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The curved Baroque palace, built in 1766 for the wealthy merchant Nathan Veitel Heinrich Ephraim, was once regarded as the city’s most beautiful spot. Rebuilt after the demolition of the old palace, it is now a museum, showing paintings by local artists.

The old Estonian Embassy, in a quiet side street next to the ruined Greek Embassy, is characteristic of the diplomats’ quarter.

This elegant street is the most attractive and trendiest street off Ku’damm. Designer shops, galleries and restaurants are tucked away here, a shoppers’ paradise for all those who regard Kurfürstendamm as a mere retail strip catering for the masses. The junction of Fasanenstraße and Ku’damm is one of the liveliest spots in Berlin. One of the best known places is the “Bristol Berlin Kempinski” (see Famous Hotels) at the northern end of Fasanenstraße. The Lübbecke & Co bank opposite cleverly combines a historic building with a new structure. Next to it are the Jüdisches Gemeindehaus (Jewish Community House, (see Best of the Rest) ) and a little farther along, at the junction with Kantstraße, is the Kant-Dreieck (see Modern Buildings) . Berliner Börse (stock exchange), based in the ultra-modern Ludwig-Erhard-Haus (see Modern Buildings) , is just above, at the corner of Hardenbergstraße. The southern end of the street is dominated by residential villas, some of which may seem a little pompous, as well as the Literaturhaus, Villa Grisebach, one of the oldest art auction houses in Berlin, and the Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum (see Charlottenburg & Spandau) . There are also some very expensive fashion stores here, as well as a few cosy restaurants. At its southern end, the street leads to picturesque Fasanenplatz, where many artists lived before 1933.

Exciting shoot-outs, a walk-on film set with a U-boat, a town on an island and a small town in the Wild West are the most popular attractions at the film park – and not just with the children. A tour of the former UFA-Film studios lets visitors look behind the scenes: children try out make-up and costumes and admire the “sandman”, a TV figure popular with children in East Germany since 1959. Everywhere in the park you will encounter props and figures from well-known German films. “Special effects” are demonstrated on the visitors in an imaginative exhibition. The “World of Horror” chills more than just children’s spines.

The Filmpark offers visitors a tour of the legendary UFA-Studios, which were among the world’s most important when they operated here in Babelsberg from 1917 to 1945. Exciting U-boat trips, stunt performances and special effects are shown.

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The historic structures of this architectural complex in Unter den Linden are among the finest attractions in Berlin. From 1740, Frederick the Great commissioned the prestigious Early-Neo-Classical buildings for the area around today’s Bebelplatz, and personally influenced their design: Deutsche Staatsoper, the first free-standing opera house in Europe; Catholic St Hedwigskathedrale, Alte Bibliothek and Prinz-Heinrich-Palais, later the Humboldt University. Bebelplatz itself is particularly interesting. A memorial set into the ground reminds of its dark past – in 1933, it was the venue for the Nazi book burning. Frederick’s successors commissioned Altes Palais and a memorial statue of “the old Fritz”, surrounded by “his” buildings. Christian Daniel Rauch created the 13.5-m (44-ft) high equestrian bronze figure in 1840. It portrays Frederick the Great wearing his trademark tricorn hat and coronation mantle and carrying a walking stick. The statue has always turned its back to the east – but wags claim that the East German government mistakenly set up the figure the wrong way around.

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.

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).

With 80 historic gaslights along the paths, an evening stroll in Tiergarten is very romantic.

The 1930s complex, which is today known as Bendlerblock, lies behind the former Prussian Ministry of War. During World War II it served as army headquarters. It was here that a group of officers planned the assassination of Adolf Hitler. When the attempt failed on 20 July 1944, Claus Schenk Count von Stauffenberg and the others involved were arrested in the Bendlerblock, and many of them were shot in the courtyard during the night. A memorial, created by Richard Scheibe in 1953, commemorates these events. On the upper floor is a small exhibition documenting the German resistance against the Nazi regime. Today, the Bendlerblock has been incorporated into the Berlin branch of the Federal Ministry of Defence.