FIRST TIME: GERMANY | Berlin GERMANY: BERLIN FIRST TIME: GERMANY Berlin 1 Return to Overview | FIRST TIME: GERMANY | Berlin Open the interactive Google Map with all the details from the itinerary on your computer or phone. The Route How does the Travel Honey Contributor describe their trip? A long, 3 day weekend exploring coffee shops, culture and clubs in Berlin, Germany. This trip for anyone visitig the city for the first time and especially those who want to drink amazing caffeinated beverages, learn more about the city’s culture and hang out in some of the world’s best music clubs. Stay in a stylish hotel, rent a bike and eat tasty meals. Be prepared for lots of concrete, steel and underground vibes – true Berlin style. Who Took This Amazing Trip? Meet Lids, our savvy traveler. Lids lives for white sand beaches, design hotels and gourmet food. Lids also loves big mountains for hiking, skiing and fondue, and anything related to water like boats, surfing, scuba diving and swimming. Lids’s travel style is spontaneous and last minute. That’s right. Planning weekend getaways on Friday afternoons or week long trips days before departure. When it comes to hotels and restaurants, Lids is not keen on midrange options so it’s either hostels or five stars, veggie sandwiches or truffles. Click here to learn more about Lids’s travel style and view more photos from her trip here. What is Travel Honey? At www.travelhoney.com, we find expert travelers and document where they stayed, ate, explored and how they got around – along with what they loved and would have done differently. Don’t forget to use the interactive map of the itinerary! If you need access to the map, have questions, or want to tell us about a trip, we’d love to hear from you at support@ travelhoney.com. | 2 OVERVIEW* FIRST TIME: GERMANY | Berlin * Dark blue text in this highlights page links to more details; bright blue text is an external link SCHEDULE THE BASICS DAY 1: WHERE TO STAY: Arrive in Berlin and explore! Sleep @ Soho House Berlin ACTIVITIES Reflect @ Memorial to the Michelberger Hotel Sleep @ Soho House Berlin Murdered Jews of Europe Gorki Apartments Appreciate Contemporary Art @ Dance @ Berghain KW Institute Party @ About Blank INSIDER TIPS: More Contemporary Art @ Thing to Do/Book Ahead Hamburger Bahnhof MEALS What to Pack Visit the Historic Reichstag Coffee @ Father Carpenter Arrival Tips Building Coffee @ BARN Cafe Photos @ Brandenburg Gate and Dinner @ Lokal Spending Tips Tiergarten Park Transportation Tips What to Eat & Drink How to use your cellphone? DAY 2: What to do in an Emergency? Continue to explore the city with more tasty, craft coffee, historic sites and art venues, and then a hip dinner followed by aggressive nightlife. Departure Tips ACTIVITIES MEALS One More Day/One Less Day Bird’s Eye View @ Fernsehturm Coffee @ Silo What to Say? TV Tower Lunch and Culture @ Pauly Saal Explore 5 Museums @ Dinner @ Tausend Cantina Museumsinsel NOTE: We do our best to check regularly, Art in a Bunker @ Sammlung but hours and costs are subject to Boros change. Party @ Tresor SHARE YOUR AWESOME DAY 3: EXPERIENCE! More coffee, museums and down time at the spa. Fancy dinner and then back Make sure you tag us @travel__honey to the clubs. You can sleep when you’re home. & use the hashtag #travelhoney ACTIVITIES MEALS Shop Latest Trends @ Voo Store Coffee @ Five Elephant Learn About Berlin’s Tech Scene Coffee @ Companion Coffee @ Betahaus Coffee Lunch @ Chapter One Marvel @ Photography Museum Coffee Relax @ Liquidrom Spa Dinner @ Alpenstück Restaurant Dance @ Watergate DAY 4: TRAVEL JUST GOT SWEETER Wake up at the crack of dawn and take the first flight home. travelhoney.com | @travel__honey FIRST TIME: GERMANY | Berlin Costs The Basics • Average accommodation cost per night: EUR 425 Why here? • Average dinner cost for 1 person (includes The trip was to visit two good friends who live apps and wine!): EUR 45 and work in Berlin in April and three full days • Average costs of activities per day: EUR 50 was the perfect time to explore the city. The • Average cost of travel per day total: EUR 30 other places I’ve visited in Germany include Munich for Octoberfest and the German Pace of travel: Medium-paced Black Forest for a foodie tour. In Berlin, I was keen to see the nightlife and culture. Transport? Get around by bikes and taxis. A mix of mainstream and off-the-beaten-path Time of year Mix of key sights and activities off the beaten April. It was sunny and warm during the day path. so I went running in Tiergarten park in shorts and a tee shirt. At night, the weather cooled, so jeans and a light jacked Physical activity level As they say, worked well. Spring, summer and fall are the don’t go clubbing if you’re not going to dance. best times to visit, if possible avoid the bleak Foodie winters. Art/architecture focused Cultural/historical East Side Gallery Symbols to Remember Accommodation Activities | Attractions Dining Nightlife Rating System* *The ratings have been vetted by Travel Honey but are from the point of view of the Contributor who took this trip. 4 Return to Overview | FIRST TIME: GERMANY | Berlin Day 1 Check out arrival and other insider tips before Day 1 jumping into the itinerary. Arrive in Berlin and start exploring the city! Coffee shops, art galleries and museums, historical sites and parks. Eat hip dinner and then head for the bars/clubs. Day 1 Transport: We flew into Berlin on a direct flight from London on EasyJet. Flight time of 1 hours and 50 minutes and roundtrip ticket cost about EUR 120. We got around Berlin by walking, biking and taxis. When flying in, keep in mind that Berlin has two main airports, Berlin-Tegel and Berlin-Schönefeld. Both airports are located relatively close to the city center and are serviced by major airlines. A taxi from to the city center will cost around EUR 30 and take 25 minutes. Sleep @ Soho House Berlin Artisanal Coffee @ Father Carpenter Description: Stay here for the best creative ambiance and views of the city. Rooms have Description: Start your tour of Berlin’s best retro décor and muted colors. Beds are small coffee shops here. Order the banana bread but cozy with Egyptian cotton sheets and and any type of coffee. Or get the poached a nice variety of Cowshed toiletries in the eggs and avocado and sit in the courtyard bathrooms with decadent showers. There outside. Green, black and herbal teas are is an onsite gym, stunning contemporary available as well. Look cool and bring your artwork in the lobby and the rooftop pool is sunglasses. FINAL THOUGHTS: If you’re not a heated to 26C year-round. We loved hanging coffee drinker, this may be the time/place to out in the lobby, catching up on emails and start. people watching too. FINAL THOUGHTS: One Cost: EUR 3-4 for espressos, cappuccinos, of the pricier hotel options in the city but fun lattes. for a few days! Hours: 9am-6pm, but closed Sundays. Cost: EUR 425 per night Address: Münzstraße 21, 10178 Berlin Address: Torstrasse 1, 10119, Berlin Airberlin departure Notes on Berlin’s New Airport Berlin has been working on opening a new airport, Brandenburg Airport (BER), since 2006 when construction started. The airport was supposed to open in 2011, and then again in late 2017. The opening has been pushed back again, this time by at least a year. The delays are caused by construction issues/mismanagement and the opening has now become a running joke in the city’s papers. 5 Return to Overview | FIRST TIME: GERMANY | Berlin Other lodging options? More Gourmet Coffee @ Our other favorites include the Michelberger BARN Cafe Hotel (hip spot with great common spaces for hanging out) located in Warschauer Str. 39- Description: Minimalist coffee shop with 40 in the Friedrichshain district and the Gorki amazing baked treats. You can’t go wrong with Apartments (fantastic design and luxurious the regular coffee or a flat white. Baristas beds) located at Weinbergsweg 25 in the create incredible latte art designs so be ready Mitte district. to Instagram. There is fresh orange juice and you can purchase coffee beans to go. The shop also offers classes on how to roast and Appreciate Contemporary Art brew at home! @ KW Institute Cost: EUR 3 for coffee Hours: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Weekends 10am- Description/tips: Founded in the early 1990’s 6pm. in a decrepit margarine factory, this has Address: Auguststraße 58, 10119 Berlin become the best spot to view contemporary art in Berlin. Visit not only for the current exhibitions but also visit for the evening talks More Contemporary @ and events. Check the website for what’s on. Hamburger Bahnhof Cost: EUR 8 Hours: Wed–Mon 11am–7pm, Thu 11am–9pm. Description/tips: This museum was once the Tuesdays closed last station of a rail line that ran between Approximate time: 1-2 hours Hamburg and Berlin. The building was then repurposed into an art museum with 10,000 Physical activity: square meters of exhibition space. The Address: Auguststraße 69, 10117 Berlin museum contains art from1960 until the present and includes various mediums such as sculpture, painting, photography, film and Renting bike in Berlin? Here’s how. video. FINAL THOUGHTS: Inspiring and fun, don’t miss. Berlin’s streets are wide and flat, perfecting for getting around by bike. Drivers keep an Cost: EUR 14 eye out for bikers (unlike elsewhere in Europe, Hours: Tues, Weds, Fri 10am-6pm, Closed where it’s biker beware), there is ample bike Mondays.