Berlin City Break
A long weekend in Germany's capital, tracing the Wall's scars through Cold War memorials by day and its restless creative energy through galleries, techno clubs and riverside bars by night.
- Common scams — the shell game (Hütchenspiel), petition clipboards, transit pickpockets: The three-cup shell game ('Hütchenspiel') run near Alexanderplatz, the East Side Gallery, Museum Island and along the old Wall route is always rigged and worked by a team with planted 'winners' — Berlin police classify it as outright fraud, so never bet and don't even stop to watch (that's when your pocket gets picked). 'Deaf petition' clipboards and fake charity sign-ups are a distraction cover for the same pickpockets. Theft concentrates on the U- and S-Bahn and around Alexanderplatz, Hauptbahnhof, Warschauer Straße and Kottbusser Tor, especially in the evenings — keep phone and wallet zipped away.
- Mitte: The "heart" of Berlin has many historically important sights, abundant cafés, restaurants, museums, galleries, and clubs.
- East Central: Made up of historically diverse neighbourhoods, Kreuzberg was in the West but almost encircled by the wall. It drew leftists, cheapskates and malcontents, including a large squatter scene that frequently clashed with police, Friedrichshain likewise had squatters after reunification while "Prenzlberg" was a much more laid-back residential neighbourhood. Today all those areas are gentrifying, or already gentrified, but there are still numerous cafes, clubs, and bars.
- City West: This used to be the urban heart of West Berlin with Kurfürstendamm (Ku'damm) and Tauentzienstraße still major shopping areas. While the party has since moved east, there are great restaurants and hotels as well as the Olympic stadium and Schloss Charlottenburg.
- Tempelhof and Neukölln: The rapidly-gentrifying northern parts of Neukölln now seamlessly pass over into East Central, and Tempelhof is still known as the site of "the mother of all airports" (now a park).
- Source: Wikivoyage, https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Berlin?oldid=5325677 (CC BY-SA 4.0)