The grandly iconic
Brandenburger TorEastern promise
Berlin has always had a knack for re-inventing itself and the transformation of the city’s former East has made the German capital the cultural and nightlife centre of central Europe. Ben McCormack explores

It’s 16 years since the Berlin Wall fell, but the city has lost none of the buzz of freedom. Much of that energy is focused in the neighbourhoods of former East Berlin, where the squats of the 1990s have been replaced by bars and restaurants, nightclubs and art galleries. Mitte – literally meaning middle – is once more at the centre of life in the unified city, both culturally and politically. In the old bohemian district of Prenzlauer Berg, high-income office workers now live alongside artists, while the Turkish quarter of Kreuzberg is emerging as a clubbing mecca. As these areas gentrify, Berlin’s cutting-edge cool scene has shifted further east to Friedrichshain, once an industrial area.

With so much changing, there’s never
been a more exciting time to be in Berlin

With so much changing, there’s never been a more exciting time to be in Berlin. It might not be the most beautiful of capital cities, but Berliners are proud of what’s going on in their hometown. Set aside a day to explore each of these fascinating neighbourhoods and you’ll have one of the most rewarding city breaks around.

Mitte
The big sights of Berlin vie for attention with top-class restaurants and bars in Mitte. Start your sightseeing early and avoid the queues with a trip to the dome of the Reichstag (Platz der Republik Berliner Dom, Lustgarden, tel: +49 30 2026 9133), the German parliament, to get your bearings with a view over the city, then head south for two very different monuments to German history: the grandly iconic Brandenburger Tor and the movingly understated Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

Berlin’s Mitte district
crowned by the
FernsehturmNext, walk up the Unter den Linden, Berlin’s most imposing boulevard, to the cultural complex of Museumsinsel, an island in the river Spree that’s home to five superb museums and the city’s most famous church, the copper- topped Berliner Dom. From here it’s a short walk to the most recognisable feature on the Berlin skyline, the Fernsehturm (Panoramastrasse, tel: +49 30 242 3333). Grab a bite to eat in the revolving restaurant at the top of the 365m-tall TV tower, which, like the rest of the structure is typically 1960s in design.

The new Foster &
Partners Reichstag domeMitte’s true centre is Scheunenviertel, just over the Spree from Museumsinsel. Here you’ll see why Berlin is currently one of the world’s most dynamic centres for contemporary art. Walk up gallery-lined Auguststrasse to get a comprehensive idea of where the modern art scene is at right now but, if you’ve only time to visit one gallery, make it Kunst-Werke (Augustrasse 69, +49 30 243 4590), a former margarine factory that organises the Berlin Biennale.

Once you’ve feasted your eyes, satisfy your stomach. The busy streets around Hackescher Markt are packed with trendy bars and restaurants such as Riva (Dircksenstrasse 142, tel: +49 30 2472 2688), Kula Karma (Rosenthalerstrasse 36, tel: +49 30 2758 2035), Schwarzenraben (Neue Schönhauser Strasse 13, tel: +49 30 283 916 98) and Pan Asia (Rosenthaler 38, www.panasia.de), but also seek out the interesting places on the quieter side streets: take time out for coffee and cake in the peaceful courtyard of Barcomi’s (Sophienstrasse 21, tel: +49 30 2859 8363) on Sophienstrasse or eat sushi at Kuchi (Gipsstrasse 3, tel: +49 30 283 6622) and finish the evening over glamorous cocktails with the media movers and shakers at Greenwich (Gipsstrasse 5).

The squats of the 1990s have been replaced
by bars and restaurants, clubs and galleries

If that sounds too cool for school, head back to the streets around Unter den Linden, where top-end establishments such as Margaux (Unter den Linden 78, tel: +49 30 2265 2611) and Vau (Jägerstrasse 54, tel: +49 30 202 9730) keep Berlin’s gourmets wined and dined, or book a table at Lutter & Wegner (Charlottenstrasse 56, tel: +49 30 202 9540) for a traditional German meal before after-dinner drinks at Newton (Charlottenstrasse 57, tel: +49 30 2061 2999) next door, hung with the trademark nude photos of Helmut Newton, one of Berlin’s most famous exports.

Prenzlauer Berg
North-east of Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg has little to offer in the way of conventional sightseeing, although the newly re-opened Vitra Design Museum (Schönhauser Allée) is a notable exception. Rather, it’s a lovely place to wander around, soaking up the gentrified atmosphere of a neighbourhood that has, at various points in its history, been a Jewish centre, an artists’ colony and is now one of the most desirable places to live in Berlin.

Dine at the trendy
Riva bar and restaurantThe centre of Prenzlauer Berg is Kollwitzplatz, a leafy square lined with cafes from which to watch the world go by. On Thursday and Saturday afternoons, a food market pitches up here, where as well as bread, meats and cheese in peak condition you’ll be able to sample Currywurst, an oddly alluring dish of sausage and chips smothered in tomato sauce and sprinkled with curry powder. If you get a taste for Currywurst, a visit to Konnopke’s Imbiss, under the Eberswalder Strasse U-Bahn station, is a must: there’s no heating or service to speak of and conversation is disturbed by the rumblings of trains overhead but, nevertheless, this is one of the most famous restaurants in Berlin.

Kreuzberg
South of Mitte, Kreuzberg is urban bohemia personified, full of independent cinemas, a thriving bar and club scene. But there’s more to do here than hang out. First stop should be the Jüdisches Museum (Lindenstrasse 9-14, tel: +49 30 2599 3300), the new Jewish museum designed by world-famous architect Daniel Libeskind. The structure of the building, based on an exploded star of David and containing deliberately empty spaces, is as thought provoking as the exhibitions themselves. For a Cold War history lesson, the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie (Friedrichstrasse 43, tel: +49 30 253 7250) tells the history of the Berlin Wall, including the ingenious ways that East Berliners tried to escape.

Kreuzberg is home to Berlin’s large Turkish population, as well as having a substantial gay community. But there’s a new community in Kreuzberg: the east of the district, around the Schlesische Tor U-Bahn station, is becoming a hub of new bars and clubs. Falkensteinstrasse, in particular, stands out. Here you’ll find San Remo Falkensteinstrasse 46), a 70s-themed bar and 103 (Falkensteinstrasse 47), with an über-cool design like a modern art gallery and three rooms that play everything from rock to funk and 80s retro. Finish the night (or, more likely, the early morning) at Watergate (Falkensteinstrasse 49, tel: +49 30 6128 0395), where, in between dancing to house and hip-hop tracks, clubbers sip cocktails in a glass-fronted bar overlooking the River Spree.

Friedrichshain
Friedrichshain, in the east, wallops you with an antidote to the glitz of Mitte the minute you exit Frankfurter Tor U-Bahn station: the junction of Karl Marx Allée and Frankfurter Allée is a showcase for bleak Communist-era architecture. It’s the area of the old East Berlin that gives you the best idea of what life in the German Democratic Republic must have been like. There’s even a shop, Mondos Arts (Schreinerstrasse 6, tel: +49 30 4201 0778), selling memorablia from the era that taps into the current mood of Ostalgie, the nostalgia not for the East Germany of secret police and travel restrictions, but garish home furnishings and Trabants.

Friedrichshain, however, lives very much in the present. Boxhagener Platz is home to a huge flea market where you can pick up the work of artists before they’re famous for around€100. Simon-Dach-Strasse is the main restaurant drag, full of café bars with pavement seating that are a nice place for a latte, orange juice and delicious, big bowl of pasta.
But it’s the quirky bars that are the best thing around here. Artliners (Gärtnerstrasse 23, tel: +49 30 9700 2157) mixes live performances by acoustic rock bands with screenings of classic movies, as well as selling contemporary art and kooky clothing. Cool tunes are played at the tiny Unflick-Bar (Grünberger Strasse 75, www.unflick-bar.de) where the carpet in on the walls rather than the floor, while coolest of the lot is Künstliche Beatmung (Simon-Dach-Strasse 20, tel: +49 30 294 4946), a DJ bar and cocktail lounge decorated in swirly 60s psychedelia.

The East Side Gallery is the longest
stretch of the Berlin Wall still standing

Meanwhile, in the south of Friedrichshain you’ll see two of the moist potent symbols of the new Berlin. The East Side Gallery is the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall still standing;instead of barbed wire, it’s covered in paintings by international artists. Nearby, a former egg warehouse has become the home not only of Universal Music in Germany but also 12/34 (Stralauer Allée 1, tel: +49 30 52007 2301), a minimalist red nightclub where the young and hip dance to house music, with views over the river. Twenty years ago it would have been impossible, but now anything goes in east Berlin.

PHOTOS COURTESY: www.BERLIN-TOURIST-INFORMATION.DE; CAROLIJN DEMENSINO