Berlin 3-day itinerary

Berlin's ceremonial front door — the Brandenburg Gate anchors Pariser Platz, and Unter den Linden runs east from it past Humboldt University and the opera house toward the Museum Island bridges. The Reichstag's glass dome is a five-minute walk north across the Spree, and the sombre concrete grid of the Holocaust Memorial sits just south of the Gate itself. This is the day for the postcard shots and the 20th-century weight behind them; the crowds thin fast once you turn off the main boulevard.

1. 08:30
   Brandenburg GateLandmark, 20m

   Berlin's neoclassical city gate, topped by the Quadriga chariot, anchors Pariser Platz where Unter den Linden begins — a free, unticketed, fully pedestrianised square with no vehicle traffic. Always accessible, so come at sunrise or after the tour buses leave in the evening for a clear shot of the gate without a crowd of selfie sticks in front of it. The Holocaust Memorial's stelae field is a five-minute walk south; the Reichstag is five minutes north across the Spree.

2. 09:05
   Memorial to the Murdered Jews of EuropeHistoric site, 1h

   2,711 concrete stelae of varying height cover a full city block with no gates and no ticket — always open, always free, and it's the single memorial most first-time visitors walk into unplanned on the way between the Gate and the government quarter. The underground Ort der Information documentation centre, entered at the south-east corner, keeps its own hours: Tuesday to Sunday, roughly 10:00–19:00 in the summer months and 10:00–18:00 the rest of the year, closed Mondays, last admission 45 minutes before closing, with a bag check at the door but no entry fee. The stelae field's ground genuinely undulates, so wear flat shoes, and please don't climb or picnic on the blocks — it draws visible disapproval from other visitors even where it isn't formally policed.

3. 10:20
   Reichstag DomeLandmark, 1h 15m

   Free to visit, but every visitor must register in advance online at the Bundestag's own visitor-service site — this is not optional and there is no ticket booth on site. Bring the exact original photo ID (passport or national ID card, no copies) used at registration: everyone 16+ needs one, and 14–15-year-olds need ID showing their name and photo. Entry runs in timed slots every 15 minutes, with last admission at 21:45. If online slots are gone, the visitor service centre will register walk-ins in person, but only with a minimum two hours' notice and if capacity remains, so it is not a reliable backup plan. The spiral ramp inside the glass dome climbs to a roof terrace with views straight down the government quarter and across the city.

4. 12:00
   Lunch Ständige Vertretung (StäV)1h

   A Rhineland-themed 'political-cult pub' a few steps from Friedrichstraße station on the Spree, its name and West-German-embassy decor playing on the old Bonn Republic's Cold War-era mission in West Berlin — walls are covered floor to ceiling in Bonn Republic-era political photos and memorabilia. Open daily from 11:00 and running to around 1:00 the next morning — Berlin has no legal evening closing-hour cutoff, so this genuinely stays open that late. Kölsch beer and Flammkuchen (Alsatian tarte flambée) alongside currywurst are the mainstays, but the current menu also explicitly labels a vegan Flammkuchen (vegan mozzarella, olives, mushrooms), a vegan currywurst made from herb seedlings and pea protein, and a vegan spelt burger — a real option beyond the meat-heavy pub-food image. Riverside terrace seating on the Spree in warmer months.

5. 13:00
   Dussmann das KulturKaufhausShopping, 45m

   A seven-storey 'culture department store' a few steps from Friedrichstraße station — floors of books in German and English, a large CD/vinyl/DVD department, stationery, and a basement stage hosting free readings and concerts. Open Monday-Friday until midnight and Saturday until 23:30, genuinely unusual hours even by Berlin's relaxed weekday-trading rules; it also opens Sunday 13:00-18:00 under Berlin's limited Sunday-trading allowance, when almost everything else nearby is shut. Takes Visa, Mastercard, American Express and PayPal as well as cash, so it's a reliable stop if a Girocard-only till elsewhere has just declined a foreign card.

6. 14:00
   Bebelplatz & the Empty Library MemorialHistoric site, 15m

   The square where Nazi students and academics burned around 20,000 books on 10 May 1933. Artist Micha Ullman's underground memorial, the 'Empty Library', is a glass pane set flush into the cobbles — look down and you see a room lined with white, entirely empty bookshelves sized to hold exactly the books that were burned. A nearby plaque carries the 1821 Heinrich Heine line the memorial is built around: 'That was only a prelude; where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people.' Free, unticketed, always open. Humboldt University's old law faculty and St. Hedwig's Cathedral face the square, with the State Opera Unter den Linden on its northern edge — this is the same stretch of Unter den Linden that runs from the Brandenburg Gate toward Museum Island.

7. 14:30
   Victory ColumnLandmark, 45m

   The gold-topped Victory Column marks the literal centre of Tiergarten at the Großer Stern roundabout — reachable on foot only through pedestrian tunnels under the surrounding traffic circle, never by crossing at street level. Climbing to the viewing platform is ticketed and stairs-only: 285 steps up a spiral staircase, no lift, so it's not wheelchair- or stroller-accessible. From the top, the view runs down Straße des 17. Juni to the Brandenburg Gate on one side and toward Potsdamer Platz on the other.

8. 15:30
   Tiergarten ParkPark, 1h 30m

   Berlin's largest inner-city park, criss-crossed by paths radiating out from the Großer Stern roundabout at its centre — free, unfenced and open around the clock, with no set closing time. It's mostly flat and easy walking, but after dark the park empties out fast and isn't the place for a solo evening stroll.

9. 17:30
   Dinner Café Einstein Unter den Linden1h 15m

   A Viennese-style coffeehouse a few doors from Bebelplatz and the State Opera, running since 1996 and best known for its Wiener Schnitzel. Breakfast runs Monday-Friday until 11:30 and Saturday-Sunday/holidays until 13:00, with the full lunch and dinner menu from 11:30 onward. The current menu explicitly labels several vegetarian dishes (Austrian vinegar dumplings with pumpkin-seed oil, Käsespätzle cheese noodles, a burrata starter) and vegan ones (vegan pancakes, a vegan 'everything' bagel with grilled vegetables, a green vegan minestrone, tofu instead of the tuna steak) — so it isn't only a meat-and-schnitzel stop. Ask for a window table for Unter den Linden people-watching, or the quieter courtyard seating in summer.

Kottbusser Tor sits at the messy, loud heart of it, but walk five minutes any direction and the neighbourhood softens — south to Bergmannkiez's flower-lined Bergmannstraße and Viktoriapark's small Alpine-style waterfall, or along the Landwehrkanal to Maybachufer's Tuesday and Friday Turkish market. Oranienstraße's bars and Görlitzer Park pick up after dark, when this becomes one of the city's real nightlife centres rather than a daytime sightseeing stop. Expect graffiti, döner stands doing genuine trade rather than tourist theatre, and a Turkish-German community that shaped the neighbourhood long before it got trendy.

1. 08:30
   Markthalle NeunMarket, 1h 30m

   The hall's regular stalls run Monday-Saturday during the day and it's closed Sundays. The big draw is 'Street Food Thursday', a weekly evening food market every Thursday from 17:00-22:00 with dozens of vendors — arrive early or expect queues at the popular stands.

2. 10:15
   East Side GalleryHistoric site, 1h

   Free, always-open outdoor gallery along a 1.3km stretch of the former Berlin Wall — no ticket needed, walk it any time of day. It gets crowded with photographers near the famous 'Fraternal Kiss' mural; early morning is quieter.

3. 12:00
   Lunch Vöner1h

   Berlin's original fully-vegan döner/kebab shop, serving a signature wheat-and-legume 'meat' since the 1990s — everything on the menu is plant-based. Cash only, cards aren't accepted. Open daily noon to 10pm; expect a short queue around lunch.

4. 13:00
   Volkspark FriedrichshainPark, 1h 15m

   Berlin's oldest public park (opened 1840), free and open 24 hours with no ticket needed. The main draw is the Märchenbrunnen (Fairy Tale Fountain) in the park's northern section — 106 stone sculptures of German fairy-tale characters, most impressive in the warmer months when the fountains are running. Paths are mostly flat gravel or paved, but there's no official accessibility statement for the park.

5. 14:30
   Jewish Museum BerlinMuseum, 2h 30m

   The core exhibition is free to visit; a ticket (around €10) is only needed for temporary exhibitions in the Old Building. Booking a free time-slot ticket online in advance is recommended to skip the line, though walk-in tickets are sold at the desk too. Closed Mondays.

6. 17:15
   Maybachufer Market (Türkenmarkt)Market, 1h 15m

   Runs only two afternoons a week — Tuesdays and Fridays, 11:00-18:30 — along the Landwehrkanal. Cash is standard here; card payment is uncommon at most stalls, so bring enough cash. Gets crowded, especially Friday afternoon.

7. 18:45
   Dinner Defne Restaurant1h 15m

   Long-running Turkish-Anatolian restaurant right on the Landwehrkanal, popular for its canal-side outdoor tables in summer. The warm kitchen serves from 16:00 to around 23:00 even though the doors stay open later.

8. 20:00
   RAW-Gelände (Alternative Arts & Nightlife Yard)Entertainment, 1h 30m

   A former railway repair yard turned alternative culture hub: clubs, bars, a skate hall, a climbing wall, and open-air cinema in summer. The Sunday flea market (about 08:00–17:00, free entry) is the best time for a daytime visit; the bars and clubs mostly open only in the evening and each keeps its own hours, so check individual venues if you're going at night. Bring cash for the flea-market stalls.

The old Tempelhof Airport's runways are now the largest open field in the city — no trees, no fences, just kilometres of tarmac and grass where Berliners kite-surf on rollerblades, barbecue and fly actual kites. Schillerkiez, the streets pressed against its western edge, went from cheap-and-rough to the city's most talked-about café strip within about a decade, and Karl-Marx-Straße further north still runs the older, grittier, more Turkish-Arab Neukölln that predates the hype. Come for the field's open sky, stay for whichever version of the neighbourhood you land in.

1. 07:40
   Check out of your stay
2. 08:30
   Winterfeldtplatz MarketMarket, 45m

   Berlin's biggest weekly market — around 250 stalls of fresh produce, flowers and everyday goods ring the square. It runs Wednesdays 08:00–14:00 and, much bigger and busier, Saturdays 08:00–16:00; there's no market at all the rest of the week, so time a visit for one of those two mornings. Stallholders are mostly cash-based — bring coins and small notes.

3. 10:00
   KörnerparkGarden, 45m

   A sunken Baroque-style garden built in a former sand quarry, with clipped hedges, a central fountain and a curved colonnade — a formal, almost theatrical park that feels nothing like the scrappy streets around it. The Orangerie at one end holds a small gallery and café; the rest of the park is free and open daily 10:00–20:00. Entry is barrier-free via a ramp from Wittmannsdorfer Straße, and there's an accessible toilet on site.

4. 11:00
   Bethlehemskirche & the Böhmisches DorfChurch, 45m

   Richardplatz is the cobbled green heart of the old Böhmisches Dorf, settled from 1737 by Protestant refugees fleeing Bohemia — the Bethlehemskirche, rebuilt for that Bohemian congregation after a much older church already stood here, still anchors the square. A working blacksmith's forge on the square has operated since 1797, and a small local-history museum sits a few doors away on Kirchgasse. The square itself is always open and free; the church is an active parish, so times to see the interior can vary with services.

5. 12:00
   Lunch Café am Neuen See1h

   Berlin's best-loved beer garden sits right on the shore of the Neuer See, Tiergarten's boating lake, with a self-described 'country house in the city' feel and a menu running from breakfast (cold-pressed juices, Bircher muesli) through Berlin classics to a few Middle Eastern-influenced dishes. Rowboats can be rented from the jetty out front. Like most Berlin beer gardens, hours (and whether it opens at all) shrink in cold or wet weather, so treat this as a warm-season plan rather than a sure thing in winter.

6. 13:00
   Tempelhofer FeldPark, 1h 30m

   The old Tempelhof Airport runways and taxiways are now Berlin's largest open field — flat tarmac and grass with no trees or fences, used for cycling, kite flying, rollerblading, skateboarding and barbecuing (bring your own grill stand, ground fires aren't allowed). Entry is free and there are ten gates around the perimeter, several along Oderstraße on the Neukölln side. The gates lock at closing time, and that time shifts hard with the seasons: roughly 22:30 in high summer, down to about 17:00 in December and January, so check the current month's closing time before you linger past dusk.

7. 14:47
   Schöneberg City HallHistoric site, 20m

   A working district town hall, not a museum — but the steps out front are where John F. Kennedy delivered his 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech to a crowd of hundreds of thousands, and the tower holds the Freedom Bell, an American-donated replica of Philadelphia's Liberty Bell installed in 1950. The square in front was renamed John-F.-Kennedy-Platz after his assassination. Interior and tower access follow normal government-building hours, not tourist opening times — check ahead if you want more than the exterior and the plaza.

8. 15:22
   Nollendorfplatz U-Bahn StationLandmark, 15m

   The elevated station opened in 1902 on Berlin's very first U-Bahn line, designed by Cremer & Wolffenstein with an ornate dome rebuilt as open ironwork after WWII damage. A plaque on the station's south façade, placed in 1989, was the first public memorial in any German city to the homosexual victims of Nazi persecution — a quiet marker on a square that was the historic centre of Berlin's gay nightlife well before Christopher Isherwood lived a few streets away.

9. 15:52
   KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens)Shopping, 1h 30m

   Continental Europe's largest department store, open Monday–Saturday 10:00–20:00 and closed Sundays like the rest of Berlin's ordinary retail. Six floors plus the famous top-floor food hall; as a major international retailer it's a safe bet for cards, though it's worth carrying some cash as backup like anywhere else in the city.

10. 17:37
    Dinner La Côte1h 15m

    A small Schillerkiez wine bar and neighbourhood restaurant with a southern-European-leaning menu — raw fish, homemade pasta and a natural-wine list. Tables sit close together and the kitchen doesn't take children under 8 or strollers, so this is an evening-out spot rather than a family stop. Open Tuesday to Saturday from 18:00, kitchen closes at 22:30; closed Sunday and Monday.