How to get to Berlin?

Berlin was the last stop of our 10-day trip to Northern Europe, after Amsterdam and The Hague. The easiest and cheapest way for us was to get there by night bus from The Hague. Since there’s no point in changing a winning combo, we again chose to go with Eurolines with whom we had already criss-crossed the roads of Europe some months before. Besides, you’ll be able to read here our full and detailed review on this company right here! It takes about ten hours and 60€ (64$) for the round trip, unbeatable! If you’re looking for a solution from France (or anywhere for that matter), the plane is probably the most logical solution given the important distance to be covered. At this point, we recommend you to check out the Skyscanner website. It’s a pretty convenient flight comparison service that we use on a regular basis. The big highlight of this comparator is that you can have a good overview of the market prices by simply indicating “France” (or else) as place of departure and by selecting «the cheapest month» option for your dates. Then, you’ll easily have an overview of the cheapest option for you. To find a cheap flight, just click on the image below :

How to get around in Berlin?

The public transport network is really well developed in Berlin. Metro, trains, buses, trams, ferries, you will be spoiled for choice and many options will be available to you. Underground train stations are indicated by a U on a blue square and suburban trains are indicated by an S in a green circle. In general, to determine the route to take, we used our Google Maps app which proved to be very useful and handy! We just had to fill in the addresses of departure and arrival to have a proposed itinerary and, most of the time, things went smoothly. The only downside is that the app isn’t necessarily up to date regarding works that can take place in Berlin and so sometimes, we had instinctively figure out a backup plan. One time, we even took a 1-hour walk to get back to our hotel ! Not very fun but not insurmountable either. To get around during these 3 days, we opted for the Berlin Welcome Card which incl it saved us quite a bit of time and avoided us having to ridiculously stammer some German words. We were pretty lazy on that part since we had unlimited WiFi connection thanks to our rented pocket Wifi but if it’s not your case, know that a network map is provided with the Berlin Welcome Card.
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Accomodation in Berlin

There again, options aren’t lacking in Berlin! Since our amazing experience in Lisbon, we generally go for hostels that are perfectly suited to our way of traveling. It’s a great way to meet people and stay in a friendly, laid-back original place at a lower cost. We were in Berlin during the Lollapallooza festival so hostels were quite packed, but know that there’s a very wide variety of nice hostels scattered all over Berlin. On our part, we moved up to the upper range and stayed at the Ameron Abion Hotel in the Mitte district.

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Where to eat in Berlin?

Again, Berlin really has a lot to offer gastronomy wise. The Berliners do not joke with good food and whether it’s about food-trucks or nice little restaurants, you’ll really be spoiled for choice! Unfortunately, we didn’t have the opportunity to taste German gastronomy per se, but this is the first time we have tested such exotic and different flavors on the same trip! Let’s start by talking about our favorite restaurant, the Ya-Man. It’s a Jamaican restaurant run by the very smiling and friendly Barbara in the Mitte district, just a ten minute walk from the Abion Hotel. We read about it on the Berlin Food Stories blog. We had to go twice to be able to eat there but it was very much worth it! Barbara’s warm and friendly welcome, a relaxed Caribbean ambience, generous and spicy cuisine: we have literally fallen under the spell of this place which is a jewel in the heart of one of the trendiest districts of Berlin. When you go, you absolutely have to try out the punch and moreover the jerk chicken that are to die for!

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If you are fond of Asian flavors, we can only recommend Men-Men, a Japanese noodle house or Maharadsch, an Indian restaurant. Both are very affordable, simple and especially very plentiful, we ate very well! If you want to plant your fangs in a real big juicy burger, just go to Berlin Burger International ! But be careful, you’ll have to be well organized because the place is very popular and the number of seats is very restricted. To eat there, we had to go at the opening, at 4:30 pm and there was already a dozen people waiting, quite amazing! It was a very hearty “snack” that day! Finally, for a nice breakfast in a nice trendy place, we recommend Ungeheuer Neukölln on which we randomnly stumbled upon. Their omelettes are to die for! Find all our good addresses in Berlin in the sidebar, on the left!

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What to see and do in Berlin?

[one_half](Mostly) Free activities 

Admiring the East Side Gallery pieces
Being a tourist at Checkpoint Charlie
Walking around RAW Temple and meeting some amazing artists
Defying authority at Spreepark
Taking a selfie in front of Brandenburg gate
Admiring the many street art pieces
Spending a sunday at the former Tempelhof airport
Trying out urbex at Teufelsberg
Having a drink at a Biergarten

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[one_half_last]Museums and attractions

Exploring the museum of espionnage
Admiring the city from a helium balloon*
Checking out the Berlin Story Bunker and Museum*
Getting to the top of the Berliner Fernsehturm (TV Tower)
Discovering futuristic gaming at the Game Science Center*
  Going to the Museums Island

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*Discounts available with the Berlin Welcome Card

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We were invited by the Berlin Tourist Office to try out the Ameron Abion Hotel and the Berlin Welcome Card. However, any opinion expressed here is our own and has not been subjected to any influence from a third party. Thank you very much Julia for helping us set up this trip!