Need help with plan to see five sights in Berlin in one day
 

I will be in Berlin with friends the weekend of Saturday, September 25th with a group of friends. On Friday afternoon we plan to take a boat tour for a nice overview of the city. On Saturday, we have the whole day to see the main sights of Berlin but we will not have a car. We made a list of the Berlin Dom, Brandenberg gate, Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie Museum and a remaining piece of the wall, that are "must sees" that day. I read on the message boards about lunch/dinner reservations at the Reichstag to avoid the long lines. I made lunch reservations at 2PM. Other than that, we have no specific time commitments.

Could someone that knows Berlin give me some sort of plan to see all of these without backtracking a lot? We are staying at Derag Hotel Henriette, and the address is Neue Roßstr. 13. I think there is a subway station right next to it, so that would be our starting point at the beginning of the day. If there are other spots that might fit in the day as well, that would be great too. Thank you so much!

you will be able to see all of them very easily on foot...they are all in the former east berlin....all but the dom and checkpoint charlie and wall fragment are in the same area...the wall and the museum are close to each other 5-10 minute walk....the dom is further out so a taxi or bus might be in order....its an easy day....

the museum may take a couple of hours...i'd start at the dom, then go to brandenburg and reichstag, have lunch and finish at museum and then walk over to the wall remains...others may have other ideas...

You may buy a day ticket and use underground line U2 and bus lines 100 and 200 to visit all sites, as well as travel by taxi. They are cheap and easy-to-find.
The Berlin Marathon will take place on September 26 so the city will be quite crowded during that week-end.

Thanks for the advice! As far as the marathon goes, I know that there will be many street closures during the race. We will need to get from our hotel on Sunday (location listed on original post) to the train station by noon at the latest. Is there a subway route that might take us away from those closures? We can leave from any of the train stations in Berlin...whichever is easist to reach.

Also, many have said it is an easy day, if we have more time, what sights would you add that are in the general area we will be in?

Thanks to everyone for their advice!

ttt

one more time ttt

apseals, what train station do you need to get to on Sunday?

Note there are many museums in the vicinity of the Berlin Dom (Museum Island). You likely won't have time for them, but I thought I would mention just in case there was something you would really like to see.

You may be able to get some transit assistance here:
http://www.bvg.de/e_index.html

WillTravel: We have rail passes and have not made seat reservations yet, so we can plan to leave from any of the Berlin stations. Once we know the most convienent station to depart from, then we can make the seat reservations. Do you know which station might be the best one for us? Also, thanks for the link...will look at it this afternoon.

Hi, try to include the Pergamonmuseum on your itinerary. I'd see the Reichstag in the evening since it's open late (presumably even on Saturday). This will free up a couple of hours in the day which you can use to do something else.

Have fun.

apseals, from my recollection of where your hotel is, it would be easy to go to either Alexanderplatz or Friedrichstrasse station.

You can put in your street address on reiseauskunft.bahn.de and get directions from that address to the nearest station. It seems that Märkisches Museum on line U-2 is the closest. From there you can take the U-Bahn to a station with long-distance departures, such as Berlin Zoo.

Thanks for the info everyone. I really appreciate it. Does anyone know the starting time, details or route of the marathon? Is there a website for the marathon?

Here is the link to the route of the marathon:

http://www.real-berlin-marathon.com/...rathon/strecke

You can find info on starting time etc. on this website as well.

I am afraid there will be restrictions the day before as well (preparations). Unfortunately the route goes right through the historical centre where all the sights are located.

There should be no problem to get to your railway station. The central railway station is Zoo, from there should your train leave too. The subway station is only one block from your hotel, so it is easy to get there.

But your hotel is only 2 stops away from Alexanderplatz station, whereas Zoo station takes more time to get to (same line though).

As far as your itinerary, I would take the U2 to Stadtmitte to check out the Checkpoint Charlie museum, then walk along Friedrichstr and Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg gate & the Reichstag, then hop on the 100 bus going east to the Dom and the museum island (Pergamon, etc), and then I would do the wall (are you talking about the East Side gallery?). For this, take the S-Bahn from the Hackescher Markt area to Ostbahnhof (Eastern Railway Station), and then walk along the wall/gallery (along the river) to the U-Bahn U1 at Warschauer Bruecke. Btw, the area around the Hackescher Markt (behind the Dom) is pretty interesting, with shops & pubs & the old synagogue along Oranienburger Str.

chtiet: Thanks for the help. The piece of the wall I was talking about was not the one along the river but located pretty close to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. We will see the one along the river from the boat tour we are going to take the day before. I just thought it would be good to be able to take pictures up close of a small section like the one by the museum.

How far a walk is it from Friedrichstr and Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg gate? If we have a lunch reservation at 2PM at the Reichstag, what time should we start our day to include doing what you have suggested? Also, there are three train stations in Berlin right? Is the Alexanderplatz station the best to get a more direct train from Berlin to Bochum on Sunday? I was not sure if the direct ones stopped at all of the Berlin stops. Sorry for all the questions but this is really a big help to us. :)

It's about 2 or 3 blocks from Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate.

Besides Zoo, Friedrichstrasse, and Alexanderplatz, the Ostbahnhof train station is another important one. (There may be more, but those are what I remember.) I'm not sure which station is best for you. Check out the train schedule site listed above, I think.

Hi apseals-

The Checkpoint Charlie museum has quite a few rooms to browse about, and you can spend easily a couple of hours there if you're interested, but of course you can zip through it as fast as possible too. Don't forget to go to Topographies of Terror - which is close to the part of the "wall" I think you are planning to visit. It is a short walk from Checkpoint charlie. The illustrations are in German, but you can get a free English audioguide there. Again, it is a site where you can spend hours there as well.

To be honest, given your short amount of time, I don't know whether it's worth spending your Friday afternoon on a boat tour. I don't think you can actually see that much along River Spree. If I were you, I'd use the time to visit a musuem (Pergamon would be my 1st choice), or if you're interested in seeing Nefertiti's bust, then go to the Egyptian museum.

Sorry for any typos if there are any...

yk: Thanks for the tips. I have been to Berlin before but the other three people with me on this trip have not. I took a boat tour that went past many of the major site/buildings in Berlin. But you have a point about the museums. The first time I was there I had a friend driving us everywhere and I did not have to pay attention to any of the logistics at all. Not this time...

We are also thinking about the ballet on that Saturday night. I think Swan Lake is being performed at Unter den Linden theater. Also some really great food will be in order but nothing that breaks the bank. Any suggestions?

Regarding eating at the Reichstag to avoid the time standing in line, is their a website to do this on or do you have to call them directly. We arrive in Berlin about 3:30 in the afternoon and by the time we get to the hotel it will probably be 6:00. Since we will be tired I thought this might be nice for the evening to eat early see the buidling and then go back to the hotel and get some sleep. Any opinions on this?

spiegelcjs-

Here's the website of Reichstag on visiting info.
http://www.bundestag.de/htdocs_e/info/050vberl.html
You can make the restaurant reservation either by email or phone.