With the opening of Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Europe’s largest central station, and the hosting of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final, there’s an air of completion and confidence about Germany’s largest city. In fact, the new station was an explicit attempt to give the city of Berlin a symbolic centre to cement the union of east and west begun a decade and a half ago when the Wall was torn down.
If your mental image of the German capital derives from war films or spy stories, prepare to be pleasantly surprised by one of the greenest cities in Europe. And if you’re looking to release the inner hedonist, you’ll find nightlife that carries on through until morning and a gay scene that’s unusually shameless. While the city has always been a bolthole for the unconventional, today it’s also a major cultural centre, combining top-flight museums, galleries and concert halls with thriving alternative arts and music scenes.
Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg & Friedrichshain
Most unmissable sights are in and around central Mitte. The east-west axis of Unter den Linden is a good place to start. Frequent buses run the length of the tree-flanked boulevard, linking it with Bahnhof Zoo in the west. The western end is marked by the iconic Brandenburg Gate, once closed off between East and West Berlin, which leads on to the huge Tiergarten park. North- west of the Gate is the government quarter and the revamped Reichstag, crowned by Norman Foster’s magnificent glass cupola (Platz der Republik, 2273 2152, http://www.bundestag.de). Trips to the top are free, and the view is magnificent, but expect to queue. To the south side of the Brandenburg Gate is the recently completed Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Cora-Berliner-Strasse 1, 2639 4336, http://www.holocaust-denkmal.de). The controversial design by Peter Eisenmann has 2,700 columns of varying heights in an undulating space the size of a city block.
South of Unter den Linden is Gendarmenmarkt. Topped and tailed by the German Cathedral (Deutscher Dom, 2273 0431, closed Mon) and the French Cathedral (Französischer Dom, 229 1760, closed Mon), it is one of Berlin’s most beautiful squares. At the eastern end of Unter den Linden is Museum Island (Museumsinsel), a UNESCO World Heritage Site whose clutch of superb collections includes the Pergamonmuseum (Am Kupfergraben, 2090 5577, http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de, closed Mon), incorporating the Babylonian Gate of Ishtar. The majestically porticoed Altes Museum (Lustgarten, 2090 5577, http://www.museen-berlin.de) and the 19th-century art at the Alte Nationalgalerie (Bodestrasse 1-3, 2090 5801, http://www.museen-berlin.de, closed Mon) are also worthwhile. Other attractions are the Berliner Dom (Am Luftgarten, 2026 9128, http://www.berliner-dom.de) and Deutsches Historisches Museum (Zeughaus, Unter den Linden 2, 203 040, http://www.dhm.de), which has a swanky new wing by IM Pei.
Eastwards is the communist-era concrete expanse of Alexanderplatz, and the landmark ball-and-spike TV Tower (Fernsehturm, 242 3333, http://www.berlinerfernsehturm.de), with a revolving observation deck; south are the reconstructed medieval Nikolaiviertel and remnants of the original medieval wall.
North of Alexanderplatz, the renovated Scheunenviertel (‘Barn Quarter’) is packed with galleries, bars and shops. Its focal point is the Hackesche Höfe, a warren of jugendstil (art nouveau) courtyards full of boutiques and cafés. Nearby Auguststrasse is the art scene’s main drag, while the revived Jewish Quarter centres on the Neue Synagoge (Oranienburger Strasse 28-30, 8802 8451, http://www.cjudaicum.de, closed Sat).
Prenzlauer Berg has gentrified rapidly and, though containing few specific sights, is a relaxed area for a meal or a drink. Friedrichshain has a more communist and post-industrial feel. The lively, youthful nightlife around Muhlenstrasse and Simon-Dach-Strasse contrasts with the eerily wide main drag, Karl-Mar x-Allee, which is a treat for fans of Stalinist architecture.
Kreuzberg & Schöneberg
Once Berlin’s nonconformist heart, Kreuzberg remains fascinatingly diverse. Its museums include the exhibit about the Berlin Wall at the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie (Friedrichstrasse 43-45, 2537 250, http://www.mauer-museum.com), and the Daniel Libeskind-designed Jewish Museum (Lindenstrasse 9-14, 2599 3300, http://www.jmberlin.de), where the remarkable deconstructivist building almost upstages the already quite memorable exhibition within.
Neighbouring Schöneberg offers some great bars in its northern reaches, and is the hub of Berlin’s thriving gay district.
Tiergarten
Tiergarten is dominated by the park of the same name. At its south-east corner is a clutch of museums, including the Mies Van der Rohe-designed Neue Nationalgalerie (Potsdamer Strasse 50, 266 2651, http://www.museen-berlin.de, closed Mon) and the Filmmuseum Berlin (Potsdamer Strasse 2, 300 9030, http://www.filmmuseum-berlin.de, closed Mon). The latter is in the new complex at Potsdamer Platz, among buildings from famous architects such as Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano. At the south-west corner of Tiergarten is the beautifully landscaped Zoo and Aquarium (Hardenbergplatz 8, 254 010, http://www.zoo-berlin.de).
Other Districts
To the south-west lie the vast Grunewald woods, the watery pleasures of the Wannsee and assorted smaller lakes – Strandbad Wannsee is Europe’s largest inland beach – and the Dahlem museum complex. The extensive and authoritative Ethnologisches Museum (Lansstrasse 8, 830 1438, http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de, closed Mon) is remarkable in itself, but the same building also houses terrific museums of Indian Art, East Asian Art and European Culture. Heading south-east, you can drink in the villagey charms of Köpenick, or sample at your leisure the products of the Berliner Burgerbräu brewery at Friedrichshagen, which throws open its gates for an annual summer beer festival. Boat trips can be taken on the nearby Muggelsee.
• Tourist information: Europa-Center, Budapester Strasse, Charlottenburg (250 025, from outside Germany 01805 754 040, http://www.btm.de).


Seasonal Berlin

Berlin will, of course, be running a temperature for a few weeks from the middle of June 2006 – the prognosis is World Cup fever. But there will also be plenty of summer entertainment to take visitors’ minds off the football. Festivals include the Karneval der Kulturen (2-5 June, 6097 7022, http://www.karneval-berlin.de), a celebration of Berlin’s multicultural diversity centring on a parade with dozens of floats and hundreds of musicians, the techno carnaval Love Parade (http://www.love parade.de, 15 July) and Christopher Street Day Parade (22 July, 2362 8632, http://www.csd-berlin.de), a flamboyant gay street party that commemorates the Stonewall Riots. Classical music fans shouldn’t miss the Berlin Philharmonie at the Waldbühne (18 June, Waldbühne, Am Glockenturm, Charlottenburg, 01805 332 433, http://www.berlin-philharmonic.com), an end of season open-air concert that sees more than 20,000 Berliners light up an atmospheric ‘forest theatre’ with candles once darkness falls.


Restaurants & bars

The local Prussian fare is in the main pretty drab, so it’s good news for visitors that Berlin’s roster of ethnic eateries continues to expand.
In Mitte, restaurants cluster around Hackescher Markt and Oranienburger Strasse. The Kellerrestaurant im Brecht-Haus (Chausseestrasse 125, 282 3843) serves the playwright’s favourite recipes amid theatre memorabilia. Nola’s am Weinberg (Veteranenstrasse 9, 4404 0766) serves hearty Swiss food in a park pavilion. Good bars include the glitzy Greenwich (Gipsstrasse 5, 2809 5566), its down-to-earth neighbour Altes Europa (Gipsstrasse 11, 2404 8650, http://www.alteseuropa.com) and the fashionable football bar FC Magnet (Veteranenstrasse 26, no phone, http://www.fcmagnet.de).
Prenzlauer Berg teems with eating and drinking spots. On Kollwitzplatz, Gugelhof (Knaackstrasse 37, 442 9229) serves Alsatian food with friendly panache. Konnopke’s Imbiss (under the U-Bahn tracks by Eberswalder Strasse station) has been serving up sausages since 1930.
There’s authentic Czech food – together with inauthentically fast and friendly service – at the Prager Hopfenstube (Karl-Marx-Allee 127, 426 7367) on Friedrichshain’s main drag. Fargo (Grünberger Strasse 77, 2900 5720) offers both a happy hour and a ‘hungry hour’ in the the east’s youngest drinking district.
Kreuzberg is home to Berlin’s most surprising culinary innovation: visit Hasir (Adalbertstrasse 10, 614 2373, http://www.hasir.de) for a doner kebab, invented in the city in 1971 by owner Mehmet Aygun. At the other end of the scale, Abendmahl (Muskauer Strasse 9, 612 5170, http://www.abendmahl-berlin.de) serves gourmet vegetarian food – and some fish dishes. Indeed, Kreuzberg’s Oranienstrasse/Wiener Strasse axis and Bergmannstrasse area offer cafés and restaurants for every taste and price bracket. Schöneberg’s Winterfeldtplatz and Goltzstrasse are similarly blessed. Fine German-French dining in affable surroundings can be found at Storch (Wartburgstrasse 54, 784 2059), while the Pinguin Club (Wartburgstrasse 54, 781 3005) next door is a venerable and much loved local with a retro rock ’n’ roll atmosphere.


Nightlife

The Berlin night offers everything from grungy dives to ultra-chic discos. The Sage-Club (Köpenicker Strasse 76, 278 9830, http://www.sage-club.de) is a complex beneath Heinrich-Heine-Strasse U-Bahn station, with an assortment of club nights. Kaffee Burger (Torstrasse 60, 2804 6495, http://www.kaffeeburger.de) hosts a varied programme of live music and other events. Berghain (Am Wriezener Bahnhof, no phone, http://www.berghain.de), is Berlin’s new techno temple.
Berlin’s gay scene is one of the biggest and wildest in Europe. The bars of Motzstrasse and Fuggerstrasse in Schöneberg, Oranienstrasse in Kreuzberg, and Schönhauser Allee in Prenzlauer Berg make good starting points, while Saturday nights at SchwuZ (Mehringdamm 61, 6290 8819, http://www.schwuz.de) find a mixed crowd enjoying an assortment of dancefloors and bars. SO36 (Oranienstrasse 190, 6140 1306, http://www.so36.de) is another key venue for both gays and lesbian



Shopping

The largest retail concentration is around the swanky Ku’damm. The KaDeWe department store (Tauentizenstrasse 21-24, 21210, http://www.kadewe.com) is a tourist attraction in itself. Stilwerk (Kantstrasse 17, 3151 5500) is a mall for cutting-edge interior design and household goods.
Department stores on Friedrichstrasse in Mitte include the Galeries Lafayette (Französische Strasse 23, 209 480), which sells only French products, and the designer heaven, not to say haven, of Quartier 206 (Friedrichstrasse 71, 2094 6800). Those with a serious fashion habit, should head to the boutiques and eccentric small shops around Hackesche Höfe and Alte Schönhauser Strasse.
For antiques, make tracks to Suarezstrasse in Charlottenburg, Keithstrasse and Goltzstrasse in Schöneberg, or Kollwitzstrasse and Husemannstrasse in Prenzlauer Berg. Dealers trade at the Antik- & Flohmarkt (S-Bahnbogen 190-203, Mitte, 208 2655, http://www.antikmarkt-berlin.de, closed Tue) in the renovated railway arches below Friedrichstrasse station. At weekends the Kunst & Nostalgie Markt on Museumsinsel (0171 710 1662) has ‘Ost-algic’ knick-knacks – a framed picture of East German leader Erich Honecker, perhaps, or some Mitropa coffee pots. The biggest flea market runs along Strasse des 17 Juni through the Tiergarten at weekends.


Hotels

Hotels cluster particularly in Charlottenburg and Mitte. The tourist office has a reservations service on 250 025 (http://www.btm.de).
The Ritz Carlton (Potsdamer Platz 3, 337 777, http://www.ritzcarlton.com, €215-€310) is as glitzy and central as it gets. The eccentrically retro Askanischer Hof (Kurfürstendamm 53, 881 8033, €107-€145) is one of Berlin’s best- kept secrets. Meanwhile, in Prenzlauer Berg, the stylish and moderately priced Ackselhaus (Belforter Strasse 21, 4433 7633, €80-€120) shares its reception area with the more expensive but equally handsome Bluehome at No.24 (€160-€180). The Propeller Island City Lodge (Albrecht-Achilles-Strasse 58, 891 9016, http://www.propeller-island.com, €90-€200) offers some of the world’s wackiest lodgings, including the Upside Down Room, in which all the furniture is on the ceiling.


Nearby

The pretty town of Potsdam (http://www.potsdam.de) is 45 minutes by train from Zoo station. Its main attraction is Park Sanssouci (0331 969 4202), with a grandiose 18th-century palace surrounded by grounds that are fine for a stroll. The other major point of interest is the Filmmuseum (Breite Strasse 1A, 0331 271 810), which documents a century of German cinema. A 20-minute walk over the Lange Brücke and down Albert-Einstein-Strasse are the old studios of Babelsberg (August-Bebel-Strasse 26-53, 0331 721 2717), the centre of the old film industry. In the 1920s this was the world’s largest studio outside Hollywood, producing masterpieces like Metropolis and The Blue Angel.