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TRAVEL2BERLIN
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Discover Berlin Through Our Eyes – Real Tips from Real Travellers
Why Berlin? We've been asked that question countless times.
We’re Helle and Mads – a couple who can’t seem to stay away from Berlin. Whether it's a full holiday or just a long weekend, the city always draws us back. Over the years, we've shared our stories and travel tips with friends and family so often that we decided to put it all together here.
Travel2Berlin is not a typical "top 10 things to do" site.
It’s a personal, experience-based guide to Berlin – packed with local recommendations, hidden gems, and offbeat ideas that go beyond the tourist guidebooks.
If you're planning a trip to Berlin — or just love the city like we do — we hope our stories will inspire you.
🧭 Start exploring the blog, and don’t forget to share your favorite Berlin tips with us!
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The East Side Gallery: Where a Symbol of Division Became a Canvas for Hope
The most photographed kiss in Berlin isn't happening in any romantic café or moonlit courtyard. It's frozen on concrete — two elderly men in ill-fitting suits, lips pressed together in what looks like genuine passion. Millions of visitors have stood before this image without knowing the absurd story behind it. A Kiss That Almost Never Happened In late 1989, a young Russian artist named Dmitri Vrubel was living in his Moscow apartment when a friend handed him an old copy of Pa
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
7 hours ago5 min read
What Actually Makes Berlin Different From Other European Capitals
Opening It's 11 PM on a Wednesday in August. You've just paid €4.50 for a beer at a riverside bar in an old East German cable factory. Next to you, a violinist who moved here from Lyon is explaining why she'll never go back to Paris. Across the water, people are swimming in the Spree—technically illegal, universally tolerated. A techno beat drifts from somewhere you can't see. Your hotel cost €70. In London, you'd have paid that for the beer alone. But here's what visitors of
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
8 hours ago5 min read
Berlin WelcomeCard 2026: Is It Worth Your Money?
The short answer: it depends on how you travel. The Berlin WelcomeCard can save you €50–100 over a long weekend—or cost you more than buying tickets separately. Here's how to figure out which camp you're in. What the Berlin WelcomeCard Actually Is The Berlin WelcomeCard is the city's official tourist pass, combining unlimited public transport with discounts of 25–50% at over 170 attractions, tours, and restaurants. It comes in three versions, each serving different travel sty
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
2 days ago5 min read
Why City Breaks Often Disappoint – And How to Avoid It
You're back home. The suitcase is still in the hallway. Your phone has 287 photos you haven't looked at yet. And somewhere underneath the jet lag and the lingering smell of airport coffee, there's a feeling you don't want to name: that wasn't quite it . Not bad. Just... not what you expected. The highlights were fine. The hotel was decent. But the whole thing feels oddly flat, like watching a movie everyone said was brilliant and walking out thinking, "I guess I missed someth
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
2 days ago9 min read
Berlin with Kids and Teenagers: The Family Guide That Actually Gets It
Most travel guides will tell you Berlin is an "adult city" - all nightlife, history, and grit. They're wrong. Berlin is one of Europe's best family destinations, just not in the ways you'd expect. This isn't a city that wraps children in cotton wool or quarantines them to designated "family zones." Berlin treats kids and teenagers as people who belong in public space. That matters more than a hundred theme parks. Here's what you need to know to explore Berlin with children of
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
3 days ago6 min read
Checkpoint Charlie: Where Cold War History Meets Berlin's Present
There's a replica guard house sitting in the middle of Friedrichstraße where American and Soviet tanks once faced each other with live ammunition. Today, tourists queue to take photos with actors in US Army uniforms while traffic flows around them. The scene feels absurd — which is precisely why it matters. Checkpoint Charlie tells two stories: the one from 1961, when the world held its breath for 16 hours as superpowers aimed their guns at each other over a bureaucratic disp
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
3 days ago6 min read
Brandenburg Gate: The Monument That Keeps Changing Its Mind
The sculpture on top of Brandenburg Gate has been stolen by Napoleon, forgotten in a Parisian warehouse, returned by 192 horses, stripped of its symbols by communists, and damaged by New Year's Eve revelers. The goddess driving that chariot has been a symbol of peace, then victory, then division, then unity. She started out too naked for Berlin's tastes. If you've seen photos of Brandenburg Gate, you probably know it as "that famous arch thing" — the one with the horses on to
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
3 days ago5 min read
Berlin Museums in Winter: The Honest Guide to 180+ Collections (And Which Ones Actually Matter)
A curated guide to Berlin's museum landscape — from world-famous institutions to the surprising corners most visitors never find. Berlin has over 180 museums. That's not a selling point — it's a problem. Most visitors end up shuffling through the same five institutions on Museumsinsel, ticking boxes rather than discovering anything. Meanwhile, some of the city's most compelling collections sit half-empty in converted bunkers, former post offices, and repurposed power stations
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
6 days ago13 min read
Berlin's TV Tower: When Socialist Ambition Met Divine Irony
You've seen it in every Berlin skyline photo. Standing 368 metres above Alexanderplatz, the Fernsehturm dominates the city like a silver needle piercing the sky. Most visitors treat it as just another observation deck, another chance for a 360-degree selfie. But the story of Berlin's TV Tower is far stranger than that — it's a tale of political hubris, accidental symbolism, and a cross-shaped reflection that the East German government spent years trying to erase. The truth is
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
Jan 246 min read
Sundays in Berlin: What to Do When Everything Is "Closed"
You land in Berlin on a Saturday night, wake up Sunday morning, and step outside expecting the city to greet you. Instead: shuttered supermarkets, locked clothing stores, empty shopping streets. Your first thought: Did I miss something? Is today a holiday? No. It's just Sunday in Germany. The assumption that Berlin shuts down on Sundays is one of the most common — and most wrong — things visitors believe about the city. Yes, retail is closed. But Berlin doesn't go quiet on Su
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
Jan 186 min read
January in Berlin: How to Eat Incredibly Well When You're Completely Broke
Your bank account is in ruins. Christmas did that. But here's the thing about Berlin – this city has never cared about money. It cares about knowing where to go. We've been eating our way through Berlin's cheapest and best spots for years, and the surprising truth is this: the places where you'll have your most memorable meals aren't the ones with English menus and card machines. They're the ones where €10 feels like a fortune. This isn't another list of "top 10 budget spots.
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
Jan 114 min read
Berlin in February: Why Winter Vacation in the German Capital Is Worth the Cold
Most travel guides will tell you February is Berlin's off-season. Grey skies, temperatures hovering around freezing, and empty beer gardens. What they won't tell you is that February is when Berlin becomes genuinely interesting again. The tourists have gone home. The city turns inward. And two of Europe's most significant cultural events transform the capital into a meeting point for film lovers, digital artists, and anyone who believes culture thrives in the cold. If you're
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
Jan 86 min read
Discovering Berlin's Hidden Food Gems: Eat Like a King for Under €10
January hits different. The Christmas lights come down, and the credit card statement arrives. Suddenly, that spontaneous weekend trip to Berlin feels financially irresponsible. But fear not! After countless hours diving into Berlin's food scene, I've uncovered an incredible underground of budget-friendly spots. Here, €10 doesn't mean sad sandwiches. It means genuinely excellent food. And no, I'm not going to tell you to eat another döner. (Though Berlin does those brilliantl
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
Jan 55 min read
Berlin in January 2026: The Month That Breaks the Winter Myth
There's a stubborn narrative about January in Berlin: grey skies, empty streets, a city hibernating until spring. Locals hunker down. Tourists stay away. Nothing happens. Except that's never been entirely true—and in January 2026, it's demonstrably false. This particular January packs more milestone events into 31 days than most cities see in a year. The first-ever regular season NBA game in Germany. The centennial anniversary of Europe's most important agricultural fair. A c
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
Jan 57 min read
Berlin's Abandoned Places: What's Left, What's Changed, and What You Can Actually Visit in 2025-2026
Berlin's reputation as Europe's capital of urban decay and abandoned spaces has drawn curious visitors for decades. Old Cold War listening stations, Nazi-era ruins, forgotten amusement parks—the promise of these forgotten places pulls photographers, history enthusiasts, and anyone who believes that decay reveals truths polished surfaces never could. But here's what most travel guides won't tell you: Berlin's abandonment is disappearing. The city that once seemed frozen in a s
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
Jan 46 min read
Berlin's Most Famous Urban Legends: When History Creates Its Own Ghost Stories
When a city experiences what Berlin experienced in the 20th century—division, dictatorship, war, occupation—reality itself becomes so extreme that the line between fact and folklore blurs. Berlin's urban legends aren't campfire tales invented for entertainment. They're psychological artifacts, ways the city has processed trauma too strange to fully comprehend. This matters because understanding Berlin's legends means understanding why they exist at all. The Ghost Stations Tha
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
Dec 27, 20257 min read
Berlin Between Christmas and New Year's: What to Expect in the Zwischen den Jahren
The Christmas markets have gone quiet. The frantic shopping is over. And yet, the year isn't quite finished. Germans have a name for this peculiar stretch of days: zwischen den Jahren – literally, "between the years." It's not a holiday. It's not quite normal life either. It's a liminal week when Berlin slows down, shops open and close at odd hours, and the city takes on a quality you won't find at any other time. For travelers arriving in Berlin between December 25th and 31
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
Dec 25, 20256 min read
A Christmas Greeting from Travel2Berlin
Dear readers, As the Christmas lights twinkle along Unter den Linden and the last Glühwein stands pack up for the season, we wanted to take a quiet moment to say thank you. Thank you for exploring Berlin with us this year. For reading our guides, trusting our recommendations, and sharing your own discoveries along the way. Whether you wandered through Kreuzberg's street art, found that perfect Currywurst spot, or simply dreamed of your next Berlin adventure from wherever you
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
Dec 24, 20251 min read
The Alternative Berlin New Year's Eve: A Guide for Those Who Want Something Different
Berlin's New Year's Eve is famous for chaos – but what if that's exactly what you don't want? Not everyone comes to Berlin to dodge bottle rockets at midnight. Every December, travel guides promise the "wildest night in Europe" – streets exploding with amateur fireworks, techno clubs running 80-hour marathons, a million people pressed against each other at the Brandenburg Gate. And for many visitors, that sounds like a nightmare. Maybe you're travelling with a partner and wan
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
Dec 23, 20257 min read
Dark Matter Berlin: Where Light Becomes Art in an Old Factory Hall
There's a reason Dark Matter keeps appearing on your TikTok feed. In the pitch-black rooms of a converted factory in Lichtenberg, something genuinely extraordinary is happening: light, sound, and space colliding in ways that make you forget you're standing in an industrial building on the outskirts of Berlin. We've been tracking this place since it opened in 2021, and the way it's captured Berlin's imagination says something about the city itself. This isn't a museum. It's no
Mads Weisbjerg Rasmussen
Dec 22, 20256 min read
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