Travel Tips
Five For Families: Family Travel Berlin With 5 Spots Not To Miss, Plus Berlin’s Kid-Friendly Hotels
Berlin is often associated with edgy art, vibrant culture and crazy nightlife.
While it may not be on your radar as a European family vacation destination, correspondent Emily Goldfischer offers five compelling reasons to consider Berlin for your family’s next trip.
Throughout Berlin, historic architectural sites blend effortlessly with innovative “green” architecture. Made up of more than 30 percent parks and gardens, Berlin is clean and airy, and efficient city planning and public transportation make it simple to navigate with kids in tow.
The city recently has ramped up an its effort to attract families with the opening of a Legoland and Madame Tussauds. These new attractions top off Berlin’s many museums, the famous zoo, the unique shopping and kid-friendly dining.
This beautiful city offers infinite opportunities for families but if you can only do five, here’s what you shouldn’t miss:
1. Berlin Zoo
Though its most famous inhabitant Knut, the polar bear, is no longer with us, the Berlin Zoo is a must.
Besides offering the the most comprehensive collection of species in the world (more than 1,500 species and 17,000 animals) all laid out over well-manicured gardens, the unexpected delight of the Berlin Zoo is an incredible adventure playground. In the midst of the zoo is a vast play area with many full-size trampolines, intricate climbing frames, tunnels, sand pits and spinning rides. Allow time to enjoy this!
A few blocks walk from the zoo is KaDeWe, the largest department store in continental Europe, which has a remarkable food hall. Covering a full floor the size of a city block, they have foods from all over the world including 200 different kinds of sausages. You will be tempted to eat one there, DON’T!
Go across the street to Witty’s, an Imbiss stand (Imbiss means snack in German and these stands around the city are Berlin’s version of a food truck) on the North West corner of Wittenbergplatz, for a Neuland organic Currywurst, a sausage with curry sauce and fries. So delicious!
2. Jüdisches Museum (Jewish Museum Berlin)
Daniel Libeskind’s building is designed in the shape of an exploded Jewish star. Children are awed by the structure, especially The Garden of Exile, which Libeskind wants “to represent a shipwreck of history.” Made up of 49 concrete columns in a grid on a 12-degree slope to disorient visitors, the garden gives a sense of the instability and lack of direction experienced by those driven out of Germany. The permanent exhibit of the history of the German Jews dating back two millennia is also child-friendly with interactive stations and opportunities for arts and crafts. Jewish Museum Web site.
Check out Suzy Gershman checking out Checkpoint Charlie: Suzy Gershman’s Postcard: Shopping Berlin Germany
A short walk from the Jewish Museum is the Checkpoint Charlie museum. Unless your children have studied Communism, skip it. The museum is small and the exhibits require a lot of reading. Read about the Berlin wall and Checkpoint Charlie on the plaques outside. You can usually find vendors selling fun communist memorabilia just outside on Friedrichstrasse. Also, there’s a surprisingly fantastic Italian restaurant, Sale e Tabacchi, on the corner offering fresh fish and pastas. Note, they are happy to make kid-sized portions.
3. Tech Museum
If your kids are interested in trains, science or technology, make time for the Deutches Technikmuseum Berlin (Technical Museum). Built in a former train depot, it has 40 original trains, some dating as far back as the 1800s, on 34 tracks. Other exhibitions focus on the industrial revolution, assembly line production of suitcases and jewelry, the evolution of photography and chemical engineering in fireworks. An English audio guide explains all the exhibits. Children are encouraged to climb on trains, touch things and experiment! There are also windmills on the park like grounds.
Train buffs should also visit the LOXX Railway, the second largest model railway in the world (the largest is in Hamburg). The model train covers 32,000 square feet through a miniature Berlin. It took more than 200,000 hours to build.
Explore more: Off The Brochure Travel Guide: Berlin, Germany
4. Chocolate 
Even though the city not internationally known for chocolate like Brussels or Geneva, Berlin definitely holds its own. There are two chocolate shops unlike anything we had ever seen before. At the modern, brightly colored Ritter-Sport shop just off Freidrichstrasse, you can create your own chocolate bar. You choose up to three ingredients from a list of about 30 and they make a bar for you with your choice of milk or dark chocolate. In 20 minutes, it’s yours to eat. They also offer candy-making classes for kids that need to be booked ahead.
Three blocks away in the Gandarmenmarkt is Fassbender-Rausch, where the Rausch family has been making chocolates and pralines since the late 1800s. Rausch claims to offer the widest variety of chocolates in the world. Display cases hold models of many famous Berlin sights such as the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag made entirely of chocolate. The upstairs café serves all kinds of chocolate tarts and pastries.
5. The Reichstag
Home to the Bundestag, the Federal German Parliament, the Reichstag was originally built in 1894, and then gutted by a fire in 1933. The Reichstag was also the site of the German reunification ceremony on October 3, 1990. Celebrated architect Norman Foster renovated the building in 1999 and added a large glass cupola to the top.
More great family travel in Germany: Family Travel: Dusseldorf, Germany
The funhouse-like dome has a spiral walk along the windows and a cone of mirrors in the middle angled to see the workings of democracy below. Look outside and you have spectacular city views in all directions. Visitors are welcome for free, and it gets very crowded with airport like lines. Here is the tip: keep the kids up late and go at night. The evening views are better and the lines much shorter. Last entry is at 10 p.m., and we walked right in at 7:30 p.m.
For serious discounts—at least 20 percent and some even 50 percent off—at over 160 attractions including the ones mentioned here plus FREE unlimited use of public transportation get a Berlin Welcome Card. Cards can be purchased around the city and online. There’s hefty shipping cost for U.S. so it’s better to buy when you arrive.
Accommodations:
Berlin is easy to navigate, so there are many areas appropriate for families to stay. The Mitte (mitte means middle in German) neighborhood has most of the larger chain hotels and is smack in the center of the city and accessible to all main sights.
Ritz-Carlton Berlin, in Mitte, across the street from the new Legoland, has taken the Ritz Kids program and put it on steroids. From a welcome treasure hunt and mini-Mercedes pedal cars in the lobby to complimentary cooking classes and a special children’s afternoon tea service, they have thought of everything. Families are also very welcome at the indoor pool. The staff is friendly, especially to children, and rooms are plush with large marble bathrooms. Currently, they are offering a great deal: kid’s room for €99 when parents book an adjoining Superior Room for €225, half off food & beverage for children up to age 16. The hotel is walking distance to Reichstag and Museum Mile and the main shopping street, Freidrichstrasse.
For the more budget-conscious, Suite Novotel Berlin Potsdamer Platz offers excellent value in Mitte. The suites have kitchenettes, nice sized bathrooms, free Wi-Fi and video-on-demand. If you stay for four nights or more, the hotels offers a free Smart Car for four hours per day. Families can book a second room for half off the parent’s room. Kids 16 and under eat breakfast free with paying adult. Rooms start at €77 per night.
For sporty families, Aspria Berlin is a small 42-room-hotel attached to an enormous 172,000-square-foot spa and gym that is entirely accessible to hotel guests. With an 82-foot indoor swimming pool, there are loads of complimentary gym classes for kids and adults. There’s also childcare and a full-service spa. Aspira has modern open-plan apartments ideal for families with a kitchenette, king bed and double sofa bed for the kids. The nice-sized bathrooms have a shower and tub. Rates start at €185 per night on weekends and include breakfast. Located in the Charlottenburg area, the hotel is not far from the Berlin Zoo and the Ku’damm, Berlin’s theater district, where there’s also cool shopping and cafes.
By Emily Goldfischer for PeterGreenberg.com. Photos courtesy of Visit Berlin. Emily Goldfischer is a former luxury hotel executive, and is now a London-based food and travel writer. Follow her at www.twitter.com/em_goldfischer.
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