12 January 2020
We landed at Berlin Schönefeld Airport from Manchester Airport and when we arrived at the airport we then proceeded down to the metro station which is situated inside the airport. After disembarking the aircraft and successfully passing through security we immediately headed straight down to the ticket machines and a single one-way metro ticket was reasonably priced at €3.60 which is obviously vastly cheaper than getting a taxi so we paid for our tickets and searched for our platform which was simple enough to locate and we then had a 45 minute train journey to Charlottenburg which was our stop. We were on our flight for a duration of 1 hour and 55 minutes which is considered short-haul for me and many other passionate travellers. Soon after we exited our hotel for a night of sightseeing we soon realised that there were many things to do in Berlin.
After we found our hotel which was a couple of kilometres away from the city centre, I started to use Google Maps to enable me to set up a route to the Berlin Icebar which was a distance of over an hours walk away from where we had originally started. Before arriving at the Berlin Icebar we had walked straight through the Brandenburg Gate and had also seen the US Embassy. The Berlin Icebar was comfortable as there is a warm lounge before you eventually enter the actual Berlin Icebar which is set at a cool temperature of -10°C. 69,000 kilos of ice was used to shape the overall interior. The drinking glasses are made out of natural ice which was bemusing to see whilst drinking my beer. The staff here were so friendly and welcoming to us and it was very quiet in the Icebar itself because there was only 5 of us inside (including the bartender).
13 January 2020
The following day we visited the Hard Rock Café Berlin which I am always a big fan of as their burgers and cocktails are so tasty and worthwhile. I ordered a Bahama Mama cocktail which consisted of Bacardi Superior Rum, Malibu Coconut Rum, DeKuyper Crème de Banana and the fresh flavours of orange and pineapple finished with a splash of grenadine. We arrived in good time as it was happy hour, meaning that our two cocktails were €9.45 which was certainly and definitely good value for money. After drinking our cocktails we then headed upstairs for food and I ordered the local legendary burger.
After exiting the Hard Rock Café Berlin we then stumbled across an illuminated signpost which was advertising the Irish Pub located in Europa-Center and it was described as the most famous pub in Germany. We discovered that they have live music every night at 21:30 and entry is completely free.
14 January 2020
On the following day we got on 2 buses to the Berlin TV Tower/Berliner Fernsehturm at approximately 15:30 until 17:30 and we saw the spectacularly mesmerising 360° panoramic views of Berlin and the surrounding areas. The entrance cost was €17 for an adult observation deck ticket.
Immediately after exiting the tower we discovered the Momotaro Tavern which is an eatery and I ordered an American Cheese Burger which was only €5.90 and €4 for an Erdinger which is a traditional German beer.
Whilst exploring Berlin I walked past a store called Ampelmann which had caught my eye as I could see traffic lights inside, as I was curious I decided to go inside and have a look for myself. Once inside I quickly realised that they had a whole store dedicated to the man on the traffic lights. The English translation of Ampelmann is Lightman so that then made sense to me regarding the store name and origin. They were selling traffic lights which was amusing and humorous to me as I have never before witnessed traffic lights being sold to members of the public. Inside there was a piece of the Berlin Wall which had been signed and autographed by the one and only David Hasselhoff who famously sang above the Berlin Wall.
We also visited and wandered around the Mall of Berlin which looked very appealing to shoppers and also pleasantly clean from my perspective.
Checkpoint Charlie was awe-inspiring to gaze at just because of the sheer importance of history which took place and occurred here many previous decades ago. It is such a shame that we arrived quite late at night to Checkpoint Charlie as I would have been so interested and intrigued in going to visit the Checkpoint Charlie Museum but hopefully next time I visit Berlin I will absolutely go inside and navigate around the museum just to learn what life was actually like in Berlin during and directly after those tough and heartbreakingly seismic times for both East and West Germany.
15 January 2020
We left our hotel at approximately 08:00 and directly headed towards Charlottenburg station which was only a 10 minute walk away from our hotel. Our train journey was for a duration of 55 minutes. We were on our flight for a duration of 1 hour and 55 minutes which is considered short-haul for me and many other passionate travellers.
Hopefully we will return to Berlin soon as there was no way near enough time to do absolutely everything but thankfully and fortunately we are so impressed with this wonderful and beautiful city that we decided to visit for a short city break.
I would also like to thank Ryanair for the extremely cheap £10 return flights which I am extremely grateful and appreciative for as this makes travelling even more affordable and accessible than it already is in terms of budget airlines anyway.
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Thank you for sharing all your pictures and talking about your experience. I have never been to Berlin before, but I would love to visit some day. I have a fascination with the history of the area!
I did a whistle-stop visit of Berlin many years ago while helping friends on a music tour. made me want to come back …. but never got round to it,
Interesting comments about the Ampelmann store – it’s on the list now! I never had a problem with Ryanair’s cheap flights to Europe , they helped me see so moor for less so, like you, I seek out their deals whenever possible .
Seems like a nice trip!
– L || https://afinnontheloose.com
I haven’t been to Berlin since I was a teenager. I always use google maps to find cool places to go too in new cities that I’m in and it sounds like you found a lot of great spots.
Great post, brings back fantastic memories of Berlin! Those were the days of cheap Ryanair flights!
Love the shout out for the Amplemann shop – a Berlin icon! Thanks for sharing
Im foolish to miss Berlin last December. Ive only seen Cologne. I’ll check this one in the future!
Great read, you got an absolute bargain for the flights, yes such low prices do make it incredibly easy and accessible to discover new places and cultures. Thanks for sharing!
A really good read, bringing back plenty of happy memories. We went to Berlin a couple of years ago and loved it. I missed the traffic light shop though! (A good reason to head back eventually, I reckon)
What a great trip! I’d love to visit Berlin one day. I’m located in the US and am jealous of a 2hr plane ride to Germany!
Wonderful post! I liked how you told the story. I’d love to visit Berlin one day. Thanks for sharing
I loved Berlin when I went and I found checkpoint Charlie so surrreal! The mall was amazing though, we got a maccies at 7am!
That’s sounds like an awesome trip! I love the Ice Bar! It looks so cool! Pardon the pun. LOL. And such a cheap flight to get there! That’s awesome.
One of my first travels abroad was to Berlin, since then I have some pleasant sentiments to this city 🙂
Sounds like a great trip! Crazy how low the fares were! Berlin has so much to see and do 🙂
I’ve never been in Berlin,
these night photos are amazing..
I love these sample itineraries. Sounds like great fun. I just did one myself for my readers. Thanks.
I would love to visit Berlin one day! Great photos and blog posts!
What a good deal you got on those flights! I liked Berlin. Quite keen to explore more of Germany 🙂
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Berlin certainly looks like an interesting place! It looks like you got to take in several unique places at one time!
This is a great read – thanks for sharing! Awesome photos, too! I live in Berlin and sometimes I enjoy reading about how visitors perceive the city.
Great trip! Liked your story!
Looks like you had a lovely time, Berlin is on my bucket list of places to travel to 🙂
I’d love to go see Berlin! I wrote about it in my bucket list destinations. Really enjoyed this read!
Those Ryain air flights sound like an ideal bargain to visit Berlin! I,too, visited Berlin during winter and so would like to visit one summer when travel is permitted again to explore more of Mitte and the museum island area and outdoor bars.
I love Berlin so much! I wish I’d got to visit the Ice Bar when I visited during my Euro Interail trip a few years ago!!
Never been but hope to visit someday … great post
I’ve never been to Berlin but it does indeed look amazing. Great post, I especially liked your photographs!
I loved Berlin – it’s like walking around in an open-air museum!
I was supposed to be visiting Berlin this week, looks so great, can’t wait to visit in the future!
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This looks likes like such great adventure my friend!
I love your passion/devotion to travel to all these cities!
As for Berlin, well I’ve only been the once and that was on a day trip to Poland in 2015. That was also the first time I visited the Czech Republic on another day trip.
I love visiting the mountain ranges. I’ve been skiing in the French Alps, I took some good photos if you want to add them to your collection (obviously no copyright 😀 ).
I’ll get some inspiration from your traveling ideas.
I went to Berlin, but only for a short time. I loved it.
I hope I get to go back one day
It seems like you were able to see a lot in such a short amount of time. The icebar sounds really cool (no pun intended)! Thank you for sharing your experience. I will add the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and the Icebar to my list of places to see there.
Berlin’s a great place. Nice to read your experience of the city.
Some great pictures! It really makes me wanna travel to Germany once all of this virus stuff blows over! Thanks for sharing!
Looks great! I was meant to go to Berlin in like 2008. They cancelled my flight and I never rebooked but I always regretted it a bit!
I haven’t been to Berlin yet but I hope to make it there for the Christmas market this year, I didn’t know about Checkpoint Charlie Museum, it sounds really interesting,
Berlin would be a fascinating place to go, glad you got to wind down in the Hard Rock restaurant as well – I’ve been dying to go back since Dublin!
Nice post James! Great tips and ideas for a trip to Berlin. I’m Canadian but my family is German and I’ve been to Germany many times. My problem is I’ve never been to Berlin. I’m going to get there later this year! Thanks,
Mark / Mark’s Travel Journal
https://www.markstraveljournal.me
I loved the nostalgia of this post. I haven’t been to Berlin in 12 years but it was amazing to see it again. I missed seeing the amplemann too! Haha
Such a great read – bought back some happy memories of my trips to Berlin a few years ago 🙂
Sounds great – Germany is next-up on our European tour list. And Berlin sounds like a lovely city! xx
Great trip! I can’t wait to go to Berlin one day!!
WoW! What an awesome trip!
Never been to Germany, need to change it! Berlin looks like a perfect place. How many days would you recommend for Berlin?
Wow! You had an Excellent trip. Nice story.
I went to the Hard Rock Cafe in NYC and it was lovely! That traffic light art looks really interesting – great find.
Definitely check out the Checkpoint Charlie Museum next time you visit. I was there before the wall came down so it was very moving to see the pictures and right outside the wall and guard stations.