One Night in Berlin: A Guide

Okay, so actually… it was three nights in Berlin, but I was going for ‘catchy’ over ‘factual’ with that heading. I’d never really thought of going to Berlin before, but it was a gorgeous long weekend away.

I raced to the gate for my plane with my wheelie suitcase struggling to keep up behind me, and I thought… ‘Why does everyone always rush to the gate? We all have a seat. I literally have an assigned seat I chose myself.’ And yet, I did not slow. The imaginary crowd went wild when I made it – first one to the gate, and took my seat in the waiting area. And then…
“EasyJet apologises but there are more passengers than seats on this flight. Please could we have volunteers to switch to the next flight – we will pay for any hotels you may need and you will receive 250 euros.”
WHAT?!
Madness! If I hadn’t been flying out to meet someone, I probably would’ve taken the free cash. Alas, it was not my time, so I quickly boarded and hoped no-one else was planning on nabbing my window seat. Touching down on German soil so late in the evening, I wanted a speedy journey to the hotel. Berlin has Uber, so that’s a win when you’re clueless and panicking, trying to quickly learn German on the way over there. (But it goes without saying that you should definitely learn ‘please’ and ‘thank you’… at the very least!)

For all your travels (unless you’re fluent) I recommend downloading the Google Translate app. Google Translate sometimes gets a bad rap for not always being 100% accurate, but it’s helped me a lot. I love to learn new languages and at least give it a go. Also try DuoLingo (if you’re serious about learning the language) – it’s free and it gives you something fun to do on your morning commute.

A Little Bit of a Berlin Guide…

After getting my head around the beautiful palace we were staying in… okay, The Marriott (same thing), we wandered around and pretended to be cultured. Berlin is a beautiful city to walk around – seeing pieces of the Berlin Wall and being there right in the middle of the Holocaust Memorial is pretty moving. The Brandenburg Gate is absolutely breath-taking… especially at night. There’s so much to see for free – take a wander. There’s also Museums-a-plenty if they’re your thing… check out Museum Island.

The Berlin subway makes it really easy to get around and it’s so similar to the tube/subway that it won’t phase you as you hop from place to place. (Download the Berlin Subway app prior to your trip).

Eating and drinking isn’t super expensive compared to eating out at home. We were told to definitely get a kebab (?!) when we went to Berlin… by an actual German – it’s all legit. Sooooo we had our first ever kebabs. Das ist gut! (That was our main phrase of the trip… we didn’t really work out how to say anything was bad. It’s all good!!! Ha). And, for the health food addicts amongst you, turning away at the thought of a kebab… we found the cutest health smoothie/juice shop. Hop off the subway at Eberswalder and head down to The Juicery!

I don’t know how to tell you this… but… Berlin has a LIDL… soooo we may have bought a bottle of red wine for €1.97!!! If you’re a strapped for cash traveller, keep this in mind… a good time can be had by all.

I highly recommend a river cruise tour – gliding along and listening to the history of Berlin is beautiful… but I’d suggest you request a price list before you order a drink. They had no menus or prices, and when we got off the boat suddenly our bill was €8.80… for two glasses of water! Oops.

My favourite thing was to just sit in the cafes along the river with a drink and relax! I love to be by the river – and at night it is just the right level of buzz and relaxation. Beautiful bars, really good service… oh… but don’t ask bars for their wifi password… it’s not really a ‘thing’ there.
On the way home as we queued for our flight there was some sort of commotion… the flight was full so my boyfriend had been upgraded… alone. Ha! Typical. With my separate peasant ticket, I sat in my little economy seat until the lucky guy next to me boarded and got a free upgrade to Business Class when we asked if he’d swap. He was more than happy to help us out!
Hope those ramblings made you realise how glorious a long weekend in Berlin is! Such an underrated vacation spot! And definitely get yourself a currywurst! Das ist gut! Have you been to Berlin yet? Or is it on your list? If you have any questions I can answer to help plan your trip, drop them in the comments below.
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