Berlin's cultural institutions are extraordinary — Museum Island (5 museums, 1.4 million objects), the Staatliche Museen (17 museum buildings in total), the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko, and one of the most vibrant contemporary art scenes in the world. Culture is surprisingly affordable — many venues offer heavily discounted admission.
The 1859 Neues Museum was rebuilt by David Chipperfield (2009) after WWII destruction — preserving the bomb damage as part of the design. The Egyptian collection includes the Nefertiti bust (1345 BC, the most famous ancient Egyptian artwork outside Egypt) and the Berlin Gold Hat (Bronze Age gold cone, 1000 BC).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe museum restaurants are acceptable. Better: the Scheunenviertel neighbourhood (5 min walk) has excellent cafés — Rosenthaler Platz area for Kaffee und Kuchen.
The 1876 Greek temple building has the finest collection of German Romantic painting — Caspar David Friedrich's Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (on long-term loan from Hamburg), Karl Friedrich Schinkel's architectural paintings, and the Impressionist collection.
The 1847 train station converted into the National Gallery's contemporary art museum — Joseph Beuys (the largest collection in the world), Andy Warhol, and the rotating contemporary programme.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Berlin Philharmonic in Hans Scharoun's 1963 vineyard-form concert hall — one of the finest concert halls and orchestras in the world. Standing room tickets (€12) available from the box office from 1 hour before the concert. Seats from €20.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCafé Einstein Stammhaus (Kurfürstenstraße 58) — the most Viennese café in Berlin, in a 1878 villa. Open until 01:00, with excellent coffee and Austrian food.
The most important collection of Bauhaus art and design (1919–1933) — Marcel Breuer's steel tube chairs, Herbert Bayer's typography, Marianne Brandt's metal lamps, and the architectural drawings and models of Gropius, Mies van der Rohe and Ludwig Hilberseimer.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Kulturforum cafeteria or the new Potsdamer Platz food options (the Sony Center has several restaurants). The Leysieffer café is excellent.
The finest collection of Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings in Germany — Vermeer (6 paintings), Rembrandt (16 paintings including The Man with the Golden Helmet), and the Bruegel collection. In Scharoun's 1998 building of extraordinary natural light.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideAn interactive museum of daily life in East Germany — the Trabi simulator, the apartment reconstruction, the Stasi file system. Provocative and surprisingly popular with former East Germans who feel their history is usually told by West Germans.
Rutz (2 Michelin stars, German tasting menu, €165–220) is Berlin's finest. Nobelhart & Schmutzig (1 star, brutal localism — only Berlin and Brandenburg ingredients) is equally good and more interesting.
The former bank vault that became a techno club in 1991 — the original techno club of Berlin, in a 1920s power station. Different energy to Berghain — smaller, more underground.
Daniel Libeskind's 1999 zinc building with its fractured Star of David footprint — the voids (empty spaces that cannot be accessed), the Garden of Exile, and the 2,000-year history of Jewish life in Germany. The architecture is the exhibition.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideKreuzberg has Berlin's best Turkish food — the doner kebab was invented here by Kadir Nurman in 1972. Mustafa's Gemüse Kebab on Mehringdamm has the best vegetable döner (45-min queue on weekends).
Berlin has the finest second-hand bookshop culture in Germany — Prenzlauer Berg has Shakespeare & Sons (English), Antiquariat Kiessling, and Do You Read Me? (the most beautiful design bookshop in Berlin).
The leading independent contemporary art space in Berlin — in a 1990s converted margarine factory in Mitte. Free on the first Thursday of every month.
For a non-member alternative: Umami (Gipsstraße 3, Mitte) for contemporary Asian cuisine, or Lokal for the best traditional Berlin food (Linienstraße 160).
Strandbar Mitte is Berlin's best beach bar on the Spree. Clärchens Ballhaus (1913 dance hall in Mitte) has ballroom dancing Thursday–Sunday evenings and a beautiful garden.