Berlin is one of the most popular cities in Europe, particularly in summer months, and for good reason. It only takes a couple of hours flying time to get there from the UK, the food and drinks are cheap and the nightlife is incredible. We’ve comprised a loose agenda that can help anyone cover a lot of the city and have a good time while doing it. If you’re in this city for a short period of time, our brand new carsharing service Share grants you ultimate flexibility and freedom with your mobility. Download the Sixt App to take advantage of this fantastic new service and read below to see a list of different areas, places and sites to visit.
Morning
Berlin is a city of trendy pockets and so where you decide to sleep and wakeup will likely have a say in where you have breakfast. As we don’t want to predict your plans or state one area to be better than the other here’s a few spots that cover some popular areas.
If you’re staying in the centre of town, known as Mitte, there’s a wide variety of options in perfect proximity to some of the most popular sites and shopping streets.
House of Small Wonders is a Japanese restaurant that serves excellent food daily, their breakfast options are very popular and culturally unique for the capital of Germany. Zeit fur Brot (time for bread) is great for vegetarians and a perfect example of delectable German baked goods.
Other popular areas include Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, an urban sprawl at the beginning of East Berlin covered in street art and filled with bars, cafes, music, and small businesses. As such there are a few spots to eat breakfast there.
If you’re in Friedrichshain then one great place is Silo café, often busy at weekends as their breakfasts of homemade bread and poached eggs are now quite famous. Around Silo there’s a lot of smaller cafes and other options worth looking into if you find the crowds unappealing.
Kreuzberg is a rather big area so look up where exactly you are and what you are near to. We can recommend Restaurant Bastard for delicious fried breakfasts and pancakes. Ora is another great option as it’s set in a turn of the century former pharmacy and has great baked goods.
Midday/Lunchtime
Once you’ve eaten and have some energy to burn you should focus your efforts onto Mitte if you’re not there already. This way you can pack in a lot of famous sites and have the chance to do some shopping, or simply walk around and take in the uniqueness that is the centre of Berlin.
One of the key sites includes Museum Island, a beautiful cluster of national museums and galleries all in classical neo-gothic architecture. Whether you pay entrance or not simply walking across the bridges to this island and having a look is great.
Near Museum Island are monuments such as the Holocaust memorial, and the Berlin Dome, a huge cathedral beautifully restored since World War II. Of course, there’s also Brandenburg Tor, the quintessential symbol of Berlin, it leads onto Tiergarten which is lovely for a walk around if the weather is in your favour.
If you book a day in advance then visitors can have a free tour of the Reichstag building’s glass dome overlooking the city outside and the room for the parliamentary procedure below – a metaphor of democratic transparency.
A great lunch spot for lunch in Mitte is Mogg, a predominantly pastrami house that also does vegetarian dishes. Loosely based on kosher cuisine it is housed in a building that once served as a school for Jewish girls but is now a memorial site with free galleries and museums.
There are a few other fun eating spots near Mogg, such as Chicken Buzz for Korean Fried Chicken and Transit for Thai and Indonesian food. Also, all these restaurants are near enough Weinmeisterstraße – a popular shopping district.
Afternoon
For late afternoon there are a few options easy to get to from Mitte. As we haven’t covered the West yet there’s some cool areas and sites to see there, as well as great bars and restaurants if you haven’t had lunch yet. Charlottenburg Palace is a beautiful building with cared for grounds, a museum, and detailed tapestries and art pieces.
Near the palace are some great bars, such as the Paris bar, which also doubles as a restaurant. Another option is Juleps, an American style cocktail lounge, and restaurant. If you’re visiting in summer however then you should check out one of Berlin’s parks. When the sun is out so is the city’s inhabitants playing music, having picnics and playing Frisbee.
Tempelhof used to act as an airport but now serves as one of the biggest open areas with visitors relaxing all over the old airfield. Its flatness makes it perfect for sunsets. Some popular parks in the East include Gorlitzer Park in Kreuzberg, probably the most ‘hip’ in the city, and Treptower park, which has an impressive monument section and a small lake.
If you opt for the East and the weather is nice you can also hang out by the River Spree at the bridge that links Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, and see the remnants of the Berlin Wall. If the weather is not so nice then East Side Gallery is also right there – Berlin’s most famous modern art gallery.
Night
Evenings tend to slip into night quite easily in Berlin, and nights into mornings. Berlin has some of the best nightlife in all of Europe with bars and night clubs open into the early hours, sometimes the whole weekend.
Before that, however, you’ll definitely need something to eat. If you’ve been busy exploring you’ve probably passed or eaten in quite a few nice places. So why not get some food for the go?
East Berlin is generally where most the best bars and clubs are and happen to have a slew of Middle Eastern and Turkish vendors. The Doner Kebab is a city staple, but there’s also great Sudanese, Egyptian and Lebanese variations that make quick and delicious street food.
Some recommendations for a great kebab or shawarma would be Mustafa’s in Merringhdamm, however, its reputation in quality means the small kiosk often has a very long queue. (An insider tip: there’s a place called York Kebab right near Mustafa’s, next to the cathedral, that makes just as good a donner kebab with none of the waiting time).
If this doesn’t sound up your ally then opt for great Schnitzel instead – Max and Moritz in Moritzplatz, Kreuzberg. It’s near Oranienburgstrasse, a long street filled with various food options and places to start the night.
For nightclubs, it’s hard to say as there’s a lot of options with the music lineups varying from week to week. One of the best is Sisyphus, an all-weekend venue with three dance floors, beach bar, outside area, and general whimsical design.
If you want to party on a boat then Hoppetosse is a small but great little nightclub right on the river. Other popular ones include About Blank, Tressor, and if you’re very serious about Techno the infamous Berghain.
If you simply want to hang out in the bars then perhaps a night in Neukolln could be for you with great places like Twin Pigs, Das Gift, and Sameheads serving into the late hours with incredible music and interesting décor.
Drive through Berlin with SIXT
With that all done it’s time to wake up, or not, and repeat! With Sixt being started and based in Germany it’s easy to get around particularly with our many car rental stations in Berlin or the new SIXT Share, a premium carsharing service right on your phone with the SIXT App. Of course, should you be enjoying Berlin’s unbeatable nightlife, a SIXT ride taxi which is also available in the App, will be perfect for you.
