Backpacking Berlin

This article was written by Amy Rogers, a student from London who went backpacking Berlin in August 2010:

Backpacking Berlin the City

Berlin we found to be a very alternative city. It is unfortunately still in development after everything it has been through and it allows everyone to express themselves, so there is a lot of culture to be seen, but also a lot of history, which is just amazing. The city is pretty big, so it is hard to get around without using the underground network they have there, so if you are staying for a little while then i would recommend getting a 5 day pass for the rail, but it is very easy to get around and it is also very efficient!

As for places to visit, there are so many, here I would definitely say to do a walking tour as the city is full of history. Definitely go see the Berlin was remains and the East side Gallery, which is where artists have drawn on parts of the remaining wall and it is just great to look at. There is also checkpoint Charlie, which shows the small area where people could cross the Berlin wall and also go see the memorial site for the Jews killed in the war. We also did a day trip to a nearby concentration camp called Sachsenhausen which only cost us €13 as we said we were students, but left our student cards in the UK :). This trip was amazing though and definitely worth doing to see what it was like and how the people were treated. This concentration camp is a good one to go to if you do not want to know all the blood that was shed, as it was a camp that people were sent to, to work, not to specifically die, even though around 60,000 people did die in the camp, not much was about how they were killed, but more about how they were treated. Such an eye opener and if you go to Berlin, you should go to this.

We stayed in two hostels in Berlin, the first one was called ’36 rooms’, which was not in a good location to the centre of town, but it did only cost around €16. When we got there, the receptionist was rude and grumpy and my friend and I got put in seperate rooms even though we had booked together (the receptionist didnt care). Due to this, i think we just got a bad feel for the place, so we decided to swap hostels for the next night and stayed in a place called A&O Berlin Hauptbahnhof. This cost us €19 fo the night and the place was gorgeous! Breakfast wasn’t included, but there was a bar, with pool tables and the atmosphere was very friendly. I think it is actually a hotel, but as it was undergoing work to it, the prices were lowered and it wasn’t packed, infact when we got there our room was a 6 bed, with private shower and a seperate toilet and we were the only ones there!

Backpacking Berlin the food

The food was pretty cheap and the drinks were just like any other city. Other places to visit in Berlin include the Reichstag, museum square and there are several other places that we didn’t get a chance to visit, but if you go on the free walking tour there, then they take you to all these places and tell you about them, but you can then go to them at a later date.