Girls’ Backpacking Guide to Berlin

Heather Cowper shares a tale of four girls in Berlin from her blog, Heatheronhertravels.com, where you’ll find inspiration and information, whether you’re planning your next trip or seeing the world from the comfort of your laptop….

I recently visited Berlin with my teenage daughter and two of her friends for an all girl trip. I found Berlin a fantastic location for our teen princesses – it’s hip and cool with a youthful street culture and very reasonably priced compared to other European capitals.

Where to stay

We picked the recently opened budget boutique Circus Hotel, just opposite the excellent Circus Hostel (run by the same management). Our girls loved their four person apartment within the hotel, which was excellent value and to their relief was the other side of the courtyard from the Mums’ room. If you are on a budget, there are a number of excellent hostels in Berlin, but we would recommend the Circus Hostel because it has apartments, en suite rooms as well as the usual dorms.

Eat on the street

During the day, you really don’t need to think about preparing sandwiches as inexpensive street food is found everywhere and you can get delicious fresh rolls at main train stations. The traditional Berlin snack is Currywurst – a German sausage with chips and lashings of curry flavour ketchup. If you’d like a gourmet picnic or some foodie gifts to take home, then try to famous food hall at KaDeWe on Kurfurstendamm. I thought I’d seen it all at Harrods and Fortnums in London, but this outdid them both! Berlin has a strong eating out culture, so for the evening, ask a local or your hostel staff to recommend something nearby – you won’t have to go far to find something good.

Best bargains for getting around

We bought a Berlin Welcome Card which for a family group was amazing value and can be bought for 48hr, 72hrs or 5 days. It allows you to travel by train, bus and tram and takes the hassle out of transport, as well as giving you discounts at many of the major sights around the city. We bought ours at Schönefeld airport and used it to get into the city too. The S-bahn and U-bahn trains will take you quickly and efficiently around the city but the best bargain for sightseeing is the No 100 bus that runs from Alexanderplatz, past the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate and through the Tiergarten to the Berlin Zoo and Kurfürstendamm.

Shop till you drop

Kurfürstendamm is the best known shopping area if you enjoy looking for brands and high street names, which suited our teenagers perfectly. If you’re looking for some more unusual and unique souvenirs, you can stroll through the Hackesche Höfe, where you’ll find a series of courtyards with Art Deco decoration and small shops open from one to another.

Sights to see with a guide

Berlin is known for the free walking tours that start around the Brandenburg Gate and take you round the main sights in the central area. Of course they’re not really free as the guides work for tips but they are very informative and entertaining. We enjoyed an alternative 45 minute tour by rickshaw, which you can find on Unter den Linden and near the Brandenburg Gate. The Mums went for the hippy chic version while the girls opted for a sleeker electrically powered rickshaw, but both guides gave us an excellent commentary as we zipped down Unter Den Linden, through the elegant Gendarmenmarkt square, past Checkpoint Charlie and down towards Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenberg Gate.

Berlin’s edgy side

I love street art, but unfortunately I ran out of time to see the East Side Gallery, with street-art murals painted onto an old section of the Berlin wall. Instead we found our edgy Berlin experience at Kunsthaus Tacheles, an old warehouse and artist’s commune with cafes by day and clubs by night, where you can relax among weird metal sculptures and painted mural,s or climb the graffiti covered staircase to check out the artists studios. We wanted to take our girls out to experience Berlin’s famous music scene and found the perfect teen-friendly experience at White Trash Fast Food, a burger joint with live music, which combines the decor of an old wood-panelled bank with the kitsch of a Chinese brothel.

Images courtesy of Heather Cowper.