Berlin - what to see with kids????
 

Our family of 4 (kids 10 and 12) will be in Berlin for 3 days. What is of interest to see for them there? I have heard a bike tour is good there. The holocaust museum is a bit much for them at this time. Thanks for any tips!

- Museum für Naturkunde (natural history, world's largest dinosaur skeleton)

- Deutsches Technikmuseum (technology)

- Labyrinth Kindermuseum (children museum)

- The story of Berlin (multi-media)

- The zoo

- Filmpark Babelsberg (film studios) in Potsdam

- Legoland

- Madame Tussaud

- LOXX (model railway)

- Aquadom - SeaLife

- Jack's Fun World (indoor playground)

- Berliner Gruselkabinett (horror cabinet)

- many more indoor-playgrounds

http://www.visitberlin.de/english/zi...r-familien.php

http://www.visitberlin.de/english/be...zeitparks.php?

http://www.visitberlin.de/english/be...izeit_zoos.php

The Reichstag Dome is an absolutely stunning building, whose glass-dome interior can be climbed, so I suggest that for the list.

If the weather is fine, there are boat rides on the Spree.

You don't need to spend all day in the Pergamon museum to see the amazing Altar and the Babylonian gates of Ishtar, with their proecession of lions, which are exciting sights.

Even though I agree with you about the Holocaust Museum (they will encounter various memorials around the city), they might be interested to see the very understated commemoration of the spot where Hitler burned all the books on the Unter den Linden. It's in the Bebelplatz, and it is just a window into the ground where the books were burned.

They might also find it interesting to see the last longest section of the Berlin Wall, although the adjacent museum has many videos of people being shot as they tried to escape, so beware of that.

Lastly, the old and new, side by side, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

http://www.aviewoncities.com/berlin/...tniskirche.htm

But you decide. I recall finding stories of Hitler and communist totalitarianism quite frightening when I was young, and I don't believe in forcing it on children (or anybody!). There will be enough to see without going out of the way to do so, as many scars of the wars and the division of the city are still visible in Berlin, which is otherwise a joyous and youthful city.

I'd take them to the Holocaust Museum - I had no regrets about taking my 11-yr-old son to Washington DC's Holocaust Museum and he still talks about the impression it made on him - positive all in all.

And also the new Holocaust Memorial, a series of slabs of stones right next to the new American Embassy arising next to the Reichstag

The Olympic Stadium could interest them - if not because of the ominous 1936 games but the more recent ones -

And the East Side Gallery - about the only surviving stretch of the grim Berlin Wall - today artists have covered the gray cement slabs with colorful murals

and yes a trip up Berlin's Eiffel Tower - not as high but more antique in its elevators

and the Zoo to see its Uber famous resident - a bear who was brought here as an orphaned cub and has become a huge huge hit with Berliners (think it was a bear!)

The Holocaust museum is a judgement call, obviously. The focus of the exhibit is surprisingly broad - to me, it deals with the history of Judaism in Germany, rather than the Holocaust in general. It's obviously a sensitive topic and is best left to the discretion of the parent to decide what is appropriate and how to deal with difficult issues like this.

The famous resident at the Berlin Zoo is Knut the polar bear. Check out the sappy kids song on youtube...

Take them to a palace like Charlottenburg or Potsdam (Sansouci).

A trip up the Fernsehturm might interest them.

They should be impressed by the main exhibits in the Pergamon museum.

I've been told that the Pfaueninsel is quite a day trip. I hope to check it out when I visit with my 3-year old in June.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfaueninsel

Your kids would probably love the dome of the Reichstag.

Nearby is the Potsdamer Platz. I don't know if it is up all year long, but there is a giant slide stationed there at Christmas. The kids may like going into the Sony Center.

In between the Reichstag and the Potsdamer Platz is the Memorial to Murdered Jews. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX8kivBbaB0

Thin

Pfaueninsel is a child's and adult's delight - lots of follies - weird structures and old pleasure buildings of royals on an island in the Wannsee - you hop a short boat ride to get to it (though come to think of it it could be connected to the mainland) - combine it with a boat trip on the Wannssee perhaps - but beware parts of the huge park surrounding Pfaueninsel is a very popular nude bathing area - very typical of German towns where folks en masse in parks on nice days disrobe and sunbathe.

And one boat trip everyone child and adult will love is south of Berlin at Lubbenau - about an hour by trian - here you are taken thru a series of canals and streams by punters - guys who propel the boat silently along as it goes thru a maza of waterways.