Germany with a Teen: 10-Day Itinerary, Tips & Things to Do
Berlin: History, Horsepower and a Ride Through the Cold War
Two years ago, I asked my oldest teen, Jack, to pick a destination for a mother and son trip. We talked about it off and on for awhile and finally landed on Germany — perfect for his interests in cars, technology and trains with some history mixed in. The only time I’d been to Berlin was back in 1993, just a few years after the wall fell and I was eager to return. If you’ve read my blog at all, you’ll know that planning trips is my passion, my therapy and now my job (read more about why I started a travel agency here). Once we settled on a destination, I dove into planning and I’m excited to share my trip with you.
For this trip, I bought tickets from O’Hare on SAS, the Scandinavian airline and I’m pretty sure we were among the first guests to fly on that particular Airbus. It was sparkling!
After takeoff, I pulled on my compression socks, removed my contacts, slipped on my bluetooth eye mask and headed off to the Land of Nod for several hours. Apparently, I missed a “pretty solid airplane dinner.”
We landed in Copenhagen airport, which was filled with an eye-catching mix of high end stores and a surprisingly amount of 7-Elevens. (Honestly, I think I counted close to a dozen between stores and vending kiosks. If anyone knows how 7-Eleven ended up with such a stranglehold on Copenhagen Airport, I’d love to hear — please send me a message.) After passing through customs, we picked up some delicious pastries and coffee at Copenhagen Coffee Lab before boarding our uneventful and very short flight to Berlin.
I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of navigating a new location using public transportation and so before we left home, I purchased the Berlin Welcome Card ABC card with an activation date of our arrival. Upon landing in Berlin, this card gave us the ability to catch the U-Bahn from the airport to our hotel with only a short walk. There are many versions of the card, including options with free or reduced admission to museums, attractions and public transport and it’s definitely something to consider when visiting Berlin.
For lodging, I chose the Capri by Fraser as our Berlin base since it was between two U-Bahn stations and had strong reviews. We loved it! The staff was kind and friendly, our room was clean and organized like a tidy little bento box, but best of all — the lobby held a special surprise.
After getting settled in our room, I walked to the nearest grocery store, an EDEKA, to load up on a few essentials. It wasn’t an ALDI Süd or Hofer, but it fit the bill. We headed out for a quick, delicious and inexpensive dinner at Spätzle Club and then called it a night.
The following morning, we walked to the Typography of Terror museum, which is built on the former site of the SS and Gestapo headquarters. The exhibits were incredibly powerful and documented the rise of fascism in Germany and how the Nazis managed to manipulate public opinion and demonize and then obliterate people groups like Jews, Roma, homosexuals and Jehovah’s Witnesses — or anyone who stood against them. Entrance was free and photography was permitted, but I didn’t use my camera — it just didn’t feel like that kind of place. One image really stuck with me though, so I decided to try to find it online.
I found the photo in an article from the Christian Science Monitor. The solitary man standing towards the right with his arms crossed during a 1936 Nazi rally was likely a dockworker from Hamburg named August Landmesser.
These were the outdoor exhibits at the Typography of Terror museum, including some original pieces of the Berlin Wall.
After spending time at the Typography of Terror, we found ourselves needing a bit of a reset. Berlin has a way of balancing its heavy history with moments of warmth and for us that meant sampling the drinking chocolate at Rausch Schokoladenhaus.
Rausch is known for its exquisite chocolates, sourced entirely from sustainable cocoa and they control the entire process from “bean to bar".” The store, apparently the largest chocolate house in Europe, was decorated for spring and buzzing with shoppers.
We both ordered their famous drinking chocolate, choosing our desired chocolate and milk combinations. The siren song of the patisserie counter induced me to order a delicious chocolate coffee and hazelnut cake. Jack chose a ham and cheese grilled sandwich and we were both well pleased with our choices!
After Rausch, we walked about ½ mile to the Trabi Safari meeting place. But a little of my own history before I get too far! During high school I studied German; however (and regretfully!) most of the valuable vocab and syntax rules have been relegated to my brain’s recycling center. One thing I do remember is learning about the iconic East German car, the Trabant (aka Trabi) that came to symbolize so much about East Germany. While researching Berlin, I found a tour called Berlin Wall Self Drive Trabi Tour that lets you drive one of their original Trabis through Berlin with commentary. It was the perfect mix of Jack’s interest in Cold War and cars.
Arriving at the Trabi Safari definitely felt like an East German situation with a parking lot full of weeds, gravel and a random assortment of rundown Trabis. Jack immediately found this diamond still in the rough.
We checked in, said hello to the others in our English speaking group and then practiced the transmission using their “Trabi Simulator.” Truthfully, it was a little complicated even though I learned to drive on a manual transmission car, but fortunately there were no fancy bells or whistles included. After checking that we knew how to drive the Trabi, the guides escorted us to our cars, gave us instructions and lined us up at the exit of their parking lot.
At this point, I realized I was in a busy, giant European city with my teen in an ancient car that was a hunk of junk when it originally came off the assembly line. But I thought about my dad and the adventures he took us on and decided to drive on — and I am so glad we did!
The guide did a terrific job of keeping our group of 6 cars together as navigated us the city. Every so often he’d stop the convoy, wait for a lagging car and would take photos of us in our cars. Along the way, he entertained us with stories about his life in East Berlin. Apparently, his parents applied for a Trabant when they were married in 1970 (all car sales were controlled by the government), and they finally received one in 1984!
Listening to his stories about what he did on the night the wall fell, while driving along the remains of the same wall, was pretty amazing. You can book the same tour here.
Jack and I must feature in hundreds of other vacationers’ photos, I lost count of the number of times people stopped to point or take pictures. It was a little like being celebrities — but in a good way.
Driving a Trabi takes some getting used to. I am driving straight, but the alignment says otherwise!
Looking under the hood shows just how simply these East German cars were built. It has a 2 stroke engine that required a mix of gas and oil — like a lawnmower.
Afterwards, since jet lag was catching up with us, we grabbed dinner at an Italian restaurant near our hotel and called it a night.
The following day, we met our guide for a Cold War walking tour outside of the former Palace of Tears, one of the official border crossings where many West Berliners crossed into East Berlin. It was named as such, since many families who were separated by the wall passed through this checkpoint, never knowing whether they’d see their loved ones again. Today, it’s operated as a museum to divided Berlin.
Our tour continued as we walked through Alexanderplatz, certainly not the prettiest square in Germany, but one of the most pivotal. Standing there with the towering Fernsehturm tower overhead and the wide, open square stretching beyond, it was easy to imagine how it had been the heart of East Berlin.
Next we walked along the broad Karl Marx Allee that was lined with giant apartment buildings on both sides. Our guide explained that these were built by the East German government as showpieces of the Soviet ideal community. The blocks closest to Alexanderplatz were fancy and ornamental, but as we continued our walk, the buildings began to look shabby and less decorated. This decline represented the East German’s economic crisis. Along our walk, we stopped by Café Sibylle, a coffee and cake shop that retained much of its former East German nostalgia.
After our snack break, our tour guide brought us to the East Side Gallery, a long stretch of the original “east side” of the Berlin Wall that functions as a memorial and an open air gallery. When you see photos of Berlin, often you’re seeing photos of this gallery. One of the most famous images along the gallery shows East German leader, Erich Honecker, and Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, in a “fraternal kiss” — a real gesture used by communist leaders to symbolize solidarity. Today, it stands as testament to East Germany’s complicated past.
Our walking tour concluded here and Jack and I meandered along the gallery, taking everything in. I’ve included a couple of highlights below. Be sure to click on each photo read a little bit more about it.
After a quick stop at our hotel, we jumped on the U-Bahn and headed to the Paracelcus-Bad station to meet Danylo, the guide for our next tour. I love taking photos, but I’m not great at composition or style, so when I saw his tour “Smartphones are Not For Calling,” I immediately booked it and it ended up being so much fun.
This experience turned out to be so much more than just a photography tour. Danylo is one of those rare people who instantly puts you at ease and feels like a friend right away. His joy and passion for Berlin were contagious and he helped us notice details that we would’ve otherwise walked past.
Over the next 90 minutes, he showed us how to get more out of our phones by improving composition, lighting and even capturing movement. He has a love for Berlin’s subway stations and guided us through several of its 145 stations, each with its unique design and character.
Honestly, this was probably my favorite experience of the trip and I’m so glad we did it early on. I immediately began using what I learned to take better photos for the remainder of our trip.
Book this tour with Danylo here.
Berlin doesn’t hide its history; it invites you to engage with it. Whether standing along the former Wall or learning the stories behind it, the past feels immediate and real. It was a powerful place to start our German roadtrip and one that left a lasting impression on both of us.
Next stop: Hamburg! We’re off to see the world’s largest model train exhibit — more on that soon.