Berlin Mitte

Neighborhood Guide

Mitte is the epicenter of cool hipster Berlin. Here you find the most stylish shops and cafes where you can easily spend your money on beautiful, unique goods or sit outside a cafe and watch the latest fashion walk by. But Mitte is also an area of important landmarks and historic sites like the Brandenburger Tor.

Do: The me Collectors Room/ Stiftung Olbricht is a great art gallery with a big space for modern art and a very special historic cabinets of curiosities upstairs. Every Thursday they have a nice Art & Apero special, where you get a glas of wine and a sandwich together with the entrance for 9€ in the afternoon. A lovely, calm place is the Dorotheenstädtischen Friedhof, a graveyard with a light installation of James Turrell in the chapel.

When it’s nice outside, a walk or little shopping tour through streets like August-, Linien-, Tor-, Oranien- and Mulackstreet is great. This way you can detect all the little shops and cafes around this hip Mitte area. On August street for example, you find Do you read me? where you can buy every fashion or design magazine you want. Or eat and dance at legendary Clärchens Ballhaus, or explore the ehemalige jüdische Mädchenschule, the jewish girl school, which now hosts an interesting art space and good restaurant. Also take a look inside the special backyards of the Hackesche Höfe. Another museum with excellent contemporary exhibitions is the Hamburger Bahnhof. The beloved Mauerpark with its Sunday flea market and famous Karaoke show is a great destination on weekends. There are also a number of lovely, small cinemas like Babylon Cinema, Kino Central and Hackesche Höfe Kino. Or check out the evening program at Jazzclub Schlot. If you want to fully relax, maybe after a long party night go to Vabali Spa and pamper yourself.

Important landmarks of the capital and its history are the Brandenburger Tor, the Reichstag with its glas dome by architect Norman Foster and the residence of the Chancellor of Germany. A city tour, for example with Berlin KonTouren, can be very interesting and informative in order to better understand the turbulent history of this area. Some tours include a visit to the glas dome, otherwise you have to book your visit in advance here. Close by there also is the impressive holocaust memorial, a field of 2711 concrete stones. Sometimes there are small exhibitions or events at Französisches Palais, close to Friedrich street which is lined with high street shops. The Gendarmenmarkt is especially lovely in winter when there is a nice Christmas market. Close by cafe Chipps is a good idea for brunch or lunch.

A very special contemporary art space is the Boros Collection located in an old bunker. Plan your visit well in advance as you need to book a guided tour in order to enter. Also the Museumsinsel, where you find museums like the huge Pergamonmuseum and Alte Nationalgallerie, is close by. A nice lunch spot in this area and also close to Alexanderplatz is Kantine Deluxe where you can order simple but well-prepared dishes by iPad.

Shop: At über-stylish Soho House The Store is a must visit for fashion lovers, or in contrast, go around the corner and buy a pair of traditional slippers at Jünemanns Pantoffeleck. Great are also the LaLa Berlin and Comme des Garçons stores, design shops Parkhaus and Schönhauser Design, fashion stores Firmament and Sal Bazaar and stationery shop Luiban. If you need some groceries go to the nice Rewe supermarket located in a historic market hall in Invaliden street.

Eat: Katz Orange is a beautifully styled restaurant with delicious food. While there are lots of tourists it still feels like an insider tip.
In Mitte there is an abundance of nice, cool cafes and luncheonettes, for example The Barn, Oliv and Distrikt coffee for freshly roasted coffee, Zeit für Brot, Barcomis and Japanese Kame bakery for delicious cinnamon rolls and sweets, as well as Daluma, Klub Kitchen, Shiso Burger and Monsieur Vuong for a healthy and asian lunch.

Stay: The Gorki Apartments are an amazing place to stay. Centrally located and beautifully designed, equipped with small kitchens and personal details you truly feel at home here.

Also read the Berlin guides for Kreuzberg, Schöneberg and even more tips here.