Berlin, Germany

Berlin is a city of history and energy, full of excitement and forever evolving. Perhaps the latter point is the most poignant. The old and new German capital is in a constant state of flux, always becoming something without having ever achieved a state of simply being. This phenomenon has accelerated since the fall of the Wall, and efforts are now concentrated on turning Berlin into a international metropolis. For the past few decades, Berlin has been undergoing major rebuilding and planning efforts, which are visible in the new cityscape around Potsdamer Platz and the eastern city center. But there is also a rebuilding process taking place less visibly - in the hearts and minds of Berliners.

The city is made up of 23 different districts, each with its own unique character. The following summary will help to give you an overview of this fascinating city and provide you with a guide to what you can do in each particular district and what you can expect to find there.

Mitte
Let's begin in Mitte, Berlin's most central district which literally means "the center." The site of the first settlement in the Middle Ages, Mitte contains some of the city's oldest buildings such as Marienkirche and Nikolaikirche in the Nikolaiviertel, as well as many of Berlin's grandest buildings, strung out like pearls along the magnificent boulevard Unter den Linden. Stretching from Museum Island (Museuminsel with the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Pergamon Museum) past the imposing Berliner Dom and the lovely fountains and evergreens of the Lustgarten, past the splendid Crown Prince's Palace, Humboldt University and the State Opera House, the historic boulevard is crowned by the emblem of the old and new capital - the Brandenburg Gate.

Although it contains many of Berlin's architectural showpieces, Mitte is also an urban mishmash full of holes, imperfections and blemishes. The site of the former Royal Palace (pulled down in the 1950s) is now a rather open space, dominated by one of Berlin’s ubiquitous construction sites. Along with the TV Tower on Alexanderplatz, the former East German parliament is one of the city center's few remaining symbols of the GDR era. Just a decade ago, Mitte was scattered with drab socialist high-rises. Many of these have now been replaced by capitalist temples of consumerism, such as the postmodern Volkswagen Showroom on Unter den Linden and the futuristic glass department store Galeries Lafayette on Friedrichstraße. Other buildings, such as Hotel Adlon on Pariser Platz, have been rebuilt in the classic style of the early 1900s.

A stone's throw north of the River Spree, the face of Mitte changes once again. This is the Mitte of bars, restaurants, cafés and clubs - the heart of Berlin's buzzing nightlife scene. It is also the district of alternative galleries and artistic experimentation. In the years after the fall of the Wall, a unique subculture sprang up in the area around Hackescher Markt and Oranienburger Strasse. Art collectives and squatters moved into the empty, run-down buildings and brought new, alternative impulses to the area, symbolized today by the Tacheles cultural center or the Acud theater. This spontaneous, makeshift charm is gradually disappearing, but that's another story.

Prenzlauer Berg
Let's stay east of the former border, although nowadays it's almost impossible to see where the Wall used to be, due to the major construction work taking place on both sides. The district to the north-east of Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, used to be the center of alternative culture and political resistance in the GDR. But it has since been flooded by wealthy West Germans, eager to settle in the charming turn-of-the-century houses around Kollwitzplatz. As in Mitte, alternative culture is now becoming more and more established (for example, in the Kulturbrauerei, which is now home to a multi-screen cinema complex). Prenzlauer Berg is no longer an insider tip, but still has some of Berlin's best bars, restaurants and clubs.

Friedrichshain
Friedrichshain, the district to the south of Prenzlauer Berg, has now taken over the mantle of the last outpost of indigenous, alternative Berlin culture. A bit run down in places, this was the last area to be cleared of squatters and is still the focal point for Berlin's left-wing anarchist scene. Architecturally speaking, Friedrichshain is an intriguing mixture of concrete socialist high-rises, monumental Stalin-era mammoths (along Karl-Marx-Allee) and stylish, late 19th-century town houses. The area around Simon-Dach-Strasse is heaving with alternative bars, cafés and clubs and is a popular spot with students.

Kreuzberg
Crossing the River Spree on the Oberbaumbrücke, we reach the legendary Kreuzberg district. Situated next to the Wall in former West Berlin, Kreuzberg became infamous during the 1960s and 1970s as the center of West Germany's anarchist scene - a haven for squatters, hippies, punks and left-wing intellectuals. Although any remaining anarchists have long since fled to neighboring Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg is still the venue for violent demonstrations every 1st of May - inevitably accompanied by pitched battles with the police. A safer bet is to visit the annual Carnival of Cultures, Germany's biggest multicultural street festival, which takes place here every summer. Kreuzberg is home to many immigrants, including some 200,000 Turks. Some of this Oriental flair can be experienced in the area around Kottbusser Tor and Oranienstraße, which also has numerous alternative bars and cafés.

Potsdamer Platz
Heading up Friedrichstraße, past the ruins of Anhalter Bahnhof (an old train station) and the Martin Gropius Building, we leave Kreuzberg and enter the Tiergarten district at Potsdamer Platz. For many years a huge construction site, Potsdamer Platz is now complete. Boasting an enormous shopping center - the Arkaden - entertainment complexes such as the Cinemaxx and the Sony-Center, a casino and a musical theater venue, Potsdamer Platz is a magnet for tourists and locals alike.

Tiergarten
The real highlight of the district, however, is the sublime Tiergarten park, a refuge for nature-lovers, joggers and sunbathers. Full of ponds, grottoes and dotted with sculptures, Tiergarten park is crowned in the middle by the golden Siegessäule victory monument. Until 2006, millions of young people descended on Tiergarten once a year, for the Love Parade, a hedonistic feast of music and dance for techno fans from all over the world. However, this highly popular institution had to be re-located to the Rhineland for organizational reasons.

The north side of the park is the nerve center of political power. Lined up one after the other are the newly-constructed ministries, the monumental Reichstag parliamentary building and the equally monumental Chancellor's Office, all in close range to the controversial Jewish Memorial consisting of numerous concrete blocks. Only the palatial Schloss Bellevue, seat of the German President, exudes some of the calm of the surrounding park.

Schöneberg
Schöneberg, a scenic 19th-century bourgeois quarter, is a popular place to go for an afternoon coffee, an evening cocktail or a bit of night-time partying. The cafés and bars around Winterfeldtplatz are always full, particularly after the market on Saturday afternoons. On the other hand, the streets around Nollendorfplatz and Motzstraße - home to Berlin's gay scene - are at their busiest (and most colorful) in the early morning hours.

Charlottenburg
It's high time to discover Berlin's second city center, the triangle between Ernst-Reuter-Platz, Wittenbergplatz and Adenauerplatz which makes up the center of western Berlin. Most of this area, which celebrated its heyday back in the Golden Twenties, lies in the Charlottenburg district. Its main artery is Kurfürstendamm, affectionately known by Berliners as "Ku'damm." This used to be one of Europe's finest and most elegant boulevards until it was reduced to rubble during the World War II. It regained some of its flair in the 1970s and 1980s and is still a good place to see and be seen, but it seems to be losing out in the popularity stakes to Unter den Linden and Friedrichstraße in eastern Berlin, which now attract more attention and more investment.

The Memorial Church on Breitscheidplatz, however, is still brimming with camera-wielding tourists. Ku'damm's side-streets still bristle with theaters and hotels, such as the Kempinski, Savoy or Steigenberger - with boutiques, sushi bars and art galleries. The area around Savignyplatz is a great place to go for a bite to eat or for a late-night cocktail, while the food hall on the top floor of KaDeWe department store is a feast for the senses.

Charlottenburg's crowning glory is the magnificent Schloss Charlottenburg royal palace, featuring dozens of opulently decorated rooms and chambers, as well as the lush Royal Gardens, the perfect place for a relaxing Sunday afternoon stroll. Several world-class museums - the Egyptian Museum, Bröhan Museum and the Berggruen Collection - are located close to the palace. Further south, the Funkturm, a smaller copy of the Eiffel Tower, towers over the Exhibition Center and the International Congress Center, offering great views over western Berlin. Well, we've now covered the inner city, so what do the remaining districts have to offer?

Wilmersdorf
The southwest of the city is the place where wealthy Berliners live. Largely spared during the war, there are hundreds of beautiful villas in Grunewald, part of the Wilmersdorf district and around Dahlem in Zehlendorf, which is also home to Berlin's Free University. The area around Lake Wannsee is a particularly popular spot with Berlin's high-society - perfect for mooring the yacht at the bottom of the garden!

Steglitz
Steglitz is friendly, green and clean and has two major attractions: the spectacular Botanical Gardens and some wonderful shopping facilities around Schlossstrasse.

Wedding and Neukölln
More down-to-earth are the working-class districts of Wedding in the north and Neukölln in the south, which is sometimes referred to as the Berlin Bronx. Although they both have a reputation of being ghettos for the poor, unemployed and other down-and-outs, they are not as bad as they are made out to be. In fact, they are lively places with an earthy proletarian flair, a place to meet real Berliners.

Eastern Districts
The eastern districts, on the other hand, can't escape from the shadow of Communist East Germany, even though much has changed here since the fall of the Wall. Most of the gray concrete towers in places like Lichtenberg, Weißensee, Treptow, Hohenschönhausen or Marzahn have been repainted in friendly pastel colors and now boast the largest entertainment complexes and the most modern shopping malls in the region. There's plenty to discover here, such as the world's second biggest Jewish Cemetery in Weißensee or the monumental Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park.

Parks, Forests & Lakes
Berlin is a city full of green oases, like Volkspark Friedrichshain and Volkspark Humboldthain, Hasenheide and Jungfernheide, Rehberge and Britzer Gardens. Berlin's many rivers and canals - such as the beautiful Landwehrkanal are flanked on both sides by broad, leafy parks and meander through the city like ribbons of green and blue.

The icing on the cake is the wonderful variety of lakes and forests in the suburbs. Joggers and horseback-riders share places like the Grunewald Forest, Lake Schlachtensee, and the Krumme Lanke. Also very popular are Tegeler Forest, Tegeler See (Lake Tegeler) and the Müggelsee (Lake Müggel) with wild boar, foxes and deer. Indeed, you would hardly ever need to leave the city limits - if it weren't for even more idyllic lakes and forests in the surrounding region of Brandenburg.