BERLIN BABY
Here’s a little City guide of our wonderful trip to Berlin earlier this year. We were invited by momondo to test out their new app “momondo places“. The app offers insider tips to 7 different cities and we went to Berlin to test out the app and recommendations. Besides the app we also made use of insta-friends tips and blog recommendations.
In the first part of our Berlin city guide we will tell you a little about the city in general and the neighborhood Charlottenburg.
Tips about Berlin:
– If you haven’t been to Berlin before it might be a little tricky to find your way around the city. Here in Copenhagen we are e.g. used to even numbers at one side of the street and odd numbers on the other side. In Berlin it is different. You can be standing on a street where the numbers are 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 etc on your left side, and on the opposite side 187, 188, 189, 190. We really recommend having a GPS or a smartphone with you just in case you need it – comes in very handy 😉
– Berlin consist of different neighborhoods. The city center; Charlottenburg, Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and some small areas such as Tiergarten, Wedding & Schöneberg.
– You will find all sorts of public transportation such as: trams, busses, metros and trains. If you buy a metro-ticket you can access all the public transportation in the same zone.
– The nice streets and restaurants are spread out all over the city. Wear some comfy shoes or sneakers, because you’ll definetely be walking around A LOT.
Lunching
We lived in Charlottenburg close to Kürfurstendamm, and close to the famous shopping center KaDeWe near the large station, Zoologischer Garten. It was not the most charming atmosphere, but we knew the area beforehand and that was why we chose it, so we’d live in a familiar neighborhood. Berlin can be overwhelming and it can be tricky to find the nice spots everyone seem to love about the city along with the true Berlin atmosphere. Luckily we managed to get a piece of that Berlin. So here are some insider tips.
We already knew that we were going to visit the beautiful and exclusive KaDeWe, which we’ve both visited before. At the top floor you’ll find LeBuffet Wintergarten and there you can get a really nice lunch with a million dishes and food to chose from. We had a lunch plate each with a fresh juice on the side. We paid 17-20 euro – which isn’t the cheapest place to enjoy a lunch (when you consider general German prices), but it sure is a nice experience.
The buffet has so many salads and desserts to choose from.
And really, really delicious fish and seafood.
Shopping
At Kürfurstendamm you will find so many different brands. So many stores – a mix of highstreet and high-end fashion. The high street stores are located near KaDeWe close to the metro station with the same name as the street. Here you will find swedish H&M, spanish Zara and american Forever21. If you are looking for more high-end brands, you should visit KaDeWe. Here you find brands like Iro, Sandro, Maje, Ralph Lauren, and Diane Von Furstenburg (2nd floor). Are you looking for bags then it is the floor plan you should visit. You will find alot of to-die-for bags from e.g. Louis Vuitton, YSL, Chanel, Céline and Prada. There’s a reason why it is called the “luxury boulevard”. There’s a lot more to Berlin shopping than Kürfurstendamm. That we will tell more about in another Berlin post as they are located in other neighborboods.
Being cultural
In Charlottenburg, at the beautiful street Fasanenstraße, there are a lot of galleries, which unfortunately were closed when we walked by saturday night. The buildings are gorgeous and besides the galleries you will also find Literaturhaus Berlin (Berlin’s House of Literature). Saturday night the book shop and the show exhibition was closed – but it looked amazing. Instead we enjoyed a late night dinner at Café Wintergarten. – which also is a part of Literaturhaus Berlin. The food was simple and we fancied something light. Salmon with avocado and Riesling is always a good idea.
Near the Zoologischer Garten station there (as the name also refer to) a ZOO and an aquarium. We were recommended to stop by the aquarium, but we did not have the time. That we will do next time.
Read more city guides to Berlin – part II here and part III here.
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