For a scene-stealing blend of glamour and grit, ready to captivate anyone eager to dive into vibrant culture, bold architecture, global food, intense parties and laid-back nature spots, head to Berlin.
Whether your tastes run to posh or punk, you can sate them in the capital of Germany. Here are some of the best experiences that capture the Berlin spirit right now.
1. Unlock the treasures of Museum Island
Feel like a kid in a cultural candy store as you drift around the five treasure troves of the world-famous Museum Island. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999, these museums are a showcase of human ingenuity from the Stone Age to the 19th century. Don’t skip showstoppers like Egyptian Queen Nefertiti’s timelessly beautiful bust at the Neues Museum, Caspar David Friedrich moody landscapes at the Alte Nationalgalerie, or the pantheon of ancient Greek and Roman gods at the Altes Museum. But then toss the map and let your curiosity guide you – stunning discoveries await on every floor.
Detour: While Museum Island’s Pergamonmuseum undergoes restoration, you can still marvel at treasures from its collection at the nearby Asisi-Panorama. This monumental 360-degree painting captures a day in the ancient city of Pergamon with brilliant photorealistic detail.
2. Kick back in Berlin’s next-gen parks
Already one of Europe’s greenest cities, Berlin is still busy adding new parks to its urban tapestry. Proving its mastery at upcycling, it turned a former railway junction into the family-friendly Park am Gleisdreieck with expansive lawns, outdoor dance floor and skatepark. Even more ingenious is the Tempelhofer Feld on the airfield of Tempelhof Airport, famous for its role in the 1948–49 Berlin Airlift. Cruise down the breezy runways on a bike, explore urban gardens, play mini-golf in a kooky art installation and watch wind skaters pull off their tricks, then wrap up over sunset in the beer garden.
3. Greet the sunrise after an epic night of clubbing
You can’t lay claim to truly having “done” Berlin until you’ve partied till dawn or beyond in the high-octane clubs of this curfew-free city. With doors at Berghain and KitKat tougher to crack than a chastity belt, why not skip the hype and hit the floors at Sisyphos, RSO.Berlin, Club Ost, OHM or Birgit instead? For an eclectic sound mix, check out the party nights at such legendary spots as SO36 and queer-fave SchwuZ.
4. Tap into Berlin’s Späti culture
Besides Guten Tag and Danke, another word you should be familiar with when visiting Berlin is Späti. Berlin’s spin on convenience stores, Spätis are often way more than just a place to grab beer, chips or cigarettes after hours. The name is short for Spätkauf, meaning late-night shopping, although some are actually open 24/7. The best of Berlin’s roughly 1500 Spätis blend convenience with community, transforming the humble corner kiosk into a vibrant social hub. Gather your crew and share laughs and drinks with strangers while camped out at rickety beer tables out front. And if you’re lucky, you might just stumble upon an impromptu Späti rave – take that, Berghain!
5. See the city’s best street art
Street art aficionados will be able to channel their inner Banksy and find themselves in stencil-and-sticker heaven in Berlin. Keep your eyes peeled, especially in Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, where facades, bridges and door entrances are adorned with works by both budding aerosol talent and icons like Heracut, Blu and Shephard Fairey.
Friedrichshain is also home to the East Side Gallery, a 1.3km (0.8-mile) section of the Berlin Wall transformed into a giant mural by global artists in 1990. If you’re craving a street-art fix on a rainy day, take refuge at Urban Nation, Germany’s first urban art museum.
For the ultimate art-history-views combo, head west to Teufelsberg where hundreds of amazing large-scale works smother an abandoned Cold War-era US spy station that still looms atop a hill made from WWII debris.
Planning tip: Dive deeper into the mysteries of street art – its history, culture and techniques – on artist-run adventures offered by Alternative Berlin Tours.
6. Swim, paddle and sail on Berlin’s waterways
Berlin may be landlocked, but there’s no shortage of water for cooling off on sizzling summer days. An easy escape is the forest-fringed Schlachtensee, a silky lake right by the eponymous S-Bahn (light rail) station. A bit further on the same line, the century-old lakeside lido Strandbad Wannsee beckons with a 1km-long (0.6-mile) sandy beach, restaurants and boat rentals. An in-town fave is the Badeschiff, a flirty beach club with a barge-turned-swimming pool moored in the Spree River.
Not into swimming? Hop on a boat cruise and glide past landmarks like Museum Island and the government quarter while sipping a cold beer. The more adventurous can rent a kayak to follow swans along the Landwehr Canal or paddle on the Spree as the sun sets behind the fairytale Oberbaumbrücke.
7. Catch a glimpse of life behind the Berlin Wall
The East Side Gallery may be the most iconic remnant of the Berlin Wall, but for a deeper look at life in the divided city, there’s no better place than the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer (Berlin Wall Memorial). Multimedia stations, photos and original border installations stretching along a 1.6km (1 mile) section following the former course of the Wall help demystify the 28 years of division.
To take a peek into everyday life in East Germany, swing by the interactive DDR Museum (GDR Museum). For chilling insight into the all-encompassing powers of GDR’s secret police (Stasi), visit the Stasimuseum in the organization’s original HQ or take a tour of the eerie Stasi Prison.
Planning tip: Before your trip, watch the 2006 Academy Award-winner The Lives of Others, which dramatizes the Stasi’s notorious dragnet tactics.
8. Connect with nature and visit the zoo at the Tiergarten
Prussian kings used to hunt boar and deer in the vast and idyllic Tiergarten until one enlightened monarch decided to turn it into a park for the people. The people loved it then, and they still do now. Join the locals jogging along rhododendron-lined paths, paddling around a lily-dotted pond or clinking mugs of cold Pilsner in the Café am Neuen See beer garden. In the park’s southwestern corner, the Zoo Berlin welcomes you to wave hello to its eclectic residents, including the superstar pandas Meng Meng and Jiao Qing, along with their cute cubs born in 2024.
Local tip: For a bird’s-eye view of Tiergarten, climb to the skirt hems of the golden goddess crowning the Siegessäule (Victory Column). Originally a monument to Prussian military might, it’s now the unofficial symbol of Berlin’s sizeable LGBTIQ+ community. How would the Kaiser feel about that?
9. Gobble a wiener on the go
Don’t leave town without trying a Currywurst, Berlin’s snack food with cult status. This fried and sliced sausage, drenched in tomato sauce and dusted with curry powder, was actually invented here in 1949. Originally a pork-only affair, sausages have had a glow-up, with options to please everyone from organic meat lovers to die-hard vegans.
Local tip: There are sausage kitchens all over town but the most famous wurst places are Konnopke’s and Curry 36.
10. Explore Berlin’s eclectic art scene
Berlin’s art scene dazzles with heavy hitters – from Rembrandt to Picasso to Kollwitz – across blockbuster museums like the Gemäldegalerie (Old Masters), the Alte Nationalgalerie (19th-century art) and the Neue Nationalgalerie and Hamburger Bahnhof (20th-century art). For something edgier, check out the free-spirited works of the Sammlung Boros in a spooky WWII bunker or the provocative (and sometimes X-rated) photography at Fotografiska. Dive into global art at the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst in the Humboldtforum, the new cultural center inside a replica of the historic Prussian city palace. Featuring stunning pieces from Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas, exhibits here also invite reflection on colonialism, provenance and cultural ownership.
