Berlin was my first trip to Germany. I was only there for a weekend, but I could easily have stayed an extra day to go see some more museums!
I was lucky enough to visit with someone who had lived in Berlin, so we spent some of our time there partially off the tourist path (but because it was my first time there most of it was the main sites). Our airBnb in Schöneberg was pretty unique, with a boheme vibe in a true Berlin neighbourhood and very close to public transport and many places to eat. It is also on the main train line from Brandeburg Airport, Berlin international airport, which makes it quite convenient. When at the airport train station, you can get a 3-day pass to use all public transport in Berlin, including your trip from the airport to the centre, which makes it worth the money in my opinion.
From gluten free baked goods to typical German food here is my 2-day (and a bit) itinerary in Berlin.
A Friday afternoon stroll
Schöneberg is an eclectic neighbourhood known for its historical gay culture and upscale gay community. In fact, it has been the heart of Berlin gay life since the 1920s!
It is full of great places to eat and drink as well as a very vibrant nightlife. I had some time to kill before my friends arrived too, so I decided to just roam the streets of the neighbourhood. So I anded up in a little park by this gas storage structure, called Gasometer. Apparently, it had only just been repurposed. In fact, its original purpose in the early 1900s was as a low-pressure gas container, and it became a listed building in 1994, when it was used alternatively as an advertising and events space. Now it is a landmark of Berlin Schöneberg, equipped with a spectacular roof terrace at a height of 66 m, offering a unique 360° view of Berlin.
After my walk I got kinda hungry, so I decided to go to this little sushi place right by our accommodation. The place was called CUBO and it was one of the best sushi I’ve had.
DAY 1 – All-the-sites walking tour
First thing I did after I woke up is walk to an entirely gluten free bakery called Oshione. Literally everything is gluten free, so I got myself enough breakfast pastries and some bread rolls. They were so tasty!!
After this little detour we headed out into the heart of the city. Our destination was Check Point Charlie, but we decided to stop early and just walk about in that general direction… or so we thought!
Our walking tour started in Friederichstraße, with a sunny walk along the river Spree up to the Bode museum, then we headed towards Hackescher Markt, a small promenade with a pretty chill vibe, and started following the omnipresent sight of East Berlin TV tower… this took us all the way to St Mary’s church, one of the two oldest churches in Berlin. It’s free entry, and worth the short stop. Unfortunately not much remains of the original building, as the church was heavily damaged by Allied bombs, but you can still see the oldest parts made of granite.We then walked to the nearby famous Alexanderplatz, with the Rotes Rathaus, the iconic red brick building, and dominated by the Neptune fountain. This has Neptune the god of the seas in the middle, surrounded by 4 women which represent the 4 main rivers of Prussia when the fountain was first sculpted. Surprisingly, the fountainhasn’t alwaus been there. In fact, it was originally in Schlossplatz and was restored and moved to Alexanderplatz in 1969.
We then walked to the nearby famous Alexanderplatz, with the Rotes Rathaus, the iconic red brick building, and dominated by the Neptune fountain. This has Neptune the god of the seas in the middle, surrounded by 4 women which represent the 4 main rivers of Prussia when the fountain was first sculpted. Surprisingly, the fountainhasn’t alwaus been there. In fact, it was originally in Schlossplatz and was restored and moved to Alexanderplatz in 1969.
More walking… this time to St Nicholas Church, the other oldest church in Berlin (which is no longer a church). It is located in a very charming cobbled street area, which looks like it’s just come out of a Disney fairytale. Like most buildings in Berlin, this too was destroyed during WW2 and fully rebuilt in the 1980s. In front of the church there is a fountain which looks more like a well called Wappenbrunnen (coat-of-arms fountain). It obviously displays 8 coat of arms and has a column in the middle with a statue of a bear, the symbol of Berlin. In the same square there is another symbol of Berlin, a 2-meter-wide reproduction of the original seal of the city. Around this area you can find vintage shops and cafes for a break after all the walking.
Another stroll along the river will take you towards the museums area, after a quick snap of the remodernised Berlin castle, now the Hamboldt Forum. This is where the Neptunebrunnen and the castle used to be. The castle was destroyed in 1951 and this building was erected on its foundations some 40 years later. It does make for a pretty good picture.
On what is called the museum island you can just stop to admire the moltitude of buildings and the fountains or decide to visit a museum. If you are interested in history, I would recommend the German Historical Museum.
By the time we got here it wasn’t even lunchtime yet but we decided to keep on walking back towards Friederichstraße for lunch. On our walk we “stumbled” across the Neue Wache. It is a memorial with a very humbling atmosphere. It is just a statue in a room, but it creates a very powerful image.
Anyways, passing by the University of Berlin, we got back to Friederichstraße where I could finally grab my gluten free Curry Wurst, the most German street food. The place is called Witty’s Currywurst and they even have vegan sausage. So what is Currywurst? It’s simply a German sausage with chips covered in curry ketchup… and it’s GREAT!
After fuelling up we went back on our journey to Check Point Charlie, yes we’re still going there in a very roundabout way… but from here, it’s just a straight line. Here you’ll find the iconic crossing sign, and a small open air exhibition. Walk past the sign, where there are a few little gems, like a piece of wall highlighting war crimes against Ukraine and get the metro to Brandenburg gate. Snap a picture of the German parliament, aka Reichstag Building, and make your way towards the Holocaust memorial. Take some time to wander through the many alleys of this huge monument and appreciate the weight of history. The official interpretation of this monumental memorial is that the stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and that, as a whole, this complex aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. Keep on walking until you reach Potsdamer Platz. This will catapult you in a completely different atmosphere, with tall skyscrapers more reminiscent of Manhattan than Berlin.
Coming towards the end of this walking tour, we decided to leave the big city behind to spend some time strolling through nature in the Großer Tiergarten, via Bellevuestraße. You can aimlessly walk around or walk straight to Victory Column, which commemorates the victory in the Prussian-Danish war. It’s quite a sight from the ground, but you can go all the way to the top where they have a deck. After climbing the 285 steps to the top, you’ll be rewarded with a great view over the Tiergarten and the nearby Bellevue Palace. Admission fee is only 4€ and you can pay on-site.
This was the last landmark on our tour, after which we headed to the nearest station and made our way to our accommodation, and looking forward to a very German dinner.
The place we went to is a local pub called Heuberger. It was near our airbnb, but it was also very authentic and very local. In fact, we were the only group of foreigners there!
Unfortunately, German cuisine is not very glutenfree friendly. I did try to find places which did gluten free spätzle or schnitzel, but miserably failed. But please leave a comment if you know of any places that do!
They do have other gluten free options though, and they were very good at providing alternatives for gluten free. I had the Wurstsalat and it was definitely not what I was expecting, but tasty and a huge portion too!
DAY 2 – East Berlin and baroque vibes
Our second day in Berlin was a lot more relaxed. After my second pastry from Oshione we headed back to the centre, this time with less side quests as the weather was terrible, and took the S-Bahn to the East Side Gallery, aka the portion of the wall with all the most iconic graffiti, including the famous “Sozialistischer Bruderkuss”. This is the longest continuous section of the Berlin wall, about 1.3 km, and it has more than 100 paintings by artists from 21 different countries. It is truly an inspiring open-air gallery. And there are some interesting history facts along the way that are really enlightening about the time of the DDR. There is a station at each end of the wall, so it’s possible to see all paintings along the way, regardless of which direction you’re walking.
Continuing on the DDR theme, we then got the train again to the centre and waited in a short line to get tickets for the DDR museum.
It can get quite packed, so if you can it’s best to book tickets in advance. So, the DDR museum is a mostly interactive museum. They call it an immersive experience and it does not disappoint. It is a journey through the everyday life of Berliners in East Germany before the fall of the wall, you get to walk through and interact with the “average East Berlin house”, complete with kitchen (you can genuinely open all the cupboards!!), bathroom and rooms. Then, there’s the more classic interactive part with bits and bobs from everyday life, like what would holidays be like in those time, or sports and school, etc. Very interesting and definitely worth it! I would say it took us about 1h30 to go around the place and open all the doors 🙂
By the time we finished our museum visit the sun came out, and we just had a nice packed lunch in Lustgarten, on the other side of the bridge.
By this point, if you’re tired of the city life, you can follow our tour and head outside Berlin to Charlottenburg. We got on the U-Bahn and stopped at Bismarckstraße, then it’s just a short walk to Berlin’s largest baroque palace.
The old palace used to be the royal summer residence and was named after Sophie Charlotte, the first Queen consort in Prussia, after she died at only 36 years old. Before that, the palace was known as Lietzenburg Palace and Sophie Charlotte, a great lover of the arts, invited poets, philosophers, musicians and artists to join her at her “court of the muses”. We decideded not to visit the interior of the palace, and prioritized the park, as the weather was gorgeous, but if you are into baroque architecture and rococo this is definitely a must-see.
So what about the gardens?
Works started at the end of the 1600s and was designed by a pupil of Siméon Godeau, the famous royal gardener of Versailles. So don’t be surprised if you find similarities between the two! However, in the following 300 years the gardens underwent several expansions and improvements, and now are landscaped in the style of English gardens. Like most historical buildings and landmarks, these also had to be renovated to return to their original beauty after WW2. There are also outbuildings worth seeing, like the Belvedere,the small garden palace near the Spree River, with its precious KPM porcelain; the mausoleum of Queen Louise; and the New Pavilion – all fittingly set in a decorative garden reinterpreted in recent times. So take a stroll around this huge area of over half a square kilometre in size. Enjoy the tree-lined paths leading to the peaceful lake area or take a walk in the lanscaped woods leading to the Belvedere. You can easily spend the entire afternoon here.
Once we were tired of walking, back on the train and to the airbnb to get ready for the least German thing we did on this trip.
For our last meal in Berlin we decided to try this place, also in Schöneberg, called La Cantine d’Augusta which is a wine bar with an amazing (and huge!) fondue course, and they have gluten free bread to dip in it. If cheese is your thing you should definitely try this place! For us the fondue was filling enough, but the other food also looked super tasty!
And so ended my 2 days in Berlin. Very packed, lots of walking and lots of tasty food. Hope you enjoy your stay and Berlin!