Budget · 3-hour walk · Berlin
Mitte and Museum Island in three hours
Brandenburg Gate through the memorial and the old squares to the island and the cathedral.
Berlin's historic core is smaller than the city's reputation suggests and this is the flat two kilometres that contains most of it. It is deliberately not a Cold War walk: the Wall sites are east and south and want their own afternoon. Museum Island is the only ticket and one museum is the honest maximum here.
The route, stop by stop
-
Brandenburg Gate
The only surviving city gate, and the one place where the Wall's line is marked in the pavement. Free and always open.
20 min here Walk here → -
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
2711 concrete stelae on undulating ground. The information centre underneath is free and is the part that stays with you.
25 min here Walk here → -
Gendarmenmarkt
Two matching cathedrals and a concert hall around one square, widely held to be the handsomest in Berlin.
20 min here Walk here → -
Museum Island
Five museums on one island. The Pergamon is closed for renovation until the 2030s; the Neues and its Nefertiti bust are the ones to pick.
-
Berlin Cathedral
The dome walkway is 270 steps and circles the outside for a view straight down Unter den Linden.
25 min here Walk here →
More in Berlin
Every walking route in Berlin, or the full Berlin guide for where to stay and what a day costs.