The following is a text I prepared for my Australian godson and his wife, visiting in December 2018:

Here is what springs to mind to make your visit to Berlin as efficient as possible. Berlin is large and sprawling and overwhelming on a first visit, and you can easily end up spending too much time crisscrossing all over the place on public transport or on foot like headless chicken if you do not plan your day.

If I were to tell you all this on the train from the airport, you would go crazy, and I would forget half of it, so here is something you can consult whenever you feel like it and pick and choose from.

First of all, here is what I suggest we do the day you arrive, after “checking in”. We start by walking to Gendarmenmarkt, with one of Berlin’s two major concert halls, about 20 minutes’ walk away. This is the most, if not the only, beautiful square in Berlin. If you like chocolate, one can get an intense chocolate fix in Rausch. Their upstairs café serves delicious, chocolate-themed cakes and desserts and of course hot chocolate with and without booze and with and without chili.

We will check out the Christmas market on Gendarmenmarkt, but it will probably be very crowded so we may not want to stay long. Afterwards we go to Potsdamer Platz where I would like to show you a memorial just outside the Philharmonic, and then the rest of Potsdamer Platz which, in places such as the Sony Centre, is completely over the top in terms of Christmas lights and decorations.

For the rest of your stay, here are some suggestions to pick and choose from.

First a route that will bring you to some of the landmarks and museums you mentioned (Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburger Tor, Holocaust Memorial, Pergamon Museum (which is actually one of five museums on Museum Island), Berlin Cathedral, the TV tower, and the DDR Museum) – a walk that can be done within a day, although you might not be able to visit all three museums. Then at least you know where they are.

There are two maps because google maps has a meltdown if you try to add more than ten stops to one map.

Map 1 starts at my place and ends at the Pergamon Museum. One of the sights you will pass on the walk is this, which also has a link to a very useful app. You will be passing German History Museum which has a nice café (with bistro-type food and big fat layer cakes) , if you need a pitstop. Go right inside the lobby.

Map 2 continues from Pergamon Museum and on to Alexanderplatz. It ends at the World Clock on Alexanderplatz for the simple reason that if you do this walk on day two of your stay, and you want to come with me to the pub quiz in the evening (which I sincerely hope you will), we can meet there around 17.30, then go for a meal and then to the pub. Incidentally, after a couple of stops on the UBahn, this will take us along an interesting boulevard.  And this is the pub.

By the way, the nicest Christmas markets tend to be on the outskirts, with local and regional produce and homemade this, that and the other. One of these would be in the old centre of Spandau, about 50 minutes away on public transport. Given your short time in Berlin, this would only be worth the transport time if you combine it with other visits on the way – we can talk about that when you get here – or with a visit to the Spandau Citadel, which is only really interesting if you are interested in military history (or bats: it is the winter accommodation for around 10.000 bats, of which several species are nearing extinction). Here is one way to get to the Citadel from my place. And here is the walk from the Citadel to the Christmas market.

If you are interested in one of the less than cheerful sights, which makes a big impression on everyone who goes there, you could go to the memorial Gleis 17 in Grunewald first, and then Spandau Citadel and then the Christmas market in Spandau. Here is how to get to Grunewald from my place. And here is how to get from Grunewald to the Citadel in Spandau.

In terms of intensive shopping, there are several options (in no particular order):

1. In the unlikely event that you crave seeing Potsdamer Platz again, there are two shopping malls there: Potsdamer Platz Arkaden and Mall of Berlin (which is strictly speaking on Leipziger Platz but you can see it from Potsdamer Platz). I doubt you would find either of them particularly interesting.

2. Go west, if for no other reason than to see an area of Berlin (the posh, bourgeois area ;-)) which architecturally is very different from the central and eastern part. Take bus M29 from the corner of Lindenstrasse and Oranienstrasse to Wittenbergplatz. Wittenbergplatz is also an U-Bahn station on the U2 line.

Start in KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens), besides Harrod’s the biggest, and probably also the most expensive department store in Europe. Their delikatessen department on the sixth floor is a sight to behold.

Back in the street, walk along Tauentzienstrasse with a lot of shops all the way to Karstadt the department store. On the way, you will see the Christmas market on Breidscheidtplatz and the iconic church which I am sure you will recognise when you see it. On one side of the church, the side that faces away from Tauentzienstrasse/Kurfürstendamm, is the memorial for the victims of the 19 December 2016 truck attack on the adjacent christmas market.

Beyond Karstadt the department store, along Kurfürstendamm, you will find all the big brands like Armani, Versace etc. If you want to rest your feet and see it all, including the Christmas lights on Kurfürstendamm, from the top of a double-decker bus, take the M19 or M29 from the other side of the street from Karstadt, for as long as you can be bothered, but when you get to Halensee, it is time to get off, cross the street, and take a bus back again.

By the way, another, more scenic way to get from east to west is by taking bus 100 or 200 from Alexanderplatz to Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten (or vice versa). It goes past many landmarks and it is a good way to get your bearings and an idea of the distances and where everything is. Especially when it rains or your feet are too sore for walking.

3. Steglitz between Walther Schreiber Platz and U-Bahnhof Rathaus Steglitz. Lots of shops and three shopping malls. It seems far away, but I like it as a shopping area.

4. Closest to my place: Alexanderplatz, with a.o. Primark, Galeria Kaufhof Department Store, C&A, several shops between the TV tower and the city hall (“Rotes Rathaus”), as well as the (at least from the outside) ugliest shopping mall in the world, Alexa. Many useful shops and a food court inside. Just across from Alexa, you will find Bus 248 which stops at Jewish Museum which is also the stop you use to get to my place.

Museums that you have not mentioned yourself, but are reputed to be excellent:

Museum of Technology within walking distance from my place.

Jewish Museum, two minutes away from my place, currently with an exhibition about Jerusalem and its 3000 year history.

Computer Games Museum. (Is on the way to the pub quiz pub).

Museum of Natural History. Several large dinosaur skeletons. The museum itself is not particularly large. Taking area and direction into account, this can conveniently be combined with a visit to an excellent wall information centre and memorial and to  Berlin Unterwelten         Map. For a pitstop near the memorial, I can recommend this pub (the Mitte Branch of the pub where we are going for the quiz on Wednesday). It is just across Invalidenstrasse from the SBahn Nordbahnhof. They have excellent coffee and craft beer. They do not serve food but you may bring your own takeout. I can also recommend a Vietnamese restaurant in the area if relevant. Here is how to get to Berlin Unterwelten from my place. If you choose to go via Anhalter Bahnhof, now just an underground SBahn station, you will see the ruins of the original station, for a while used to deport people to the concentration camps, now a memorial. And just up the road from Anhalter Bahnhof is the Berlin Story Bunker, with the documentation “Hitler – how could it happen. Reputed to educate you on everything there is to know about Hitler and how he came to power. Here is yet another map.

And here are two more Chistmas markets I think you should see, or rather, it is their location I think you should see. There just happens to be Christmas markets in both places. Also, they are in each their area of Berlin which are individually different, and different from other areas (I don’t know if that makes sense, but that is Berlin for you).

Klunkerkranich, can be combined with a stroll along Sonnenallee. Map.

Holzmarkt25. Can be combined with Oberbaumbrücke, East Side Gallery, and Markthalle IX. Map.

Other things:

I found this guided tour very interesting (and it would definitely have resonated with Drew’s paternal grandfather due to the RAF airlift in 1948/49): A guided tour of Tempelhof Airport. If it is not too cold, a walk on the airfield (scroll down a bit) before or after is impressive. It still has the status of a city-managed park and has so far, thanks to citizen protests and a referendum), avoided falling into the sticky claws of property developers (despite a severe shortage of housing in Berlin).

Can be combined with a walk in Bergmann-Kiez, and Marheineke Markthalle. Map. Alternatively with above-mentioned Klunkerkranich.

Märkisches Museum, the history of Berlin since its founding in 1237. Can be combined with the very nearby Historischer Hafen. Map.

This documentation centre is excellent: Topography of Terror. Can be combined with a balloon ride (when it is in the air, you can see it from your room), and a visit to Martin Gropius Bau (beautiful building with contemporary art), and the Spy Museum. Map.

Confused? But I have not even mentioned  the Christmas-festive Botanical Gardens, nor all the modern and contemporary art exhibitions and museums (except one, Martin Gropius Bau)(which is my real area of expertise :-)). There are even a couple of places within five minutes walking distance from my place.

Can’t wait to see you!!!!