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For low-cost accommodation you can check into inexpensive youth hostels, hostels run by the YMCA, or a backpacker hostel. Or try a Mitwohnzentrale, an agency arranging shared accommodation in private homes at a low cost (see Information & Advice) .

As in Britain, Indian and Turkish restaurants are often particularly good value. Another cheap alternative are Turkish doner kebab snack bars and German curry sausage stands – these often also sell other snacks at low prices.

Berlin’s municipal museums, especially those on Museumsinsel, can all be visited on a three-day ticket costing only €6. Admission is also free on the first Sunday of every month.

The BVG WelcomeCard offers the best and cheapest way of visiting exhibitions and museums in Berlin and using public transport throughout the city. The card is available at €19 from S- and U-Bahn stations as well as from tourist information centres. Valid for one adult and up to three children, it allows you to travel in zones ABC with all BVG vehicles for three days. The card also gives you a reduction of up to 50 per cent of the admission price in many museums. You’ll even get a useful information pack with your card.

Theatres and the opera house sell reduced tickets at the door on the day of the performance, mainly for pupils and students who can show a valid student card. Alternatively, tickets can be bought cheaply in advance by anyone from ticketing agencies such as Hekticket.

Berlin has always been a good place for street artists, especially on Breitscheidplatz and along Ku’damm. There is a legendary mime artist, dressed as a clown, who mimics passers-by outside the cafés on the eastern side of Ku’damm. In summer, in Charlottenburg and Prenzlauer Berg, you can often listen to street musicians and singers directly at your table or outside the restaurant or café.

Since Berlin is Germany’s political and cultural capital, many public and private institutions regularly offer the chance to take a look behind the scenes, free of charge. A visit to one of the federal ministries is particularly interesting. Daily newspapers will list these events. Every year in summer, “Schaustelle Berlin” (a pun on “Baustelle”, meaning building site) conducts guided tours to Berlin’s major building sites and other projects (see also www.berlin.de ).

Churches and smaller concert halls in the outer districts often put on classical concerts for a low admission fee or even free of charge. The city magazines and daily newspapers list such events in the appropriate columns. All Berlin daily newspapers also give away free tickets for current exhibitions and events. Look at the Berlin pages in the papers for what is currently on offer.

Berlin’s weekly flea markets always have a vast range of special offers for sale, besides which they’ll offer you the opportunity to try out your haggling skills (see Shops & Markets) .

Admission to all of Berlin’s parks and green spaces is free. You can enjoy their sports facilities, and often also open-air-concerts, without having to form out for a ticket (see Sport & Fitness Venues) .