The German capital has shed a thousand skins and bears the imprint of several political eras, making it a dizzying but always interesting city to explore, writes Derek Scally
SOMEONE MORE eloquent than myself once described the difference between the French and German capitals thus: Paris is always Paris, while Berlin is never Berlin.
With its restless cityscape and population in perpetual motion, Berlin has shed more skins in the 20 years since German unification than other cities have in a century. This is a city that defies classification and infects every visitor with a dizzying feeling of disorientation.
Locals learn to live with this feeling, but first-time visitors can revel in the feeling of history colliding, as the Kaiser and Weimar eras jostle for attention with the Third Reich and the Cold War. That past is distilled into a bracing cocktail in the reunited Berlin. As it matures into the bustling crossroads of a united Europe, the old East-West divisions seem to be fading away. Yet they can pop up again in the most unlikely of places, and anyone returning to the city after an absence of a few years, or even just a few weeks, may feel they have arrived in a different place entirely.
Berlin is a young city by European standards, first mentioned less than 900 years ago, along with its now vanished twin city of Cölln across the River Spree.
The two merged in 1432 and Berlin grew rapidly as a military and trading city under the ruling Hohenzollern family, but it was only with German unification in 1871, which transformed the Prussian King into the German Kaiser, that Berlin took off.
By 1900 the city was a steaming industrial revolution engine, attracting so many people that the population quadrupled in just 30 years to over 2.5 million.
The Kaiser’s abdication in 1918 ushered in the economically and morally decadent Weimar Republic, followed up by the sobering Nazi takeover and Berlin’s collapse into ruin and division.
Every era has left its mark on Berlin’s cityscape, but even now, the devastation of war shocks the most, from scrappy vacant sites to ruined churches and bullet-ridden façades.
Berlin is ground zero of European history and the best way to explore it is on foot, starting at the Brandenburg Gate. The Berlin Wall ran along here for nearly four decades and planted the Gate in no man’s land as the most potent symbol of a divided city and a divided continent.
Today it’s impossible to stroll through the open and renovated gate and not be thankful for Europe’s peaceful unification 20 years ago.
LOOKING EAST, THE Unter den Linden boulevard offers an inviting stroll through 19th century Berlin to the hulking cathedral to Alexanderplatz and the 1970s Television Tower, a striking socialist landmark of the vanished East Germany.
On the west side of the Brandenburg Gate, turn right for a stroll through the new government quarter and the revamped Reichstag, for the last decade the seat of the German parliament. The remarkable dome is well worth a visit and visit early or late (until 10pm) to avoid the queue.
Just south of the gate, the striking Holocaust Memorial is impressive – if divisive – with an interesting underground visitors’ centre. Beyond that, the towers of Potsdamer Platz offer visitors an entirely new neighbourhood of cinemas, shops, theatres. Adjacent to that is the golden tent-like hall of the world famous Berlin Philharmonic orchestra.
Visitors stuck for time should hook up with one of the many walking tours that meet near the Brandenburg Gate each day at 11am and 1pm; anyone interested in Berlin architecture, fashion or art can find walking tours online to meet their special needs.
Deciding where to stay depends on what you want from your trip. If your priorities are off-beat shopping and underground fun, base yourself in the eastern neighbourhood of Mitte. From the boutiques of Hackescher Markt to the cafes and flea markets of Prenzlauer Berg, the eastern city centre offers days of distraction for the younger crowd.
Older visitors anxious to get away from the scruffy, hipster Berlin should head west and make their base around the tree-lined Kurfürstendamm.
The side streets off the former main boulevard of West Berlin are quiet neighbourhoods with galleries, shops and cafes. The Tiergarten park and zoo is here, as is the Charlottenburg palace.
Groups and families should try renting an apartment. To get an overview on your first day, hop on the 100 bus that runs between Alexanderplatz in the east and Zoo Station in the west.
No visit would be complete without a visit to the Museum Island complex, a Louvre-like labyrinth that includes the extraordinary Pergamon Altar and Ishtar Gate (in the Pergamon Museum) and the newly-renovated wonder that is the Neues Museum.
ANYONE INTERESTED in Third Reich history should make a beeline to the just-opened Topography of Terror museum on the Niederkirchnerstrasse, on the site of the old Gestapo headquarters.
For further Nazi landmarks, head to the bombastic Olympic Stadium and the chilling Wannsee Conference villa on the city’s western outskirts.
Cold War fans can follow what remains of the wall at the East Side Gallery near Ostbahnhof train station or the wall memorial site on the Bernauerstrasse.
The infamous Checkpoint Charlie border crossing is worth a visit, but skip the nearby Wall (Mauer) Museum. Despite some fascinating exhibits, the museum is an expensive and confusing mess.
With so much concentrated history, regular breaks are a must. One summer treat is the presence of beach bars that line the banks of the Spree River.
A good way to spend a Saturday afternoon is at the Mauerpark flea market in Prenzlauer Berg (Eberswalderstr).
It’s a lively spot in the former Wall no-man’s-land, offering high- and low-rent junk of all descriptions.
In summer, don’t miss the Irish-run karaoke competition in the park’s outdoor arena. Across town on on Winterfeldtplatz (Schöneberg), the food market offers a delicious opportunity to go under the tourist radar and rub shoulders with Berliners.
From there, it’s a short stroll to the temple of capitalism, the KaDeWe department store. Head straight up to the rambling food halls, settle back with a glass of Riesling and take a well-earned rest from Berlin’s intoxicating but exhausting brand of historical disorientation.
Go there
Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies daily to Berlin from Dublin and Cork. Ryanair flies daily from Dublin (ryanair.com)
Where to stay, where to eat and where to go in the sprawling German capital
5 places to stay
The Circus, Rosenthaler Strasse 1, 0049-30-2000-3939 circus-berlin.de. The young party crowd can choose from beds (from €19) in the hostel or rooms (from €70) in the sister hotel on the opposite side of Rosenthaler Platz
Easyhotel, Rosenthaler Strasse 69, 0049-30-4000-65511 easyhotel.com. Taking the budget airline concept to the hotel business, Easyhotel offers basic rooms from €35. Everything else, from TV remote to wi-fi, is extra.
Casa Camper Hotel, Weinmeisterstr 1, 0049-30-2000-3410 casacamper.com. A new boutique hotel near Hackescher Markt nightlife with rooms from €145 a night. Free wi-fi and all-day breakfast.
The Savoy, Fasanenstrasse 9 0049-3031-1030 hotel-savoy.com. Built in 1929, this quiet and elegant hotel near the Kurfürstendamm was once the Berlin home-from-home of Thomas Mann to Helmut Newton. Double rooms are available from €118.
The Concorde, Augsburger Strasse 41, 0049-30-8009-990 berlin.concorde-hotels.com. A striking new hotel just off the Kurfürstendamm with great views and double rooms from €150, excluding breakfast.
5 places to eat
Cafe Einstein, Kurfürstenstraße 58, 0049-30-2639-1915. This 19th-century villa with mirrored walls oozes coffee house elegance. Try the Tafelspitz or Wiener Schnitzel and don’t forget the Apfelstrudel
Paris-Moskau, Alt-Moabit 141, 0049-30-3942-081 paris-moskau.de. Housed in a half-timbered house, the only building to survive the Battle of Berlin. A delightful gourmet restaurant that reinvents stodgier German food as lighter fare.
Toca Rouge, Torstraße 194, 0049-17-3613-1556. Chinese cuisine with inventive dishes up to €8 – and no MSG in sight.
Schwarzwalder Stube, Tucholskystraße 48, 0049-30-2809-8084. No-nonsense, inexpensive German dishes in a relaxed atmosphere. Good for larger groups.
Gugelhof, Knaackstraße 37, 0049-30-4429-229 gugelhof.de. Upmarket dishes from Alsace, where Gerhard Schröder memorably offered Bill Clinton an after-dinner Cuban cigar.
5 things to do
Boat trip: head to the bridge between the Radisson Hotel and the Berliner Dom cathedral and hop on one of the many boats offering one- and three-hour tours of Berlin from the water.
Rent a bike, fattirebiketours.com/berlin. Get over your inhibitions and on your bike. Berlin is almost completely flat and lined with cycle lanes, making this the best way to get around, bar none. You can even rent a tour with your bike.
Potsdam. If time allows, skip out of the city on the S-Bahn to the neighbouring city of Brandenburg, Berlin’s answer to Versailles. The town is pretty and its sprawling park is filled with half a dozen Prussian palaces.
Brunch. Get to Prenzlauer Berg on a Saturday or Sunday morning and laze away the day with all-you-can-eat brunch in Cafe Anna Blume (Kollwitzstraße 83) or dozens of other cafes nearby.
Tacheles, Oranienburgerstr 52. Visit Berlin’s oddest attraction before it vanishes, a ruined department store that, for the last 20 years, has been an artist squat, gallery and performance spaces.
Shop spot
Manufaktum, Hardenbergstraße 4 0049-30-2403-3844. This department store sells high quality everything, from pots and pans to shoes and furniture, all made the way they used to be, before plastic, globalisation and “Made in China” came along
Hot Spot
Cafe am Neuen See, Lichtensteinallee 2 0049-30-2544-930. A restaurant beer garden on an idyllic lake in the middle of Berlin’s Tiergarten park. The perfect place for a Sunday afternoon or on the way from city west to east or back again
Read
Berlin in Your Pocket(free PDF guide, available online from inyourpocket.com/germany/berlin) and The Ex-Berliner (English Language Listings Guide)