After an amazing trip to Leipzig from Frankfurt, I visited one of my favorite cities, Berlin. I took a high speed train from Leipzig to Berlin. It takes an average of one hour to reach there. There are also direct flights to Berlin from Bombay or Delhi. You can also take a direct train from Frankfurt to Berlin.
Berlin is an excellent choice for a European city vacation. This energetic city meets all needs, with its vibrant nightlife, outstanding local cuisine, rich history, world-class beer, and some of the world’s most popular museums and attractions.
Stay
This time I decided to stay with Scandic Berlin Potsdamer Platz, one of the best green hotels. You are going to find a variety of entertainment, dining, and shopping options nearby the hotel.
Scandic Berlin Potsdamer Platz is a 564-room upmarket chain hotel. The rooms include environmentally friendly elements such as recycling sections in garbage cans. The restaurant offers organic food, as well as a bar and an outside patio. It’s an ethical destination for a Berlin city break that’s available to anyone, with an emphasis on accessibility and sustainability. It’s not simply the hotel’s environmentally friendly attitude that makes it so green; just on the doorstep is the enormous Tilla Durieux Park, with its trendy urban vibe.
Things to do
City Tour: Take a trip through the extraordinary history of Berlin from Historical landmarks and cultural areas to memorials and battle wounds. Berlin is full of history, and our professional guides love to show some of the most interesting parts.
Visit to Berlin’s TV Tower for VR experience: Travel through 9 centuries of Berlin’s history in just 15 minutes. Visitors are able to experience how Germany’s biggest city has developed from the middle ages to the time of the German empire and the Berlin Wall time to the present day throughout the 15-minute immersive virtual reality tour.
Visit Berlin’s most famous East Side Gallery: I visited East Side Gallery which is Berlin’s most famous open-air gallery. It runs from the Wall Museum to the East Station. The Berlin Wall Foundation presently owns the gallery, as well as the properties ‘Park an der Spree’ and ‘East Side Park’. The east side gallery memorial in Berlin is a permanent open-air gallery atop the longest remaining part of the Berlin Wall. I was intrigued to see the long street.
Enjoy visiting the Brandenburg Gate: I absolutely enjoyed visiting the highly recommended Brandenburg gate. The gate is located in the western part of the city center of Berlin within Mitte. The gate has 5 passages. The middle and widest part was reserved for the king. The adjacent aisles were for the nobility, and only his two aisles on the outside could be used by the commoner. The gate is decorated with reliefs and sculptures by Gottfried Schadow, mainly based on the exploits of Hercules. I had a great experience learning a lot about the Cold War and the Berlin Wall.
Visit Berlin’s famous border crossing, Checkpoint Charlie: This place has always been on my wishlist. I finally visited Checkpoint Charlie. Berlin’s most famous border crossing, linking pre-1990 communist East Berlin with American-dominated democratic West Berlin. In 1961, the East German government unexpectedly built a border wall, permanently restricting the influx of East Berliners from East Germany. The museum is packed with interesting and informative exhibits related to Checkpoint Charlie. I was overwhelmed by the number of exhibits.
Spend time at Berlin Story Bunker: I was amazed when I saw the Berlin Story Bunker, a huge WWII bunker that recreated some of the most infamous events in German history that led to Hitler’s suicide. They reconstructed Hitler’s personal study in this bunker where Hitler committed suicide. It took me 3-4 hours to complete this tour, but it was well worth it. I also got an audio headgear that took me back in time.
Experience Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial: Just south of the Brandenburg Gate is the Berlin Holocaust Memorial with 2,711 gray concrete slabs or stones. They are of equal horizontal dimensions (reminiscent of a coffin), vary vertically (ranging from 8 inches to over 15 feet high), are laid out in precise alignment across 4.7 acres, and have long, straight lines between them. Sounds interesting isn’t it? I was myself stunned after visiting the place. If you are in Berlin, you must visit this place.
Places to eat
Einstein Kaffee: Einstein Kaffee is a chain of Austrian style cafes. They have a number of branches dotted around central Berlin. I visited Einstein Kaffee for a quick brunch. I also loved their chai latte.
Frea Berlin: If you are a vegan like me you can also visit Frea Berlin which is a vegan restaurant serving plant based, organic fare prepared with Zero-Waste Practices. I loved the Romana Salad with Mushrooms, Creamy sofrito-sauce, pistachio pesto and chili oil. I also had Apricot marinated oyster mushrooms on corn bread, coffee-glazed eggplant, adobo, carrot, orange koji sauce, cucumber sorbet with pickled melon, chai-milk and meringue. This place is a must visit. I was delighted to be there.
NENI: Another favorite place of mine is the roof terrace of 25hours Bikini Berlin, Neni. Neni is one of Berlin’s top restaurants serving Israeli-Oriental cuisine at the highest level. But more than just the food being plated, this conservatory offers great views of the western part of the city and the zoo from its wooden tables. You should definitely eat here when in Berlin.
Mustafa’s Döner Berlin Mehringdamm: I ventured out specifically to find this place after reading the reviews and it was definitely worth it! I was standing in the queue for the most legendary falafel stuffed pita at Mustafa’s Döner Berlin Mehringdamm. They give amazing kebabs at around 4 euros with a drink, filled with meat, veg, and sauce . It is totally worth a visit, don’t miss out.
Canal Berlin: I would have truly regretted it if I didn’t go to Canal Berlin. This place has the most creative and freaking delicious eclairs. I had the blackcurrant Cream Eclair and Raspberry Pistachio Eclair.
Sphere Revolving Restaurant: This is my favorite place in Berlin. You’ve probably heard about the famous Sphere Revolving Restaurant. The height at dinner is 207m. But I got a brief VR experience on his ground floor that takes you back in time to Berlin’s history. They showed me how different life is on both sides of the Berlin Wall. You should visit during the sunset to get a spectacular view. You get to see the whole of Berlin from high up in the iconic TV Tower and take in the stunning views of its most famous landmarks from the top. It is definitely cool.
Berlin is an ideal place for a city break in Europe which you should never miss.