Two days in Berlin with kids: from history to Lego play areas, this is our family friendly itinerary for a trip to Berlin for all ages.
I love family city breaks in Europe, and Berlin is one of my favorite cities for a short jaunt with the kids.
We have been many times. Sometimes, we have been to Berlin only, another time we have seen Berlin and Hamburg and in all cases, no matter how much or how little time we had in the city, we found it to be stimulating, fun and super kid friendly.
Over out several visits, we have seen different parts of the city and several museums: on this page, I share our Berlin with kids weekend itinerary just as it went. I hope this post helps you plan your stay in Berlin with kids and you love it as much as we did!
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If you are planning a Germany vacation, don’t miss this guide about visiting Germany with kids – it is packed with practical tips and recommended destinations!
Table of Contents
Arrival and settling in – arriving in Berlin by train
We arrived at Berlin Hauptbahnhof on a sunny afternoon at about 6.
We had boarded the train earlier in Hamburg, and as we stepped out, we were welcomed by a glorious Berlin summer evening, with the city bathing in golden light at the end of daylight.
In Hamburg, we had the Hamburg card, which allowed us to get on and off any public transport we wanted, so my first stop was the visitors’ center inside the station to get the same in Berlin.
You can save time and get your card before departure here
After taking in the sight of the Reichstag, beside the station, we got on the tram and checked into our hotel.
Our hotel in Berlin was called Calma and it was a nice, 3 star hotel on a side street in Mitte.
The hotel is lovely and we had a large family room but the best thing about the place is the location: close to both trams and metro station and surrounded by restaurants and eateries.
It was a convenient base for us and we quickly went out again for dinner. Out choice fell onto the Italian around the corner, which for 4.50 euro (yes, really!) served us lovely pizza, pasta and, for me, great chilled German beer.
If you want to check out our hotel, you can find it on booking.com here make sure you ask for a room overlooking the yard rather than the road as it can get noisy!
2 days in Berlin with kids: itinerary
This is the itinerary we followed during our two-day stay. Especially if short on time in the city, I highly recommend you make a plan or you run the risk of missing out on a lot.
Weekend in Berlin day 1: sightseeing
Our first full day in Berlin saw me determined to do some sightseeing and so, after a quick breakfast in the bakery in front of the hotel, we went to our first destination.
The Pergamon museum
I visited the Pergamon museums for the first time many years ago and it is one of the most impressive museums I have ever seen.
The star of the show here is the altar that gives the name to the museum itself but there is a lot more to see.
To name just the most eye-catching pieces, the museum also has a reconstruction of the Isthar gate to Babylon and the huge market gate of Miletus, reconstructed in all its splendour.
The Pergamon Museum is traditional in theme and layout so it is not ‘for kids’ strictly speaking. However, the visit does’n have to take long and the entrance to Babylon with the colorful tiles depicting lions is really impressive.
To make it engaging for little kids, I found getting them to look for animals around the items on display went a long way, plus a stop at the museum shop and yard really helped them have fun! I consider this museum a stop for grown ups mostly, but it is so beautiful, even with kids I find it to be a must see.
You can get skip the line tickets in advance here
Berliner Dom
After the museum, we took it easy in front of Berliner Dom, about 1 minute down the road from the museum island.
Here, we sat on the grass, played with the fountain and listened to the street performer strumming his guitars with the notes of the stairway to heaven.
The kids enjoyed the stop and even if we didn’t enter the Dom itself, I loved looking at its imposing size and elaborate facade.
Brandeburger tor and hot dogs
Our third stop of the day was the Brandeburger Tor.
The gate is iconic and something I wanted to show the kids as a recognizable symbol of Berlin and it turned to much better an attraction that I had anticipated.
As well as the gate itself, we found here a stand with hot-dogs and juice, Starbucks (which was mostly useful because of free access to their toilets!) and one more street performer that kept the kids entertainer for ages with massive soap bubbles!
I posted a photo of him on Instagram and a friend commented she remembers a similar act from years ago.
While I can’t guarantee you’ll get bubbles, I do think there is a good chance especially considering how popular a spot this is for shows of various sorts!
Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe
After the bubbles, I decided to tackle a difficult stop and brought the kids to the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe.
The memorial is an outdoor space just beside the Brandeburger Tor and the American embassy and I thought long and hard before going.
I wanted to see it and I wanted to take the opportunity of a visit to Berlin to tell the kids a little bit about the holocaust and the war, but at the same time I didn’t want to scare them or make them see disturbing scenes that would stay with them without keys to elaborate them.
In the end, especially because of the heartbreaking stories coming from migrant families across the globe, I decided I wanted to try tackle the topic and the memorial turned out to be a good place to do so.
The monument itself is a series of grey columns of different heights forming parallel rows across a wide space, in the middle of Berlin.
An information centre (closed when we visited) tells the story and the symbolism of the place but the memorial is powerful and thought-provoking even if you don’t know much about its design.
Before we went, I explained to the kids what the monument was commemorating and made sure they would get the importance of the place.
I am not sure they fully did but at least partially I think it did sink in: the place would be a dream to play hide and sick but the kids did not even hint at doing that and I caught them walking along the narrow lanes between the columns in silence.
I couldn’t get out of them what it was they were thinking, but it told me they felt that the place was one for introspection rather than play.
I highly recommend coming here if you are looking for an educational experience for the kids (and yourself)
Potzdamer Platz
After the memorial we switched gear entirely and made our way to the only kids attraction of the day: the lego discovery centre near Potzdamer Platz.
Potzdamer platz is a short stroll away from the Brandeburger Tor and the memorial and it is in itself a sight to behold.
Built over the wasteland that was the area around the wall, now the square is surrounded by beautiful futuristic buildings, overlooking a massive metro stop and the remains of part of the wall.
The juxtaposition of the wall remains and new buildings epitomizes what Berlin is about: a city that doesn’t want to forget its history but that is not afraid of the new and welcomes change.
Lego ® Discovery Centre
Beside Potzdamer platz there is a large shopping centre with shops, cinema and café and what turned out to be one of the highlights of the kids’ trip: Berlin’s Lego ® discovery centre.
The centre is a large indoor Lego ® play area. Here you have several ‘stations’ where kids can try their hand at many Lego builds (buildings, vehicles on wheels, free builds etc) and several additional attractions inspired by the Lego® characters.
My daughter was overly fond of a Ninjago ® game where you have to pass a room with infrared alarms (mission impossible style) while my son spent hours building cars and making them roll down elaborate car racing tacks.
They both also loved the slide and (small) climbing frames and eyed attentively the kids food on offer at the local restaurant!
The star of the show for me was the reconstruction of Berlin in Lego® bricks, which reenacts the fall of the Berlin wall!
We left Lego® discovery late in the afternoon and after one more pizza in our favourite Italian place, we went home for some well deserved rest.
Berlin family weekend day 2
Day 2 in Berlin was a special day for us as it was my son’s birthday!
He was in charge of deciding what to do during the day and he was given the choice to either go to the natural history museum or the zoo.
He picked the zoo but this is when the plan had to stay flexible.
Little Ms E did not take well not to be able to decide ‘anything’ and demanded to pick a placer herself. I caved in and decided to give this a go, depending on how feasible her request was.
It turned out to be a great decision: she picked a pretty random place on the map and this turned out to be no less than the East Side Gallery, the longest stretch now remaining of the Berlin wall!
East Side Gallery with kids
We decided to go there first and it was a great stop.
Even just crossing Berlin by train allowed us to glimpse at places we would have otherwise missed and the wall itself was truly incredible to see.
The stretch surviving is now entirely covered by street art, all of it inspired by the place and the events evoked by the wall.
It was a great opportunity to talk to the kids a little more about walls, their intentions and their reality.
The East Side Gallery is easy to visit with kids as it is an open air attraction It does however require a bit of walking so I recommend you give them good walking shoes for the day and bring snacks and water (especially if you get a hot day like the one we got!)
Berlin zoo – the best family attraction in berlin for small kids
The second and main stop of the day was the zoo, the famous Tiergarden zoological gardens.
Berlin zoo is well known and indeed it is a pleasure to visit.
They have very many species of animals here, some as special as pandas (they live in a gorgeous Chinese garden and are super cute) and it is a space truly well organised.
The kids can watch the animals, listen to zookeepers talks and play at the several playgrounds.
They can even get up close and personal with the animals in the little petting farm, which I remember as excellent from the first time we visited Berlin with our toddler.
It was a great day: we had lunch here and ended up spending most of the day at the climbing frames, which my kids simply could not have enough of.
The zoo is one of the attractions you get discounted entrance to with the Berlin welcome card
Check Point Charlie with kids
As evening approached, I made one last stop: Check Point Charlie.
The kids were very taken by it (I presume because of the name which is indeed catchy) but to be honest, I was overwhelmed by the tackiness of it.
The check point itself is very interesting and it would be powerful too but it is very much a tourist attraction now, rather then a memorial or memento.
It is full of souvenir shops and selfie opportunities and while still worth seeing, I feel you need to be prepared for it to truly make it meaningful for the kids.
Tell them about it before, stop at the info panels and try avoid the busiest hours of the day for a visit, if you can.
Family-friendly dinner in Berlin
After this last stop we headed to our last dinner in Berlin.
We went to a Bavarian place near Checkpoint Charlie that was advertised as equipped with kids menus and a play area but sadly it was not the case anymore.
The pace had changed ownership and the kids’ entertainment was kind of gone.
However, we still managed to have a good time: we caught a table outside, a generous portion of schnitzel and fries and said goodnight to Berlin in style, ready to catch an early flight the following day.
While 2 days in Berlin with kids are not enough to see all this beautiful city has to offer, we were happy with our weekend and highly recommend a stop in this city to families with kids of all ages.
