traveldk.com

At 66 m (216 ft) high, this Baroque tower, which dates back to 1701–5, is a magnificent ornamental structure for the church serving Berlin’s Huguenot community.

The campus of Berlin’s largest university, founded in 1948 as a rival to East-Berlin Humboldt University, covers large parts of Dahlem. It is worth looking at the 1950s Henry-Ford-Bau and the so-called Rostlaube (rusting hut), at present being redesigned by Sir Norman Foster.

German and French cuisine are served aboard a schooner, which is moored at the pier. There are also occasional cabaret and live music performances. If you prefer dry land, you can enjoy your meals in the beer garden.

Numerous celebrities lie buried in the four cemeteries, including the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Also the writer E T A Hoffmann, whose work inspired Offenbach to write The Tales of Hoffmann .

Friedrichstraße has risen to some of the glamour and vibrancy it possessed before World War II. Today, Berlin’s Fifth Avenue once again boasts elegant shops, and some upmarket restaurants and cafés, which have opened here in recent years. Especially worth visiting are the three Quartiers 205, 206 and 207 within the Friedrichstadtpassagen, containing the Galeries Lafayette store and Department Store 206 respectively. At the northern end of the street is the famous Dussmann store (books, music, events), S-Bahn station Friedrichstraße, as well as the former entertainment district with the Friedrichstadtpalast, today housing the Metropoltheater.

This small brick church was built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1824–30, in the Neo-Gothic style. Originally it was meant to serve the German and French communities of the Friedrichswerder district. Today, the Schinkel Museum is based here.

The 150-m (492-ft) high Funkturm (TV tower), reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, is one of the landmarks of Berlin that can be seen from afar. Built in 1924 to plans by Heinrich Straumer, it served as an aerial and as an air-traffic control tower. The viewing platform at 125 m (410 ft) provides magnificent views, while the restaurant, situated at 55 m (180 ft), overlooks the oldest part of the complex, the exhibition centre and the surrounding pavillions. The giant building in the east is the Hall of Honour built to designs by Richard Ermisch in 1936, in the colossal Fascist architectural style.

On the opposite side rises the shiny silver ICC, the International Congress Centrum, built in 1975–9 by Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Schüler-Witte. It is still considered one of the most advanced conference centres in the world, with 80 rooms for more than 5,000 visitors. Berlin’s vast exhibition grounds are among the largest in the world, covering an area of 160,000 sq m (40 acres). These play host to, among others, Grüne Woche (green week, an agricultural fair), Internationale Tourismusbörse (international tourism fair) and Internationale Funkausstellung (international TV fair).

This small bar, personally designed by Hans Scharoun, is the meeting point for Berlin’s cultural elite, the lobby doubling as a highly regarded gallery space. Here you can enjoy a discussion about art while sipping a cool drink and listening to excellent jazz.

Berlin’s most attractive shop is the only branch of the luxury French store in Germany. Here you will find elegant fashion and gourmet foods on the lower level.