Berlin, April 2008

The Journey

We spent 3 nights in Berlin in April 2008, flying from East Midlands to Berlin-Schonefeld with Ryanair. Apart from the usual Ryanair boarding scrum, the flights were fine in both directions, and we landed 10 mins early each time. We travelled by train to and from the centre of Berlin itself, on the ‘Airport Express' - this runs roughly every 30 mins during the day. There is an information desk in the arrival hall where staff should be able to give you advice on your travel plans and you can buy tickets from the ‘Presse + buch' shop or at the station itself (a 10 min walk away). The restrictions on liquids in hand luggage applied at both airports.

The Weather

The forecast wasn't looking too great before we went, but luck was on our side for once and we had 3 days of dry weather, 1 of which was actually quite hot. I think Berlin would be a good place to be if the weather was bad as there are lots of museums and other indoor attractions and you can keep dry by making use of the U & S-Bahn and covered sight-seeing buses.

The Hotel

Hotel Johann (http://www.hotel-johann-berlin.de/)

We stayed at the Hotel Johann for 3 nights, on a bed and breakfast basis. We chose it mainly because of the good reviews on Trip Advisor but also because the price was reasonable and it looked nice on the website. To get there from Berlin-Schonefeld, take the ‘Airport Express' to Friedrichstrasse, then the U6 to Hallesches Tor (direction Alt-Mariendorf). The hotel is 5-10 mins walk from Hallesches Tor, on a quiet residential street. The whole journey took an hour - but I would allow 90 mins in case of missing connections etc - check-in is available until midnight.

On arrival, we were greeted by a very helpful staff member who spoke very good English (a godsend considering our poor skills in German). We were in our room within minutes - after stopping to get some reasonably priced drinks from the honesty bar in the hallway. Our room was just as we had hoped it would be - spacious and comfortable with lovely furnishings. The bathroom had a sliding glass door which gives no soundproofing whatsoever, so it's definitely best to stay here with someone you know well! We didn't realise that the bathroom floor was supposed to be heated - this must have been what the thermostat in the bathroom was for (we thought it was for the room itself). The bed was an ‘Austrian twin' - two single mattresses on a double frame and was very comfy. We weren't so keen on the feather pillows - but that's just personal preference I guess. The central heating worked fine when needed and the windows were easy to operate and provided good soundproofing. There is no air conditioning though - hopefully the high ceilings would compensate for this in the summer months.

Although others have praised the selection of food for breakfast, we found it a little bit disappointing. The breakfast room itself is really nice and you can eat in the courtyard when the weather is good. The food available included cereals, bread, cheese, ham, cold veg, fruit salad and yoghurt. There may have been 10 different types of bread but we were hoping for some hot food or at least some ‘sweet' items such as croissants, pain au chocolat etc. The other guests seemed to be happy though so I guess this just comes down to cultural differences (although I don't remember having any problems with breakfasts when we went to Austria).

Overall, we were really pleased with this hotel and it is highly likely that we will stay here again if we go back to Berlin. The location may seem quite far from the centre of Berlin, but the proximity of the U-Bahn makes travelling around very easy. One useful point to note is that they are currently offering a 3% discount for cash payments - there are ATMs in the shops near Hallesches Tor.

Eating Out

As we were staying in our hotel on a bed & breakfast basis, we had plenty of opportunities to eat out. As we speak very little German, we chose to mainly eat in restaurants which had English translations of their menus. Our recommendations are as follows:

- Piazza Rosa (http://www.piazza-rossa.de/) - an Italian restaurant on Alexanderplatz, opposite the Fernsehturm, on the same side as the Rotes Rathaus. Enormous pizzas at reasonable prices.
- Rocco (http://www.prostmahlzeit.de/rocco/) - a large restaurant under the Hackescher markt U-Bahn station. Great food (German and International) and service. There are lots of other restaurants in this area.
- Vapiano (http://www.vapiano.de/) - a ‘self service' Italian restaurant just off the Ku-Damm. Very reasonable prices and good choice of food.
- KaDeWe restaurant - hot, expensive and crowded - would not recommend.
In general, main courses cost less than 15 Euros, beer was cheap but soft drinks and water seemed expensive. The ‘Imbiss' stalls are good if you just want a quick snack and we also found it nice to be able to buy beer and wine at the U and S-Bahn stations to take back to the hotel with us. We also went to the Halford RockCafe (http://www.halford-berlin.de/) a must for any fans of Judas Priest and heavy metal/rock music in general.

Sightseeing

On our first morning in Berlin, we went straight to the tourist office at the Brandenburg Gate to buy Welcome Cards (http://www.visitberlin.de/welcomecard/index.php?lang=en). These cost 24.5 Euros each and gave us 72 hrs unlimited travel on the U and S-Bahn and also allowed us to get the Airport Express back to Schonefeld airport. In addition, it gave us up to 50% off at the museums etc that we visited. I would definitely recommend getting one if you've never been to Berlin before - it's a big place with lots to see. All the attractions mentioned below currently give Welcome Card discounts.

Berlin City Tour by bus (http://www.berlin-city-tour.de/index-en.php) - It's definitely worth doing a bus tour but we were a bit disappointed with this particular one. The tour is advertised as having a live commentary in English and German, but the guide's English was not very good for some one working in the tourist industry. It is supposed to last for 1 ¾ hrs, but almost 45 mins of this was spent waiting at the main bus stops. Tickets are 15 Euros. Apparently the local 100 and 200 bus routes cover a lot of the same route for much less money, so I think we'll do that instead next time.

Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz (http://www.berlinerfernsehturm.de/home_en.asp) - The tallest tower in Berlin and well worth a visit on a clear day. We went just after lunch on a Friday and had to queue for about 20 mins. You reach the top via a very fast lift and are then free to explore the views. There is a restaurant up there as well. Tickets are 10 Euros.

Checkpoint Charlie - The checkpoint itself is a bit of a tourist trap, but there are lots of interesting info boards about the Berlin Wall in the streets just to the north.

The Story of Berlin (http://www.story-of-berlin.de/index.php?page=en_aktuelles) - A really well thought and interesting multimedia exhibition about the history of Berlin. Allow at least 2 hrs to see everything. Your ticket also allows you to take a tour of the Nuclear Bunker under the building - this takes about 45 mins. Tickets cost 10 Euros and there is a free cloakroom.

The GDR museum (http://www.ddr-museum.de/en/) - This isn't a big museum but we found it fascinating. It gives you a real flavour of what life was like in East Germany pre-reunification. We especially liked the reconstruction of the interior of a flat, complete with 70's furnishings. Tickets cost 6 Euros.

Berlin Zoo (http://www.zoo-berlin.de/en.html) - This was one of the main reasons we went to Berlin as my partner is a big fan of polar bears and wanted to see Knut. You can pay extra to visit the Aquarium but luckily decided we probably wouldn't have time. The zoo is huge - we were there for nearly 6 hours and didn't see everything. You have to pay for a map so it is worth downloading one from the website before you go. There are info boards around the park giving details of feeding times - definitely go and see the adult polar bears being fed if you get chance. Tickets cost 12 Euros.

Overall, we had a lovely weekend in Berlin and are very much looking forward to returning in future. It's a just a shame that the sterling>euro exchange rate is so bad at the moment as it certainly wasn't the cheapest weekend away that we've had. Time to start saving up!