A 6-Day Trip to Berlin at Christmas with Friends🎄✨

Day 1: First Steps in Berlin ✈️

We arrived mid-morning. From the airport, the most efficient way to reach the city center is by train 🚆, which offers direct connections to key hubs like Alexanderplatz. The Berlin WelcomeCard allowed us to make this journey without worrying about buying tickets; a detail to remember is that single tickets in Berlin must be validated in the machines on the platform before boarding.

From Alexanderplatz, our accommodation 🏨 was a twenty to thirty-minute walk away, though it was also accessible via tram, included in our transport card. We chose the latter to expedite our check-in and begin exploring the capital.

Alexanderplatz is a space where Berlin's history and modernity converge. Originally conceived as a medieval market square, its architecture was profoundly transformed during the Communist era. In December, it hosts a bustling Christmas market. Our first culinary foray was the classic German sausage with potatoes and beer 🍺. The stalls also featured Glühwein and even a blue-tinted variant, blue wine, an aromatic version served hot to combat the low temperatures.

While awaiting a friend arriving by bus from Paris—a journey of over sixteen hours—we continued to explore the market. Upon his arrival, we greeted him with a well-deserved beer.

With the group reunited, we began a tour of the Jewish Quarter. The traces of the past are visible in the architecture of its inner courtyards and in the Stolpersteine, small golden cobblestones that commemorate victims of the Holocaust. We visited the exterior of the New Synagogue, with its impressive golden dome, and passed by the old Jewish cemetery.

Our route led us to another Christmas market, situated between St. Mary's Church, the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall) 🏛️, and the Neptune Fountain. There, we paused to try a Trdelník, a sweet rolled dough pastry.

As dusk fell, we reached the majestic Brandenburg Gate, flanked by a large Christmas tree and a nine-branched menorah for Hanukkah. Beyond the gate lies the Tiergarten park, home to an imposing memorial dedicated to Soviet soldiers.

For dinner, we chose the traditional restaurant Das Lemke, where we had an excellent pork knuckle 🥩, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, accompanied by local craft beer.

On our way back, we discovered Bata Bar, a venue with pool tables, darts, and board games. We ended the night there with a game of "Codenames," one of the few games that didn't require a command of German.

Day 2: Classic Berlin and Its Counterculture

Our second day began at the Brandenburg Gate — starting point of the Essential Berlin Tour. For more than three hours, we walked through some of the most decisive sites of 20th century history 🏛️. If you’d rather do it in reverse and start at Rotes Rathaus, you can join this free tour through the heart of Berlin.

The route covered historically profound sites: the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the location of the former Führerbunker, the Reich Air Ministry, a preserved section of the Berlin Wall 🧱, and the legendary Checkpoint Charlie. It concluded at Bebelplatz, infamous for the 1933 book burning.

Seeking refuge from the cold, we entered the Christmas market at Gendarmenmarkt. After paying a symbolic €2 entrance fee, we enjoyed a currywurst and a beer, replenishing our energy for the afternoon.

In the afternoon, we joined the “Berlin Poor but Sexy” tour, which departs from Rotes Rathaus. This route dives into Berlin’s most underground side: street art, artist collectives, and the counter-culture movements that have defined the city from the 1920s to today.

We visited enclaves like Dead Chicken Alley, the Oberbaum Bridge, and the Friedrichshain district, an epicenter of murals and street art. We stopped for a drink at Drinkhall, a bar decorated with works by the graffiti collective 1UP.

The tour ended at the East Side Gallery, in front of the famous mural of the "Fraternal Kiss" between Honecker and Brezhnev, an iconic image of the Cold War.

After a short rest, we met up with friends who had arrived from Stuttgart for dinner at Bear Burger 🍔. We concluded the evening at The Coven, a bar with a relaxed atmosphere.

Day 3: An Excursion to Potsdam & A Berlin Night Out

We dedicated Saturday to visiting Potsdam, a city of great historical importance 🏰. It was the residence of Prussian kings, including Frederick the Great, and the site of the 1945 Potsdam Conference, where the Allied powers defined the post-war order.

We arrived by train — included with the Welcome Card — and joined a guided tour of its historic center. Over roughly three and a half hours, we took in its most emblematic landmarks:

• The Old Market Square (Am Alten Markt), dominated by St. Nicholas' Church.
• The Dutch Quarter, with its unique red-brick architecture.
• The Unity Square (Platz der Einheit), which houses the old synagogue.
• The Brandenburg Gate of Potsdam, an earlier monument than its Berlin namesake.

Our route also took us to the Potsdam Carillon (Spieluhr) and culminated at the magnificent Sanssouci Palace and Gardens 👑, the summer residence of Frederick the Great.

For lunch, following a recommendation, we unsuccessfully tried to eat at the Russian restaurant Alexandrowka. As an alternative, we went to Zur Linde, where we enjoyed hearty traditional German dishes.

Back in Berlin, we prepared to explore its famous nightlife. Gaining entry to the city's clubs often involves following an unwritten code:

• The predominant attire is black.
• It is advisable to go in small groups and remain discreet in the queue.
• It is common for door staff to ask about the DJ or the night's party as a filter.

The evening began with beers at Simon’s Bar. For dinner, we tried a local classic: the döner kebab 🌯 at Aceto Chicken Döner. The size and quality of the dürüm, for a price between €8 and €9, were excellent.

With renewed energy, we headed to RAW-Gelände, a former industrial complex transformed into an alternative cultural space. Its graffiti-covered buildings house bars, galleries, and clubs.

There, we found the club Badehaus, which was hosting an 80s-themed party that night. As a group of six, we split into two to facilitate entry, a strategy that worked. The club had two distinct atmospheres: a more relaxed lounge area and a dark, minimalist main dance floor where the crowd focused on the music 🎶.

The experience was highly positive, offering an authentic immersion into Berlin's club culture.

Day 4: Culture, History, and a Bavarian Feast

The morning passed quietly after the previous night. We spent part of our time saying goodbye to a member of the group who had to return home.

For lunch, we once again turned to the stalls of the Christmas markets we found on our way to Museum Island 🏛️.

The island is also dominated by the Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom), the city's main Protestant church. Its imposing green dome and Neo-Baroque style make it one of the great architectural symbols of the capital.

We decided to visit the Neues Museum, famous for its collection of antiquities. Among its most outstanding works are:

• The iconic Bust of Nefertiti 📜, a masterpiece of Ancient Egyptian art.
• The Berlin Gold Hat, an enigmatic Bronze Age artifact that functioned as an astronomical calendar.
• A vast collection of sarcophagi, sphinxes, and objects of daily life from Ancient Egypt.

Upon leaving, we found a small Christmas market where we paused for a waffle. Our walk then led us to Hofbräu Berlin, a beer hall that replicates the atmosphere of Munich's great establishments.

The experience was an immersion in Bavarian culture: waiters in traditional attire, live music, one-liter beer steins 🍺, and, of course, the main course, the roasted pork knuckle 🥩. A highly recommended place for anyone seeking a traditional and lively German dinner.

We ended the day at the bar from our first night for a few last games of shuffleboard, saying goodbye to another member of our group who was leaving the next morning.

Day 5: Historical Memory and the Alternative Side of Berlin

We dedicated day five to a visit of immense historical significance: the Sachsenhausen concentration camp ⚫. Located in Oranienburg, about 45 minutes by train from Berlin, we booked a guided tour through GuruWalk for a deeper and more accurate understanding of the site.

The highly informative guided tour took us through the barracks where prisoners were crowded, showing the three-tiered bunks and uniforms. We learned about the daily roll call, a brutal control mechanism that could last for hours or even days.

At the camp's entrance gate is the infamous inscription “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work sets you free”), a cynical slogan present at several Nazi camps, designed to deceive and dehumanize prisoners.

The visit also includes the execution areas and the remains of the gas chambers, silent testimonies to the scale of the horror that took place there.

After this intense experience, we returned to Berlin in the afternoon. We had lunch at Creasian, a Vietnamese restaurant where we tried an excellent crispy duck with peanut and avocado sauce 🥢.

Afterward, we visited Sammy’s Berliner Donuts before heading to Karl-Marx-Allee. This monumental avenue, with its imposing Stalinist architecture, was designed for large military parades. To cover part of its length, we rented electric scooters 🛴, ending at Minimal Bar, a venue with an intimate atmosphere, several rooms, and a ping-pong table.

We had dinner at Dunya Gemüse Kebab, another of the city's recommended kebab 🌯 spots. During dinner, a debate arose about whether to rest or attempt to visit the legendary KitKatClub.

Ultimately, two members of the group decided to go. After waiting in line, the door staff instructed them to remove their clothes. Faced with this unexpected situation, they decided not to enter. The anecdote, however, became another story to tell from the trip.

Day 6: The Berlin Wall and Farewell

Our final full day in Berlin was dedicated to diving deeper into the history of the Wall 🧱. We joined a specialized Cold War tour, which helped us truly understand how this division shaped Berliners’ daily lives.

The tour began at Friedrichstrasse station, one of the main border crossings between East and West. Its processing hall is known as the Palace of Tears 🕊️, for the emotional farewells that took place there.

We continued to the Nordbahnhof "ghost station." During the division, West Berlin trains that passed through East Berlin's subsoil did not stop at these stations, which remained closed and guarded.

The tour proceeded to Bernauer Strasse, a street that became a symbol of the Wall's tragedy, with numerous escape attempts, some from the windows of the buildings themselves. The open-air memorial allows one to see a reconstruction of the death strip, the space between the two walls.

Our visit took us to the Chapel of Reconciliation, built on the site of a church demolished by the GDR regime because it stood in the death strip.

A visit to the East Side Gallery was a must. It is the longest preserved section of the Wall, now an open-air art gallery. Its most photographed mural is undoubtedly the kiss between Brezhnev and Honecker.

This tour was one of the most enriching of the trip, offering a human and tangible perspective on what it meant to live in a divided city.

• Friedrichstrasse station and the Palace of Tears 🕊️
• Nordbahnhof ghost station 🚉
• Bernauer Strasse Memorial and the death strip 🧱
• The story of Tunnel 57 ⛏️
• Chapel of Reconciliation ✝️
• East Side Gallery with its iconic murals 🎨

Afterward, we had a quick lunch and visited the Soviet War Memorial in Tiergarten. Flanked by T-34 tanks and artillery, it pays tribute to the Red Army soldiers who fell during the Battle of Berlin in 1945.

As evening fell, which is as early as 4:00 PM in winter, we headed to the Reichstag 🏛️. We went up to its rooftop and the glass dome designed by Norman Foster, which offers panoramic views of the city. Admission is free but requires advance online booking. Despite the rain, the visit was highly worthwhile. Since navigating the Reichstag’s German-language website can be a bit challenging, here is the link to register online for your visit to the Reichstag: Online Registration.

Before ending the day, we returned to the Brandenburg Gate to see it illuminated. We also passed by the Victory Column, another of the city's emblematic monuments.

After buying some souvenirs, we had dinner at the vegan restaurant Quy Nguyen, a highly recommended option for its quality cuisine. To cap off our trip, we returned to our favorite bar for a final round of beers and games of pool.

Day 7: Farewell to Berlin

We dedicated our last morning to a final brief stroll through Alexanderplatz with our luggage, before taking the train back to the airport ✈️.

Our flight departed at noon. We used the waiting time to grab a bite at the airport, reminiscing about the anecdotes and unforgettable moments of our trip.