Berlin Attractions: the 20 Sights Worth Your Time
Every Berlin attraction here is grouped by what it actually is, so you can build a day around one part of the city instead of crisscrossing it. Each one links to the hotels nearby.
First trip to Berlin? Read the full guide to things to do in Berlin
The list below is the complete inventory. If you would rather have the sights sorted into a plan, with an honest read on which ones deserve a morning and which take 15 minutes, the pillar guide walks you through it and tells you how many days Berlin really needs.
Things to Do in Berlin: the full guide →Landmarks
Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de · CC BY-SA 3.0Brandenburg Gate
Berlin's signature landmark and the symbol of reunification, right on Pariser Platz between the Hotel Adlon and the Holocaust Memorial.
Mfield, Matthew Field, http://www.photography.mattfield.com; edit by Waugsberg (rotation 0,4°) · GFDL 1.2Reichstag
Home of the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, under a glass dome by Norman Foster. Free to visit, but you have to register in advance.
Marek Heise Fotografie, Berlin · CC BY-SA 4.0Gendarmenmarkt
Arguably Berlin's most beautiful square: the German and French cathedrals and the Konzerthaus concert hall form one perfect ensemble.
Avda · CC BY-SA 3.0Potsdamer Platz
Modern Berlin in one square: the Sony Center, the Berlinale movie palace and towers by Renzo Piano and Helmut Jahn, all built from scratch after 1990.
Taxiarchos228 · FALAlexanderplatz
Berlin's busiest transit hub: World Clock, TV Tower, department stores. Almost every U-Bahn (subway) and S-Bahn (commuter rail) line meets here.
ernstol · CC BY-SA 3.0Charlottenburg Palace
Berlin's largest palace: baroque state rooms plus gardens, the Belvedere and the mausoleum. Plan half a day, the park itself is free.
Nikolai Schwerg · CC BY-SA 3.0Olympic Stadium
Built for the 1936 Olympic Games, now home to soccer club Hertha BSC and a stage for stadium concerts. The architecture alone is worth the trip.
Ansgar Koreng · CC BY 3.0 deBerlin Cathedral
On Museum Island, the Hohenzollern dynasty's church. Climb the dome for a view over Mitte, or sit on the Lustgarten lawn out front.
History & wall
Roger Wollstadt · CC BY-SA 2.0Checkpoint Charlie
The best-known crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. Open-air exhibition with the Mauermuseum next door.
Lklundin · CC BY-SA 3.0East Side Gallery
A 0.8-mile (1.3 km) stretch of the Berlin Wall covered in 105 murals, the longest continuous open-air gallery in the world.
Alexander Blum · CC BY-SA 4.0Holocaust Memorial
Peter Eisenman's field of 2,711 concrete stelae between the Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz, one of Europe's most important memorials.
Parks & nature
Franz Richter (User:FRZ) · CC BY-SA 3.0Mauerpark
Built on the old Wall strip, now Berlin's favorite Sunday park, with a huge flea market and open-air karaoke in the amphitheater.
beedubz · CC BY-SA 3.0Tiergarten
Berlin's central park, 520 acres (210 hectares) between the Brandenburg Gate and Zoo station. Victory Column, English Garden, Café am Neuen See.
Coooohen · CC BY-SA 4.0Tempelhofer Feld
A closed airport turned into Berlin's biggest park, roughly 1.5 square miles (4 km²) for skating, picnics and kite flying. The runways are open to all.
Leonhard Lenz · CC0Müggelsee
Berlin's largest lake: swimming beaches, sailboats and the Müggelturm lookout tower. The city's best summer escape, and still inside the city limits.
Times · CC BY-SA 3.0Wannsee
Berlin's most famous swimming lake: the huge Strandbad Wannsee beach, Pfaueninsel island and boats to Potsdam. Summer at its best.
Shopping
Marek Śliwecki · CC BY-SA 4.0Kurfürstendamm
The West's famous shopping boulevard, 2.2 miles (3.5 km) of boutiques and cafés with the KaDeWe and the Memorial Church at its eastern end.
Jörg Zägel · CC BY-SA 3.0KaDeWe
The largest department store in continental Europe: seven floors and a legendary gourmet food hall on the sixth. A Berlin institution.
