Looking to fill 6 hours in Berlin
August 2, 2015 4:08 PM   Subscribe

This week I'll be flying through Berlin, arriving at Tegel and departing from Schonefeld. I get in just before 10am and fly out at 6pm. I'll be somewhat mobile but will be carrying enough that, eg, walking several miles through an architecturally interesting neighborhood, for example, which I would normally love, would be a no-go. Looking mostly for recommendations for where to get some good food and kill time pleasantly.

My ideal would be something like:
1) Public transport into an interesting spot in the city where I could grab lunch (Bavarian, killer curry wurst, Turkish street food--not super picky about genre, but would like to keep the price reasonable and have it be something at least somewhat geographically distinctive)
2) Move to coffee house (ideally with pastries!) where it would be acceptable for me to sit at a table for a while with my purchase and read/people watch/etc. (Not, like, all afternoon, but not 15 minutes either.)
-->Ideally this could be gotten to from lunch either with an easy public transport link or a reasonable walk.
3) (Bonus) : If you're doing the full itinerary, and one of the stops you advise has an interesting church or square or something nearby, that would be cool. Ideal would be something I could stroll past/look at without requiring a ton of walking (again, with bags, so, eg, an excellent museum is not ideal).

Been to Berlin once before, sadly only for a few days. Meaning you can forgo "x, at least that way you've seen the Brandenburg Gate/Alexanderplatz/etc" - type recommendation. I'm mostly trying to get a pleasant Berlin afternoon out of what's otherwise an annoying layover, and not so much aspiring to check touristy checkboxes.

Thanks!
posted by pdq to Travel & Transportation around Berlin, Germany (7 answers total)
 
Take the bus from Tegel to the Alexanderplatz, it's been a year or so since I've spent a lot of time in Berlin, but there are a number of places in/around the Alex that you can get döner or a decent currywurst while sticking in the hubs of the S/U bahn netz. I'll leave it to someone else if they have a more recent food-suggestion.

If I had a few hours to kill (and while there have met people doing exactly the same), I'd head to the liquidrom. Great place to sit, chill, have a sauna and a soak, enjoy the sun if it's out, or the garden if not. U-bahn Anhalter Bahnhof, so you take the S-bahn back to Friedrichstraße then head south one stop past Potsdamerplatz, and if you take the southernmost station exit, you'll come up basically on the far side of the building so it's a 2-3 minute walk. I'm a sauna person and have made trips to Berlin really just for this, so YMMV of course. You can get juices, salad, beer, etc there, though it's not really geographically distinctive so much as ... berliner pils and whatever greens they have that day.
posted by Seeba at 4:48 PM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Deutsches Technikmuseum has a bistro and will store your bags at the coat check.
posted by djb at 4:49 PM on August 2, 2015


Hum, the bust of Nefertiti is in the Egyptiches Museum in Berlin, that is a pretty awesome place. There is a tall needle like telecommunications tower downtown with amazing views. I think there is food up there. I think it rotates, maybe. That is downtown by the Forum Hotel.
posted by Oyéah at 9:54 PM on August 2, 2015


If I were you, I would take the TXL bus from Tegel airport to Alexanderplatz. Then I'd take the U8 from Alexanderplatz south to Kotbusser Tor in Kreuzberg.

Kotbusser Tor is a bit of a confusing station, because it's below a round-about, which means there are lots of exits that go in all directions. But there's always a map somewhere on the train platform that is a close-up of the local area and that map will also show you all the station exits and where they go. It's on a poster board with an "i" for information on it, and there's usually a big map of Berlin on the other side and train schedules, etc. If you need to get your bearings, go look for that board before leaving the train platform, and look for an exit that takes you towards Adalbertstraße and/or Oranienstraße.

One you leave the station, head north on Adalbertstraße, and you'll find a good Turkish restaurant called Hasir on the right side of the street, one block north of the station. It's on the corner with Oranienstraße. It's a sit-down restaurant where you can have a leisurely lunch. If you're looking for something more casual, there's a really good falafel place on the other side of the street called Maroush, which is a bit more of an eat-and-go place.

After you've had lunch, you can go west on Oranienstraße to the Milch & Zucker cafe, where you can hang out with your laptop and drink good coffee. There's also a park half a block farther west, called Oranienplatz, where you can sit and hang out in the sun (if the weather is good) and people watch.

When it's time to go to the airport, you go back to Kotbusser Tor station and take the U8 farther south to Hermannplatz and then take the S-bahn (S45) to the airport. Schönefeld airport is far away, so plan on taking at least 45 minutes to get there.

Here's the trip planner in English for the U-Bahn/S-Bahn on the BVG website.
posted by colfax at 3:06 AM on August 3, 2015


If you want to head to kreuzberg as colfax suggests, it is much faster to take the X9 to the zoo, and then the U12 to Kottbusser Tor. Generally the X9 is faster to get into the city unless you specifically want to go to alexanderplatz. And if you want good food, stay away from alexanderplatz.

Zoo has the gedächtniskirche, which if you are changing transit there anyway, is worth popping out to take a look at. There's also a Curry 36 imbiss at zoo. They make some of the best currywurst in the city, though this food hut is new and not their main location.

Alternatively, there's the eastside gallery on the berlin wall. You have to take the S-Bahn to Ostbahnhof. There are luggage lockers there if you wanted to walk to see the gallery - it's open air, right across the street. If seeing the wall is important to you, that would be what I'd do.
posted by cotterpin at 7:47 AM on August 3, 2015


I don't know about Berlin specifically, but I remember seeing many train stations and airports in Germany which had lockers you could rent for a very modest sum of money. Stash your bags then go explore unencumbered.
posted by sourcequench at 8:06 AM on August 3, 2015


The Berlin Zoo train station has both Coin-operated lockers and Left-luggage service Location: 1st upper floor, east side. I second the gedächtniskirche - it is great to walk past and in an interesting enough neighborhood.
posted by soelo at 8:15 AM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


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