Spring Weekend - Berlin

The capital of Germany is only a one and a half hour flight away from my hometown Graz. For sure I should go there more often, most of all because due to inflation of the past years, Berlin nowadays is even cheaper than Graz. 

For my stay I booked a room at the Inter-City Hotel located directly at the main railway station. In contrast to other bigger cities the area around the railway station is quite cool, clean and quiet. There are several big hotels around this area, so this place might be a good idea for your stay in Berlin as well. The subway and the train to the airport is leaving there as well as all the busses and sightseeing tours.

When I'm on vacy I don't really like to spend a lot of time with breakfast. I usually grab something to go and start exploring. Also therefor this area was perfect. You'll find tons of restaurants and little shops within the train station building. From there hop into the subway and start your journey around the city.

The museum island is located in the historic heart of Berlin. Start your walk at Bode Museum and enjoy the hustle and bustle all around this area. Watch musicians and street artist do there thing while strolling along Spree river. When you cross the river to James Simon park you'll find several really laid back bars and restaurants where you can stop for a cold drink or cocktail.

Continue your walk to Lustpark to see the Berlin Dome. There you‘ll get the chance to cross over to the „main land“ and will also find some cool spots for photos of the Dome and the Humboldt Forum.

What I really loved around this area was, that there where several pretty cool Design and Vintage Markets happening on the weekends. So if you are looking for some cool street art or some new stuff for your wardrobe, you'll be happy there.

The Berlin Wall is omnipresent in Germans capital. Built in the early 1960s and finally torn down in 1989 this "landmark" separated Berlin and all of Germany basically into two total different cities and countries. 

What's left today is a huge amount of history and a lot of stories. Go see the "East Side Gallery" to get a feeling how it must have been standing in front of this guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin of the Federal Republic of Germany for so long.

East side Gallery is a 1.3 kilometre long leftover of the wall. In 1990, over a hundred artists from all over the world started painting 106 unique pictures on the wall. All motives are related to the fall of the wall or the cold war. This is for sure something you want to do on your next trip to Berlin.

If you start heading east from Berlin Mitte you'll get closer to the "Tiergarten". An enormous park area located directly in the heart of Berlin. Reminded me of the "Englischer Garten" in Munich. There you will find probably 2 of the most famous landsmarks in the German capital. 

The Brandenburg Gate is located in the western part of the city centre within "Mitte", at the junction of "Unter den Linden" and "Ebertstraße". As you might guess there is a lot of history around this 18th century monument - I don't want you to get bored - if you are interested, you'll find tons of articles online.

Not far from the gate you will find a memorial dedicated to a very sad period in German- and international history. As you might know Berlin used to be the centre of Nazi-Germany back in the early 1940s. During World War II millions of people, especially jewish people where deported and killed in and around Germany. 2,700 slabs shall remind all visitors to never forget about the horror that happened back in this time. 

I recommend visiting this memorial early in the morning when there are not that much tourists hanging out there. Even though this memorial is remembering everyone about a sad time - still the slabs a offering a wonderful photo spot if you are into taking pictures.

Tiergarten is a gigantic, over 500 acre big park area in the middle of Berlin. During summer days this park with his enormous amount of plants offers a perfect spot to escape the heat. We didn't do the whole thing, it was just to big. We walked from Brandenburg Gate down to the "Siegessäule" which marks probably two thirds of the whole walk through the park.

I got really lucky. In 2024 the European Football Championship was taking place in Germany, so already in May all the big streets were getting prepared for the Fan-Zone and for Public viewings of the games. So I was able to get the perfect shots of the "Siegessäule" with barely people or cars on it. 

Tiergarten offers a lot more to see which I have to admit, I skipped because I was done with walking. If you are interested you will find some more places you might want to see, like the "Bellevue Castle" or the "Tea House". Just take your time and find whats right for you.

As you might know from my previous posts, I do like sightseeing - but what I really love about traveling is getting into local markets, checking out street art, having some wonderful food and enjoy a glass or two.

So why should that be different here in Berlin? I have to tell you, the two locations I'm about to tell you now, where by far my favorite spots to hang out on this short trip.

First of you have to check out "Markthalle Neun" at Pücklerstraße. A huge market hall pretty similar to the ones in Lisbon or Budapest. This place is offering a variety of food from all over the world, some good drinks and definitely a good time.

If you are not into clubs this might be a good place for you to hang out in the evenings.  

Another place I really enjoyed hanging, lingering and wasting time were "Die Hackeschen Höfe". There you find a lot of Start ups, Pop up Shops and Vintage stores selling all kinds of cool shit. You also find tons of restaurants and little cafes within this area so you can easily spend a whole day there.  Definitely take your time and also check out the "Anne Frank Zentrum" right next door. There you find some really fine street art and some more cool shops within the building at the end.

• Check out East side gallery
• Visit "Hackesche Höfe"
• Try an original Curry Wurst
• Spend some time on the river Spree
• Get a "Wegbier" at a "Späti"