11 Fab Things To Do in Berlin in 48 hours

I’m not sure why Berlin had never been on my radar for a city break. But when Pa Lee asked if we’d ever thought about visiting, I started to consider it. Before you know it, I’ve booked flights and Mr Fletche and I are heading to Germany’s capital to spend just over 48 hours in Berlin. And we quickly fell in love with this wonderful city.

We arrive mid afternoon on a Wednesday, which gives us two full days, as well as an arrival day evening and departure day morning. Here are the 11 best things we did during our 48 hours in Berlin, loosely in the order that we visited!

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Explore the Hackescher Markt district

Hackesche Höfe is a maze of interlinked courtyards housing cafes, boutique shops and culture, Just a short stroll from the Hackescher Markt S-Bahn station, it’s conveniently close to our hotel. In fact, I highly recommend a stay in this area.

In contrast to the polished Art Nouveau architecture is Haus Schwarzenberg. This sticker- and graffiti-adorned alleyway is vibrant and colourful, with an eclectic range of cool shops and bars. It’s also home to Berlin’s Anne Frank Museum and mural.

We duck under the brick railway arches of the Hackescher Markt S-Bahn station and emerge riverside. James-Simon Park is where everyone gathers on sunny evenings to socialise, drink and listen to the street musicians, with views of the imposing Berliner Dom across the River Spree.

It’s legal to drink on the streets of Berlin! It’s the done thing to grab a takeaway bottle from a supermarket, street vendor or Spati and enjoy a beer as you walk or set yourself up for a little al fresco picnic.

Nikolaiviertel and Alexanderplatz

Our first evening stroll allowed us to see two very different sides of Berlin. Nikolaiviertel is the heart of old Berlin. This single block was the city’s oldest settlement, and the birthplace of Berlin. In fact, medieval Berlin seems to rise around us. There are cobblestone streets, a Gothic church and overhanging buildings. This area had a small-town vibe that echoed other places we’ve visited in Germany previously. Yet the illusion hides a modern truth; it’s all actually a clever reconstruction. Berlin rebuilt the entire quarter after the Second World War reduced it to ruins.

Ever heard of the “Romantic Road”? It’s a popular scenic route in Bavaria, stretching from Würzburg to Füssen. We visited back in 2017 – you can read all about whether it was that romantic here 😍

Just a few minutes walk from Nikolaiviertel is Alexanderplatz – a world away from the peaceful, calm oasis of the old town. In all honesty, there’s not much to see here. It’s a transport hub surrounded by department stores and fast food restaurants. Unless you’re here for a walking tour, or specifically to visit the Berlin TV Tower, I’d give it a swerve.

Under the Berlin Wall tour with Berlin Underworld

World War II history is all around Berlin, but we wanted to learn more about the divided city post‑war. Berlin sat deep in Soviet‑controlled territory, split overnight in 1961 by a sudden, border. Eager to find out more, we booked onto Under the Berlin Wall (Tour M). This is one of a number of fascinating tours run by Berlin Unterwelten (Berlin Underworld).

There are various start locations for Berlin Unterwelten tours. We discovered this only after I led Mr Fletche 25 minutes and 2.2km in completely the wrong direction. We’d actually arrived at Bernauer Straße, the correct starting point, before I marched us off elsewhere. Cue an anxious U‑Bahn dash across town. Thankfully we managed to join the right tour just 4 minutes late. Along with another two couples that had made the same error as us. READERS, ALWAYS CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK THE DETAILS!

This 2 hour tour was well worth rushing back for. Our excellent guide Elliot told us tales of the heroes that worked so tirelessly to extricate those trapped in the Soviet-ruled East Berlin to the relative freedom of West Berlin, where those with the appropriate funds could flee Germany by air. They worked to reunite families separated by the sudden division of the home city. These narratives weren’t without tragedy and Elliot was able to convey both the joy of success, and the pain of thwarted attempts.

These tours sell out quickly so make sure you book well in advance to secure your preferred time slot. Tickets are available up to 30 days in advance. Our tour was €17pp; tours run every day. It gets chilly underground so make sure you’re prepared, whatever the weather outside.

Make sure you check out the Berlin Wall Memorial while you’re in the area. It starts right by Bernauer Straße u-bahn station and marks some of the most prominent spots that separated East and West Berlin. Bernauer Straße is also the location of many of the tunnels which are covered on the Under the Berlin Wall tour. There’s a free to enter visitors centre and viewing platform (closed on Mondays); unfortunately we turned up at the same time as a horde of school groups and tour groups. Plus we had an unnecessary 25 minute walk to embark on…

Potsdamer Platz

In contrast to the crumbling wall remains and standing in the so-called “Death Strip”, Potsdamer Platz is a testament to modern architecture. As a strategic target for Allied bombings, this area was completely devastated during World War II, and rebuilt in the 90s after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Nowadays, gleaming skyscrapers and glass-fronted facades, sit alongside remnants of the Wall and the first traffic light tower in Europe.

Speaking of traffic lights, the pedestrian signals of Berlin feature a character called Ampelmann. Originally this symbol was found only in East Berlin but after reunification it slowly started to find its way into the former West Berlin too. You can even find entire souvenir stores dedicated to Ampelmann!

We wanted to visit Das Center am Potsdamer Platz, with its futuristic glass domed roof. The complex is also home to traditional restaurant Lindenbräu am Potsdamer Platz, and to Kerb Berlin. You know how much we love a food hall so Mr Fletche and I grabbed a casual lunch at Kerb, on the inside/outside terrace underneath that roof. Mr Fletche opted for kimchi from Fräulein Kimchi whilst I went for the buttermilk chicken thigh burger from Butter Bronsons after seeing it recommended on a YouTube video from Where Are We?!

Of course, Mr Fletche couldn’t resist taking his brand new camera out for a spin – what do we think? You can find his Berlin shots and plenty more on Instagram.

Free walking tour with Walkative

It’s all go on our first full day in Berlin. We scoot back across the city to meet our Walkative guide for a free walking tour. A free walking tour is our go-to way of exploring a new city and I’ve banged on plenty about them here, here and here.

We took this afternoon tour with Walkative, which started at Red Town Hall (Rotes Rathaus) and finished at Brandenburg Gate. We’re two for two for tour guides today. Jules is a fab guide, an absolute pocket rocket of energy, who talks fast and walks faster. As a historian, from a family of historians, and a true Berliner – surprisingly rare in Berlin – she’s hugely passionate and gives us a brutally honest opinion of some of the city’s more controversial “highlights”.

Jules dismisses the Berlin TV Tower as a “disco ball on a cocktail stick” and not worth the entry fee to ascend because the most interesting thing on the Berlin skyline is, well, the Berlin TV Tower. However, if you do want to visit and form your own opinion, you can book your tickets here.

As always with “free” walking tours, make sure you tip generously at the end! A good guide will gently encourage you to donate what you feel the tour may be worth, without putting on any pressure. “Free” tour guides are often freelance and tips could be their sole income – which means they often work harder to give you the best experience possible!

Reichstag Dome

Visiting the Reichstag Building is a must-see when in Berlin. The building was destroyed by fire in 1933. and left unattended until reunification in 1989. Now it is a powerful symbol of democracy and a monument to the country’s tumultuous past.

Now it is home to the Bundestag, federal parliament of Germany. The building is topped by a spectacular glass dome and observation platform; a cone of mirrors suspends from the roof, reflecting natural light onto the chambers below. From inside the dome there are wonderful views all over Berlin. And the best part is that it’s completely free to visit! Its proximity to the Brandenburg Gate means you can easily tick two Berlin icons off in quick succession.

Visitors can choose either to visit just the glass dome – as we did – or take a guided tour of the interior which also includes dome access. A double helix ramp leads us to the observation platform at the top of this architectural marvel. An oculus at the top provides ventilation and allows heat to escape

If you want to visit the Reichstag Dome you sadly can’t just rock up on the day. Permission to access must be obtained in advance and registration approved. We were thankfully not considered any kind of security risk. On arrival there is a security check, and visitors also must show official photo ID, so don’t forget your passport!

You can make your free online reservation on the official Bundestag website. For some reason, there can be an issue registering for access with a Microsoft email address. I first registered with my Hotmail address, and got no response. I tried again with my blog Gmail address and a response was received straight away.

For once it’s me that took the majority of the photos here. Mainly because we get inside and Mr Fletche discovers that his spare camera battery isn’t charged. It’s like Budapest all over again. So here are some slightly fuzzy iPhone Reichstag shots.

After a short while at the top, we begin to feel a few drops of rain, gently falling through the open roof. As we descend, the drizzle becomes a deluge. Which gives us some pretty cool shots of the fiery sunset through the rainy windows. We’re woefully underprepared for rain, despite being warned of Berlin’s tendency to experience four seasons in one day.

My dreams of spending the rest of the evening in a biergarten vanish. Although to be honest, we’re exhausted. We’ve seen A LOT of Berlin on Day 1, and walked 22,500 steps. So it’s a hotel room picnic for us instead, with goods gathered from Alexanderplatz train station. Turns out Berlin train stations are almost as good as a food hall for casual food options.

Food tour of Kreuzberg and Neukölln 

Our walking tour guide Jules had been quick to tell us that there’s no such thing as “German cuisine” as most dishes have been brought in from elsewhere and adapted. So we were interested to take a food tour where we could hear more about these foodie origins. The multi-cultural West Berlin districts of Kreuzberg and Neukölln were the perfect spot.

It’s still an area more frequented by locals rather than tourists, which makes our experience feel all the more authentic. We’d have struggled to find the best eating and drinking spots independently so I’d highly recommend a food tour if you’re looking for a local eating and drinking experience.

We booked this Kreuzberg & Neukölln Food Tour via Get Your Guide. If you want to read more, I’ll be publishing a blog post soon about our “private” tour with Gabriel.

East Side Gallery

From our final foodie stop it’s a short hop on the u-bahn to Schlesisches Tor. We get off here so that we can walk across the impressive double-decker Oberbaumbrücke before beginning our stroll along the world’s largest open-air art gallery. The East Side Gallery stands as the longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall. After the wall fell in November 1989, artists from around the world came to paint murals that created a place of hope and unity.

As one of Berlin’s biggest tourist attractions, where history and art collide, the East Side Gallery can be busy. The biggest crowd unsurprisingly gathers around the famous mural of a kissing Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker.. But some of the abstract paintings were just as striking.

If the East Side Gallery is a little too crowded, just pop river-side for a breather. We found a gorgeous waterfront park with a cherry blossom avenue to rival those in Japan.

Japan marked the fall of the Berlin Wall by gifting the city 9,000 cherry trees as a symbol of peace and reunification. Many now bloom along the former border, especially at Glienicker Brücke, Landschaftspark Nord‑Ost and TV‑Asahi‑Kirschblütenallee.

Holzmarkt 25 – Ruin Bar meets Biergarten meets Cultural Centre

We’ve done history and art since saying goodbye to Gabriel, but now its definitely time for another drink. On the banks of the River Spree, close to Berlin’s Ostbanhof railway station, is Holzmarkt 25. This vibrant urban paradise is a wine bar, a beer garden, an exhibition space, a bakery, an art studio, a music venue, a children’s playground and riverside city park, all wrapped up in one. It’s a place for locals and tourists alike, for families, for creatives, for community. A far cry from the infamous nightlife venue that used to stand on the same spot.

Grab a seat on a rustic bench, or on a rock, or even in a wooden boat – on the sunny spring afternoon we visited people were making use of every inch of spare space. For us one quick beer turned into two leisurely beers – Holzmarkt 25 has its own on-site brewery – and it was a wrench to pull ourselves away.

Museum Island

Travelling to Berlin in spring time meant that I had a wet weather contingency plan. After all, remember Lisbon? Thankfully though, our April weather was glorious apart from that one evening of drizzle post Reichstag. If we’d felt the need for shelter, we could have headed to Museum Island, where Berlin has some of its very best museums. It is home to the Neues Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie, Altes Museum, Bode Museum and Pergamom Museum (currently closed until Spring 2027).

If we had had more time though, my museum of choice would have been the DDR Museum, with its interactive look into life in the former East Germany. The museum is open every day of the year between 9am and 9pm, an adult ticket is currently €13,90.

River Spree Boat Cruise

We’ve walked enough by our final morning. With a late afternoon flight we had a morning to fill, and what better way to spend an hour than a boat cruise on the River Spree. There are a number of options within a short distance; we opt for a Berlin Water Taxi Tour which leaves from just outside the DDR Museum.

Our cruise – accompanied by a pre-noon limoncello spritz for me – takes us past Museum Island, the Reichstag and all the way to the Tiergarten, where we can glimpse the Victory Column over the top of the trees. Our audio-commentary is in both German and English; sometimes its a little difficult to hear but we get the gist. Seeing Berlin from the water gives a different perspective. Our tour was €22 per person, plus a reasonably priced limoncello spritz.

Where we stayed

We stayed in Berlin Mitte, at the Numa Berlin Weinmeister. As long as you don’t want all the bells and whistles of an actual person at Reception, this is a great option. Everything is digital, from passport verification and check-in, to opening the doors and check-out, but we found all the communication to be very efficient.

We added a late check-out, giving us two additional hours on our final morning – this was €20 (exactly what we saved on not paying for seats together on our Ryanair flight 😂). We decided against the breakfast box offering, preferring instead to grab coffee and pastries each morning from one of the many coffee shops and bakeries in the area.

☕🥐 My top kaffee und kuchen spots? Five Elephant Mitte, Bonanza Coffee Mitte and Zeit für Brot ☕🥐

The location of this hotel was perfect, between Hackescher Hof and Rosenthaler Platz, with all its local life in between. Our closest S-Bahn station was Hackescher Hof, and the Weinmeisterstraße U-Bahn station on the U8 line was a mighty 48 seconds from the hotel front door. Plus we had this lovely roof terrace, with TV Tower views.

Getting around Berlin

We’ve conquered Shinjuku and the Japanese train system. We feel like experts at navigating complicated public transport systems. And compared to Tokyo, the Berlin network is something of a doddle. German and English signs make everything easy to follow, and Google Maps once again shows us best routes, platforms and exits.

We use a combination of the S-Bahn (light rail network) and the U-Bahn (subway) to get around; there are also buses and trams. One ticket covers all methods of transport; we purchased a 24 hour ticket each day (which is valid for 24 hours from the time of purchase) via the BVG app for €11.20 per ticket.

No-one checks that we have tickets. Not even once. I feel like finding an inspector and waving my digital passes in their face. Please don’t take this as a suggestion that you don’t purchase transport tickets. I’m not paying your €60 fine.

Getting to Berlin

As a major European capital, Berlin is unsurprisingly well connected. We flew from East Midlands Airport to Berlin Brandenburg Airport with Ryanair; our flights were £77 per person (no additional luggage, and random seats allocated at check-in which saw Mr Fletche and I sitting at opposite ends of the plane). Flight times from the UK are around 1 hour 50 minutes.

From airport to city

With its own station in Terminal 1, there are a number of train options from Berlin Brandenburg to the city centre. We caught the S9 to Hackescher Markt, a journey which took around 45 minutes. The airport is in Zone C, which means tickets are €5 (valid for two hours for any onward connections within the city). We took the exact same route back to the airport – look out for the train heading towards “Flughafen Berlin“.

Incidentally, the way the announcement pronounces “S9” is very Brummie – “S-noin”. We feel quite at home.

Reflecting on Berlin

Berlin lives alongside its history. Remnants of the wall that divided the city. Solemn memorials to the dead. Museums that remember the terror, but do not celebrate it. But Berlin is also a thoroughly modern city, which refuses to be defined by its past. Of course there’s a “ticklist” of things to see, but we stumbled across the best bits purely by accident. Spaces where locals and tourists alike gather. Green parks and cherry blossom trees. Graffitied courtyards under elegant architecture. There’s so much more to see, which I think will definitely warrant a second visit very soon.