A girlfriend and I visited Berlin in March and loved it. We both want to go back for a much longer visit and do Dresden, Leipzig and Halle. We stayed at Pension Peters near Savigny Platz in Charlottenberg in one of their apartments rather than the main building. There were hundreds of restaurants and shops in the neighborhood with a wide choice of goods and foods. Although many guide books are pushing staying in the Mitte, we felt it was rather sterile in comparison with the dynamic, bustling neighborhood of Charlottenburg.

We went to Potsdam for the entire day and walked around for eight hours seeing Sansoucci Summer Palace, the windmill, St. Nicholas Kirche and visiting markets and shops. It was a great way to spend a Sunday and an easy train ride from Berlin.

We did the 4-1/2 hour walking tour of the Mitte with Original Berlin Tours in English, meeting the group at Zoo Station. If you purchase the Welcome Berlin card, you get a couple of Euros off the tour, and you need the subway fare to get from Zoo the beginning of the walking portion which covered the Unten de Linden, Brandenburg Gate, Berliner Dome, Jewish Memorial by Peter Eisenmann, Checkpoint Charlie and ended at the Gendmarkt. We did get 1/2 hour break. The tour guide was fabulous, and we were able to touch walls pockmarked by bullets from the hand to hand fighting on the museum island and where the books were burned at the University among the sites.

The tour ended near a chocolate store -Fassbender that has huge chocolate models of Easter Rabbits, the Titantic, Berliner Dom and other Berlin landmarks. They have delicious hot chocolate which came in handy after all the walking in the cold.

My last day there I went to Charlottenburg Palace to see the Summer House designed by Schinkel, as I didn't have time to spend the whole day doing the palace tours (next time). I then visited the Pergamon Museum (Troy Altar) the Altes Museum (Egyptian Art) and on the the Chocolate Shop for hot chocolate before going to visit the Jewish Museum (by Daniel Liebiskind). A very full day but great museums and well worth getting up early.

I have a huge list of places to go for my next visit. Berlin is as exciting as New York, London or Paris and is much cheaper than London, where I flew after leaving Berlin. I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in history and culture of the 20th century.

Thanks, this is of interest, because I'm trying to figure out where to stay with my teenage daughter on our August visit. I liked Mitte last time, but I think she might enjoy something more lively also. I share your opinion of Berlin generally, and there are many great walking tour options (and well-priced too).

A friend and I are considering Berlin next mid-March for Spring Break. I have looked at the historical weather but there's no info like first-hand info.

How was the weather when you were there? Was it miserably cold? We went to Poland last year in March and it was miserably cold in Warsaw and a lot of sites were closed.

Plus, we're from Texas where we hardly have winter at all . . . we don't want to freeze and are hoping you can advise us.

Thanks in advance,
Sandy (in Denton)

I don't think anybody will be able to really help with this. Weather in this part of Europe is pretty unpredictable.

It is not quite likely, though, that it is going to be warm at that time of year. Berlin has continental climate - i.e. it gets cold winters and warm summers in general. March is still quite early, so I would expect temperatures to be somwhere between high 40ies to mid- 50ies (the latter if you're lucky).

mes2525,

We are looking at staying at Pension Peters next year when we got to Berlin and would maybe like the apartment option. It looks on the webpage like their apartment is in mitte closer to the Hackesher (spelling) area. We would like to stay close to Savigny Platz. Could you tell me where you stayed and how you made those arrangements?

Thanks