I am a bit confused which part of Berlin to stay in Mitte (I understand it is the administrative part) or Kurfürstendamm . We do not mind using public transport to get to the sights, but we would prefer to walk around the hotel where most of the people are outside and eat in the the nice restaurants. We are not so much interested in night bars beacause we travel with a 9 year old. So what do you suggest is the best place?
|||
Mitte is not only the administrative part , it is the former center of East Berlin, Kurfürstendam was in West Berlin .
To walk around and to eat in nice restaurants both places are possible.
For a family Mark Apart Hotel Lietzenburger Straße could be nice :
Family apartment , good prices , near Kurfürstendam , nices restaurants and quick public transport to all places.
|||
Mitte was the center of the city before there was an East or West Berlin, and it%26#39;s the most historical area. Each of Berlin%26#39;s districts is the size of many cities and each has its neighbourhoods with lots of restaurants and street life. In Mitte, there are several. You might enjoy being in the area of Hackesche Markt or Zionskirchplatz, for example. Or, in the nearby neighbourhood of Prenzlauer Berg (part of the Pankow district), Kastanienallee and Kollwitzplatz are full of restaurants and street life (and lots and lots of small children).
|||
You might look at a Citadines apartment in Kurfürstendamm (at Olivaer Platz, at the western end and handy to lots of buses and a metro station). Lots of places to eat, lots of people around, leafy streets - and you can self-cater in the apartment if you choose.
A minus is that we found that this location was just slightly a little bit far from many of the places we wanted to see, many of which are in the Mitte area. This is more of a problem right now because the metro and bus systems are still a bit disjointed from the decades of separate development of the West and East, so you often find yourself on fairly roundabout routes to get places. And the tourist information offices in Berlin are surprisingly awful and disorganised/unreliable (I think they are privately run?).
|||
Unequivocally Mitte. This is where all the attractions are plus many restaurants!
Kurfürstendamm is more a business center with some high end stores and the Erotic Museum. I speculate you will never even be in Kurfürstendamm during your entire stay in Berlin!
|||
Well I think you%26#39;d probably go to Ku%26#39;damm area for Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächniskirche (memorial church) and KaDeWe, maybe Story of Berlin, Zoo too? However as already said Mitte is definitely better for sightseeing. And there are restaurants all over.
Mitte was THE centre before 1945 and the area around Zoo station/Ku%26#39;damm had to be developed as another centre for West Berlin. With reunification and subsequent redevelopment at Potsdamer Platz, Friedrichstrasse and Alexanderplatz it has lost that %26quot;window of the West%26quot; status.
The U- and S-Bahn lines are long-established and have been re-joined for years so it%26#39;s nothing to do with the Wall that these journeys can take a while. From 1961 to 1989-94 or so some lines didn%26#39;t run, or operated only in part, but that%26#39;s long since past.
So the long routes are not a result of the division of the city. We have indeed realised that to get from Zionskirchplatz area to Deutsche Oper it is a lot quicker to change twice (U-8 to Alexanderplatz, S-Bahn to Zoo then U-Bahn again) than it is to walk to Senefelder Platz and get U-2 all the way to Deutsche Oper. The Ringbahn (S-Bahn Ring) is also great to travel fast, even if it requires 2 changes. That%26#39;s how we get from Kastanienallee area to Tegel airport and to Charlottenburg Palace.
However it does seem that in general, as with most big cities, the locals stay basically in one part of the city (that%26#39;s true in Barcelona even, which is much smaller than Berlin). They may go to the centre but rarely to the other side of the city.
|||
I would recommend staying in the Mitte. Lots of sights around that area and easy to get to all forms of public transport. Nice area to walk around as well. I stayed in the Gendarmenmarkt area just off of Unter den Linden.
|||
Stay in Mitte, a better choice.
|||
We go next month - hooray.
We are staying on KuDamm because I love the old KaiserWilhelm church %26amp; all the shops, and also there are lots of restaurants nearby near Savigny Platz I understand. Plus the Zoo %26amp; the Tiergarten.
Whilst we will go to Mitte for the Museums, we are also going to Potsdam, Charlottenburg %26amp; Dahlen, which are the other way, away from Mitte. So we will only go to Mitte for 2 days out of a 1 week stay.
|||
If you spend a week in Berlin and only two days in Mitte you%26#39;re missing a lot of sights unless you%26#39;ve been to Berlin lots of times before! There%26#39;s a lot more to Mitte than the museums, assuming by that you mean Museum Island.
To get to Potsdam you get a train or S-Bahn and the line runs through Aleaxnderplatz and Friedrichstrasse so it%26#39;s only a question of a few more minutes on the train not a simpler journey.
Admiitedly for Charlottenburg Palace the best way is by bus from Zoo so getting there from Mitte is slower and involves changes. Actually from our part of Mitte (near Kastanienallee) the way we get to Charlottenburg is U-Bahn to Gesundbrunne, S-Bahn Ring to Westend then bus (or walk) to the palace. It%26#39;s a lot quicker than cross-town.
|||
Hi Lynda
I guess I did not count Potsdammer Platz or Checkpoint Charlie as Mitte! And come to think of it we are also going over in the evening to have dinner in the Reichstag.
I was last in Berlin in 1988, so the difference will be fascinating.
I shall write a trip report on my return %26amp; see if I still have the same opinion.
No comments:
Post a Comment