Berlin Online Travel Guide - for Children & Parents

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City Trips: Berlin, Germany

In Berlin kids

play in the parks,

spend rainy days in the museums,

visit the sights by boat,

pet animals in the zoo,

attend circus school and visit a magician,

go on a bat tour in a medieval citadel and enjoy a puppet theater,

watch the manufacture of candies,

go swimming in swimming pools and lakes.

You find printed Berlin travel guides here.

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Between Kurfuerstendamm avenue (S- and U-train station Zoologischer Garten, S3, S5, S7, S75, S9, U2, U9, bus 100, 200), Potsdamer Platz square (S- and U-train station Potsdamer Platz, S1, S2, S25, S26, U2, bus 200), Brandenburger Tor gate, Reichstag parliament (S-train station Unter den Linden, S1, S2, S25, S26, bus 100, 200), Hansa-Viertel district (U-train station Hansaplatz, U9, S-train station Tiergarten S3, S5, S7, S75, S9, bus 100) and the German president's seat Schloss Bellevue (S-train station, S3, S5, S7, S75, S9, bus 100) you find 15.5 miles of hiking trails, playgrounds and barbecue sites, a lake, a boat rental and a cafe in Berlin's Tiergarten - animal garden, named after the - remarkable - adjoining zoo at Zoologischer Garten station.

Constructed in the 1920s, at today's Tegel airport the Volkspark Jungfernheide is Berlin's second largest park next to Tiergarten. You walk through a natural forest, past game reserves and playing fields, you lie in the meadows, children play in the playgrounds, there is an open air stage, a swimming and a wading pool (U-train stations Jakob-Kaiser-Platz, Halemweg, Siemensdamm, U7).

Today's Volkspark Rehberge in Wedding once was part of the Jungfernheide park, now separated by Tegel airport (U-train stations Seestrasse, Rehberge, Afrikanische Strasse, U6, Amrumer Strasse, U9). There are allotment gardens in the park, game reserves, sports fields, a stadion, playing fields, small lakes and an open air stage, at nearby Ploetzensee lake there is a swimming pool (Seestrasse 80, M13, M50, bus 327 from U-train station Osloer Strasse, U8, U9).

At the back of Alexanderplatz you find the Volkspark Friedrichhain constructed in the second half of the 19th century (U- and S-train station Alexanderplatz, then bus 200, 240, tram M5, M6, M8, M10). After the Second World War two hills were made of the city's debris to be used as viewing points. In the center of the park, the sculptures of the fountain are characters from famous story tales. There are meadows to lie in, playgrounds, wading pools and an open air stage, you can rent canvas chairs, pedal cars, stilts and tennis rackets. The monuments commemorate the revolutionaries of 1848 and the Germans fighting with the International Brigades in Spain.

In the middle of the 19th century the Buergerpark Pankow was owned by Hermann Killisch von Hoern, the founder of the Berliner Boersenzeitung, a newspaper publishing stock exchange news (S-train station Wollankstrasse, S1, S2, S25). In 1907 the park became municipal property. You lie in the meadows or sit in the cafe, there is a children's farm with a small zoo and an adventure playground. Continuing along the narrow Panke river you arrive at Niederschoenhausen palace park.

The park at Weissen See lake in Pankow used to be a manor's garden (Berliner Allee 150, Tram 12, 27 from S- und U-train station Friedrichstrasse). There is a boat rental, you swim in the open air swimming pool,jog around the lake, admire the rosegarden or relax on the cafe terrace. There is an open air stage and a music pavillon. Children find playgrounds, a small zoo and a wading pool with the sculpture of a sea lion dating back to 1925.

In 1985 the German gardening exhibition took place in the Britzer Garten in Neukoelln: You watch a historical windmill, there is a lakeside cafe and bistro, a fairground, a rosegarden and a play area with animals for children (U-train station Alt-Mariendorf, U6, bus 179, or U7, Lipschitzallee, bus 144).

You go downstairs to the Neukoelln Koernerpark: The entrepreneur Franz Koerner commissioned the park in a former gravel-pit (Schierkerstrasse 8, U- and S-train station Neukoelln, U7, S4, S8). In the orangery the municipal arts bureau runs an art gallery and a terrace cafe. Open air concerts take place in summer.

Following the Spree river you arrive at the Treptower Park (S-train station Treptower Park, S4, S6, S8, S85, S9, boat pier near the S-train station). The park was constructed from 1876 to 1882 as an English landscape garden. In 1896 a large trade exhibition took place here, on this occasion the Archenbold observatory was built - owning the worldwide largest refracting telescope. The Soviet Memorial in the park was raised from 1947 to 1949. There is a boat rental, you find cafes and restaurants and you can take a steamboat trip on the Spree river.

The Erholungspark Marzahn was constructed for East Berlin's garden show in 1987. You lie in the meadows, there are rosegardens, kids find a fairy tale playground (U-train station Kottbusser Platz, U5, bus 195, S-train station Marzahn, S7, bus 197). In 2000 the Chinese "Garden of the Newly Won Moon" opened the doors, including a tea house and a pond, designed by the specialists of the Peking Institute for Classical Gardening. You also find the Japanese "Garden of the Water Confluence" here, and the Balinesian "Garden of the Three Harmonies".

Constructed in the 1920's, the 290 acre Volkspark Wuhlheide is left to grow wild (S-train station Wuhlheide, S3). In the south-east corner the FEZ recreation center for kids and youths runs an indoor swimming pool and a lakeside beach, a sports hall and a playground. Large open air concerts are staged at the Parkbuehne Wuhlheide.

Museums

To touch, to try, to discover and to play is the motto of the Labyrinth Children's Museum in the Osloer Strasse Factory. Located between the Prenzlauer Berg and Wedding districts the former factory boasts an assembly hall for match production machinery listed as historical monument (Osloerstrasse 12, U-train station Pankstrasse, U8, U-train station Osloer Strasse, U9).

In the remodeled Elias church in the Prenzlauer Berg district the MACH!mit Museum fuer Kinder shows exhibition and offers climbing labyrinths, workshops, toddlers' areas, a herb garden and a stage, a family cafe and a museum's shop. The museum caters for children's birthdays (Senefelderstrasse 5, U-train station Eberswalder Strasse U2, S-train station Prenzlauer Allee, S8, S41, S42, S85).

In Dahlem you find the Ethnologische Museum - Ethnological Museum, with the Junior Museum for young scientists from 8 years onwards (U-train station Dahlem-Dorf, U1).

The Museum fuer Naturkunde - Natural Science Museum - of the Humboldt University owns - amongst others - donations by Alexander von Humboldt and Adelbert von Chamisso (Invalidenstrasse 43, U-train station Zinnowitzstrasse, U 6). Expect to find a hall of dinosaurs with 30 skeletons, original and copied, one of them a very long - 75.5 foot - Brachiosaurus from Tansania.

Berlin boasts two observatories, the Zeiss Grossplanetarium in Prenzlauer Allee 80 (S-train station Prenzlauer Allee, S41, S42, S8, tram M1) and the Archenbold Sternwarte in Alt-Treptow 1 (S-train station Treptower Park, S41, S 42 or S-train station Plaenterwald S8, S9, from the S-train stations to the observatory take bus 166, 167 or 265).

You cannot mistake the hanging plane of the Deutsche Technikmuseum - technology museum - on the site of the Kreuzberg Anhalter Bahnhof station (Trebbiner Strasse 9, U-train station Gleisdreieck, U1, U2, U-train station Moeckernbruecke, U7). The plane is one of the Western Allies "raisin bombs" that brought food to West Berlin during the Soviet blockade from 1948-1949.

The Technology Museum shows and explains navigation, aviation and astronautics, telecommunication, computing, textile fabrication, paper production and printing, photography, food production, traffic and electrical engineering.

You see a model of Konrad Zuse's Z1 computer, a historic brewery, a windmill, a water wheel and a solar power plant.

Around the corner from Kurfuerstendamm avenue (Meinekestrasse 24, Kurfuerstendamm station U1, U2, Uhlandstrasse U1, Zoologischer Garten U2, U9, S3, S7, S75, S9) you find the Loxx Miniaturwelten, the world's largest model railwaywith digital PHS-control in the scale of 1:87 (H0), showing Berlin's municipal, regional, national and international trains.

The collection Kindheit und Jugend - childhood and youth - of the city museum gives an idea what life was like for a child going to school in Berlin a hundred years ago. The museum shows historic toys and caters for children's birthdays (Wallstrasse 32, U-train stations Märkisches Museum, Spittelmarkt, U2, S-train station Jannowitzbruecke S3, S5, S7, S75, S9).

In the open air museum Dueppel at an excavated site you visit a reconstructed medieval settlement from the beginning of the 13th century. Berlin's city museum organises demonstrations of medieval crafts: the baking of bread, pottery, weaving and carving (Clauerstrasse 11, U-train station Krumme Lanke, U1, S-train stations Zehlendorf, Mexikoplatz, S1, bus 115, 629).

In the Domaene Dahlem farm and mansion (U-train station Dahlem-Dorf, U1), first built in 1560 and remodeled many times, the city museum demonstrates the history of Berlin's agriculture and food industries. You see rural crafts, a 19th century grocery, and an exhibition on the manufacture of chocolates. The ecological farm on the site sells its products in a shop.

Sightseeing by Boat

Spree river, Havel river and several canals run through Berlin from East to West, from South to North. By boat you float along the Spree river starting off on the Mueggelsee lakes via Koepenick and Treptow, Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, past Nikolai quarter, via Reichstag and Schloss Bellevue to Spandau at the confluence with the Havel river. From here, you continue north on the Havel river to Tegeler See lake or south past Grunewald, via Pfaueninsel and Wannsee to Potsdam.

Central boat piers are at Schlossbruecke, at Zeughaus and at the Pergamon-Museum on Museums Island (S-train station Hackescher Markt, S3, S5, S7 S 75, S9, bus 100, 200), at Potsdamer Platz (S- and U-train station, S1, S2, S25, S26, U2, bus 200) , at Nikolai quarter (S- and U-train station Alexanderplatz S3, S5, S7, S75, S9, U8), at Friedrichsstrasse (S- and U-train station Friedrichstrasse S1, S2, S25, S3, S5, S7, S75, S9, U6) and at Jannowitzbruecke (S-train station S3, S5, S7, S75, S9) , Schloss Charlottenburg (U-train station Mierendorffplatz, U7) and Spandau (U-train station Rathaus Spandau, U7).

You find timetables and a virtual boattrip here in the internet, you can buy maps online.

Zoological Gardens

You arrive at the Zoological Garden via Kurfuerstendamm avenue from Breitscheidplatz or via Bahnhof Zoo station (S- and U-train station Zoologischer Garten, S3, S5, S7, S75, S9, U2, U9, bus 100, 200). In 1844 Berlin's zoo was Germany's first zoological garden, today the zoo boasts the worldwide largest number of species.

In 1955, East Berlin opened a zoological garden in Schlosspark Friedrichsfelde palace park (U-train station Tierpark, U5). The spacious "landscape animal garden" owns lions and tigers, elephants, rhinos, hippos, sea cows, an aviary, polar bears and a well assorted snake farm. The palace and the park of Friedrichsfelde date back to 1700.

In both zoos children can pet animals and celebrate birthdays.

Circus and Magic

In Kurfuerstendamm avenue the Zaubertheater Jedlin shows magical tricks (Roescherstrasse 7, U-train station Adenauer Platz, U7, you get nearer from Lehniner Platz stop, bus M19, M29 one stop from U-train station Adenauer Platz) at 15:30 hours 'Zauberhits fuer Kids'.

In the Tempelhof Victoriastrasse 10-18 in the former film processing laboratory of the Universum Film Association Ufa-Fabrik you find cinemas, a stage showing performances of comedy and variety acts, an organic bakery with cafe and health food shop, a guesthouse, a children's farm and a children's circus (U-train station Ullsteinstrasse, U6).

Spandau Citadel

In the medieval Spandau Citadel kids can take part in bat tours and go to a puppet theater (U-train station Zitadelle, U7).

Candy Manufacture

In the Heckmann Courtyards between Oranienburger Strasse 32 and Auguststrasse 9 children can watch the manufacture of candy (S-train stop Oranienburger Strasse, S1, S2, U-train stop Oranienburger Tor, U6).

Municipal Swimming Pools and Lakes

The pool of the Olympia stadion is open to the public (U- and S-train station, U2, S75).

In Volkspark Jungfernheide park at Tegel airport you find an open air swimming pool (U-train stations Jakob-Kaiser-Platz, Halemweg, Siemensdamm, U7).

Near Volkspark Rehberge park in Wedding there is a swimming pool at Ploetzensee lake (Seestrasse 80, tram M13, M50, bus 327 from U-train station Osloer Strasse, U8, U9).

You rent boats and swim in the open air swimming pool at Weissen See lake in Pankow (Berliner Allee 150, tram 12, 27 from S- and U-train station Friedrichstrasse).

You swim in the lake of Volkspark Wuhlheide park (S-train station Wuhlheide, S3).

In Grunewald you swim in Krumme Lanke lake (U-train station, U1) and in Schlachtensee lake (S-train station, S1).

You swim in Tegeler See lake and there is an open air swimming pool nearby (U-train station Alt Tegel, U6).

Strandbad Wannsee lakeside beach is very popular in summer (S-train station Nikolassee, Wannsee, S1, S7, regional train RE1 from Ostbahnhof, Alexanderplatz, Friedrichstrasse or Zoologischer Garten, then bus 118, 218, 318), the same goes for Mueggelsee lake (S-train station Friedrichshagen, S3, then tram 60, 61).

The municipal swimming pools cater for children's birthdays.

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