Unique Things to Do In Berlin

An Overview of Berlin

Berlin serves as the capital city of Germany and is home to a wide range of odd and stunning landmarks, a vibrant cultural scene, numerous art galleries and a notoriously entertaining night life. Historical buildings and sites stand alongside daring modern architectural designs all interspaced between vast parks and creed spaces. There are many unique things to do in Berlin.

World Time Clock (Urania World Clock) is a turret shaped clock with the different hours in different time zones from around the world
World Time Clock (Urania World Clock)

Unique Things to Do In Berlin


Botanical Gardens and Botanical Museum

The Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum are a series of gorgeously flowered gardens with small artful mounds. The garden area is also home to various greenhouses and exhibitions dedicated to education on unique floral life. The gardens make up a beautiful walking space in central Berlin.

Berliner Dom  

One of the most famous and iconic buildings of Berlin, this structure is a large, green-domed cathedral with nearby walking plaza. The adjacent bridge often has numerous street performers of every variety.

Monster Kabinett

An incredibly unique Berlin attraction, this is an underground music and mechanical performance using operational robots in the dark. This sensory-imploding musical and mechanical subterranean contains glowing robots performing crashing songs in the dim underground tunnels of Berlin

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

The jaggedly bombed-then-restored remains of a traditionalist church dedicated to Kaiser Wilhelm I (the grandfather of Kaiser Wilhelm II).  Locally, the church is called Der Hole Zahn (The Hollow Tooth). It makes a dramatic historical site in Berlin.

Café Strauss

A quaint and relaxing coffee shop and dining area built directly near a cemetery. The Old World venue has is somewhat removed from the bustle of the city.

A large, stately building called Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin with a pair of statue soldiers atop the front gates, each with a shield and short sword
Charlottenburg Palace

Kaninchenfeld (Rabbit Field)

This field contains a few brass bunny silhouettes honoring the rabbits which commonly lived in, crossed and surrounded the no-man’s-land around the infamous Berlin Wall. The rabbits left the narrow green space when the Berlin Wall was torn down, but their descendants moved to other parks thorughout Berlin. The rabbits were used as a symbol during reunification following the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Magicum Berlin Magic Museum

A mysticism museum with interactive elements discussing the various mystical beliefs of surrounding esoteric, religious & folkloric objects. The Museum offers strange magic-workshops were visitors can craft personal magical tools. The museum also discusses specific magic tricks and how to perform them.

Humboldthain Flak Tower

This large building was a former Nazi anti-aircraft tower. I currently provides a beautiful overlook of north Berlin. The tower has a secondary job as a home for an impressively large bat colony in the colder winter months.

A long section of the Berlin wall covered in trippy patterns and graffiti
Graffiti on Berlin Wall Ruins

Vestiges of the Berlin Wall

Though the Belin Wall was torn down during the historic reunification of Germany, chunks and bits remain. These last vestiges contain homages, graffiti, placeholder monuments and artwork standing where the dividing structure once stood

Gärten der Welt (Gardens of the World)

This is an unusual garden area with styles and sculptures representing parts of Asia, Europe and the Middle East alongside Soviet-Era buildings of East Berlin. The garden is a relaxing place to visit with numerous flowers and green spaces to enjoy.

Pfaueninsel

A Berlin island with an imposing white castle, wandering peacocks and wide spreads of greenery.  Frederick William II converted the island (known as Rabbit Island) into a nature resort which eventually morphed further into a exotic menagerie.

The TV Tower on Alexanderplatz is a long needle-like structure with a round disco ball near the top
The TV Tower on Alexanderplatz

Berliner Unterwelten (Subterranean Berlin)

A catch-all name for the vast network of tunnels, shafts, bunkers, defensive positions, Nazi holdouts, secret bases and incorperated basements which honeycomb Berlin. Most of these sites are closed but many others can be visited through tours groups or with guides.

Spreepark

An eerie derelict series of roller coasters and Ferris wheels which sits totally abandoned, rusted and overgrown in Berlin. Originally known as Kulturpark Plänterwald Berlin, this site has trees growing through roller coaster tracks, vast trails of cracked concrete and surprisingly intact amuseument park rides hidden in patches of bushes.

Markthalle Neun

This location has a slightly-modernized, 120-year-old marketplace filled with street food options. This is a good area to try traditional German food as well as some strange mash-ups and culinary combinations.

Boats and ferries float down the busy Spree River in central Berlin
Spree River

East Side Gallery

This gallery is an enormously popular outdoor mural gallery and walking space. Found on the Northern bank of the Spree River, this conserved graffiti art zone has contributions from over 100 artists celebrating the demise of the Berlin Wall.

Teufelsberg

Originally the location for a Nazi military and tech college, occupying forces were unable to destroy the buildings. Instead, the buildings were cluttered with tons of concrete and rubble, creating a artificial hill and vantage point.  The occupying United States NSA constructed a spy station to monitor East Germans and Russians.  The spy tower is still intact.

Parliament of Trees

A small garden park which has sixteen trees symbolizing the reunification of the German federal states, all surrounded by authentic bits of the Berlin Wall.

The Berlin Cathedral's green dome sits over the calm waters in central Berlin
Berlin Cathedral

Badeschiff (Bathing Ship)

This is a large, commonly sighted swimming pool built within a floating ship. The ship can be seen floating upon the Spree River. Swimming in the floating pool while floating on the Spree River is one of the more unique things to do in Berlin.

Tropical Island Berlin

This area contains a completely artificial indoor rainforest with a beach, numerous swimming pools and bars.  It is constructed inside a repurposed airship hangar and remains a popular destination for beach-loving tourists in the winter.

Volkspark Wuhlheide Berlin

A somewhat less-crowded beautiful park with a recreation area, amusement park, open fields and manicured forests. The park is also home to biking trails, garden spaces and children’s playgrounds.

The white, round-topped and ruined structure of Teufelsberg a ruined Observation and Spy Tower on the outskirts of Berlin
Teufelsberg Ruined Observation and Spy Tower

Museum Island

A small river island crammed with five excellent and ornate museums. This is the most popular tourism destination in Berlin, with vast crowds of visitors arriving every year. It remains one of the most outstanding museum complexes in Europe. The island area is home to The Altes Museum, Museum for Pre-and-Early History, Neues Museum, The Asian Art Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie, the immensely popular Pergamonmuseum, and the Bode Sculpture Museum. The various museums have dozens of unique things to do in Berlin.

Pergamonmuseum

This is one of the most famous and popular museums to visit at Museum Island. The popular museum is a famous location for antiques and ancient art collections, including some controversial Turkish requisitions.

Brandenburg Lakes

Located to the North-East of Berlin, this land is known as the area of 3,000 lakes.  The lakes are an extremely appealing region for swimming, hiking, sunbathing and nightlife. These lakes are spread across a fairly vast region, with some being more popular and crowded than others.

Großer Tiergarten

Berlin’s oldest and largest park interspaced with monuments, victory columns, thin waterways and endless walking trails.


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