Thinking of a city break to Berlin in December to take in a Christmas market, among other things.
1) what to see & do, besides said Christmas market? Is there any Cold War memorabilia e.g Checkpoint Charlie, which I assume is itself long since gone...
2) please recommend me a hotel close to the city centre
Thanks in advance
Btw Prague is lovely and the K&K Central Hotel is excellent; Airport Express bus (60 crowns, about £2 each way) takes about thirty minutes to get from the airport to the central railway station, which is only a ten minute walk from said hotel
DDR, Currywurst & Ramones museums?
Try a walking/bike tour. Really worthwhile. It'll take in checkpoint charlie which tbh is a bit blackpool and probably the most tacky touristy thing in Berlin.
Museum of Technology is very good if transport and engineering takes your fancy.
Stasi museum was good, insight into east Germany which I hadn't realised.
Really loads of stuff and you'll definitely find something to suit your interests.
We've stayed in the Radisson Blue which is worth a gander even if you don't stay and Hotel i31 which was nicely placed for food and drinks.
Cheers YK
To add to the walking tour recommendation above, use Brewer's for a Berlin walking tour. I usually like to follow my own tourist trail when I visit somewhere, but someone (on another forum) recommended a Brewer's tour and I have to say it was excellent. It didn't cover all the typical sights, but lots of places that tourists wouldn't normally hear about or see. If you're passing any typically tourist places you'll probably hear a different/interesting story about it. We went in Feb, started the tour in bright sunshine, finished with 6" of snow on the ground! http://brewersberlintours.com/
The Olympic Stadium is worth a trip out to as well.
Second the Olympic Stadium. It's still in the original park, with swimming pools and quite spectacular. The Stasi museum used to (might still) do tours with ex inmates which were very moving, KaDaWe department store is good for Christmas atmosphere, you can go up the top of the Reichstag for a small fee which is architecturally interesting. Travel by public transport is very easy and cheap. It's not far to Sachenhausen/Wansee if you want Nazi history. Checkpoint Charlie is preserved, along with part of the wall, and I think the topography of terror is also nearby.
Neue Nationalgalerie is always worth a visit.
If you like Cold War then Teufelsberg might be worth a visit.
I preferred the Stasi Prison museum to anything else. It's a 30 min tram ride from the city centre but definitely worth it. The guides are ex prisoners or had family who were, really shocking/interesting..
Thanks folks, much appreciated