Gendarmenmarkt

Plenty of Berliners will tell you Gendarmenmarkt is the most beautiful square in the city, and it is hard to argue. Three buildings frame it: the Konzerthaus concert hall in the middle, with the Deutscher Dom and the Französischer Dom facing each other across the open space. The proportions are the point, and the square works best simply as somewhere to sit for half an hour.

Despite the name, the two Dom buildings are not cathedrals. The French one was built for Berlin's Huguenot community, Protestant refugees from France who arrived in the late 1600s and made up a sizeable share of the city's population at the time. The matching domed towers were added later, purely so the square would be symmetrical.

There are classical concerts most evenings at the Konzerthaus, and restaurants and cafés on the surrounding streets. In December the square traditionally hosts one of the most atmospheric Christmas markets in Berlin, with roasted almonds, mulled wine and a lot of people packed between the two domes.

Gendarmenmarkt sits in central Mitte, a short walk from Friedrichstraße, Unter den Linden and Checkpoint Charlie. The nearest subway stations are Französische Straße, Hausvogteiplatz and Stadtmitte on the U2 and U6 lines. It is one of the easiest places in the center to fold into a walking day without adding a train ride.