Berlin in November- Itinerary
 

In addition to purchasing a 7 day metro pass, I plan to see the major Berlins sights.

I'd be interested in hearing some comments on my planned activities and recommendations:

Fri- Arrive Heckers Hotel.
Sat eve- Jerome Robins Ballet bend.
Sun- Gemaldegalerie - Old master Paintings.
Mon eve- Kammermusiksaal der Philharmonie - (apparently the Berlin Philharmonic's little brother)
Tues- Switch to Acotel Velvet Hotel
Tues- Tour Sacsenhausen Concentration Camp
Wed- Visit Kathe- Kallwitz Museum
Thu- Day trip to Dresen (?)
Fri- Potsdam & Sanssousi Tour
Sat- Fly home.

The museums on Berlin's Museum Island are open late on Thursdays, and you can buy a one-day pass for not much more than one admission. After seeing the Gemaldegalerie (and perhaps the Neue National Galerie) at the Kulture Center; you can take the U-Bahn and then see the Alte Museum, the Alte National Galerie, the Berliner Dom, and the Pergamon Museum all in one day. Or you can pick and choose which of these you really want. A busy day, of course, but easily do-able on a Thursday.

Dresden is bit far for a day trip from Berlin.

A daytrip to Dresden appears a bit much to me - I think Dresden might be worth a bit more of your time than just half a day (with the other half being spent on the rails or the road).

Why switch hotels within Berlin? I'd be tempted to rather stick with one. Either property you have booked should be quite nice. The fact that one is in Charlottenburg and the other in Mitte does not make a significant difference IMHO. Travel time by public transport between Mitte and Charlottenburg is somewhere between 15 and 25 min.

I like the fact that otherwise your itinerary is not too packed. Thus, you should have ample time to fit in a few things of interest that occur to you upon short notice.

Enjoy your trip!

I have found that staying in two hotels in different parts of the same city is an excellent way to get to know a city. In my las two trips I stayed in two sections of Rome and Venice.


If Dresden is too much for a day trip any recommendations for a daytrip to somewhere else?

Post trip report:


Berlin is wonderful! Should be on everyone’s top ten list of cities (But only if they are interested in culture, history)

Great Fall weather in November. Good thing I did not pay much attention to the 10 day weather reports.

I must say that I have had it with the Euro. I dont need to go back until I get some value for my hard earned dollars.

Hecker’s hotel was very good hotel. Large rooms with a nice of the street. Great location right off th K Dam. Hecker’s had the nerve to want 17 Euros per night to rent a DVD player. I could have purchased one for the price of 2 nights.

Stay away from Hecker's restaurant. There are just too pricy for breakfast. WHAT a Ripe- off. The buggars charged me 24 Euros (11 per the menu) because they said I ate too much. Which I can honestly say I did not eat that much (how much is 300 grams any way and do peope carry a scall with them?). And they should have known better than giving me an empty plate a d free access to the buffet table. There are too many good and reasonably priced restaurants to waste your time in the hotel.

The Jerome Robins Ballet was wonderful, (at least the first half). The Stattsopera, located in Unter Den Linden, is a magnificent facility.

The Gemaldegarie was a world class fine arts museum. On of my favoites. There was so much to see we culd not see it all in one visit. We went back on Thurseday evening when admission is free (7-10pm) .

The Kathy Kullwitz museum was very interesting. The textbook totally misstates her life story.

The Sacsenhausen Concentration camp was amazing. Three cheers for Berlin Walks! A must see.

The Kammermusiksaal was not what I expected. (An singer & pianist). Very enjoyable evening.

For good or bad the opera (Indomeo) was canceled because they did not want to create a controvery with the Muslems (They dont mind ticking off the jews or christians from what I've seen). Luckily it was replaced by Motzart’s The Marriage of Figaro… Brovo! Loved every minute!

The tour to Potsdam and San Sauci was very enjoyable. In the future I’ll steer away from mixed language tours. They tend to spend lots of time in German and sum it up all up in a few English sentences or the next tour group was pushing us through before our guide could finish the English version.

Funny I found the food flavoring very muted. Went to several Indian restaurants and it was good but not what I am used to. Make sure you try the pumpkin soup at the Calcutta restaurant.

Arcotel Velvet hotel was a very hip hotel in an upcoming are in what was east Berlin. Very clean. Yes they povided a DVD in the room at not added expens. Queen sized bed was not up to par. Wonderful shopping and restaurants in the area.

I agree with you, years ago the Gemaldegalerie was the last painting museum I ever visited as I was overwhelmed by the endless number of paintings. They were all impressive but my eyes started to blur and ever since then I gave up on painting museums. Too much of a good thing is sometimes not good.

I have to ask you what was so amazing about the Sachsenhausen? I never wanted to visit a concentration camp when I'm in Germany because I'm afraid it would be the lowest point of my trip, am I missing something? I do appreciate the Jewish memorials and dome.