10 Best Sights in Berlin, Germany

Half museum, half theme park, the DDR Museum is an interactive and highly entertaining exhibit about life during communism. It’s difficult to say just how much the museum benefits from its prime location beside the Spree, right across from the Berliner Dom, but it's always packed, filled with tourists, families, and student groups trying to get a hands-on feel for what the East German experience was really like. Exhibitions include a re-creation of an East German kitchen, all mustard yellows and bilious greens; a simulated drive in a Trabi, the only car the average East German was allowed to own; and a walk inside a very narrow, very claustrophobic interrogation cell.

The museum is composed of two buildings. The magnificent pink, baroque Prussian arsenal (Zeughaus) was constructed between 1695 and 1730 and is the oldest building on Unter den Linden. It also houses a theater, the Zeughaus Kino, which regularly presents a variety of films, both German and international, historic and modern. The new permanent exhibits offer a modern and fascinating view of German history since the early Middle Ages. The Zeughaus and the permanent exhibits are closed for renovations until the end of 2025. Behind the arsenal, the granite-and-glass Pei building by I. M. Pei holds often stunning and politically controversial changing exhibits; it remains open during the Zeughaus renovations. The museum's café is a great place to stop and restore your energy.

Using a mix of historical objects, art exhibitions, interactive exhibits, and virtual reality, the history of Germany's Jews from the Middle Ages through today is chronicled in the museum's permanent collection (revamped in 2020), from prominent historical figures to the evolution of laws regarding Jews' participation in civil society. A few of the exhibits document the Holocaust itself, but this museum celebrates Jewish life and history far more than it focuses on the atrocities committed during World War II. An attraction in itself is the highly conceptual building, designed by Daniel Libeskind, where various physical "voids" in the oddly constructed and intensely personal modern wing of the building represent the idea that some things can and should never be exhibited when it comes to the Holocaust. ANOHA Children's World, across from the main museum, contains a 7-meter (23-foot) tall circular wooden arc with more than 150 sculptured animals inside, all made from found objects.

The Pergamonmuseum is one of the world's greatest museums and its name is derived from its principal display, the Pergamon Altar, a monumental Greek temple discovered in what is now Turkey and dating from 180 BC. The altar was shipped to Berlin in the late 19th century. Equally impressive are the gateway to the Roman town of Miletus, the Ishtar Gate, and the Babylonian processional way. The entire museum is closed for refurbishment until 2027, when parts of it will reopen, including the famed altar; the rest of the museum isn't scheduled to reopen until 2037. Until then, visitors can see Das Panorama, 360-degree visuals of the ancient city of Pergamon designed by artist Yadegar Asisi and combined with a selection of original sculptures, in a temporary pavilion on Am Kupfergraben, across from Museuminsel.

Topographie des Terrors is partially an open-air exhibit, fully exposed to the elements, and partially a stunning indoor exhibition center, where you can view photos and documents explaining the secret state police and intelligence organizations that planned and executed Nazi crimes against humanity. The fates of both victims and perpetrators are given equal attention here. The outdoor cellar remains of the Nazis' Reich Security Main Office (composed of the SS, SD, and Gestapo) uses photos, newspaper articles, and other documents to examine National Socialist policy in Berlin between 1933 and 1945.

Inside the Französischer Dom (French Cathedral), built by Kaiser Friedrich II for the Protestant Huguenots who fled France and settled in Berlin, is the Hugenottenmuseum, with exhibits charting their history and art. The Huguenots were expelled from France at the end of the 17th century by King Louis XIV. Their energy and commercial expertise contributed much to Berlin. The cathedral was renovated and the permanent exhibition modernized (and made multilingual) before its reopening in fall 2021.

This redbrick museum includes exhibits on Berlin's history from the Ice Age to today. A permanent exhibit, BerlinZEIT, tells the story of Berlin and historical moments that have shaped the city through tales from the people who live there; features include a multimedia map of Berlin where you can hear about various neighborhoods and streets.

In West Berlin in 1963, John F. Kennedy surveyed the recently erected Berlin Wall and said, "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am one with the people of Berlin). And with that, he secured his fame throughout Germany. He's honored in this small but intriguing museum, which used to reside opposite the American embassy on Pariser Platz, but has since found a new home in the Ehemalige Jüdische Mädchenschule. With photographs, personal memorabilia, documents, and films, the collection traces the fascination JFK and the Kennedy clan evoked in Berlin and elsewhere.