Alexanderplatz
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.
Museum in Berlin
The Topography of Terror is a free museum on the site of the former Gestapo and SS headquarters, documenting the institutions of Nazi terror. Free. The exhibition sits alongside a preserved section of the Berlin Wall. The combination of the indoor documentation and the outdoor ruins makes it one of the most important free historical experiences in Berlin. Budget travelers pair it with the nearby Holocaust Memorial for a powerful half-day of history.
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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.
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.
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.
Working out what Berlin costs?
The whole of Berlin