Places to vist/photograph in Berlin?

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lucasthekopkat

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Hi all, first thread I've posted although I've been browsing the forums for a while and enjoyed many of the threads on here!

I am off to Berlin in a couple of weeks armed with a new Canon 450D and hoping some people might be able to advise me on places worth a visit that will give the opportunity for a good photo.

I've already decided that the Reichstag Dome is a certainty so will be going there and hopefully the zoo which I've heard is very good!

Any more suggestion would be greatly appreciated :)
 
I would suggest taking an open top city bus tour. You go past what is left of the wall and checkpoint charlie. There are loads of photo opportunities and you can just hop on and off when you see something worth togging.
 
Holocaust memorial is very errie and to capture the essence of that must be great. There's also tours you can do around the old underground bunker systems.

Whatever you do, do not pay out to see the checkpoint charlie museum...it's crap lol.
 
This would be my list of 'to do's'. :-

The Wall - (East Side Gallery)
The Sony Centre - some nicely shaped buildings.
TV Tower
Brandenberg Gate
Reichstag (inside and out)
Checkpoint Charlie
The Zoo
Holocaust Memorial
The church with the roof blown off - forget the name of it now!
Monument showing unification ... on the main street (Kurtsendamn ... or something like that!).
The Nuclear Bunker.

We went a few years ago (mainly on a shopping and drinking trip - but I took a few snaps which you can find here .... http://homepage.ntlworld.com/geordie.anth/ajbphotos/index-3-1.html

Cheers.

Anth
 
The Berlin free tours are brilliant, the tour guides work for tips so not only is it much cheaper but they are really enthusiastic and you see all the major sights. IMO the Brandenberg Gate, Berlin Wall and Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe are great photo locations.
 
East Berlin on the whole is a tad more interesting that west Berlin so if you can, gravitate towards that if all else fails - but I'd agree 100% with magpieant's suggestions. If you visit Checkpoint Charlie have some apple strudel (or whatever) in Cafe Adler next door to it. It's where spies used to meet, apparently. If you're interested, here's my shots from a year or so ago showing pretty much all that's been suggested. There's not too many. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ma_foties/sets/72157605624400922/
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I've read so much about the city that its hard to pin point exactly what I should see so those ideas have helped a lot!

aberal said:
East Berlin on the whole is a tad more interesting that west Berlin so if you can, gravitate towards that if all else fails - but I'd agree 100% with magpieant's suggestions. If you visit Checkpoint Charlie have some apple strudel (or whatever) in Cafe Adler next door to it. It's where spies used to meet, apparently. If you're interested, here's my shots from a year or so ago showing pretty much all that's been suggested. There's not too many. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ma_foties/sets/72157605624400922/
Click to expand...

magpieant said:
This would be my list of 'to do's'. :-

The Wall - (East Side Gallery)
The Sony Centre - some nicely shaped buildings.
TV Tower
Brandenberg Gate
Reichstag (inside and out)
Checkpoint Charlie
The Zoo
Holocaust Memorial
The church with the roof blown off - forget the name of it now!
Monument showing unification ... on the main street (Kurtsendamn ... or something like that!).
The Nuclear Bunker.

We went a few years ago (mainly on a shopping and drinking trip - but I took a few snaps which you can find here .... http://homepage.ntlworld.com/geordie.anth/ajbphotos/index-3-1.html

Cheers.

Anth
Click to expand...

The pics are great guys - thanks for showing me. Got me feeling very excited about going now :woot:
 
also try and get over to the olympic stadium, well worth a visit,
and also a boat trip, try and get on the boat, Moby Dick (it looks like a whale). word of advice for the Reichstag, if you want to go inside, give yourself plenty of time, the queue to get in can be very long and slow.
also check out the Europa Centre, (not brilliant but there is an interesting water clock inside) and the Ka De We Store (food floor at the top is amazing)

There are lots of places to see, and between us we have only listed a few of them. Its a great city to visit, the best way to get around is on the U Bahn, you can by a day ticket, which allows you to use the S Bahn, U Bahn and Buses, and is very reasonably priced.
 
tigre64 said:
also try and get over to the olympic stadium, well worth a visit,
and also a boat trip, try and get on the boat, Moby Dick (it looks like a whale). word of advice for the Reichstag, if you want to go inside, give yourself plenty of time, the queue to get in can be very long and slow.
also check out the Europa Centre, (not brilliant but there is an interesting water clock inside) and the Ka De We Store (food floor at the top is amazing)

There are lots of places to see, and between us we have only listed a few of them. Its a great city to visit, the best way to get around is on the U Bahn, you can by a day ticket, which allows you to use the S Bahn, U Bahn and Buses, and is very reasonably priced.
Click to expand...

Yes, we have already highlighted the Olympic Stadium as a must. We were hoping Hertha Berlin would be playing at home whilst we are there but it looks like we'll have to stick with the tour!

Many thanks for the advice!
 
I just got back a few days ago from Berlin. Great place to go but we only had a couple of days. We didn't bother with checkpoint charlie as we were told by some German hosts that it wasn't worth the bother since it was pretty much all fake now.

The Sony Centre is well worth a visit, the place is amazing. But do yourself a favour, go down the stairs outside the dunkin' donuts because there's a wall display showing the evolution of the area from pre war all the way up to the sony centre being finished.

Pete
 
Great place Berlin, been there twice now.

Reichstag is a must. Get there early to avoid the queues for the rooftop visit. Nice views of the Brandenburg Gate and Tiergarten from the roof. Berlin's skyline isn't very impressive truth be told, so I'd avoid the TV tower and just have a look from the roof of the Reichstag. Another good view of the city can be had from the Falkturm (sp?) - the one remaining Flaktower that Albert Speer built to defend Berlin from Allied airraids. You can get the train to Humboldthain (sp? again, sorry!) stop and it's five minutes walk from there. There is also a very nice Thai restaurant at the station.

Holocaust Memorial is close by and, as has been said, it is a very eerie and effective monument. Also The Topographie Of Terrors is close by. A small exhibition in the cellars of the Gestapo HQ. It's openair and free.

The Olympic Stadium is well worth a look and makes a great photography subject. It's around 4 Euros to get in providing it's not a match day. The OS has it's own UBahn stop so it's easy to get to.

Plotzensee Prison (sp?) is also very eerie and worth a visit. It is where many of Hitler's 'enemies' were executed during the war years. The execution room is still there, complete with hanging beam, and is open as a memorial to the victims.

As has been said, the Berlin public transport system is superb - clean, always on time and value for money. You buy A,B or C tickets depending on how far out of the city centre you want to travel. If you head a few miles out of the city you can visit:

Sachsenhausen - concentration camp memorial. Take the S1/S2 train line to Oranienburg and then a 30 minute walk to the memorial. An interesting and disturbing place to visit and also a subject with huge photographic potential and, IMHO, is a must visit for both reasons.

Wannsee - Again S1/S2 train line (in the opposite direction) to Wannsee. Some nice scenery and lakes and also the museum of the Wannsee Conference, held in the villa where it took place. An amazing building and an interesting and very disturbing museum. There is a circular bus route at Wannsee which starts by the train station. You can use your ABC tickets for the buses as well.

Back in the city, as mentioned above, if you wish to take the bunker tour you will need to get in touch with a company called Berlin Underworld. They do English language tours but only on certain days. The ruined church mentioned above is the Kaiser Wilhelm - Berliners call it 'The Hollow Tooth.'

Don't forget to try Currywurst! If you want cheap but filling meals then look for restaurants with the Imbis sign outside. Great value for money.

HTH.
 
you must also visit the KaDeWe store its supost to be the largest in europe ,go for lunch in the food hall the variety is second to none
gwh
 
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