Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
Berlin It has recently become one of the european cities most visited by the Spanish.
Moreover, it is a very suitable destination for a trip taking advantage of a bridge since in the capital of Germany You will find numerous and varied attractions.
If you are preparing your first trip to Berlin, these will be useful to you tips for your tourist visit, which will allow you to have a first vision of what you are going to find.
Reichstag in Berlin
I give you these tips as a conclusion of my lasttourist trip to Berlinwhere i was four days Visiting the city
What is Berlin like today?
Looking forward to your visit, I anticipate that Berlin is a huge city.
It is the largest city in Europe, surpassing cities like London Y Paris, although with its 3.4 million inhabitants it has much lower population density, which you will appreciate in your tourist days.
Alexanderplatz in Berlin
Berlin airports
When you fly to Berlin, you still have two possible airports where to arrive.
He Tegel airport Located in the old western part of the city, it is very close to the city center, only 6 kilometers away (about 15 euros if you prefer to go by taxi).
He shonefeld airport it is further away, outside the urban center, about 18 kilometers away, and after successive delays of several years, it seems that finally the inauguration of anew great terminal It will be throughout 2019.
From then on the Berlin airport will be renamed Berlin-Brandenburg Willy Brandt airport and it will become the only option to fly to the German capital as the aforementioned Tegel airport will be closed.
For your trip, you will surely find it interesting to book in advance thetransfers between the airport and the center of Berlin.
Tram in Berlin
And of course it will be useful to look in booking.com you hotel in Berlin.
How to get around in Berlin
Because of the great extent that I have commented that the German capital has, you have to take into account that when visit Berlin, it is going to be essential that you use the public transport.
Specifically, the not very new subway lines, buses and trams; The latter are only found in the area of influence of what was the formerGDR Democratic Republic.
In all cities there are usually formulas or bonuses that allow yousave when using urban transport.
In the case of Berlin, if you go in a family or friends group of up to five people, I advise you to buy the One-day transport card for a small group.
Tourist bus in Berlin
For only 19.90 euros (2019) the card will cost you, you can move throughout the city for a full day.
Berlin tourism card
Another alternative is tourist cards, such as Berlin Welcome Card, which allows you unlimited use of public transport and discounted access to the main attractions of the city.
For its part, the Berlin Pass card To visit more than 60 attractions and museums in the city, you have the option with transportation included.
Berlin tourism by bike
Now you can also consider get to know Berlin by bike, at least during a part of your visit.
Bike rental in Berlin
As a curiosity I will tell you that in Berlin there are 3.5 million bicycles and, instead, only 1.2 million cars.
When you go to visit it you will see that it is a city completely designed and taken by bicycles.
He price of renting a bike in Berlin for a day it ranges between 10 and 12 euros, and there are many visitors who opt for this means of transport to move around the most tourist areas of the city.
If you prefer, you also have the option to sign up for a day at a Berlin bike tour, with the company of a guide in Spanish and lasting four hours.
What is essential to see in Berlin
your Berlin visit It should focus on four thematic axes.
Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin
Imperial Berlin
On the one hand, Berlin as capital of German empire of the dynasty Hohenzollern from the beginning of the 18th century until its fall at the beginning of the First World War.
In this regard, the Charlottenburg Palace It is one of the essential visits that you must do, and during it you will see a sample of the great importance that the empire had.
The visit must be completed with a walk through the extensive Charlottenburg Gardens, with French-style areas and a subsequent expansion of English gardens.
Berlin of Nazi Germany
Then the later Berlin how capital of Nazi Germany, with numerous memorials located in different parts of the city, especially those dedicated to the Jewish people.
Wall painting at the East Side Gallery Wall in Berlin
Old Berlin Wall
He Wall that separated the east and west of the city from 1961 until November 9, 1989 should be another of the protagonists of your visit, with highlights such as the Checkpoint Charlie wave East Side Gallery.
He Checkpoint Charlie It is one of the most photographed places today in the German capital.
It is the emulation of one of the control booths that were to pass from one side of the Wall, and is located on the site where one of the most used border crossings in the city was.
On the other hand, with the denomination of East Side Gallery the longest section of the few remaining from the Berlin Wall, which after the reunification became an artistic gallery with more than one hundred wall paintings.
Ishtar Gate of Babylon at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin
Museums in Berlin
And finally, Berlin as capital of museums, which is most clearly shown in the so-called Museum island, declared city area World Heritage.
They say that Berlin It houses 170 museums, but if you are not very fond of spending time on your trip to visit these cultural institutions, in any case you must write an essential visit, the Pergamo Museum.
It is the most visited museum in the city and there you can see great works of the antiquity as the Ishtar Gate of Babylon or Pergamon Altar, although at present it is in a great process of remodeling and expansion that will end in 2025.
On the same island you have other outstanding options such as Bode museum (Bode-Museum), with treasures of Byzantine art, or the New Museum (Neues Museum), which houses the Bust of Nefertiti.
Hellenic art in the Pergamon museum in Berlin
If you plan to visit at least two of these museums, you are interestedbuy a combined ticket for museums on Museum Island.
It will be cheaper than buying tickets in each one.
What to do and visit in Berlin in three days
As for the areas to visit in Berlin, which you can do perfectly in three days, the great axis will be the part of the Victory Column in the big parkTiergarten.
Brandenburg Gate
Next to it you can see the headquarters of Parlamente German, he Reichstag, and you can go through the famous and iconic Brandenburg Gate.
Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
Monuments in Bebelplazt
Then you will continue on the Unter Der Linten Avenue, until you reach the huge space of Alexanderplatz, and on the way to this great square you should not miss Bebelplazt he monument that commemorates the Burning of the Books in 1933
In this place you can also see the building of the catholic cathedral of Santa Eduvigis., which is going to be one of the surprises that the city of Berlin is going to bring you.
The most important church in the German capital is known asBerliner Domwhich is theprotestant cathedral.
But not far away you can see a church with an unusual one circular plant, which to some extent will remind you of thePantheon of Agrippa of Rome.
Marienkirche church on Alexanderplatz in Berlin
Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz it was the nerve center of the old East Berlin, and there you find monuments like the Marienkirche church, the oldest in the city, the building known as the Red City Hall, or the great Neptune Fountain.
In this great enclave of the center of Berlin you must also visit the mentioned Protestant cathedralBerliner Dom, from where you can already access the said area Museum island.
Medieval district of Berlin
Near Alexanderplatz you find one of the essential visits in Berlin is the old medieval neighborhood of San Nicolás.
Protestant cathedral Berliner Dom in Berlin
In fact you will not see historical buildings, but it is an area completely rebuilt in the place where the population that gave rise to the current city of Berlin was located in medieval times.
Old saying medieval neighborhood suffered an almost total devastation by the bombings of theWWII.
Do you know that all San Nicolás neighborhood buildings They were rebuilt in the 80s of the last century following the architectural style of the only house whose walls remained standing?
Berlin Neighborhoods
But this main tourist axis must complement it with visits in other areas of the city.
Old medieval neighborhood of St. Nicholas in Berlin
Specifically, the modern square of Postdamer Platz or known as Jewish Quarter or Farm District, near Alexanderplatz
And if you want to know a very popular area in the current Berlin, be sure to visit theKreuzberg Turkish Quarter.
Of course, in the aforementioned Jewish Quarter you won't be able to visit Tacheles, home squat of alternative art that became so popular among tourists visiting Berlin, and which was closed in September 2012.
However if you can enjoy the great commercial and leisure environment of this neighborhood, specifically in thecourtyards Hackesche Hofe.
Courtyards Hackesche Hofe of the Jewish Quarter in Berlin
Keep in mind that the absolute majority of buildings in Berlin were destroyed during the WWII, so all buildings and monuments that you will see have had to be completely rebuilt.
Rent a Trabant in Berlin
Surely it will get your attention on your visit to Berlin that certain elements of thedaily life of old east berlin Now they have become tourist icons.
That is the case of the cars of the former East German brand, theTrabant, which are rented so that you can live the experience of driving them on your city tour, of which you can even visit a museum.
Trabant Museum in Berlin
Or also the old ones andCurious traffic lights in East Berlin, which have not only been preserved, but have continued to be installed with the striking icons used in the lights.
City bus tour
In Berlin you also have the typical panoramic double-decker buses for the city tour.
But you have another much cheaper alternative, also by double-decker bus, to explore the most tourist places in the city.
Mural in a corner of old East Berlin
If you use the100 or 200 urban bus lines, already with your transport card or for the price of a ticket, you will travel all the Berlin tourist area.
My advice is that you look if either line passes through the area where you have your hotel.
If so, "you will kill two birds with one stone" = transfer to the tourist area + tourist tour by double-decker bus.
Spanish tours in Berlin
For your trip to the German capital, you can consider starting the first day with a guided tour of Berlin in Spanish.
Spree river cruise in Berlin
Thus I have had the opportunity to have done it in recent trips to various cities, such as Heidelberg, Toledo, Malaga or your own Berlin,
Start with a guided visit It has the advantage that in three to four hours you acquire an overview of a city, which then allows you to plan the visits that you find most interesting.
In addition, in the case of the German capital you have guided tours in Spanish, and also other options like doing the aforementioned aBerlin bike tour.
You can also participate in thematic visits, such as historic walk through the Berlin of Nazism or the walk through the courtyards of the Jewish Quarter.
Fassbender Rausch chocolate shop in Berlin
And if you have enough time on your trip, you may also find it interesting to point to some excursion around Berlin, As the Postdam spanish tour or the Spanish tour to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
What to eat in Berlin
About what to eat in Berlin, you will meet the typical german cuisine.
And, in particular, you will see that in Berlin sausages are very popular Currywurst and the beer Berliner.
Codillo, specialty of German gastronomy
But you can also taste delicious chocolates in one of the most prestigious stores, Fassbender & Rausch, which you find in the central square Gendarmenmarkt.
Is Berlin an expensive city?
I will finally tell you that Berlin is not a very expensive city.
Moreover, it is somewhat cheaper than Madrid or Barcelona when looking for hotels, and prices They are very similar when eating in restaurants or drinking beers or soft drinks in bars.
Enjoy your trip.
