Things to do in West Berlin: Attractions, shopping & tours
The best things to do in West Berlin include shopping at the Bikini Mall, David Bowie music tours and admiring photography at the C/O Gallery.
Most of Berlin’s top attractions – and the cool neighbourhoods – are in East Berlin. However, there’s also plenty to see in West Berlin
Things to do in West Berlin: Charlottenburg and Tiergarten
In increasingly cool Charlottenburg, head to the C/O Gallery (www.cogallery.org) or its bigger brother, the Museum für Fotografie, which goes heavy on work by works by legendary fashion photographer Helmut Newton.
The huge, five square kilometre-plus Tiergarten was once used as a private hunting ground for the Electors of Brandenburg, but it is now Berlin’s most treasured public park. Part of the appeal is that it is relatively heavily forested, rather than primped into formality – so for walkers it feels like an escape to the countryside.
Shopping in West Berlin
The Kurfürstendamm has long been Berlin’s prime shopping street, and this has not changed since reunification. As a sample, within one block you’ve got Hugo Boss, the Apple Store, Timberland, Karen Millen, Michael Kors, Barbour and Urban Outfitters.
What’s relatively new on the west Berlin scene is the Bikini Mall near Zoo station. Here, several hip labels mingle with indie designers. Promobo is a great example, proudly boasting “young designers and manufacturers” as its catch-cry.
David Bowie music tours in West Berlin
Berlin Musictours runs a genuinely superb David Bowie-themed walking tour, taking in key parts from his story during his three album period in Berlin between 1976 and 1978.
To the non-Bowie fan, visiting his old apartment and the Hansa recording studios may not seem particularly exciting, but the story of how Berlin changed – partly spurred by Bowie making it cool to be based there – is deftly woven in.
4 best things to do in Berlin
The best things to do in Berlin include…
- Berlin walking tours – pick the ones on specific topics to get the best experience.
- Sachsenhausen concentration camp tours – led by an expert historian.
- See the city highlights on a three hour bike tour.
- Learn about life in the former East Germany at the DDR Museum.
More Berlin travel
Australia to Berlin flights | Bearpit Karaoke | Berlin Wall canoe tours | Bernauerstrasse | Food tour by bike | Things to do in Mitte.