Board a plane from Bratislava, be in a modern European metropolis in an hour, experience their nightlife, see the sights, and not even miss half a day of vacation. And the best part, all this fun can be yours for €16 or even less. You may already be guessing that we are talking about the new Ryanair low-cost route from Bratislava to Berlin. So, get ready, attention, takeoff, because we will be flying soon.
Detailed Google map with attractions
Contents
Day 1 – Arrival and nightlife
Day 2 – TV Tower, Alexanderplatz, Berlin Wall and Reichstag
Day 3 – Potsdamer Platz and Hitler’s bunker
Day 1 – Arrival and nightlife
Ryanair operates a direct flight from Bratislava every day at the same time, 16:55. We booked tickets for €16 about a month in advance. So on Friday, straight from work to the airport and the trip can begin. Before you know it, you are in Berlin. The flight is really quick. Once you exit from terminal D, if you follow the crowd, most people are heading to the train station, about a 5-minute walk. Tickets for the integrated transport system BVG (Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe) can be purchased from any ticket machine. The fastest mode of transportation is the U/S Bahn (subway and suburban trains). There are 10 subway lines and 13 suburban train lines. Trains run from 04:00 to 24:00 and throughout the night on weekends or public holidays. If you are only staying for the weekend, a daily pass will be sufficient, valid until 3:00 the following morning.
TIP: If you are a group of up to 5 people, it is most worthwhile to buy a group ticket for €17.80 for all zones A+B+C (for zones A+B it costs €17.30)
The airport is in zone C, but otherwise all main attractions are in the first two zones. We were a bit surprised that at the ticket machine it was not possible to pay with a Visa card, only Maestro or cash were accepted. We are boarding the S7 train, which will take us directly to the center at Friedrichstraße Bahnhof in 26 minutes. We have chosen an accommodation through booking.com just a few minutes from this station. For €17 per night + €2.50 for sheets, we have a luxurious Baxpax downtown Hostel with a view of the TV tower. The white rum from the duty-free zone didn’t take long to arrive, and we are responsibly preparing for a night out. The destination station is Warschauer Straße, where you exit up the stairs and then can go in two directions. While we were deciding at the intersection, we enjoyed a double hotdog with cheese, called a doppelwhopper. The closer part of the bars is to the right. It’s around 11 o’clock, and we find out that the clubs only open at midnight. So we sit down for a beer at the first bar, Via Nova, and ask for recommendations for a good club. The waitress recommended Watergate, which is to the left at the intersection. We head back to the bridge and then cross another bridge over the Spree river. Around 11:50, the bar is still closed, but a line is slowly forming. While waiting, you will be approached with grass or other substances. Just because the bar opens doesn’t mean you’ll get in. Unfortunately, we also heard the phrase “You don’t fit here” and were shown the side exit. Despite the €15 entrance fee, they are conducting auditions for the evening crowd. But we won’t insist…Right next door is a Russian party with half-price entry, where we were let in without a word. Music, dance, shots, and nothing more is needed. The advantage is that trains run all night, so you are not limited in any way. We head back around three because we have a full schedule for tomorrow, so it would be a shame to oversleep.
TIP: If you think ticket inspectors don’t check after three, they do, so just buy another day pass
In those two days, we encountered ticket inspectors twice, once at 3:12 am, but even though our tickets were expired, they didn’t make an issue out of it. We get off at Friedrichstraße, and I think each of us saw only a bed ahead of them.
Day 2 – Fernsehturm, Alexanderplatz, Berlin Wall and Reichstag
Getting up in the morning is a bit harder, isn’t it? For breakfast, some opt for a baguette, some for a beer for balance, then pack a bottle of water, an umbrella, and we’re good to go. We start at the Museum Island, the so-called Museuminsel, which is nearby. If you have enough time and are a museum enthusiast, you can spend the whole day here. We just took a quick look around – Berlin Cathedral, Old Museum, New Museum, Old National Gallery, and Pergamon Museum. The Berlin Cathedral is the largest cathedral in Berlin. As part of the tour, you can climb 270 steps to the copper tower, which offers a panoramic view of the city.The Pergamon Museum is named after its most valuable exhibit, the Pergamon Altar. Crossing the bridge leads us to the majestic television tower Fernsehturm. The pride of the former DDR, standing at 368m tall, was built between 1965-1969 based on the decision of one man – Walter Ulbricht. The original budget was 30 million marks, but they stopped counting after 200 million. Another curiosity is the “Pope’s Revenge” – after the tower was built, the atheist government was unpleasantly surprised to see a huge cross appearing on its surface under clear sunlight. The observation deck is at a height of 203m above ground with visibility of 42km on a clear day. The restaurant, which rotates every 20 minutes, is located a few meters above the observation deck. Tickets for the observation deck start from €13. Right next to the tower is one of the largest squares, Alexanderplatz, with many stores like Primark, C&A, New Yorker. While shopping for our female crew, we sat down for a kebab and a Berliner beer. At the square, you can see the world clock World clock from 1969, displaying the time in different cities around the world. The centerpiece of the world clock is a rotating solar system. From the square, we take a train to Warschauer Straße, where we stop at the vegan restaurant The Bowl for delicious coconut soup. Strengthened, we can continue to the next part of our program, which is the best-preserved partBerlin Wall, known as the East Side Gallery. This 155km long wall divided Berlin for 28 years (1961-1989) and was a symbol of division in Berlin, Germany, and all of Europe. Today, you can find various paintings or graffiti here, some of which are protected by a fence to prevent vandalism.
As we walk along the wall, we arrive at Ostbahnhof station, from where we’re heading to the main station Hauptbahnhof. It can be said that it is one of the largest and most modern stations in Europe, which at the same time is also a big shopping center. Fatigue begins to show, and we could use a quick pick-me-up snack. At 5:00 PM, we have a reservation for the parliament, so we’ve planned it just right.
TIP: To visit the parliament, you need to fill out an online registration form with a list of people for the exact hour
The parliament is housed in the Reichstag building, with the nearest metro stop being Bundestag. We still have half an hour to spare, so we’re going to see the Brandenburg GateThis is another symbol of division and unification of Germany. The promenade continues through Pariser Platz, where right at the beginning there is an information office. Before entering the parliament, we show our confirmation and pass through the security check. You will only see the debating chamber with purple seats from behind glass or from the top of the dome. The tour continues with an elevator ride up, where you can pick up an audio guide and stroll around the glass dome. You will reach the top via a spiral ramp, from where there is an impressive view of the entire city. Sunshades electronically track the movement of the sun and block direct sunlight to prevent glare for people inside. The multitude of mirrors in the center ensures the influx of light into the debating chamber. Truly ingeniously designed. The parliament is today’s highlight of Berlin’s landmarks. We are heading back home to rest a bit and catch our second wind, as the night is still young. We searched in vain for a supermarket near our accommodation, the closest one was at Friedrichstraße Bahnhof.
TIP: Prices of groceries in supermarkets are like at home, but the quality is incomparable
We start our night out again on Warschauer Straße in the party area on the right. This time the place Cassiopeia won because we didn’t want to pay some horrendous entrance fee and here we got it for 3€. Besides, half of the group couldn’t handle it anymore and just wanted to sit down for a beer. It was a slower music style than on Friday and the air was filled with smoke 🙂 Around three o’clock, we head home to avoid the inspectors at 3:12, but fortunately they didn’t bother us.
Day 3 – Potsdamer Platz and Hitler’s Bunker
We wake up to a sunny Sunday morning. This morning, we walk around with our suitcases, but we are still determined to see more of Berlin. Two streets up from our accommodation, we stop by the New Synagogue. We hop on the S-Bahn and take the metro to Potsdamer Platz.. Potsdamer Platz is home to modern architecture and global corporations such as Sony Center, Daimler-Chrysler, or luxury hotels like the Ritz-Carlton. We walk through the Mall of Berlin shopping center, but it seems that everything is closed there on Sundays. Our last stop is the Führerbunker. The place where Hitler killed himself is now a parking lot. A descriptive plaque provides information about his final days, a diagram informs about the massive network of bunkers, technical parameters, and the post-war history of the structure. We take a direct train from Alexanderplatz to the airport. Our flight from Berlin-Schönefeld airport is scheduled for 3:15 PM.
