Monument in Berlin
The Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse is the central memorial site of German division, with a preserved section of the Wall, the death strip, a watchtower, and an open-air exhibition documenting escape attempts and the lives disrupted by the border. Free. The documentation center has an observation platform overlooking the memorial grounds. This is different from the East Side Gallery. Budget travelers visit both: the East Side Gallery for the art, Bernauer Strasse for the history.
Practical
On foot
Free and low-cost routes that stop at Berlin Wall Memorial.
The Berlin Wall Trail is a self-guided walking route following the path of the former Wall through the city. Free. A 10-kilometer route from the Berlin Wall Memorial through Mitte to Checkpoint Charlie and the East Side Gallery covering Cold War history through the places where it actually happened.
Nearby
Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
Alexanderplatz is the large public square in former East Berlin, dominated by the Fernsehturm (TV Tower), the World Clock, and the Galeria department store. Free to walk through.
Bebelplatz is the square on Unter den Linden where the Nazi book burning of May 1933 took place. Free.
The Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom) is the largest church in Berlin, a baroque revival building on Museum Island with a green copper dome. Entry is paid at a modest price and includes access to the dome walkway with views over the Lustgarten, the Spree, and the TV Tower.
Bernauer Strasse is the street where the Berlin Wall divided neighbors, families, and apartment buildings overnight on August 13, 1961. Free to walk.
Boxhagener Platz is a neighborhood square in Friedrichshain with a Saturday food market and a Sunday flea market. Free to browse.
The Brandenburg Gate is the symbol of Berlin and of German reunification, an 18th-century neoclassical triumphal arch at the western end of Unter den Linden. Free, always accessible, and floodlit at night.
Working out what Berlin costs?
The whole of Berlin