Alexanderplatz

Alexanderplatz, the Alex to locals, is not pretty and is not trying to be. It is the transit and shopping center of eastern Berlin, a wide socialist-era plaza that East Germany rebuilt in the 1960s and 70s around the base of the TV Tower. If your mental image of Berlin is the historic one, this square will surprise you; it is worth seeing precisely because it is the other Berlin.

Two things on the square are worth a look in their own right. The Weltzeituhr, the World Clock, is a rotating aluminum column showing the time in cities around the globe and the classic Berlin meeting spot, and the Brunnen der Völkerfreundschaft fountain stands next to it. Both date from the late 1960s and both are still in daily use as places to wait for someone.

For a visitor the real value here is connectivity. U-Bahn, S-Bahn, tram and regional trains all meet at Alexanderplatz, which means a hotel in this corner of Mitte puts nearly anything in the city within one ride. Department stores and a shopping mall sit directly on the square, and the airport express trains run from here as well.

On foot you are 10 to 15 minutes from Museum Island, the Rotes Rathaus and the courtyards at Hackescher Markt. The Nikolaiviertel, the small reconstructed quarter around Berlin's oldest church, is closer still, and it is the fastest way to get from concrete plaza to cobblestones in this city.