The ever-changing German capital has far more to offer than could reasonably be crammed into one day. Jack Martin gives it a try
09.00: Begin your day at Potsdamer Platz. High-rises have sprouted up over the past 10 years on the site of what was once one of Berlin’s most attractive squares that later became a no man’s land by the Berlin Wall. The Sony Center and the neighbouring 19-building DaimlerChrysler complex are both towering examples of modern architecture. Kickstart your day with breakfast and a caffeine shot at the Arkaden café in the main shopping arcade.
09.45: Just south of the high-rises is the Neue Nationalgalerie, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a contemporary of Le Corbusier. Berlin is a city of museums and galleries, and this is one of the most popular. The permanent collection includes works by the German Expressionists and the Bauhaus.
11.30: Walk back along Potsdamer Straße, then down Stresemann Straße and left into Niederkirchner Straße. This road was once bisected by the Berlin Wall and a segment can still be seen. On the right is the Topography of Terror, an open-air museum that commemorates the victims of the Gestapo – the Nazi secret police – whose headquarters was on this site.
12.00: Head north, passing the official buildings of Wilhelm Straße, with the Mohren Straße underground station to the right. The station’s walls are lined with red marble, salvaged from the wreckage of Adolf Hitler’s Reich Chancellery, which stood nearby.
12.30: Stop off at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s iconic sight. The gate itself was originally built in 1791 as a symbol of peace but soon came to represent military might. It was closed in 1961 when the Berlin Wall was erected and stayed shut, a symbol of a divided Germany, until the Wall came down in 1989. When it was reopened, Chancellor Helmut Kohl walked through it to meet the East German Prime Minister.
13.00: Avoid the queues of tourists waiting to get into to the Reichstag by having lunch at Käfers Restaurant – its lofty eaterie. You will need to book in advance, but it is well worth it. Not only is the food good – specialities such as Wiener schnitzel or Berlin-style meatballs should hit the spot after a morning’s sightseeing – but after you have eaten you can tour the Norman Foster-designed reconstruction of the German parliamentary building and look out across the city from its huge glass dome.
14.30: Take a walk along Unter den Linden – the tree-lined avenue that runs through the historic heart of the city. Here, souvenir hunters can stop at one of several shops to stock up on Berlin T-shirts, Deutsche Demokratische Republik mugs and model Trabants – the signature car of the old East Germany.
15.00: At the eastern end of Unter den Linden is the Museum Insel, which has a selection of some of the finest museums and galleries in Europe. Take your pick.
17.30: All that culture is enough to give anyone a thirst. Cross the River Spree in the shadow of Berlin’s cathedral and visit Hackescher Markt. A swamp in the early 19th century, Hackescher Markt now is a labyrinth of cafés, restaurants and bars.
18.30: Berlin offers a wide range of theatres and concert halls. The Staatsoper – Berlin’s opera house – is at Unter den Linden 7, with an excellent programme of evening performances generally starting at around 7pm.
21.30: Dine at the Michelin-starred Fischers Fritz restaurant, in the Regent Hotel just off Unter den Linden. One of Berlin’s finest restaurants, its menu includes the likes of Dover sole with asparagus and Béarnaise sauce; suprême of turbot with cauliflower flakes, spicy pumpkin and cream of coconut; and saddle and shoulder of lamb with sun-dried apricots. As an aside, the Regent was recently home to Hollywood actor Tom Cruise, while he was in town to shoot his new film about Count Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the aristocratic officer at the centre of the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler.
23.30: Berlin’s nightlife choices are legion. For an unusual option, try Clärchens Ballhaus on August Straße. A fashionable haunt as a dancehall in the 1930s and 1940s, Clärchens is still popular – either for its new open-air courtyard restaurant, surrounded by crumbling house façades and graffiti, or for its gentle restoration, with dim lighting, wood panelling and huge mirrors.
www.airberlin.com
www.claerchens.de
www.fischersfritzberlin.com
www.staatsoper-berlin.org
