Berlin is a city of DIY, punk, buildings with graffiti, cheap restaurants with foreign cuisine, surprisingly nice people, modern architecture, art in all its forms....Simply, as Nina Hagen puts it "Berlin ist Dufte".

It is many more things of course than just these few I named, these are just some of the city’s first impressions on me.
I visited Berlin in 2011. My main reason to travel there was to attend Drop Dead Festival, which is a post-punk/mutant wave/deathrock event and in 2011 it was taking place in Berlin. However I stayed in Berlin for longer than just during the festival. I spent 11 days in this exciting city.


What struck me was that most people were unusually nice in Berlin. Maybe it was because I was a tourist, no idea about that. Another big plus point of Berlin is that everything was so cheap – excluding a ride in a taxi. But you can get a decent accomodation, tasty (and yet healthy) food and pretty clothes for really good prices. Just do a little research before your trip or take some tips from this article ;).

When talking about sightseeing of course you can’t expect historic buildings like in some other large cities. However the lack of historic architecture is well-balanced by the unique modern architecture of the city, which can be seen everywhere. There’s a lot of street art, too. The diversity and colourfulness of the city was something that caught my attention.

One of the sightseeing activities I recommend is definitely a walk around the Berlin Wall. While in the past it used to be a symbol of the separation of the city (and the world as such), nowadays there is a part of the wall left and it is a 1,3 km long gallery of artworks which are painted directly on the wall. It’s not a short walk, but it’s truly worth it. Don’t forget your cameras. ;)


Another place I loved visitng was Tacheles. Sadly, Tacheles doesn’t exist anymore. At the time when I visited Berlin it was still around. It was a unique squat building with artists both living and creating their art in there. It was open to public and there was a possibility to buy some of these unique art works. Moreover, it used to be a place where parties and events were organized. Unfortunately in many areas of Tacheles, it was forbidden to take pictures, so my illustrational material can’t do justice to the this place.

It doesn’t happen so often that you stumble over a museum of a band you really like, does it? If you are in Berlin I can totally recommend visiting The Ramones Museum– especially if you don’t feel like walking around in "serious" museums. This museum is in fact unique and very entertaining. And a must-see for every Ramones fan.

I am not going into details on every sight, some of them are quite well-known I would say. I’ll just list a few more places you shouldn’t skip when sightseeing in Berlin: Alexanderplatz, Branderburger Tor, Berliner Dom(Berlin Cathedral), Reichstag, Unter den Linden (the street and the area around there), Checkpoint Charlie, Charlottenburg, the statue called Molecule Man and don’t forget to check out some of the amazing museums, such as Grusselkabinet.

You will be satisfied when looking for alternative shops in Berlin.

You can start your shopping tour de Berlin in Xtrax, a large gothic shop full of enough clothes, accessories and shoes to satisfy the taste of every goth/alt person. Mainly there’s a large amount of corsets, skirts, but also men’s clothing, some wonderful synthetic hair extensions, oh and don’t forget that they also have some clothes downstairs. There are also some discounted items, so your wallet doesn’t necessarily have to suffer.


Another gothic shop called Mystica has a very convenient location - it is located in a shopping centre at Alexander Platz, so while sightseeing you can take a break and check out the shop.

When looking for some more shopping, Boxhagener Str. 23 is a good address. It is where Darkstore is located, full of beautiful clothes and shoes. You will mostly find well-known brands like Hell Bunny, Mercy, Burleska, Aderlass, Phaze and Dead Threads in this store. The shop is not too over-prized, so it’s a worth a visit.


Within a short walking distance, at Finowstraße 6, is a shop you definitely shouldn’t leave out on your shopping trip. Noctemwear is a truly unique place, as the owners make much of the clothing sold in this shop by themselves. Most of the clothes in the shop are in the Victorian goth style, you can find here a lot of lovely velvet…but surprisingly, also some pvc. If you are looking for absolutely unique clothes, this is the place. There is also a selection of shoes and the prizes are pretty modest. Plus the interior of the shop is really charming. I left the shop with a smile on my face.

In comparison to that, another shop I’ve found, Location Crypt, was quite expensive. Possibly because they were selling a lot of costly brands. I thought they had a lack of accessories, so the shop didn’t become one of my favourites. But they sell have pretty clothes and the shop has a gorgeous interior. The shop can be found at Berliner Str. 77.


If you happen to be into visual kei or Japanese styles and music as such, you might want to visit Neo Tokyo at Schönhauser Allee 188, which has cds, magazines, manga, clothes and accesories.


Oh, and let’s not forget Dunkelwelt at Gabelsbergerstr. 16, a shop which is not huge, but has a decent choice of both clothes and accessories. The prices are also good, so it’s worth a look.

I get the feeling that Berlin has lots of alternative/goth shops and I did not have enough time during my stay to visit all of them. So I will leave you with a list of some other shops I know of and you may try and check them out when in Berlin.

There’s supposed to be a gothic shop called Black Roses at
Alte Schönhauser Str. 32. Another goth shop named Schwarze Mode is located at Westfällische Str. 30. Some other alternative shops in Berlin include Redcat7 at Pettenkoferstraße 7, Rock’n’Roll Alley at Martin-Luther-Straße111 and Soma, aimed at visual kei clothing. There might also be some other goth and alternative shops I do not know about.

In general, eating in Berlin is diverse, international and not at all overprized, on the contrary it’s rather cheap, though the quality is not cheap. Whether your favourite cuisine is Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Italian or Indian, you can be sure you will find some nice food options in this city. I need to say that of all the meals I’ve had in Berlin during the eleven days of my stay, every meal was tasty.
It’s even difficult for me to list my favourite meals/ restaurants in Berlin, because I liked everything I’ve tried and I’m a picky eater and vegetarian ;)

If I had to choose 3 favourites I would say, my number one is a Nepalese restaurant called Mount Everest. It has a lovely atmosphere, delicious food, it’s not expensive and the waiters are astonishingly kind.

My second most favourite was a Mexican restaurant, which turned out to be perfect place mainly for a romantic dinner with your partner. The food was amazing and pretty spicy, the prizing was cheap to average.

Another one of my favourites was an Asian buffet restaurant, which offered a really wide selection of tasty food for a decent price. Once again, as in most places and restaurants in Berlin, the personnel was super kind.

If you enjoy Chinese, Thai and Japanese food, you can try out one of these restaurants. I visited three of them and liked them very much. One of the eating possibilities is a restaurant called Bangkok Treffen located at Prenzlauer Allee 46 serving yummy and cheap Thai food. Asia family restaurant located in Berlin-Kaulsdorf serves Thai, Chinese and Japanese and uses all you can eat buffet system. The meals are very tasty. I even enjoyed the Asian fastfood called Asia Box, which you can find around every corner.

Another restaurant I loved was Que Pasa at Oranienburger Str. 27 serving delicious Mexican cuisine.

As for traditional food, I did not really try much, but since I love pumpkin soup, which is very popular in Germany, I couldn’t leave Berlin not trying the pumpkin soup in one of the restaurants. I must say it was one of the most delicious soups I’ve ever eaten.

There are much more interesting, tasty and cheap eating possibilties for Berlin. The ones are named are only those that I have tried out.

Even though Berlin has a truly rich alternative and goth clubscene, I did not get to explore it much, because most of my time during the nights was devoted to attending Drop Dead Festival. Some clubs that may be interesting for you include K 17 and Duncker Club. In K 17 you hear classic gothic rock as well as more electronic genres like ebm played at different nights or sometimes at the same event. There are Dark Mondays in Duncker club with gothic and industrial music and every second month on first Saturday in the month, there is a dark market in the club. In the evenings, on Saturday in Duncker, you will hear 80s and new wave. Irregular goth fetish parties named Angel in Bondage are organised in Berlin. Some more fetish parties take place in KitKat Club and DarkSide Club. To know about some other alternative and goth events happening in the city atm, you can look for Japaranoia or visit one of the local goth shops, where you will find posters and flyers with current events.


I hope this article brought some interesting knowledge about Berlin to you. Next time, I’ll guide you through another amazing city.