We LOVED Schwarzwaldstuben in the Mitte district. Great food, great local place!
2
Actually the author paid more money than necessary for the public transportation tickets and the museum.
If yo stay for 3 days in Berlin it is cheaper to buy every day a "Day ticket" which costs 7€, so in total 21€. If you want to visit the museums as well, you can buy a dayticket for the museum island for 18€ or just pay for the one museum you are going to visit between 9 and 12€. Most people don´t go to the museum all 3 days, which would be the only case, where it is cheaper to get the Berlin Welcome Card Museum Island (45€).
Also you need to know that a student always pays less. For example 9€ instead of 18€ for a day ticket at the museum island and even less if you only want to visit one museum. So you really shouldn´t pay the tourist prices if you have a student id :)
3
I was happy to see this article in the Times as I am traveling back to Berlin for the first time since 1984
Expecting many changes and now great affordable food as well!
As a note this is my first trip back to any part of Germany since then. Berlin, East and West, even back then was welcoming to a Jewish American
Contrast that with Munich where I was twice verbally accosted in the street and once sneezed upon.
1
You a might consider this tour http://www.berlinjewish.com/cemeteries
For a great breakfast head to Café an Neuen See in the Tiergarten. taste Berlin's Third wave coffee at any of the coffeehouses, but if you want heavenly cheesecake with your coffee go to Five Elephant. For a Sunday morning, enjoy Markthalle Neun, a thriving market housed in a beautifully restored building rich in history. Walk the Mitte with its numerous stumble stones (Stolperstein) memorials to the Holocaust, as well as the old Jewish cemetery on Große Hamburger Straße. Berlin is a welcoming city.
1
It speaks to how cheap Berlin is that you could pretty much do everything on the $1000 itinerary, just skipping the private tour guides and ordering a cocktail rather than a bottle of champagne, and come out at a pretty reasonable cost for a day in a European capital.
3
Agree with many of the comments, I would recommend "currywurst" from the multitude of street vendors for cheap "authentic" Berlin lunch. Also, I'd recommend the "Berlin Free Walking Tours". These start at Potsdamer Platz, last about an hour, and you tip what you feel the tour was worth. (they use it as an "introduction" to the many other "fee" based tours they offer.) Ours was great, and worth the 2 Euro tip (just kidding...not about it being "great", but about our tip)
4
Not one of the better “on a $100” conversion lists which I typically enjoy as I’ve tried to attempt this type of thing on my travels from time to time in the past if I couldn’t do an outright treat.
This list, while not bad in and of itself as a guide on things to do, didn’t really at all attempt in a dressed down way the upscale options; most of the usual comparisons have at least some parallel in the suggested recommendations. Not much similarity here. Berlin is indeed affordable and there are many more creative options to experience the city in a semi posh way than what is proffered here. And getting a museum card is Rick Steves 101, sorry.
I’m also in agreement with other commentators, it’s not much of a German-infused list save for the pilsener at the end. Berlin is rather an international and diverse city but if it’s your first time in Germany and you’re not absorbing the German culture, well ok, it’s not required but it ought to at least be mentioned in the piece, no?
But I guess folks also just like to do international metro cities regardless of the history/flavor and that’s ok too. Just kind of bland is all, especially for The NY Times which was the source for countless of my travel dreams, many of which I was lucky enough to fulfill. Guess I’m hoping the same for other readers too.
2
Re: the lack of "German Culture"..it's there I believe...it's just not the star of the show, since as you well note, Berlin is an international city--particularly when the events featured here are center city focused. If that's the "German" experience you want... maybe a Rhine trip starting in Koln and ending in Frankfurt between with the castles and small towns would deliver more blatantly...and THEN add a few days in Berlin, since I don't think an exposure to modern Germany would be complete without it. Or, if you're doing Berlin only, even a quick U-bahn or S-bahn venture to areas of this wonderful city a bit farther from Stadtmitte than presented in this article can readily produce a plate of pork potato and cabbage and a wonderful neighborhood bakerei for dessert. Then again, the article WAS Berlin focused, not Germany focused. I don't necessarily expect the full American experience in New York, although I'll suggest it's there too if you want it if you venture deeper into the Tri-State and out of Manhattan.
1
“Populist”?
Does the NYT style guide have anything about this word?
Does it mean the same here as it does in German, where it’s applied to Trump, AfD and the like?
1
It's a total misuse of the word. It applies to demagogues and the practice of demagoguery.
1
One of the nicest very affordable casual dining places is Chupenga a husband and wife run Californian-Mexican restaurant.
2
I echo everything H from Greenwich stated. I've been to Berlin twice over the past nine years and can't get enough of the place. It's uber clean, the trains run on time and the food is great. Both times I stayed next door to the Ritz-Carlton, at the Berlin Marriott. The location is incredible and is easily accessible to every site a visitor would want to see.
And just as H mentioned, Berlin is relatively cheap compared to other major world-class cities. There's a lot to see and do and one could easily spend a full week there.
Being Jewish and having relatives that perished in the holocaust, I wasn't sure what to expect from the German people, but was pleasantly surprised to find that they are ashamed of the events perpetrated by their great-grandparents and are trying to make amends.
11
Berlin is my absolute favorite place. Similarly ahead of my first trip to Germany, I was apprehensive due to the history. But I was overwhelmed by the friendliness of the German people. And the Jewish Museum in Berlin is amazing. When my mother, who was Jewish, was 88, I was able to bring her to Germany, not Berlin but Frankfurt. I brought her to the Jewish Museum there. I could tell how proud she was to see her rich heritage on display. I asked her what she thought of Germany. Her first observation was that she was surprised that the people were much friendlier than she was expecting. Like mother, like son! I try to encourage other Jewish family members and friends to visit Germany, especially incredible Berlin!
4
Hah, Berlin clean?
1
The "High-End" activities listed here can be easily enjoyed by everyone. A visit to the Reichstag rooftop is free, and registering online puts you on a VIP list. The Museum Island pass is 18 Euros (not 45 as suggested by the article). A public tour of the Boros Collection runs 15 Euros, but must be reserved 2–3 months in advance. If no spots are available, try the other "art bunker." The Feuerle Collection is set in an underground communications bunker, and includes 1 floor of Buddhist sculpture and 1 floor of Chinese decorative items. Tours are conducted in silence (but questions are welcomed). While the Boros tour whisks you from room-to-room to show you an expansive exhibition, a tour of the Feuerle Collection begins with a meditative exercise to slow your pacing before entering the gallery space. Both are worth visiting. [I've been living in Berlin for the last 2 years.]
6
Some good suggestions but I can have amazing (and cheap) Thai and Indonesian food in NY ... And a flea market? Where’s the music scene, quirky neighborhoods and German food?
15
This is quite funny; I lived on Torstrasse for a year and remember Hermann's going up. We considered it just another overpriced hipster coffee shop that emulated the sterile Airbnb anywhere-in-the-world vibe. Go to the delicious Zeit für Brot instead for massive cinnamon buns and fresh bread alongside an affordable cappuccino.
10
One thing Berlin definitely is not, unlike what the author claims, is walkable...There are virtually no cute, narrow streets to amble through like in other European cities. The old Prussian and GDR avenues are gargantuan, go on forever. It's bad advice to suggest you can master Berlin on foot. You really need to rent a bike to get around. Sure, there are buses and there's the underground, but the best and fastest way to enjoy the city is on a bike.
14
One of my initial observations on Berlin is that it is spread out, like LA. LA is definitely not known for being walkable! Individual neighborhoods may be walkable, but the city as a whole is not walkable like Boston, San Francisco, Amsterdam, or even Paris.
2
Berlin is walkable because of how flat it is and how pedestrian friendly it is. Although Berlin sprawls like Chicago, a single pass will let you ride the turnstile-free U-Bahns and S-Bahns and buses and trams to any corner of the city, and once there, you can walk. (Biking is great, too, and bikeshares are proliferating, but the fact that the city is peppered with bumpy cobbled streets and busy stretches with no dedicated bike lanes can make navigating from one end of town to the other a challenge for visitors.)
1
Sorry, but no cute streets? Where were you walking? Did you try Mitte above Hackescher Markt, Schöneberg around Akazienstrasse, or Charlottenburg and Kreuzberg just about anywhere? The quaint cobblestone streets with gorgeous Altbau buildings are everywhere, so I'm really baffled as to how you missed them.
6
Americans: please “conquer” another city, we are trying to live here.
14
The same applies to Germans, Hans: There are other cities in America besides New York and Miami. You might try "conquering" Akron, Ohio, for example.
5
It strikes me as a bit odd to visit the city and have Thai and Indonesian food. What's the point of going? To really feast on a budget, stay here in New York City and have Asian food. If I visit, I'll be looking for all the German food and world class beer I can get my hands on.
21
Funny, I hadn’t noticed that when I first read the article. It does seem a bit odd to have not just Asian food, but Southeast Asian food, twice in one day when you’re in the heart of Europe. (On the other hand, another commenter mentions currywurst. I tried that in Germany. Once! Give me bratwurst and spâtzle!)
It depends on your taste, but unlike Vienna, Berlin really has no stellar local cuisine to offer, despite its bourgeois past. Why else would Mr. Munko, who is a Berliner, send our travel guide to a high-end Italian restaurant instead of a German one!
The currywurst really is Berlin's best-known food item. No seafood, as there is no sea, no local culinary delights. Sure, you could get potato dumplings, Sauerkraut and Bratwurst in a pub, but for lighter, healthier fare, you're better off eating at inexpensive excellent international restaurants, of which there are many. That's what the locals do. However, for vegans, Berlin is the place to be! It's the vegan capital of the world.
6
Berliner here. I just can't imagine how the authour of this article could overlook mentioning the one item on our Holy Grail of food -- namely, Currywurst...(we even have a Currywurst Museum!)
And while there are many places to enjoy this invention, there's no way of getting around Konnopke's Imbiss, located in the former East Sektor of the city on Schönhauser Allee.
Just hop on the subway to U-bhf Eberswalder Str. and be prepared for a wait, but it's well worth the visit.
Mahlzeit -- Guten Appetit!
25
I lived in Berlin for three years as Potsdamer Platz was being reconstructed, and returned a few years ago to see how things have developed. Berlin is better than ever, and you owe it to yourself to get there. The history, food, entertainment, and shopping is as good as it gets. More livable (prettier and easier to get around) than New York, much less expensive than Paris, and as friendly as London, Berlin is a blueprint of what a modern city should be. Ich bin Berliner indeed.
29
My favorite city in the world!
I enjoyed my brief stay in Berlin for three nights in December 2016, just after the Christmas market terrorist attack. Definitely want to go back.
Silly me, before I read the article, I thought that the $100 a day figure would include lodging. Apparently not.
13
It's not hard to find a private room with a shared kitchen for $60 or less. If you prepare your own dinner, $100/day for everything is doable.
3
Yup, I was thinking the same thing!
1