3 days in Berlin: a day-by-day sightseeing plan

Berlin is a spread-out city where history from the Prussian kings to the divided Cold War city sits close to the surface, and the main sights cluster in Mitte and around the Tiergarten. Day one covers the government quarter, the Holocaust Memorial and the Jewish Museum, day two is the TV Tower and Museum Island, and day three moves between the Tiergarten, the western centre and the old masters before ending at the Natural History Museum.

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Day 1

The Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the Jewish Museum

5 stops

09:00
Brandenburg Gate
About 25 min
The gate stood in the no-man's-land of the Berlin Wall for nearly thirty years and is now the city's symbol of reunification. Walk through it from Pariser Platz and turn back to see the Quadriga on top.
Walk, 5 min
09:30
Reichstag
About 55 min
The parliament building is known for Norman Foster's glass dome, where a spiral ramp climbs above the debating chamber. Visiting the dome needs registration online in advance, and you bring photo ID.
Walk, 9 min
10:35
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
About 20 min
A field of 2,711 concrete slabs of different heights near the Brandenburg Gate, where the ground dips as you walk between them and the street drops out of sight. The plan's short stop is enough to walk through; the information centre underneath, with the stories of individual victims and families, needs longer.
Walk, 9 min
11:05
Potsdamer Platz
About 25 min
Once split by the Wall and left as wasteland, the square was rebuilt in the 1990s with glass towers and the Sony Center. Look for the double row of cobbles and the Wall segments that mark where the border ran, then take a short taxi ride south to Kreuzberg.
Taxi, 4 min
11:35
Jewish Museum Berlin
About 1 h 35 min
Daniel Libeskind's zigzag building, entered through the baroque house next door, tells the story of Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to today. Leave time for the architecture itself: the sloping Garden of Exile, the dark Holocaust Tower and the room of iron faces on the floor.

Day 2

The TV Tower, Berlin Cathedral and Museum Island

5 stops

09:00
Fernsehturm Berlin
About 1 h 25 min
The TV Tower at Alexanderplatz is the tallest structure in Germany, with a viewing deck and a revolving restaurant in the sphere. Timed tickets booked ahead cut the queue.
Walk, 4 min
10:30
Alexanderplatz
About 25 min
The square was the showpiece of East Berlin, and the World Clock and the Fountain of Friendship among the post-war buildings recall that era. It is mostly a transport hub, so a short look is enough before the walk to the cathedral.
Walk, 14 min
11:10
Berlin Cathedral
About 50 min
The domed Protestant cathedral on the Lustgarten has a lavish interior, the Hohenzollern crypt and a climb to the dome gallery with a view over Museum Island.
Walk, 4 min
12:05
Neues Museum
About 1 h 40 min
David Chipperfield's restoration left the war damage visible beside the new work, which makes the building as interesting as the collection. The bust of Nefertiti is the star, in a domed room of its own.
Walk, 2 min
13:50
Altes Museum
About 1 h 35 min
The oldest museum on the island, with Schinkel's colonnaded front facing the Lustgarten, holds Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities around a domed rotunda modelled on the Pantheon. It is the last stop of the day, so stay as long as you like.

Day 3

The Tiergarten, old masters and the Natural History Museum

5 stops

09:00
Siegessäule
About 20 min
The Victory Column stands at the centre of the Tiergarten, topped by the golden figure locals call Goldelse. Climb the steps inside to the viewing platform, then walk southwest through the park to the memorial church.
Walk, 24 min
09:45
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche
About 35 min
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church's broken tower was left as a war memorial, with mosaics and a small exhibition inside, and the blue-glass new church beside it is worth stepping into. From here a short taxi ride takes you to the Gemäldegalerie.
Taxi, 5 min
10:25
Gemäldegalerie Berlin
About 1 h 35 min
One of the great collections of European painting from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century, with rooms of Rembrandt, Vermeer, Caravaggio and Dürer. Its long suite of top-lit galleries makes ninety minutes go a long way.
Walk, 15 min
12:15
Großer Tiergarten
About 1 h 5 min
Berlin's big central park, once a royal hunting ground, is a place of long tree-lined paths, lakes and lawns. After the gallery, walk in from the Kulturforum side toward the Neuer See and slow down for an hour before the taxi north.
Taxi, 4 min
13:25
Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science
About 1 h 35 min
The natural history museum's main hall is built around a towering Giraffatitan skeleton, one of the tallest dinosaur skeletons on display anywhere, and the collection also holds a famous Archaeopteryx fossil. It suits an unhurried last afternoon, with or without children.

Good to know

Register in advance for the Reichstag dome and book the TV Tower ahead.
Take a taxi or the U-Bahn from Potsdamer Platz to the Jewish Museum on day one, and on day three for the jumps from the memorial church to the Gemäldegalerie and from the Tiergarten up to the Natural History Museum.
Several of the museums close one day a week, so check before you fix which day you do what.
Winters are cold and grey, and the museum-heavy first two days suit the colder months well.
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Open in Atlazi

3 days in Berlin: a day-by-day sightseeing plan

Brandenburg Gate

Reichstag

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Potsdamer Platz

Jewish Museum Berlin

Fernsehturm Berlin

Alexanderplatz

Berlin Cathedral

Neues Museum

Altes Museum

Siegessäule

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche

Gemäldegalerie Berlin

Großer Tiergarten

Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science

Good to know

Make this plan yours