich

Or listen to The Getawayz Podcast for more behind-the-scenes stories from our European travels.