Germany Trip - 3 Days in Berlin, The Logistics

With the fun bits about Berlin already said, this post is about the basics of getting around Berlin and what the city was like. There will also be some lessons learned on what we would do next time that we didn't do this time, or stuff we wouldn't do again.

Finding a place to stay in Berlin was relatively easy to do. Roslyn looked at hotels and at Airbnb and found a fairly inexpensive apartment to rent, which came out to about $12 per person per night. The apartment was rented out closer to down town and had staff at the front desk 10 hours per day. The experience with the Airbnb rental was pretty good and we would definitely do this again.

For getting around in Berlin/Germany we initially had a rental car, which we drove from an airport to the Airbnb. We struggled to find free street parking the first evening so we ended up parking in a parkade, but move the car to a free spot the next day. Other than that, we did not use the car at all while we stayed in Berlin. The public transit system is inexpensive, convenient, and easy to use. The buses, trams, trains, and subway system all had frequent service and we didn't wait for more then 5-10 minutes on any given route we were taking.

Another thing about driving in Germany, especially if you are from North America, is that there are probably 2-3 times more road signs than we use at home. I spent a good portion of the first few days looking up and memorizing new road sign meanings and other traffic conventions that were different. I used the below site to get a basic understanding and Wikipedia to look up road signs that were new to me. All in all though driving was pretty fun.

Driving in Germany info: http://www.gettingaroundgermany.info/fahren.shtml

For food we ended up buying some groceries for breakfasts and snacks, and I think one lunch. Otherwise we at out at a variety of restaurants. Roslyn and I found that the small coffee/sandwich stops in the subway were both good tasting and fairly cheap. Local grocery stores tended to be inexpensive as well. Small local Mom n' Pop style restaurants were both very good tasting and less pricey. The basic exchange here however was that we traded time when we went looking for cheaper alternatives.

Pretty much everything we did in Berlin was done via the Berlin Pass. This was a great find by Roslyn and led to an exciting three day in Berlin. Essentially, the Berlin Pass is a prepaid entrance fee into dozens of exhibits, museums, and tourist attractions. We both highly recommend getting this if you plan on going to Berlin as it was a great deal for us.

Here's a link to the Berlin Pass website: Berlin Pass Website

This is everything that we did in Berlin that was included on the Berlin Pass:

Hop on, Hop Off Bus Tour of Berlin
Madame Tussaud's
Victory Column
Check Point Charlie
Berlin Dom
River Boat Tour
Berlin Dungeon
Aqua Dome
Little Big City Berlin
Greek and Roman Museum
Natural History Museum

All of that was on the Berlin Pass.

All in all our stay in Berlin went great, both the logistically and the experience in general.