Travel
Mrs.BFinally
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Berlin and Dusseldorf must do's?
in Travel
So it looks like I am booking our Air Berlin flights today to Rome and we are blessed to have long 20-22 hour layovers in Berlin and Dusseldorf. Anyone been and have some must do's that can be done in the course of 10 hours or such?
TIA!
Kim
Kim
Re: Berlin and Dusseldorf must do's?
I live near Dusseldorf and there's not as much to do here as in other areas of Germany. I think a trip down to Altstadt is nice and easy. It's on the Rhein River and it's a bunch of restaurants, bars and some shops. My friend from Berlin says it looks like a typical German city. The big shopping street is the Ko and is walking distance to Altstadt. It's really nice, high-end stores with a sprinkling of more affordable stuff.
You can also take the train down to Cologne. It's a quick trip and there's a big cathedral there, restaurants and shops. Oh, and I think it September there are still boat trips between D-dorf and Cologne, which could be nice. If your stay in D-dorf is on a Sunday, shops will be closed.
We arrive in Dusseldorf on a Thursday around 2PM and depart on Friday AM I believe for LAX. We were hoping to see some castles or such ... anything nearby like this? I did see online that there were some castles in Dusseldorf?
The only thing I can think of is Benrath Castle http://www.schloss-benrath.de/en/portal_stiftung/bootportal.asp I haven't been there. It doesn't have the same appeal to me as other castles throughout Germany, but I'm sure it's nice.
I suppose if you rented a car you could drive about an hour or so south and see more castle along the Mosel River. http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/germany/mosel.htm
This area of Germany is just not as scenic as the area south of here and much north of here.
ETA: I should actually say Benrath is more like a palace than a castle.
For Berlin, just remember that the city is pretty huge so don't try to see or do too much. I would definitely check out the Berlin Wall and pick a few museums. I really liked the DDR Museum (about life in East Germany) and Topography of Terror (timeline of 30's and 40's), but I have heard the Jewish Museum is also amazing. I was there for 3 days and still feel like I barely saw anything.
I don't remember exactly, but I think the route we took was walking past the Reichstag, going to the Memorial for the Murdered Jews (which was very moving), going down Potsdamer Place and then through Brandenburg Gate (go back at night for another look) , past all the museums and took a quick look at the book burning memorial before going to the Topography of Terror and Checkpoint Charlie, and from there I think you could make it to the DDR museum and then take transit or a cab to the Berlin Wall.
Of course, there are a ton more museums, there's shopping, there are dozens of neighborhoods to explore, there's Templehof airport (site of the famous airlifts, now a park where you can walk on the runway), but with the size of the city, I would just pick the 3-5 things you really want to do and concentrate on that. Actually, Berlin is one city where I highly recommend a tour because so much of the city's historical places are hidden in plain sight and having a guide gives you so much more backstory. I was there on a media trip and one of the guides told a bunch of stories about growing up in East Berlin (she was like 9 or 10 when the wall fell) and learning about her life put things in great perspective.
For dinner, I would head to Kreuzeberg, the Turkish neighborhood.