The rough guide to Berlin

330 Pages·2014·53.393 MB·English

by  Gawthrop, John;Williams, Christian

BTHEE RORUGHL GUIIDNE TO
AN IRRESISTIBLE BLEND of urban grit and worldly glamour,
Berlin is Europe’s coolest capital. This is a city abuzz with restless
energy, where neighbourhoods switch from humdrum to hip in a
matter of months and clubs open for days at a time. Exhaustively
researched, with expert coverage of Berlin’s wealth of attractions
and local insight into all the best places to eat, drink, shop and
party, The Rough Guide to Berlin has everything you need to get B
under the skin of this enthralling city.
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UPDATED
11th EDITION
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Berlin_B11_293493_cover.indd All Pages 24/11/2016 10:32
INSIDE THIS BOOK
INTRODUCTION What to see, what not to miss, itineraries and more – everything
you need to get started
BASICS Pre-departure tips and practical information
THE CITY Comprehensive, neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood guide to Berlin, with
full-colour maps featuring all the listings, plus the best places to go for day-trips
LISTINGS Where to sleep, eat, drink and shop, plus all the best clubs and music venues
CONTEXTS Berlin’s history and architecture, recommended books and films and a
useful language section
CITY PLAN Detailed city plans, for easy navigation
We’ve flagged up our favourite places – a perfectly sited hotel, an atmospheric café, a special
★
restaurant – throughout the Guide with the symbol
Berlin Guide chapters
N
WEDDING GESUNDBRUNNEN
Berlin-Spandauer-Schifffahrtskanal 8 PRENBZELRAGUER
10 MOABIT 4
Spre
e
Landwehrkanal 5 1 MITTE2 3 FRIEDRICHSHAIN
CHARLOTTEN- TIERGARTEN
BURG
Spree 9
KREUZBERG
7
WILMERSDORF 6 SCHÖNEBERG Landwehrkanal
ALT-
TREPTOW
NEUKÖLLN
0 1
11 TEMPELHOF kilometre
1 Unter den Linden and around 5 Potsdamer Platz and Tiergarten 8 Prenzlauer Berg and around
2 Museum Island and around 6 City West and Schöneberg 9 The eastern suburbs
3 Alexanderplatz and around 7 Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain, Neukölln G The western suburbs
4 The Spandauer Vorstadt and around H Out of the city
Make the Most of Your Time on Earth at roughguides.com
This eleventh edition published March 2017
BTHEE RORUGHL GUIIDNE TO
This eleventh edition updated by
Paul Sullivan

INTRODUCTION 3
Contents
INTRODUCTION 4
What to see 6 Things not to miss 10
When to go 9 Itineraries 16
BASICS 18
Getting there 19 The media 26
Arrival 20 Festivals 26
City transport 22 Travel essentials 28
THE CITY 34
1 Unter den Linden and around 34 7 Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain,
Neukölln and around 117
2 Museum Island and around 50
8 Prenzlauer Berg and around 135
3 Alexanderplatz and around 58
9 The eastern suburbs 148
4 The Spandauer Vorstadt 69
10 The western suburbs 159
5 Potsdamer Platz and Tiergarten 88
11 Out of the city 174
6 City West and Schöneberg 107
LISTINGS 186
12 Accommodation 186 16 Shopping 238
13 Eating 196 17 Sports and outdoor activities 249
14 Drinking and nightlife 216 18 LGBT Berlin 252
15 The arts 230 19 Kids’ Berlin 256
CONTEXTS 260
History 261 Architecture 297
Books 289 Language 299
Film 293
CITY PLAN 307
SMALL PRINT & INDEX 318
OPPOSITE DECKCHAIRS ON THE RIVER SPREE PREVIOUS PAGE MEMORIAL TO THE MURDERED JEWS OF EUROPE
4 INTRODUCTION
Introduction to
Berlin
With its notoriously hedonistic nightlife, tumultuous history and easy-going,
cosmopolitan vibe, Berlin is indisputably one of Europe’s most compelling
cities. Add a generous feeling of physical space (thanks to a rare combination
of large-scale urban planning and a relatively low population of just 3.6
million), a cutting-edge cultural scene and the emergence of a buzzy
start-up culture, and it’s easy to see why so many people are not just visiting
the freewheeling German capital but moving here in droves.
Indeed, Berlin’s transformation since the fall of its notoriously divisive Wall has been nothing
short of extraordinary, and its 1989 rebirth is key to understanding the city’s youthful
vitality. The first wave of post-Wende (“turning-point”) settlers – artists, squatters, musicians,
DJs – set the edgy, alternative tone that still drives the city, despite encroaching gentrification
and commercialization. Cheaper than London, liberal, multicultural and still very much at
the heart of the European Union, Berlin today has grown into one of Europe’s prime
destinations for hip young things and entrepreneurial types alike.
Beneath the future-oriented, upbeat veneer, however, remain the poignant scars of the
turbulent twentieth century, and its onslaught of war, partition and totalitarianism. A
wealth of museums and memorials confront the past unflinchingly, commemorating and
meticulously documenting the methodologies and crimes of successive authoritarian
regimes, though a certain stream of nostalgia still lingers for the lighter aspects of the
GDR, which remains vivid in the memories of many older Berliners.
This traumatic history has also taken its toll on the city visually. Not only was much of
Berlin, once the grand capital of imperial Prussia, reduced to rubble at the end of World War
II but many ugly and uninspired new buildings were thrown up afterwards. Following a
second spate of frenetic construction in the immediate wake of the Wende, when a host of
high-profile architects were commissioned to create an aesthetic suitable for the born-again
capital, the city now presents a somewhat chaotic architectural jigsaw. It might not always
be easy on the eye, but the urban cityscape seems to suit Berlin’s slightly dishevelled nature,
ABOVE BERLIN CITYSCAPE AT DUSK
CENTRAL BERLINNBRWEDDINGUNNEESGESUNDSBNAerlSRiTn-TSSDpAElaBRUNNENanNRaZnEIdkGaSEsutRAe rrh-SSaScThfiffRSASSEElanakneKOLLWITZfaPRENZLAUER BERGhtseWPLATZEGESGedenkstätteSARTSAWEEOZTIRUQSLTBerliner MauerSELANCASHERST SAATRRRTUSSSANEEESMESISSRDSSUSAEAEEESRSEAADNTRSTSSNLZT LERGINREZIAKCGIAGSWNRSEEBSESREEL RFRSEIPPETTORRSRTRGAMuseum fürSASMOABITESSNaturkundeVolkspark FriedrichshainHUTTEENSTRAROSASSEELUXEMBURGSESEASERESSPLATZSLTARTSMRTUSAL A HauptbahnhofR ANIRESIAKU GNTRFUSETESDARTPGI IABL RILEAAOLEEVNMETNBEDTUILSMEADOARELRNHackescheLSRISASSTBCLRAABALHTSORSMEEHöfeOUASTBTITSSTTRSORTGAALEXANDERHAERCSRET PLATZSNSKSEKALTBR LUERIMFernsehturmALAAPRSLXRSAALELKELEBERSARINReichstagaMITTEnAPLATZdSLTwpKOeAWRr NNLEMhDNeAMILr ANeEEMIRD XRkERTLNA UALLBrandenburgeraSEHDETNnRESACETR ISAaNLRTorLLTASSUASRUEHSJEO 7lH1EMT SETÜDA EOSSMASRRGROSSERSTSUTLEHRRO STERNISNAUAJTL 7L1SEFRIEDRICHSHAIN SETSEHD EOSAESSLARERNSTTHZNSETIERGARTENR OMSTREUTERFAT.RTSKJRCSRRAMÄSIKBPLATZ ATGRSPITTELSSonySETESRR ESSAMARKTAERUTASS REOstbahnhofGCenterS HIELZESPAISELALARTREHSIETRGNARKETPOTSDAMEREDÖCPEEZoologischerNSINPLATZACKulturforumBKNRCHARLOTTENEERNGarten RAESMauermuseumGTNESFWRSEast SideTATSBerlinRSRBURGRS(Haus am Checkpoint Charlie)ASAEISSGallerySAESEEDREKANTSSTTRRASSSAVIGNYMOEWSRSSÜIATINIHAC PLATZELLRRSNESHRHETNpERSEATSrSTSMSRLKaiser-Wilhelm-EeSE ATMSAeNSMREDASEAGedächtniskircheAITNSDNRARSTINNTRATOSSUESTORANIENSIR MRRSPJüdischesETMALESTWITTENBERGALDRDARE PLATZNA UKENS ETUSASARPLATZER RMuseum BerlinÜFASFLÜRLUSRELAUSITZERKSKREUZBERGEESETSAE RESTSNASRPLATZT SR SRENOLLENDORFEGRZUTBNTEZTIERIOLIVAERLLAAKSSSMEHRINGEPLATZPLATZPLATZESCHÖNEBERGSSAREIRCHETNBLWILMERSDORFESaRndG EVIKTORIAw eR h rSkT aRMnRMLUISEPLATZAalASDSENEREZSSEARTSNSNTELAUFEHONHLOAUSTZRKRBTNNIKOLSBURGERAACSNERSSSTEHORAYNOPLATZSHSEOBARRAOBSSA STRASSEK5000NEUKÖLLNFEHRBELLINERPLATZmetres
6 INTRODUCTION
with an unconventional charm all its own – and the overall effect is softened by the many
parks, gardens and playgrounds that help make it such an appealing place to live.
Perhaps more than anywhere else in Europe, Berlin is a city – seemingly in a perpetual
state of transformation – that repays repeated visits. Whether you’re drawn by its
world-class museums, endlessly absorbing history or frenetic, 24-hour nightlife, visit now
and you’ll be hooked forever.
What to see
The central Mitte district, cut off from the West for almost thirty years during the years
of division, is Berlin’s main sightseeing and shopping hub. Most visitors begin their
exploration on the city’s premier boulevard Unter den Linden, starting at the most
famous landmark, the Brandenburger Tor, then moving over to the adjacent seat of
Germany’s parliament, the Reichstag, perhaps the greatest symbol of the nation’s
reunification. At its eastern end Unter den Linden is lined by stately Neoclassical
buildings and terminates on the shores of Museum Island, home to some of Berlin’s
leading museums, but its natural extension on the other side of the island is Karl-
Liebknecht-Strasse, which leads to a distinctively GDR-era part of the city around
Alexanderplatz, one of Berlin’s principal commercial and transport hubs. Northwest
from here, the Spandauer Vorstadt was once the heart of the city’s Jewish community,
and has some fascinating reminders of those days, though today it’s best known for the
restaurants, bars, boutiques and nightlife around the Hackescher Markt.
Back at the Brandenburger Tor, a walk south along the edge of the sprawling Tiergarten
park – past a trio of memorials to victims of Nazi crimes – takes you to the modern
Potsdamer Platz, a bustling entertainment quarter that stands on what was once a barren
field straddling the death-strip of the Berlin Wall. Huddled beside Potsdamer Platz is the
Kulturforum, an agglomeration of cultural
institutions that includes several high-profile
OFFBEAT BERLIN art museums. Also fringing the park are
Tempelhofer Feld Go cycling, skating Berlin’s diplomatic and government quarters,
or kite landboarding in Europe’s biggest
where you’ll find some of the city’s most
park, a former Nazi airport. See p.125
Street art Learn to graffiti with innovative post-Wende architecture, including
Alternative Berlin, then find your own bit
the formidable Hauptbahnhof. The western
of wall to practise on. See box, p.127
Badeschiff Cool off on a summer’s end of the Tiergarten is given over to a zoo,
day with a dip in the Badeschiff, a pool which also gives its name to the main transport
made from a converted barge,
hub at this end of town. This is the gateway to
bobbing above the inky River Spree.
See box, p.250 City West, the old centre of West Berlin, and
Go-karting Career around the streets best known for its shopping boulevards,
in a go-kart. See p.24
particularly the upmarket Kurfürstendamm.
Mauerpark Rummage for vintage
clothes and the occasional item of GDR Schöneberg, Kreuzberg and Neukölln, the
memorabilia at this Sunday flea market. three key residential districts immediately south
See box, p.143
of the centre, are home – along with
OPPOSITE FROM TOP SCHLOSS CHARLOTTENBURG; HAMBURGER BAHNHOF; OLYMPIASTADION

8 INTRODUCTION
BERLIN’S MARVELLOUS MUSEUMS
Berlin boasts that it’s Europe’s only city with more museums than rainy days (some 180 and
106 respectively), which is great news weather-wise, but also means that all but the most
committed museum nuts are spoiled for choice.
Most collections are expertly presented in striking buildings and nowhere is this more true than
on Museum Island (see p.54), location of the city’s headline acts. Here Middle Eastern antiquities
and, to a lesser extent, German art and sculpture, are the main draws, while the latter also form the
kernel of collections at Berlin’s other main central museum agglomeration: the Kulturforum (see
p.94). This is known for its medieval and early modern paintings and decorative art; the greatest
concentration of twentieth-century art lies in the museums around Schloss Charlottenburg
(see p.161) outside the city centre. In addition, the vast collection in the airy old warehouses of the
Hamburger Bahnhof is an essential first stop for lovers of contemporary art – before embarking
on an exploration of some of Berlin’s 440 or so private galleries (see p.231).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, many of Berlin’s most compelling museums are concerned with its
astonishing history (see box, p.281). If weighty topics don’t appeal, then Berlin’s generic
museums are a good bet, especially for kids: the Natural History Museum (see p.86) is famous for
dinosaur skeletons; while the technology (see p.124) and communication (see p.122) museums
are both engaging push-button places. Unsuitable for kids, but entertaining for the rest of us, are
the photography museum (see p.109) devoted to Helmut Newton’s nude photos and the gay
museum (see p.253) which evokes the city’s debauched 1920s. But for something truly offbeat,
the dusty old exhibits of the freakish Medical History Museum (see p.106) are hard to beat.
Friedrichshain to the east – to much of Berlin’s most vibrant nightlife. The relatively smart
Schöneberg is the city’s LGBT centre, while Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, which straddle
opposite sides of the Spree, have maintained a grungy and edgy ambience despite the
inevitable onward march of gentrification.
Friedrichshain also offers some unusual architectural leftovers from the Eastern Bloc of the
1950s, while to the north yuppified Prenzlauer Berg is one of the few places in which the
atmosphere of prewar Berlin has been preserved – complete with cobbled streets and ornate
facades. North of Prenzlauer Berg is the sleepy, attractive district of Pankow, while to the
west lies ever up and coming Wedding, with its large immigrant population and pockets of
underground culture and nightlife.
ABOVE EGYPTIAN GALLERY IN THE NEUES MUSEUM OPPOSITE TIERGARTEN