You'll be ticking off star attractions from the mighty Brandenburg Gate to Museum Island's Egyptian treasures on your first visit to Berlin. But this magnetic city lures you back with a spin in a GDR Trabant car, graffiti art at the East Side Gallery and Friedrichshain's energetic nightlife.
Although Berlin is a huge, sprawling metropolis, the blockbuster sights cluster in the Mitte, Charlottenburg and Kreuzberg districts. Grab a map and get your bearings by tracing the snaking River Spree, which splits the city in two. Or amble down Unter den Linden, Berlin's main artery, linking the Brandenburg Gate to UNESCO-listed Museum Island. For a bird's-eye perspective, zoom up the Communist-era Fernsehturm (TV Tower) to pinpoint Berlin's landmarks. Since the Wall crumbled in 1989, Berlin is fizzing with energy - sample its legendary nightlife in Friedrichshain and Prenzlauer Berg.
Beat the crowds to the Reichstag (German Parliament) to ascend the spiral ramp of Norman Foster's glass cupola for far-reaching views over Berlin. Stroll lime tree-fringed Unter den Linden to glimpse the Humboldt University where Einstein once taught. You'll soon emerge at Museum Island, where you can gaze into the eyes of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti at the Neues Museum. Trip over the cobbles in the medieval Nikolaiviertel, pausing to eat Eisbein pork knuckles at a wood-panelled tavern. Rest museum-weary feet on Pariser Platz at dusk, as light bathes the Brandenburg Gate's columns gold.
Get a taste of this once-divided city by walking the graffitied stretch of the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery. For more Ostalgie (nostalgia for former East Germany), splutter along the Communist-era Karl-Marx-Allee boulevard in a two-stroke Trabant on a Trabi Safari. Kick back in Tiergarten's chestnut-shaded beer gardens, or join Kreuzberg's hipsters for swimming and minty mojito cocktails at Badeschiff, a floating container ship on the River Spree. Unravel German-Jewish life at Daniel Libeskind's lightning-bolt Jewish Museum. If you're still raring to go, hit Friedrichshain's industrial-style techno clubs.
Frequent flyers choose Berlin Tegel Airport for its convenient location and hassle-free service. Although modest in size, the terminal flies more than 15 million passengers a year to European and long-haul destinations. Central Berlin is a 15-minute taxi ride away.
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