Hotels in Berlin

Berlin is Europe's most consequential modern city - the place where the 20th century's worst chapters happened and where the post-war European project was tested for 28 years across the Berlin Wall. The reunified capital of Germany is now a sprawling, low-rise creative metropolis of 3.85 million people, more graffiti than glass towers, with cheaper rent and longer nightlife than any other G7 capital.

The historic core sits along Unter den Linden between the Brandenburg Gate and Alexanderplatz. North of it lies Mitte (museums, government), south Kreuzberg (Turkish food, techno), east Friedrichshain (East Side Gallery), and west Charlottenburg (palace, KaDeWe department store). The S-Bahn ring contains almost everything a visitor needs.

Plan for at least three days. Two for the central historical sites, one for Charlottenburg or a day trip to Potsdam. Berlin's museums are world-class, the Berlin Wall sites are essential, and the city's nightlife - Berghain, Watergate, KitKat - operates on a different temporal logic from anywhere else in Europe.