Budget Travel in Berlin – What You Can Do for Free (or Almost)

Berlin is a city with many faces and its magnetic charm attracts millions of tourists every year. Here they find accommodation, attractions and entertainment for any tastes and budgets. The German capital is among the cheapest in Europe and even with a small budget everyone can enjoy it fully.

So here are some tips for a low cost journey in Berlin.

How to get to Berlin

There are two airports that connect Berlin with the rest of the world, Tegel and Schönefeld, both served also by low cost airlines. Book in advance, if possible, and will be able to get there for a really low price!

Accommodation

In Berlin you will revalue the word “hostel“: here you won’t find dormitories and barracks with common showers, but comfortable, clean and design rooms. Plus, these hostels are really good value for money.

Getting around

There is a simple and inexpensive way to discover the main attractions of Berlin: take the M100 or M200 bus line from Alexanderplatz to Bahnhof Zoo. The M100 goes north from Tiergarten to the Reichstag, the Victory Column and Bellevue Palace, while the M200 goes south, passing through Potsdamer Platz.

With Berlin WelcomeCard you can travel for free on urban public transport and you can also enjoy some discounts and special offers in more than two hundred tourist and cultural highlights. The cost of a 48-hour card is €18,50, the 72-hour card costs €24.50 and the five-day card is €31,50.

Free tourist highlights

Do not miss the East Side Gallery between Ostbahnhof and Warschauer Straße: it’s part of the former Berlin Wall, covered with a variety of murals, the longest outdoor permanent exhibition in the world!

Unother unmissable hit is a visit to the Reichstag, the German Parliament famous for its glass dome, from which you can enjoy a splendid view of the city. Here, the admission is free upon reservation.

Nearby there you can admire some of Berlin’s distinctive attractions: the Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden and the Holocaust Memorial.

Other wonderful panoramas can be enjoyed from the many bridges. There are about 1700 bridges in Berlin and some of them, as Behmstraßenbrücke, Eisenbrücke or Oberbaumbrucke offer a unique point of view over the town.

An original idea is the free visit of the Museum of unheard-of things. Instead if you are more “classic” and you are passionate about history you can have free entrance to the Allied Museum, the Deutscher Dom, the Gendarmenmarkt and the Anti-War Museum.

In any case, we recommend to buy the Museumspass that allows to visit 55 museums in three days for €19 (€9.50 with reduction).

Finally, here is a cute idea for a lunch break with good chamber music and good food: the “Lunch Concerts“. Until June 17, 2014 (except holidays), every Tuesday at 1 pm, visitors can attend free 30-minute Berlin Philharmonic concerts. And during these concerts you can also have a lunch served at reasonable prices by a catering service.

If you prefer eating on the road, you will find many places selling tasty and cheap street food, such as curry wurst and Doner kebab, a traditional dish of the loved and well-rooted Turkish culinary tradition.

But if you want to feel as a Berliner, we recommend the Sunday brunch: with an expense ranging from 8 to 12 euros you can enjoy one of Berlin’s cozy cafes and taste a good meal.

And after brunch, there’s nothing better than a nice walk around Berlin’s flea markets looking for a good deal!

Berlin has so much to offer to its visitors and it’s also cheap… so what are you waiting for?!

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I'm from Sardinia, but I studied in Valencia and Siena. Now I live in Milan. I love to travel, photography and to write about what I see and taste. On my blog enogastrovie.it, I tell about Italy's beauty and its excellent food. My ideal journey? Backpacking, trekking and eating. Nice to meet you!

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