FAMILY TRAVEL

A Photo Tour of Kid-Friendly Berlin

Increasingly family-friendly (and full of bargains), there's never been a better time to take the kids to Berlin.

May 2012 issue | Subscribe to the magazine

Source Article: 15 Berlin Adventures Your Whole Family Will Love

Tour-boat passengers on the Spree River take in the Berliner Dom cathedral.
(Randy Harris)
Visitors to Bradenburg Gate pose with an East German soldier—okay, he's really an actor with a cheeky sense of humor.
(Felipe Rodriguez)
Four-block-long Gräfestrasse, in Berlin's Kreuzberg neighborhood, is paved with cobblestones and lined with cafés and shops.
(Randy Harris)
Many of the more than 100 paintings that make up the East Side Gallery have recently been restored by their creators. The gallery, which is less than a mile long, is all that remains of the formerly 96-mile-long Berlin Wall.
(Randy Harris)
Antsy travelers can skip the long lines at the Reichstag (whose dome is shown here) by making a reservation for tea at the glass-walled rooftop Käfer Cafe, which sits adjacent to the dome.
(Randy Harris)
The MACHmit! Museum for Children is hidden inside an old Protestant church and outfitted with Bauhaus-inspired climbing shelves, fun-house mirrors, and hands-on arts and crafts and cooking exhibits.
(Adam Berry)
Breakfast is truly the most important meal of the day in Berlin; in fact, locals often let Frühstück stretch well into the afternoon.
(Randy Harris)
With more than 17,000 animals, Berlin's 168-year-old Zoological Garden has one of the most diverse populations of any zoo in the world.
(AFP / Getty Images)
The Badeschiff, a swimming pool installed atop an old barge docked on the Spree River, is a top summer attraction for Berliners. It's connected to land by a series of piers, where cocktail bars, a mini-spa, and a "beach" of trucked-in sand spring up each season.
(Torsten Seidel / Courtesy VisitBerlin)
Staying at the 14-room Hotel-Pension Funk, in the former home of silent film actress Asta Nielsen, is like being transported to a bygone era—albeit one with free Wi-Fi.
(Randy Harris)
The Käfer Café atop the Reichstag has great views of the Berlin cityscape.
(Randy Harris)
Berlin's newest and largest park is at 990-acre Tempelhof airport, site of the 1948-49 Allied air lift that supplied food to West Berlin. Its defunct runways have been repurposed for bicycle races and kite-flying contests, and pick-up baseball games take place on the fields where U.S. troops once played.
(Randy Harris)
At the Babylon cinema in Mitte, silent films are screened with diverse musical accompaniments—one night might be the movie's original score performed live on piano, and the next it might be a local DJ spinning trance music.
(Randy Harris)
A playful spirit characterizes the Michelberger Hotel, in a converted factory. Families should book the "band room," which has five single beds, a lofted sleeping area, a dining table, and big windows overlooking the communal courtyard.
(Randy Harris)
Kid-friendly street food is one of Berlin's many strengths. In Kreuzberg, Mustafa's turns out Turkish döner kebab sandwiches with a twist: crisp flatbread stacked with delicately spiced chicken and shredded vegetables.
(Randy Harris)
Everyone knows Berlin has great nightlife, but the iconic dancehall Clärchens Ballhaus, in business since 1913, has more of an all-ages scene than you'll find at most clubs.
(Randy Harris)