116 Best Sights in Berlin, Germany

Friedrich Wilhelm IV modeled this building after a Turkish mosque, complete with a minaret, to serve as the palace waterworks building. About a ten-minute walk from Neuer Markt, the Dampfmaschinenhaus used a steam engine to transport water to a large fountain at the center of Sanssouci Park, about half a mile away. Although that fountain is now served by a modern pump system, this beautiful piece of architecture is still worth a visit for its intricate, Islamic-inspired designs decorating both interior and exterior.

Within the Sony Center is the small but fun Museum für Film und Fernsehen, which presents the groundbreaking history of German moviemaking with eye-catching displays. Descriptions are in English, and there's an audio guide as well. Memorabilia include personal belongings of Marlene Dietrich and other German stars, while special exhibitions go into depth about outstanding directors, movements, and studios. A good selection of films, from the best classics to virtually unknown art-house finds, are shown in the theater on the lower level. A shop on the ground floor sells books and other media for cinephiles.

A must if you're traveling with children, this museum will enchant anyone who's interested in technology or fascinated with trains, planes, and automobiles. Set in the remains of Anhalter Bahnhof's industrial yard and enhanced with a glass-enclosed wing, the museum has several floors of machinery, including two airplane rooms on the upper floors crowned with a "Rosinenbomber," one of the beloved airplanes that delivered supplies to Tempelhof Airport during the Berlin Airlift of 1948. Don't miss the train sheds, which are like three-dimensional, walkable timelines of trains throughout history.

Just as much a draw for its architecture and history as for the quirky, off-kilter art shows and events that take place here, Direktorenhaus is a relative newcomer to the Berlin art scene and also the producer of the annual Illustrative Festival each September. This Spree-side building was once part of the State Mint. The large, Berlin-heavy roster of artists includes Olaf Hajek, Daniel Becker, and Lauren Coleman. The gallery has no public hours, and viewings are by appointment.

In March 2012, Romanian gallery Plan B moved into an industrial space deep within the Tagesspiegel building complex. This is the place to see offbeat Eastern European art.

Bortolozzi consistently spots and cultivates the hottest young talent in the city (like Danh Vo), showing their work in a quirky, wood-paneled space.

Founded in 1841, this is the oldest artist association in Germany. Its lavish townhouse gallery spaces often highlight the work of its 120-odd artist members.

Built in 1905–07, this series of eight connected courtyards is the finest example of art nouveau industrial architecture in Berlin. Most buildings are covered with glazed white tiles, and additional Moorish mosaic designs decorate the main courtyard off Rosenthaler Strasse. Shops, restaurants, the variety theater Chamäleon Varieté, and a movie theater populate the spaces once occupied by ballrooms, a poets' society, and a Jewish girls' club.

Built in the 1920s, when an earlier Berlin art scene was at its peak, this villa officially became an exhibition space in 1946, just as Germany was recovering from the war. Today, it stays true to its mission as both a museum for contemporary art and an expansive sculpture park—albeit one a good many Berlin visitors don’t know about. The Haus presents a wide range of work by contemporary artists of international acclaim who are from Berlin or live here in up to five exhibitions each year. The juxtaposition of the contemporary and avant-garde with the nearly 100-year-old villa is well worth the trek out from the center of town.

Off the Spree River and bordering the Kanzleramt (Chancellery) is the former congress hall, now serving as the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures). It is fondly referred to as the "pregnant oyster" because the sweeping, 1950s design of its roof resembles a shellfish opening. Thematic exhibits, festivals, and concerts take place here, and it's also a boarding point for Spree River cruises.

The lovely lakeside setting of this Berlin villa belies the unimaginable Holocaust atrocities planned here. This elegant edifice hosted the fateful conference held on January 20, 1942, at which Nazi leaders and German bureaucrats, under SS leader Reinhard Heydrich, planned the systematic deportation and mass extinction of Europe's Jewish population. Today this so-called "Endlösung der Judenfrage" (final solution of the Jewish question) is illustrated with a chilling exhibit that documents the conference and, more extensively, the escalation of persecution against Jews and the Holocaust itself. A reference library offers source materials in English.

Inside the Französischer Dom (French Cathedral), built by Kaiser Friedrich II for the Protestant Huguenots who fled France and settled in Berlin, is the Hugenottenmuseum, with exhibits charting their history and art. The Huguenots were expelled from France at the end of the 17th century by King Louis XIV. Their energy and commercial expertise contributed much to Berlin. The cathedral was renovated and the permanent exhibition modernized (and made multilingual) before its reopening in fall 2021.

Running the length of the west side of Bebelplatz, the former royal library is now part of Humboldt-Universität, whose main campus is across the street on Unter den Linden. The university building was built between 1748 and 1766 as a palace for Prince Heinrich, the brother of Frederick the Great. With its founding in 1810, the university moved in. The fairy-tale-collecting Grimm brothers taught here, and political philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels studied within its hallowed halls. Albert Einstein taught physics from 1914 to 1929, when he left Berlin for the United States.

The name of this tiny island is translated as “Island of Youth.” Nestled into a bend in the Spree River between Treptow and the Alt-Stralau peninsula, it was the scene of a youth club during GDR times. Although its heyday is past, there is something dreamy, if not a bit creepy, about the island. It can only be accessed via a narrow, arched footbridge from Treptower Park, so it's devoid of cars, noise, and even much foot traffic. Visitors can enjoy a picnic on the docks, or rent paddleboats and canoes. In the evening, the club Insel Berlin hosts concerts, film screenings, and parties (the club also runs the beer garden and café).

Some 115,000 graves make up Europe's largest Jewish cemetery, in Berlin's Weissensee district, near Prenzlauer Berg. Covering more than 100 acres, the grounds resemble a forest, with tall trees and large ferns; scattered throughout are tombstones and mausoleums in various states of repair. Wandering through them is like taking an extremely moving trip back in time through the history of Jewish Berlin. Men are required to cover their heads with a kippah, available at the entrance.

Two blocks west of gritty, noisy Karl-Marx-Strasse, this small, beautifully landscaped park, built in the 1910s, resembles a French chateau garden. Today it remains something of a hidden treasure, cherished by locals but barely known to outsiders. At one end of the park, water cascades down several steps of a multitiered fountain into a round pool; at the other end you'll find the stately former orangerie, which now houses a gallery and café, and presents a concert every Sunday in summer.

With more than 1 million items on the history of European art, the Kunstbibliothek in the Kulturforum is one of Germany's most important institutions on the subject. It contains art posters and advertisements, examples of graphic design and book design, ornamental engravings, prints and drawings, and a costume library. Visitors can view items in the reading rooms, but many samples from the collections are also shown in rotating special exhibitions.

Inside the Kulturforum's Kunstgewerbemuseum are European arts and crafts from the Middle Ages to the present. Among the notable exhibits are the Welfenschatz (Welfen Treasure), a collection of 16th-century gold and silver plates from Nuremberg; a floor dedicated to design and furniture; and extensive holdings of ceramics and porcelain. Though there is a free English-language audio guide, the mazelike museum is difficult to navigate and most signposting is in German. A second part of the collection resides at the Schloss Köpenick.

One of the Kulturforum's smaller museums, Kupferstichkabinett has occasional exhibits, which include European woodcuts, engravings, and illustrated books from the 15th century to the present (highlights of its holdings are pen-and-ink drawings by Dürer and drawings by Rembrandt). You can request (at least 10 days ahead) to see one or two drawings in the study room. Another building displays paintings dating from the late Middle Ages to 1800.

This busy thoroughfare began as a riding path in the 16th century. The elector Joachim II of Brandenburg used it to travel between his palace on the Spree River and his hunting lodge in the Grunewald. The Kurfürstendamm (Elector's Causeway) was transformed into a major route in the late 19th century, thanks to the initiative of Bismarck, Prussia's Iron Chancellor. Even in the 1920s, Ku'damm (as it's commonly known) was still relatively new and by no means elegant; its prewar fame was due mainly to its rowdy bars and dance halls, as well as to the cafés where the cultural avant-garde of Europe gathered. Almost half of its 245 late-19th-century buildings were completely destroyed in the 1940s, and the remaining buildings were damaged to varying degrees; what you see today is either restored or newly constructed. Although Ku'damm is still known as the best shopping street in Berlin, many of its establishments have declined in elegance and prestige over the years. Nowadays you'll want to visit just to check it off your list.

This gallery cum museum got its start in the 1990s, when a group of art fans and aficionados led by Klaus Biesenbach came upon a practically collapsing former margarine factory and decided it would be a great place for their project. Since then, KW (which stands for “Kunst Werke” or “art works”) has been presenting exhibitions, site-specific works, and various events in the three-floor space (there's also an enclosed courtyard with a café).

Rare is the children’s museum that inspires parents to join in the exploring—and even arouses the curiosity of childless adults. The Labyrinth Kindermuseum in Wedding, which occupies a large old match factory, is truly worthy of its name: a labyrinthine hall of hands-on amusements, funded by the Senate Administration for Education, Science and Research to encourage maximum child development. Rotating thematic exhibitions allow children to play, build, create, and, of course, run around.

A must-see when traveling with children is the Legoland Discovery Centre, the Danish toy company's only indoor park. Children can build their very own towers while their parents live out their urban development dreams, even testing if the miniature construction would survive an earthquake. In a special section, Berlin's landmarks are presented in a breathtaking miniature world made up of thousands of tiny Lego bricks.

The spiritual and commercial heart of Wedding, this square is anchored by churches: the Alte Nazareth Kirche (designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the 1830s, when the square was first developed) and the Neue Nazarethkirche, erected in the 1890s. Long considered the center of one of the city’s most downtrodden areas, Leopoldplatz has received a makeover, and the area’s residents find it a welcome respite from some of Berlin’s more hip and hyped districts. The square is a good starting point for a neighborhood stroll: you'll find beautiful (though still slightly run down) turn-of-the-century buildings, residential parks, and interesting multicultural (or multi-kulti) shops and cafés.

Germans love their thermal baths and saunas, and this is one of the classiest around. The dramatic main thermal pool lies under a vaulted ceiling, where glowing lights and soothing music that can be heard underwater enhance a feeling of calm. In addition to several saunas and a steam room, take advantage of the outdoor hot tub in the enclosed courtyard, best at night under stars. There's a bar and a healthy snack menu, just in case all that relaxation leaves you hungry. Full nudity is to be expected here, even in coed areas.

This redbrick museum includes exhibits on Berlin's history from the Ice Age to today. A permanent exhibit, BerlinZEIT, tells the story of Berlin and historical moments that have shaped the city through tales from the people who live there; features include a multimedia map of Berlin where you can hear about various neighborhoods and streets. The entire museum is closed for refurbishment until 2028.

This former no-man's-land between East and West Berlin (the name translates to "Wall Park") was off-limits to the public from 1961 to 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell. After reconstruction, the area reopened as a rough-around-the-edges park in 1994; renovations completed in 2020 have given the park more green space and trees, plus a popular playground and skatepark. Today it's filled with hipsters, musicians, and tourists on sunny days and for the weekly Sunday flea market. It's also home to the hugely popular open-air Bearpit Karaoke Show, which runs Sunday afternoon from spring through late fall and attracts a boisterous mix of people of all ages.

This small modern-art museum holds works by Matisse, Klee, Giacometti, and Picasso, who is particularly well represented with more than 120 works. Heinz Berggruen (1914–2007), a businessman who left Berlin in the 1930s, amassed this fine collection of paintings and sculpture. The museum is closed for major renovations until at least 2025.

The Museum der Dinge or “Museum of Things” is exactly that—a collection of stuff that represents the best, the worst, and the quirkiest in 20th-century and contemporary design. Although there are a lot of things here, a museum for hoarders this is not. The objects come from the archive of the Deutsches Werkbund (DWB), a hundred-year-old, quasi-utopian consortium that sought perfection in everyday construction and design. The thousands of things are housed in a former factory building on Kreuzberg’s busy Oranienstrasse and arranged beautifully by color, material, or use. Browsing the exhibition, one is hit not only by the sheer volume of what was created in the last century, but also by the impressive range—Soviet kitsch toys stand near mobile phones, delicate dishware next to industrial tools. Don’t miss the so-called Frankfurt Kitchen a space-saving prototype kitchen from the 1920s that was meant to be replicated over 10,000 times in various housing estates.