Berlin: Holidays

All the new restaurants, bars and clubs that have opened since the wall came down in 1989, have made Berlin popular amongst young people. Berlin also offers many festivals and parades throughout the year. Backpackers in Berlin have a choice of numerous hostels in various parts of the city. It offers everything from very plain to artistically decorated hostels. On a backpacking holiday in Berlin the average costs for a bed in a dorm room are about 16,00-20,00 Euros.

Although Berlin is not technically a seaside location, it does offer more than 30 city beaches throughout the city where you can enjoy cocktails or even play volleyball. It also offers an indoor beach where you can enjoy the feeling of a beach holiday in Berlin all year round. The many lakes in Berlin are very popular with water athletes and people seeking recreation. 6.6 per cent of the city consists of areas of water. Berlin’s special quality cannot be fully appreciated without a visit to one of the large lakes, such as the Wannsee or The Müggelsee

A good way to get an impression of the most important lake in the west of Berlin is to take a drive along the Havelchaussee (closed at night) to the Grosser Wannsee lake. Sights and landscapes along this route are the Scholzplatz in Charlottenburg, the 55 meter high Grunewald Tower erected on the Karlsberg in honour of Bismarck in 1897, the river bank, woods and picturesque sand dunes.

The Wannsee district, named after the largest of the Havel lakes, is at the end of the Havelchaussee. In the 1920s Berlin built one of the largest seaside resorts in Europe on the sand beach of Wannsee. Thousands of bathers come here in the summertime.
 

Berlin offers many parks and lakes within the city and with them terrific campsite locations that are open throughout the year. From most campsites the city centre can easily be reached by foot or public transport. As the weather in Berlin does not suit Campers all year round it can only be recommended from June to August. Costs vary between 6-10 EUR for the campsite and 3,00-5,00 EUR for a car per day. A tent can be rented for about 15,00-20,00 EUR.
 

Berlin is one of the three most popular city break destinations in Europe. Visitors on a city break to Berlin will experience the vibrancy of the new exciting Berlin mixed with the moving history of Berlin and the re-united Germany. On a city break in Berlin you can go shopping in Berlins elaborately restored Hackesche Höfe courtyards or on Ku’damm and the famous KaDeWe department store. There are many museums and galleries on Museum Island and other cultural sites such as the East-side gallery or imposing modern architectural sites such as Potsdamer Platz. It also offers fantastic nightlife for every age. Further Berlin offers more hotel beds than Manhattan, which makes competition among the hoteliers high and results in low room rates.

Berlin is an amazing place for corporate weekends. When on a corporate weekend in Berlin you have a huge selection of luxurious hotels to choose from. There are many great cultural activities such as visiting the famous Wintergarten Varieté Theatre or the Berlin Philharmonic or see the Blue Man group. Many fun incentive ideas such as going on a Trabi-Safari (the old East-German car) around Berlin or a river cruise in a club boat along the river Spree. There are many activities for corporate weekends in Berlin.

There are many reasons why people should spend a culture and arts holiday in Berlin. It boasts a very rich history, culture and art that you can experience by visiting some of the many historical buildings, monuments, art galleries and museums. Key visits are Museum Island in Mitte district (most notably the Pergamonmuseum), the factory galleries on Auguststraße or the fantastic Bauhaus Archive Museum of Design.

Berlin’s media film and music industry is prosperous and therefore has an assortment of printing houses, innovative television and film productions and movie theatres. When it comes to performing arts and theatre performances, Berlin has already gained an international reputation for having excellent performances. Aside from theatres, visitors on a culture and arts holiday to Berlin can also enjoy the capital’s opera houses or listen to Berlin’s top symphony orchestras. There are many monuments to Germany's sometimes-turbulent history, and Berlin has them in spades. The architecturally impressive Brandenburg Gate and The Berlin Wall are just a few examples. Another important facet of Berlin's political make-up is of course it’s corridors of power, which lie in the grand and very large Reichstag. Visitors will not be disappointed with their choice if they decide to spend culture and arts holidays in Berlin.
 

In the last few years, public transportation of Berlin has done a lot to make the transportation for wheelchairs more convenient. 51 underground and 118 suburban train stations are equipped with elevators or ramps, to provide easy access to the platforms. The transport network and city maps of the public transportation show all stations accessible for wheelchairs. The new busses of the public transportation are equipped with a ramp that can be lowered, in order to permit convenient access for wheelchairs. The timetables display busses and trams accessible for wheelchairs. Furthermore many stations offer markings for visually impaired visitors. The surface of these stripes is corrugated to mark the edge of the platforms. Also a lot of tourist attractions offer special services for blind and deaf visitors to Berlin. There are special services and groups for handicapped visitors, which can be found via the tourist office.

Like any big city, Berlin has lots to offer for a family holiday. In summer in particular a family holiday in Berlin offers a mixture of culture with outdoors activities such as visiting Berlin Zoo or going cannoying on one of its many lakes. Berlin Tourist Office offers suggestions of what to do for families and children.

Berlin is known to be a very liberal city. This is not only due to the fact that the mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, announced to the media in 2001 that he is gay and happy to be. There are many gay/lesbian-oriented bars and clubs. In Berlin Schöneberg, one of Berlin’s most famous gay and lesbian quarters you will not only find caffees and bars decorated with the rainbow flag but even snack bars. One of the first bar oriented to gay and lesbians iscalled Eldorado, which was engrossed by the avantgarde artist scene in the 20s. Even cineastically the quarter Schöneberg was used as a backdrop fort he movie „Different from the others“ in 1919 were a musician is blackmailed because he is gay.

Germany’s capital is simply one of Europe’s most diverse stag/hen party cities. Within this city you can say that pretty much anything goes. Berlin is host to many clubs and bars, it offers a number of theatres a casino and many more attractive event locations. There are many appealing little boutiques where one can find a one-off piece. It also offers attractive hotels with fairly good offers.

The party capital of Germany, Berlin is becoming a popular destination for a stag weekend. Berlin offers more pubs and local lager than any stag group could hope for, as well as some fine restaurants, trendy bars and its renowned assorted exotic club life, perfect for any stag party. As the capital of Germany, it has no restrictions on the licensing hours, any party can find themselves bar and club hopping, enjoying the mixture of entertainments and venues all day and all night. All the popular stag activities including, five-a-side football, go-karting and for something a little different, indoor skiing or “Trabi-Safaris” are also readily available. The stag destination Berlin will not disappoint, as this capital has a huge range of activities on offer. The city is safe, friendly, relatively inexpensive and the people know how to party.

Although Berlin is a fantastic city with lots of cultural, architectural and material attractions, it is not the typical honeymoon destination. As a city it does not have the romantic notion as for example Paris but it does have bags of charme. Not only are there many beautiful sites as the Gendarmenmarkt or Schloß Charlottenburg or even Sansoucci in the nearby city of Potsdam but it has many parks and lakes that newlyweds can enjoy on a honeymoon trip in Berlin. It also is a great place for shopping clothes designed by young German designers to buy that one-off piece to remember the honeymoon in Berlin by.

Berlin is the German capital of singles and offers a wide range of fun bars and single parties where you can get to know exciting people. Look out for parties called „Fisch sucht Fahrrad“ (fish seeks bicyle) which is a famous single party.

For visitors who choose to go on a shopping holiday in Berlin, there are countless places in Berlin go to such as really expensive temples of consumption, flea markets and antique markets, cheap bargain stores and the whole spectrum in between.

The Departmentstore Quartier 206 situated on Friedrichstrasse, which is the most distinguished and pricey of Berlin's department stores, known as the Harrods of Germany. Departmentstore Quartier 206 provides top end fashion for Ladies, Gentlemen and children as well as personal accessories and home items.

The biggest department store in Berlin is the Kaufhaus Des Westens also known as KaDeWe. Here you will find the same level of product as you'd find in the Departmentstore Quartier 206, but just more of everything and some cheaper shops.

The Friedrichstrasse offers some of the most chic boutiques in the city and some of the finest restaurants, whilst the Europa-Centre offers a fabulous modern alternative with restaurants, bars and a huge multi-screen cinema. In the case that visitors have a whole day to wonder around and to window shop, then Charlottenburg must be the prime destination. Here you will find top-range designers and one-off pieces.

The Tauentzienstraße, which is the extension of Kurfürstendamm is a shoppingmile for the whole family. You can find diversity in styles and fashion as well as in price categories.