Cutting-edge Berlin is a feast of history, theatre and music.

Berlin had modest beginnings as a trading centre in the 13th century, growing into a European powerhouse that hogged the 20th century stage. Since reunification in 1990, it has evolved into a dynamic, sexy and creative city where a surprising lightheartedness lurks beneath an austere exterior.

Berlin is the heart of modern Germany, with a stoic beat that echoes through grand public buildings, glorious museums and theatres, urbane restaurants, bustling pubs and raucous nightclubs. It's a city that thrives on change and that has made a virtue out of reinventing itself.

'An etching by Churchill after an idea by Hitler.' - Bertolt Brecht

Environment

Latitude: 52.5162734985
Area: 889sqkms
Population: 3390000
Orientation:

Berlin sits in the middle of the region known from medieval times as the Mark of Brandenburg, now the Bundesland (federal state) of Brandenburg. The city spills north and south of the Spree River, which winds through some of the magnificent parkland that comprises a third of the municipal area. In 2001, Berlin's previous 23 administrative districts were reduced to 12 in an effort to curb bureaucracy. There is little impact on visitors, however, as the old district names continue to be used.

Berlin is divided into 12 administrative districts but you're likely to spend most of your time in the central ones. The historic heart is the Mitte district, which is where most of the must-see sights are located. Among them is the majestic Fernsehturm (TV Tower), a useful orientation point visible from most of central Berlin. It's right on Alexanderplatz, once the heart of socialist East Germany. West of here, Unter der Linden, the fashionable avenue of aristocratic old Berlin, extends all the way to the Brandenburg Gate. It passes by the Museumsinsel, an island in the Spree River, where you'll find most of Berlin's finest museums. The city's birthplace is just south of here, near the Nikolaiviertel, a rebuilt historical quarter. West of the Brandenburg Gate, the boulevard continues as Strasse des 17 Juni through the Tiergarten, a huge landscaped park. You may remember the Victory Column at its centre from the Wim Wender's film Wings of Desire.

North of the Brandenburg Gate is the newly built federal government quarter anchored by the Reichstag, while south of the gate is Potsdamer Platz, Berlin's newest quarter and entertainment hub. There's good shopping here and also along the Kurfürstendamm (Ku'damm, for short) in the district of Charlottenburg, west of the Tiergarten.

The most sizzling nightlife zones are in neighbourhoods just outside the centre, most importantly bohemian Prenzlauer Berg, grungy Kreuzberg and student-oriented Friedichshain.

Economy

Room costs
Low: 30-80, Mid: 80-160, High: 160-250, Deluxe: 160-250

Meal costs
Low: 5-15, Mid: 15-25, High: 25-50, Deluxe: 25-50

Weather

Berlin has a moderately cool and humid climate determined by a mixing of air masses from the Atlantic Ocean and the continental climate of eastern Europe. Predictably, December to February are the coldest months. When the winds blow from Russia it can get mighty chilly, with temperatures dropping below freezing. Generally, though, winters are relatively mild. More than half of the city's annual inversion days (when stagnant cold air traps warmer air below, bringing about smog) occur in these months.

July and August are the warmest times, though usually not chokingly hot. The nicest months are September and October, which deliver the added bonus of autumn foliage. May and June, when the trees are in bloom and the outdoor cafe season kicks off, are popular months too, though rain is more likely at this time.

Communication

Area Code:

030

Events

Berlin's calendar is loaded with annual fairs, festivals, concerts and parties. The Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival), the second largest in the world, is held in February. Festage (Festival Days) is a high-brow hoe-down of gala concerts and operas held over 10 days in April. Britspotting, a small festival of British and Irish films held in May, is popular with the Berlin arthouse crowd. Christopher Street Day is the city's big gay parade; it hits the streets in June. Step out gracefully in August to the Internationales Tanzfest Berlin, Berlin's premier dance and experimental choreography event. JazzFest Berlin doo-wops in November and Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets) are held throughout the city in the month before the big day.

All shops, banks, government offices and post offices close on public holidays.

New Year's Day (official holiday) 1 Jan

Good Friday (official holiday) Mar/Apr

Easter Sunday (official holiday) Mar/Apr

Easter Monday (official holiday) Mar/Apr

Labour Day (official holiday) 1 May

Ascension Day (official holiday) 40 days after Easter

Whit/Pentecost Sunday (official holiday) May/Jun

Whit/Pentecost Monday (official holiday) May/Jun

Day of German Unity (official holiday) 3 Oct

Christmas Day (official holiday) 25 Dec

Boxing/St Stephen's Day (official holiday) 26 Dec

Activities

Berlin's many parks and forests are tailor-made for walking and jogging, and the countryside around central Berlin has many lovely cycling routes. Ice skating is available at a number of indoor rinks from mid-October to early March. There are also dozens of swimming pools to choose from.

Media

Books

Berlin, Then and Now (Author: Tony Le Tissier)

A fascinating record of the modern history of Berlin, told mainly in black-and-white photographs, with text by a former guard of Spandau prison (Hess committed suicide on his watch).

The Biography of a City (Author: Anthony Read & David Fisher)

An excellent social history tracing the life of the city from its beginnings to post-Wall times.

Berlin and its Culture (Author: Ronald Taylor)

A lavishly illustrated cultural history of Berlin from medieval times through to the 1990s.

Stasiland (Author: Anna Funder)

Fascinating portrayal of the all-pervasive surveillance by the Stasi, the East German secret police, of its own people. Australian journalist Anna Funder interviews both the (often unrepentant) perpetrators and their victims.

A Dance Between Flames (Author: Anton Gill)

An engaging read that examines the artistic brilliance and moral freedom of Berlin's Weimar years.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (Author: William Shirer)

A powerful piece of reportage about the city that Shirer loved, feared and fled.

Jews in Germany After the Holocaust: Memory, Identity, and Jewish-German Relations (Author: Lynn Rapaport)

A book based on interviews with nearly 100 Jews who continue to live in Germany after the Holocaust, concentrating on how the memory affects their lives.

Goodbye to Berlin (Author: Christopher Isherwood)

Another brilliant, semiautobiographical perspective on Berlin's 'golden age', seen through the eyes of gay Anglo-American jounalist Isherwood. The book formed the basis of the musical Cabaret

Bauwelt Berlin Annua (Author: Martina Duttman, et al)

Architecture students and professionals will love this book, which chronicles the new face of Berlin as it has emerged since 1996.

Berlin and the Wall (Author: Ann Tusa)

A saga about the Cold War, the building of the Wall, and its effects on Berlin.

After the Wall (Author: Marc Fisher)

An interesting book on German society, with great emphasis on life after the Wende (fall of communism).

Berlin Alexanderplatz (Author: Alfred Döblin)

With quotations displayed on office buildings on Alexanderplatz itself, this stylised meander through the seamy 1920s is still a definitive Berlin text.

Der Geteilte Himmel (Divided Heaven) (Author: Christa Wolf)

Set against an industrial backdrop, this is the powerful story of a woman's love for a man who fled to the West.

Herr Lehmann (Berlin Blues) (Author: Sven Regener)

It's hard to imagine a Berlin novel where the fall of the Wall is almost incidental to the plot, but this cult story of Kreuzberg nights pulls it off nicely.

Russendisko (Russian Disco) (Author: Wladimir Kaminer)

This collection of stranger-than-fiction stories presents a whole host of unusual characters, adding up to an entertaining and unsentimental portrait of the present-day city from the perpective of a Russian immigrant.

Culture

History Before 20th Century

The area currently occupied by Berlin has been settled since the Stone Age, but its 'modern' history began in the 13th century with the founding of the trading posts of Berlin and Cölln by itinerant merchants in the area of today's Nikolaiviertel, in the Mitte district. In 1307, Berlin and Cölln merged for political and security purposes.

In the 1440s, Elector Friedrich II of Brandenburg established the rule of the Hohenzollern dynasty, which was to last until Kaiser Wilhelm II's escape from Potsdam in 1918. Berlin's importance increased in 1470, when the elector moved his residence there from Brandenburg and built a palace near the present Schlossplatz (previously known as Marx-Engels-Platz).

During the Thirty Years' War Berlin's population was decimated, but in the mid-17th century the city was reborn stronger than before under the so-called Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm. His vision was the basis of Prussian power, and he sponsored Jewish and Huguenot refugees seeking asylum and benevolent rule.

The Great Elector's son, Friedrich I, the first Prussian king, made the fast-growing Berlin his capital, and together with his second wife Sophie Charlotte encouraged the development of the arts and sciences and presided over a lively and intellectual court. His grandson, Friedrich II, sought greatness through building and was known for his political and military savvy. In the late 18th century, the Enlightenment arrived with some authority in the form of the playwright Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and the philosopher and publisher Friedrich Nicolai; both helped make Berlin a truly international city.

The 19th century began on a low note, with the French occupation of 1806-13, and in 1848 a bourgeois democratic revolution was suppressed, somewhat stifling the political development that had been set in motion by the Enlightenment. The population doubled between 1850 and 1870 as the Industrial Revolution, spurred on by companies such as Siemens and Borsig, took hold. In 1871 Bismarck, the Prussian Prime Minister, united Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm I. The population of Berlin was almost two million by 1900.

Modern History

Before WWI Berlin had become an industrial giant, but the war and its aftermath led to revolt throughout Germany. On 9 November 1918 Philipp Scheidemann, leader of the Social Democrats, proclaimed the German Republic from a balcony of the Reichstag (parliament) and hours later Karl Liebknecht proclaimed a free Socialist republic from a balcony of the City Palace. In January 1919 the Berlin Spartacists Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were murdered by remnants of the old imperial army, which entered the city and brought the revolution to a bloody end.

On the eve of the Nazi takeover, the Communist Party was the strongest single party in 'Red Berlin', having polled 31% of the votes in 1932. Large parts of Berlin remained anti-Nazi during the years Hitler was in power. The city was heavily bombed by the Allies in WWII and especially towards the end of the war. The final Battle of Berlin began in mid-April 1945 when more than 1.5 million Soviet soldiers barrelled towards the capital from the east. On 30 April, the fighting reached the government quarter where Hitler was esconced in his bunker with his long-time mistress Eva Braun. That afternoon Hitler shot Braun then himself. Germany capitulated a few days later. Most of the buildings you see today along Unter den Linden and elsewhere were reconstructed from the ruins.

In August 1945, at the Potsdam Conference, the four Allied powers - the USA, Britain, France and the Soviet Union - divided Germany into four zones of occupation and Berlin into four sectors, with each country taking control of its own zone. The road to Germany's long-term division began in June 1948 when the three western Allies introduced the Deutschmark in their zones without consulting the Soviets. The USSR then blockaded West Berlin, but a massive Allied airlift kept the area supplied and allowed it to stave off invasion. In October 1949, East Berlin became the capital of the GDR. The construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 stopped the drain of skilled labour to the West.

Recent History

On 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall opened and its dismantling began soon thereafter. The Unification Treaty between the two Germanys designated Berlin the official capital of Germany, and in June 1991 the Bundestag voted to move the seat of government from Bonn to Berlin over the next decade. A huge consortium of public and private organisations was charged with constructing the heart of a metropolis from scratch. As a result the 1990s saw a ballet of cranes revitalising Potsdamer Platz with a new urban district anchored by DaimlerCity, the Sony Center and the Beisheim Center (completed in 1998, 2000 and 2004, respectively). In April 1999 the revamped Reichstag reopened and hosted unified Germany's parliament.

Factoid

The Wall

The East German government built the Berlin Wall to try and stop its citizens escaping into West Berlin. In the time it was up (1961-1989) over 5000 people tried to climb over it; 3200 were captured, 191 were killed.

Places of Interest

Deutsches Technikmuseum

Web site: www.dtmb.de

Summary Review:

It's easy to spend an entire day at the giant Deutsches Technikmuseum and the sizable Museumpark. The museum's 14 departments examine technology throughout the ages - from printing and transport to computers - with interactive stations. Demonstrations of historical machines and models take place throughout the museum.

Full Review:

A highlight is the reconstruction of the world's first computer, the Z1 (1938) by Konrad Zuse. Elsewhere there's an entire hall of vintage locomotives and rooms crammed with historic printing presses, early film projectors, old TVs and telephones. A new wing opened in December 2003 holds the museum's stellar collections on aviation and navigation.

Be sure to save some time and energy for the adjacent Spectrum (enter from Möckernstrasse 26; admission included). At this fabulous science centre, you can participate in around 250 experiments that playfully explain the laws of physics and other scientific principles. If you ever wondered why the sky's blue or how a battery works, this is the place to get the low-down.

Bauhaus Archiv/Museum fur Gestaltung

Web site: www.bauhaus.de

Summary Review:

The Bauhaus Archive/Museum of Design is devoted to the members of the Bauhaus School, who laid the basis for much of contemporary design and architecture. Founded in Weimar by Berlin architect Walter Gropius, it aimed to unite art with everyday functionality, from doorknobs and radiators to the layout of entire districts and apartment blocks.

Full Review:

Walter Gropius himself, the founder of the Bauhaus school (1919-33), designed the avant-garde building housing the Bauhaus Archive/Museum of Design, whose gleaming white shed roofs look a bit like the smokestacks of an ocean liner.

Exhibits behind this striking silhouette document the enormous influence the Bauhaus exerted on all aspects of modern architecture and design. The collection includes everything from study notes to workshop pieces to photographs, models, blueprints and documents by such Bauhaus members as Klee, Kandinsky, Schlemmer and Feininger. Prized collection highlights include the original model of Gropius' 1925 Bauhaus building in Dessau and a reconstruction of Lázló Moholy-Nagy's kinetic sculpture Light-Space-Modulator, a clever kinetic sculpture that combines colour, light and movement.

Reichstag

Web site: www.bundestag.derg

Summary Review:

Just north of the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag has been the seat of the Bundestag (German parliament), since 1999 following a complete renovation by Lord Norman Foster. The British architect turned the 1894 building by Paul Wallot into a state-of-the-art parliamentary facility, preserving only the historical shell and adding the glistening glass dome.

Full Review:

The view from the top is one of the highlights of visit to Berlin, as much for the 360-degree panorama of the city as for the close-ups of the dome. From the outdoor viewing platform you can climb the spiralling ramp inside the dome itself. At the top, displays document the building's history.

The Reichstag has been the setting of numerous milestones in German history: the proclamation of the German republic, the Reichstag fire in 1933 allowing Hitler to blame the communists and seize power, the Soviet attack a dozen years later which destroyed the building, and the enactment of the reunification of Germany on 2 October 1990.

Jüdisches Museum

Web site: www.jmberlin.de

Summary Review:

Berlin's Jüdisches Museum, the largest Jewish Museum in Europe, celebrates the achievements of German Jews and their contribution to culture, art, science and other fields. An architectural work of art, the building and its contents are a major destination in Berlin.

Full Review:

Arranged in a chronological fashion, the exhibit also includes one section about the Holocaust, although this is by no means the museum's entire focus. In fact, what makes Berlin's Jewish museum different is that it looks at Jewish history beyond the very narrow context of the 12 years of Nazi rule.

Jews are not exclusively presented as victims but as vital citizens who have played enormously important roles in Germany through the centuries. One part of the exhibit also deals with the resurgence of Berlin's Jewish population since reunification.

The museum building itself is a stunning work of art designed by Daniel Libeskind and an excellent example of crisp modernism. Zinc-clad walls rise skyward in a sharply angled zig-zag ground plan that's an abstract interpretation of a star. The general outline is echoed in the windows: triangular, trapezoidal and irregular gashes in the building's gleaming skin.

The interior is designed as a metaphor for the history of the Jewish people; 'void' spaces represent the loss of humanity, culture and people, and a field of concrete columns symbolises Jewish emigration and exile.

Brandenburger Tor

Summary Review:

The restored landmark Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), a symbol of division during the Cold War, now epitomises German reunification. It was against this backdrop in 1987 that then-US president Ronald Reagan uttered the now famous words: 'Mr Gorbachev - tear down this wall.' Two years later, the Wall was history.

Full Review:

The gate's northern wing contains the Raum der Stille (Room of Silence), where the weary and frenzied can sit and contemplate peace.

Monsieur Vuong

Web site: www.monsieurvuong.de

Summary Review:

Despite the pepper-red walls, good-looking clientele and beautiful dishware, this bustling eatery only looks expensive. The Vietnamese fare is made to order and is uniformly delicious, as are the fruit cocktails and exotic teas. No reservations, so be prepared to queue or, better yet, come during the afternoon off-hours.

Mar y Sol

Summary Review:

Mar y Sol beautifully captures the sultry mood of Andalusia. On balmy nights, tables on the fountain-studded tiled patio are a hot commodity, while in winter the rustically elegant dining room is popular. Either way, you'll be happy munching on manchegoM (sheep's milk cheese), bacon-wrapped dates, Serrano ham and garlic prawns.

Vino e Libri

Summary Review:

Two of civilization's greatest treasures - wine and books - form the name, decor and soul of this ristorante run with charm and panache by a Sardinian family. The pizza is excellent but chef Bruno truly shines when it comes to experimental flavour combinations. Strawberry salmon, and tagliatelle with wild boar in a chocolate-based sauce are truly excellent.

Full Review:

Wife Debora, meanwhile, keeps the service running as smoothly as a well-oiled machine.

Berghain

Web site: www.berghain.de

Summary Review:

Those behind the legendary Ostgut have scored another huge hit with this vast post-industrial techno-electro hellhole. The Panoramabar became the coolest spot in the city within days of opening. When the full club's open on Saturday its three levels are packed with the most mixed crowd in Berlin. One warning - no cameras are allowed. Truly, truly essential.

Oxymoron

Web site: www.oxymoron-berlin.de

Summary Review:

By day, the opulent baroque salon in front - complete with plump velvet sofas, gold-leaf mirrors and chandeliers - caters to the cafe crowd. After dark, it morphs into an eats-and-lounge act before turning into a chic club hosting a variety of retro and electro nights with occasional 'extras' such as go-go dancers. Dress on the smarter side of casual.

E&M Leydicke

Summary Review:

Old-fashioned Berlin pubs have their own tradition of hospitality - beer, schnapps and the Berliner humour all served up in rustic, smoke-filled surroundings. This ancient example of the species (first lager poured in 1877) bottles its own flavoured schnapps and fruit wines on the premises.

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