Berlin

Check out the usual booking sites such as www.booking.com or www.venere.com since it is such a huge city it is good to stay somewhere where restaurants, cafes and bars are on your doorstep in the evening and the Mitte area fits the bill perfectly.

On our two visits we stayed at Flowers Boarding House Mitte, a block of state of the art apartments which start from around €90 per night for two people. They are very modern and excellently appointed and there is a manned reception between 9 and 6 each day where you can pick up coffee and croissants. The address is Mulackstrasse 1, 101119 Berlin Mitte, and the web site is www.flowersberlin.com.

Berlin seems to have an amazing variety of different types of cooking so if sauerkraut and dumplings are not your thing don’t despair there is plenty of choice. Also eating and drinking is much cheaper than many capital cities in Europe.

Kasbah, Gipstrasse 2, Mitte, Rosethaler Plazt, is a great Moroccan restaurant run by charming staff with excellent food, booking recommended at weekends. As someone who loves Moroccan food this was definitely a great example.

Monsieur Vong, Alte Schonhauser Strasse 46, Mitte, Rosa Luxembour Platz, is also a good reason for staying at Flowers Apartments as it is across the road. This is a famous Berlin Vietnamese Restaurant, very popular, very modern, very good and very cheap, no booking so be willing to queue or go early.

Good Morning Vietnam, Alte Schonhauser Strasse 60, if Monsieur Vong is full you can always try this one up the street, the food is very good, lovely service and very reasonably priced.

Yosoy, Rosenthaler Strasse 37, Mitte, Hackescher Markt, this a very popular tapas restaurant with loads of specials although service can be a bit pushed it is worth it for the buzz and the food.

Vino E Libri, Torstrasse 99, Mitte, Rosenthaler , this incredibly smart neighbourhood Italian restaurant with top notch food and service was a real find. The prices were very reasonable, booking is advised.

Sushi Express, Sony Center, Postdamer Platz 2, is a tiny place in the Sony Centre if you are coming from the U-Bahn to the centre it is easy to find, if not ask, it is worth finding. A conveyor belt of sushi made in front of your eyes and even better at lunch time there is 50% of Happy Hour.

Lutter und Wegner, Charlottenstrasse 56, Gendarmenmarkt, this is one of the really smart old fashioned Berlin restaurants and as such is not cheap but it also has a bistro attached which does fantastic platters of meats & cheeses and has an excellent wine list.

Dachgarten Restaurant, is in the Reichstag Building, if you go round the building you may be lucky enough to pop in for a coffee and cake or a drink in the rooftop restaurant. If not you would need to book for lunch or dinner, it is very smart and the food looks top notch.

Gugelhof, Kollwitz Platz, Ecke Knaackstrasse 37, Prenzlauer Berg, is an old fashioned traditional bar and restaurant, it came well recommended and met the expectations. It is very popular and it is in a good area to explore.

Ka De We, Tauentzien Strasse, Schoneberg, Wittenbergplatz, is the second largest department store in Europe and it has the best food hall you can imagine. There are numerous bars and food bars, such as the oyster bar, the schnitzel and dozens of others. Have starters at the oyster bar then a main at the schnitzel bar and enjoy a glass of champagne at the champagne bar, you get the picture.

Papaya, Krossener Strasse 11, Friedrichshain, is a great Thai restaurant in an area with an amazing selection of places to eat, they also have another place across the road but is does not have such a wide menu. The food is great and incredibly reasonably priced. They also have a place in Schoneberg.

Osteria No 1. Kreuzberg Strasse 71, Kreuzberg, this was highly rated as one of the best Italian restaurants to visit and booking at night is essential. The food was fabulous and the service excellent, for the quality the price was very reasonable. There appears to be recently very mixed reviews, either fantastic or not very good so perhaps further investigation is required.

Curry Wurst 36, Mehringdamm, Kreuzberg is rated as the best Currywurst place in Berlin and judging by the crowds the natives of Berlin certainly seem to think so.

Bars

Bars come in all varieties and most traditional ones do traditional German food, there is a great bar/café culture and most newer bars stay open late a, few to mention are.

Cafe Cinema, Rosenthaler Strasse 39 Mitte, it is just by the Hofe courtyard building and is a very laid back local bar.

Hackbarth’s, Auguststrasse 49A, is a great bar in the area of Mitte which is called Scheunenviertel and is full of small galleries and bars and restaurants. It is an excellent local bar with a good selection of beers and wines.

Botzow Privat, Linien Strasse, Mitte, Oranienburger Tor, an excellent local bar, with good food and good selection of wines and beers. They do a lunchtime special of Weiner Schnitzel at 2 for 1 which is very good. The staff are very pleasant and it has a great local feel.

There is a good group of bars and cafes just down from Botzow Privat on the corner of August Strasse.

Schwarz Sauer, Kastienalle 13, Prenzlauer Berg, is a very popular bar in an area with lots of other places of all types

Metzer Eck, Metzer Strasse 33, Prenzlauer Berg, is the oldest traditional bar in that area, worth popping in to have a beer, they also serve food.

Blaues Band, Alte Schonhauser Strasse 7/8, Mitte, is a modern local bar, cafe and restaurant.

Caffee Burger, Tor Strasse 58-60, Mitte near Rosa Luxembourg Platz, this apparently is a Berlin institution from GDR days, and prices and décor seem unchanged. There is an entrance fee which the night we went was one euro which goes up to five with live bands and it has an eclectic selection of music, on our visit a DJ playing “Eastern Sounds meet Swing” which the Berliners on the dance floor seemed to enjoy.

Zur Letzen Instant, Waisenstrasse, Nickolaiviertel, Mitte, is a very traditional bar with a small beer garden which does good traditional food.

Newton, Charlotten Strasse 57 Mitte, Gendarmenmarkt, is a very smart and a great place to sit outside and sip a beer before popping across the road to Lutter und Wegner for lunch.

Friedrichshain, and in particular the area round Simon Dach Strasse, is great for an evening out with a vast variety of bars, cafes and restaurants and it has a very good local feel. Take the U Bahn to Warschauer Strasse and you can also get the bus 240 back to Rosa Luxembourg Platz. Try Cafe Mayna or Dackhammer and also explore the streets off Simon Dach Strasse as there is a wider variety of bars with an older clientele.

Kreuzberg, around U Bahn Mehringdamm, is a very local area with a wide variety of places to eat and drink, after your currywurst at No 36, see above, try Beer Express next door, then go down Mehringdamm to Destille at No 67, a very well run small local bar with a wide range of drinks. There is a very trendy bar, name sadly forgotten, a couple of doors up which is worth a try.

Drink

Beer is what you should try, it is cheap and the licensing laws seem to be fairly non existent, that does not mean that there are hordes of stag nights, just the opposite the city has a very laid back atmosphere. There are so many types of beer to try including wheat beers which the locals like to flavour with syrup, either, red or green. Most of the beers are from big breweries but more craft beers seem to be available these days.

The city is also a great place for cocktails, the bar scene is full of places from the top end of the glamour spectrum to the downright grungy, and lots of fun can be had exploring the next up and coming area.

The Reichstag should not be missed, the opportunity to go up the amazing Norman Foster designed dome is worth the queue but the earlier you get there the better to save a very long wait.

Do a river cruise particularly in the afternoon from the landing near Hackescher Markt and Museum Island, pick one of the boats with an open air deck and tables where you can sip a beer as you watch the sights go by.

Try and walk part of where the Berlin wall was, start at Bernauer Strasse U Bahn and visit the chapel of the reconciliation and the re-constructed viewing platform which has a museum and information centre where you can pick up maps for your walk.

Visit KaDe We the famous department store even if it is just for the food hall, ideally stay and have lunch at any number of the places on offer

Obviously walk along Unter den Linden and visit the Jewish Memorial and explore Museum Island.

Nickolaiviertel the reconstructed area is well worth a visit and has some very traditional bars such as Zum Nussbaum and Zum Paddenwirt, while there pop round the corner and visit the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel and see the fish tank in the reception containing one million litres of water, it is part of Aqua Dome & Sea Life.