Berlin City Break

We managed to squeeze in a lot into our two night stay, arriving by lunchtime on Friday and departing after lunch on Sunday. Which was good as the food being so delicious, we needed to fit as many meals as possible into our stay!

We stayed at the Mecure Checkpoint Charlie which as it sounds, is very close to Checkpoint Charlie. It was a wonderful hotel and had an excellent location to explore from. There is no clearly defined centre as such in Berlin and we were positioned well to explore the many areas of the city.

Essential places to see include the Reichstag building with its glass dome. Tours are free to this historic building and the views are amazing from the top of the dome. Designed by Norman Foster, the Dome was built on top of the Reichtag building and has made it a prominent landmark of the city. Do be sure to book the tour, though - you can do this online but should do it around a week before you plan to go, otherwise, there is a booking booth where you can book any slots that are left at least a day in advance.

Other places to visit are: Holocaust Memorial, a haunting set of stones that commemorate the millions of Jewish people killed in the Holocaust. The many museums (DDR museum, Berlin wall memorial, Jewish museum, Topography of Terror museum, Neues museum to name but a few) are also worth seeing as well as the East Side gallery, An open air gallery created from the Berlin Wall.

No trip to Berlin is complete without the food and drink the city can offer - try the many types of wurst (we saw Veganwurst for the non meat eaters!) and a stein glass or two of beer.