I thought I might have had a bit of advice by now but I suppose at least there has been nothing bad said about my hotel. I fly out on Monday 24th January so not long now.

Any advice still appreciated.

Thank you

Gareth

Sorry just saw your post, I went to Berlin last year and loved it,

I do not know the hotel you are going to but there is a lot to do and see.
The bus tour is good as like all the other tour buses you can get a ticket and jump on and off but we stayed on for the full tour then walked round the tourist attractions.

There is a lot of sights to see, Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburgh Gate and the Zoo is very good.

There is also the Berlin Story which is very interesting it is quite near the Zoo, that would take about 2 hours but it is well worth it, shorter if you do not like this sort of think

If I remember anything else before you go I will post.

Enjoy

Linda

Thank you bonnielassie for the advice and if you can remember anything else just post away!

gareth

Hi Gareth

I'm going in March so would really appreciate any tips and advice from you when you get back. Perhaps you could post a trip report?

Have a great holiday!

Cheers

Try " Berliner Weisse mit Schuss". It's a light white beer with green or red syrup (schuss) in it. They drink it with a straw!

Have fun!

I am going to Berlin in June for the weekend, and am looking at maybe booking the Franke Hotel, it is situated just off Kuh'damm by the Adenauerplatz metro, any info on the hotel or the surrounding area, restaurants bars etc.., would be greatly appreciated.

Just a quick report on my recent excellent trip to Berlin. The city break started with an hour and forty minute easy jet flight from Liverpool airport to Schonefeld airport which went as planned. The plane going out was not full, so boarding and collecting luggage on arrival went very smoothly and quickly. On arrival we asked at the information desk which way the train station was and we were told that we could walk the short distance or jump on the number 45 free shuttle bus. At the station we went into the ticket office and found a very helpful lady who sold us two train tickets which as I understood it covered us for two hours travelling on the train and the bus. Which meant we could use the ticket to get to the city centre (Zoologist Garten) then jump on a bus using the same ticket. REMEMBER before boarding the train you must validate your ticket using one of the machines on the platform, which stamps your ticket with the time and date. The tickets were called AB tickets and cost two euros each. We were told to jump on the S9 train which was the city train that ran every 20mins and stopped everywhere but we got onto the RE4 which went through the city centre without all the stops, as advised by an American student who could obviously see that we looked a bit lost with another two or three couples who had joined forces to try and work out the time table!

Arriving 25 mins later at Zoologist Garten station we decided to trust my map reading skills and walk to our hotel through the snow. After asking one or two locals we finally arrived at Hotel Berlin and were very impressed. Checking in was so simple after using expedia for the first time and the room was spot on.

Our first evening was spent finding our bearings whilst stopping for refreshments. We had to stop quite a lot just so I could sample the German beers and my Wife had to try the Hot Chocolates to try to warm her blood. During our four night stay we ate out at an Italian, a Mexican, a Chinese and an Argentinean Restaurant not forgetting the German delights in between.

Day time was spent wandering the streets with map and camera in hand. We picked a route on the map and got lost! No, we found the streets well signposted and the busy roads all had pedestrian crossings but I will warn you that although the little green man might be flashing, I am sure that cars can still go through, as long as there is no-one crossing. The map was picked up at the Tourist Office at the Europa Centre near the zoo and had all the touristy spots highlighted. We picked out Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, TV tower and the remains of the Wall but soon found ourselves finding other interesting sights.

Berlin was beautiful under snow and I am sure it is as beautiful in the sun, when I'll have to visit there next.

If anyone has any questions while it is still fresh in my mind, I will be more than happy to answer them as best I can.

Gareth

Glad you enjoyed your visit Gareth.

Linda

thanks for your very informative report on Berlin. Just the usual question - could you tell me the cost of meals, drinks, hotel, trains, etc. just to get a rough idea of spending money - many thanks!

Good report Gareth.

I love Easyjet flights - they are making those city breaks much more affordable! We are doing Prague this year and Berlin is top of our list for next year.

Dawn

We visited Berlin in December 2003 for 3 nights and had a wonderful time.There was so much to do and see that we could of stayed there longer.
We plan to go back again in a couple of years at Xmas time as there is such a great atmosphere then especially with all the festive lights and Xmas markets.
We stayed at the Art'otel Berlin City Center West and would highly recommend this hotel.

Great report Gareth. We'll be visiting Berlin in March. Did you buy a multi day transport pass whilst you were there?

We fly into Tegel, so if anyone has any tips for that airport I'd appreciate it.

thanks for the report Gareth. Did you use any particular guide book?

coininban = I found prices to be similar to this country and they varied from place to place. The Irish Bar in the Europa Centre, were we popped into most nights charged us E3.60 for a beer and about E2.50 for a diet coke which was about the most we paid for drinks. There was live music there every night with no entrance fee and also a big screen for those football matches that you dont want to miss. Food prices varied too so we just looked at the menus in the window and could decide whether to go in or not. We found the waiters very helpful for translating menus and some restaurants had english menus available. We didnt use the buses but did use the trains to and from airport and cost 2 euros each which covered 2hrs travel in the city on train and buses. Hotel was about £170 for a very nice 4* Hotel in a central location for 4 nights.

fiona = We used The rough guide to Berlin and the Berlitz Pocket guide. Both very good. Before we went I wish I had brushed up on my knowledge of history a little bit, but between reading the guides and the plaques by the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, Check Point Charlie etc I found it very interesting. I recommend getting the city map for 1euro from the tourist information Centre and walk around the city, having plenty of rests in the local taverns .

Gareth, thanks for the useful report.

I am travelling to Berlin, from Liverpool, on 09.02.05. My travelling companion is not as mobile as me - Did anyone of the bus tours seem more useful than the others?

How long did it take to travel from central Berlin to Schoenfeld? Don't want to miss the 40 min cut-off

Thanks in advance

Hi Beckie

We didn't use any bus tours but i'm sure if you visit the tourist information office by the Europa Centre, not far from the zoo they could help you with that or pick up a leaflet from your hotel. Although we did get around on our own I think a guided too might have been better so we could have learnt a bit more by someone knowledgable. I'm not sure what you mean about the 40min cut off. If your hotel is in the city centre, you will probably get a train to Zoologist Garten station and it will cost you 2 Euros each for the journey. I know that from Schonefeld to Zoologist Garten we used the RE4 and it took approx 30min and our return journey we used the S9 and it took about 45min because it stopped almost everywhere.

Gareth

Several separate topics have now been merged into this single topic, as it was obvious from the number of repeat enquiries that some members were missing out on important information which had already been supplied by previous visitors to the city.

David

Anyone got any recommendations for a comfortable, reasonably priced hotel for a 3/4 night stay? Location needs to handy for visiting the historical sites.
Thanks.

Hi

I can recommend the Express By Holiday Inn, Anhalter-Bahnhof in Berlin. We were there in March/April this year.

Brand new hotel on the very interesting Stressemanstrasse, which still has parts of The Wall running down it. It's ideally located for the historic sights such as Checkpoint Charlie (10 minute walk), Brandenburg Gate (15/20 mins walk), Gendarmarket/Unter Den Linden (20 minutes), The Reichstag (15/20 mins).

It's also only a 10 minute stroll to Potsdammer Platz with it's nightlife and shopping and amazing contemporary architechture.

We also walked to the New National Gallery (excellent) the Bauhaus Archive and K'Dam. You could get the U-Bahn train from the nearby Mockenbrucke station (out of hotel turn right and follow to River Spree - 5 minutes) and you can be on the K'Dam in a matter of minutes then!

The hotel was very nice, with it being new, and had a modern design. We only paid 58 euros (£41.00) per room per night including breakfast. We booked direct on ichotelsgroup.com. You'll find some reviews (including mine) on tripadvisor.com

Good luck!