Berlin

Pack your car and go on a self-drive holiday to Berlin.

Germany's capital is the destination for the perfect self-drive holiday for the whole family. The welcoming metropolis offers a wide range of exciting experiences and sights to suit all tastes. Here you can combine history, gastronomy, culture and shopping and your holiday can include exactly what you want. There are no limits to what you can find in Berlin, so children can easily join you on a city break. It's impossible to experience all of Berlin's amazing offerings in one holiday, so enjoy the city at your own pace and soak up the vibrant city life.

Walk past the impressive Brandenburg Gate, one of Berlin's most important landmarks and the last remaining city gate in Berlin. At the top of the Brandenburg Gate stands a 6 metre high statue of a tank and in the gatehouses you can see two large statues. The impressive gate is located at the end of the two boulevards, Straße des 17. Juni and Unter den Linden. Unter den Linden is one of the city's most famous streets and the proud lime trees line the footpath in the middle of the street as far as the eye can see. Historic buildings, cosy cafés and shops of all kinds characterise the street, which is well worth a pleasant stroll.

If you're planning to fill your trunk with an abundance of shopping, you can't leave Berlin without a visit to the Kurfürstendamm shopping street. The formerly prominent boulevard is a must for the shopaholic and you can also visit the giant department store KaDeWe, located near Kurfürstendamm. The neighbourhood is also home to a host of great cafés where you can take a break from sightseeing.

The Reichstag is Germany's impressive parliament building, located in the centre of Berlin not far from the Brandenburg Gate. The building was completely rebuilt with the beautiful glass dome in 1990 after it had lain derelict during the Cold War. It is possible to climb up into the glass dome, from where you can look down into the parliament chamber and enjoy the view over Berlin.

Cold War memorials can keep you busy throughout your visit to Berlin. When the city was divided in two, Checkpoint Charlie was one of the most famous border crossings. A visit here is an experience for anyone with an interest in history. From "Checkpoint C", you can hear many stories of spectacular escape attempts from the east to the west of the city, which unfortunately cost several lives. At the border crossing is an exciting museum with an extensive collection of photos, newspaper clippings and films documenting and telling the story of the Berlin Wall and the many escape attempts over the Wall. Today, little remains of the Berlin Wall itself. The then 43 km long wall is a thing of the past and today only about 1.5 km of wall and markers where the wall once stood remain. The best place to see remnants of the Wall is at the Berlin Wall Memorial. Here you can get a feel for no man's land and there is an exciting visitor centre.

Also visit Berlin's architectural landmark, the 368-metre-high Television Tower, which can be seen from all over the city. The TV tower was built in the 1950s on the city's most famous square, Alexanderplatz, and today it is still used as a TV tower, broadcasting around 60 TV and radio channels. Take a trip up the dome and enjoy the spectacular view.

A driving holiday can take you past many idyllic cities, but few will have such a cornucopia of impressive experiences and sights as Berlin.