
24 Hours in Berlin… On a Budget š
I recently got the opportunity to visit Berlin, Germany with a friend. This city is cool, hip, and happenin’. There are tons of young people as thereās a huge Uni presence and there are also a ton of English speakers. (I imagine it might be quite hard to learn German here). The place is riddled with history but simultaneously manages to be quite modern–and thereās loads of stuff to do.
My friend and I are both au pairs so we were exploring the best of Berlin for less. We rented an Air BnB in a quiet part of Neukƶlln, a very trendy, hipster area of Berlin. We didnāt have a whole lot of time there but we still managed to do a lot… and all on a budget.
Wondering how to squeeze the most out of your time in Berlin while still enjoying it? Check out what I did.
Activity 1: Free Tour
First things first, we decided to do a free guided tour in order to get the history of the place. Free tours are always good because theyāre a way to see the city (for free- heyo!), learn about the history of the place, and give you some inspiration for what to do the rest of your trip. The tour guides are also always awesome and well-qualified, and usually locals so you can always ask them for suggestions for food, museums, things to do, etc.
So after some quick coffee and a snack from Leuchtstoff, which was down the road from our Air Bnb, we headed out for our free tour. You can find these in several cities just by googling āfree tourā and then the name of the city you are visiting.
My friend and I used NEXT City ToursĀ because the tour was three hours long and started at 11 a.m. We figured three hours would cover everything we needed to know and 11 a.m. was a good start time as we didnāt have to wake up so early that we would be tired for the rest of the day, but would still have most of the day ahead of us to continue our trip. With this, we had a very nice tour which included most of the major Berlin historical sites like the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Cathedral, Checkpoint Charlie, Hitlerās former office (which is now a Chinese restaurant) and much more! NEXT City Tours also features a free alternative city tour, free third reich tour, and free cold war tour.
Activity 2: Lunch
For lunch we headed to Vƶner, which houses faux-meat kebabs and other meat-free delights. As a vegetarian, I donāt get to try a lot of typical German and Austrian dishes like schnitzel, so we decided to check out the vegetarian equivalents. I had a vegetarian curry-wurst which is typically a hot pork sausage with a spicy curry ketchup on it. The vegetarian one was quite good so I imagine the real deal is as well, for my carnivorous friends. (Unfortunately I’ve lost the picture of my delicious veggie curry-wurst… curse you Snapchat). We also were able to stop on the tour for a coffee and a Berliner, a German pastry thatās like a donut filled with icing or jam. Yum yum!
Activity 3: Street Art
Feeling sufficiently satisfied with getting some historical knowledge, we decided to check out the more modern side of Berlin and do a little personal street art tour. Berlin is decked out with super impressive art all over the city. My parents saw my pictures and were like, āwow thatās a lot of vandalism,ā and I had to clarify āuhm, itās not vandalism, itās street art.ā We got off at the Frankfurter Tor U-bahn stop and wandered around Friedrichshain aimlessly seeking it. After this trip, we realized there were a lot of other street art areas that we missed out on but we still feel we got to see some good ones.
Activity 4: Tempelhofer Feld
I highly recommend going here if you take a trip to Berlin! Itās an old abandoned airport that was turned into a park. Cyclists use the runways as bike paths and thereās kids playing, dogs fetching, and a huge community garden. We mostly just wandered around and took pictures but I imagine if you live here it would definitely be a cool place to spend some weekend afternoons!
Activity 5: Dinner:
Now that our touristy selves were fulfilled it was time for some food! We looked up some places near Neukƶlln and found Al Andalos, a Lebanese place that had some great reviews. After seeing that some reviews said the portion sizes were huge, we decided to split the one-person vegetarian platter as well as the two sandwich combo (which was PLENTY of food) for a total of, wait for it … 7 euro. That certainly fit in with our au pair budget and our growing teenage boy appetites.
Activity 6: Wine
Die Weinerie is a wine buffet. Thatās right, you pay 2.50 euro for a glass and then drink as much as you want of all different types of wine. Thereās also a small food buffet in the back. At the end, youāre expected to make a donation according to what you think is appropriate for how much you ate and drank. Donāt think you can just not pay, there are people standing there whom you give your glasses to and itās just awkward if you mooch and donāt pay. Also itās mean. As former servers, my friend and I probably overpaid, but I would definitely say this is a good option for anyone on a budget. The atmosphere is also very cozy and cute. I imagined if this existed at home in my University town it would get quite ratchet/rowdy as all the college kids would be like FREE WINE! But here it was in Berlin, a spot for a bunch of classy friends gathered for wine and conversation. It was enjoyable.
Rooftop Bar- Klunkerkranich
As the German name is a bit of a mouthful, we lovingly nick-named this place Klunkerklanker. Itās a super cool rooftop bar on top of a parking garage and it has a beautiful view of Berlin. We went there on a Monday and it was HOPPINā. We could barely find a seat. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was really chill. Thereās a 3 Euro cover charge which isnāt so bad and then we payed 2.50 for a shot of gin and 4 for a beer, so prices were definitely within our budget!

I hope my 24 hours in Berlin help you to plan yours. It really is a lovely city and I would love to go there again. One word of advice– buy your public transport passes! Itās a huge city so you will certainly need to use public transport during your stay. At one point we realized we had forgotten to buy a metro pass (since we were so used to just using our year-cards in Vienna) so we bought one at our connecting metro stop and then were checked on the next train! Fines for traveling without a ticket are 60 euros in Germany, so just a heads up!
If you also happen to go on a Tuesday or Saturday, consider checking out the Turkish Market at Maybachufer, 10999 Berlin. We were able to swing by it on our way out of the city and it has tons of food and awesome live music!
Best of luck. Travel on, my friends!
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My s=cousin works at Airbus there. He is somehow not a big fan of the city. Maybe he hasnt seen the right places. Will share this with him. Hope it changes his mind!
Three Euro cover for a hopping night club is nothing. That curry worst sounds amazing. I can’t tell you how many pictures we thought were on IG, especially IG stories, only to have them “disappear” when the story expires. Uggg.
I’ve heard so many good things about Berlin, a couple of my friends visited through the winter and even though it was freezing for them ( they’re Aussies) they have mentioned most the places you listed above in your post. I definitely need to have a trip over there soon, and I’ll be referencing this post š
Berlin is such a historical city and one can only marvel the way she has reinvented herself. I never had the idea of Berlin Street art, and that free tour is sure up for grabs when I am there.
Berlin has always seemed so strange and foreign to me (I grew up when it was in “East Germany”), but your post really makes me want to go now! I love the detailed instructions and info on restaurants, attractions, etc. Nice post!
Good to know you don’t have to spend a lot of money to experience Berlin! I like the fact that you took a free tour, because that really is the best way to get the lay of the land and a feel for the history and culture before setting out on your own to explore!
Good set of activities. Is Berlin Wall not doable ina day’s tour of the city? I am more keen to see that if I am there.
We saw that on the tour! There are different parts of it you can see throughout the city so it’s definitely doable š
Girl, you’re speaking my language. I’m all about visiting more expensive destinations. I’ve heard that the street art scene in Berlin is unreal! Tempelhofer Feld sounds so unreal! Plus, it’s something I’ve never heard of. It sounds super intriguing.
That is great that you found some delicious alternatives to eat being vegetarian. I like taking the free tours in cities and you are right 11am is a great start time. Good to know English is widely used here. How far was your airbnb from the city center?
It was really good! We were a bit nervous because it didn’t have any reviews but the host was really nice and it was in a good area!
We are not history freaks but surely there is so much more to do here. We must say; you absolutely made the perfect use of your 24 hrs in Berlin. Street art is always wonderful. Hoping to Rooftop Bar- Klunkerkranich in just 3 Euros seems like another cool option. Tempelhofer Feld too has interested us a lot. Thanks for sharing.
Nice reading your guide. Those are some lovely tips to follow. Nice photos too.