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I will have half a day to spend in Berlin, on a Saturday afternoon. What do you recommend I should go and see/taste? I am not aiming for classical "tourist" spots, as we have a guided city tour before, hopefully it will show all the interesting spots, but much more the the things that are not so obviously on the must see and do, but they are still interesting.

I am interested in going to an antique shop or two, to a food shop (where i can buy Lebkuchen and good German sausages) and I really enjoy the hidden architecture gems of old houses. Nothing new, nothing fancy, nothing modern. I'd like to skip the museums and galleries, I have the tendency to spend in there too much time, which I don't have with this occasion.

Also, can someone recommend a Toy store in the area around the Tiergarten?

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    Thanks for the question but in its current state it is a little hard to answer. Who is doing the guided city tour? I ask this because I know the free walking tour doesn't go to the east side gallery, though touristy is worth a visit and isn't in the centre. Also what are you interested in History, (modern, ancient), Art, Architecture, landscapes, sport etc?
    – Stuart
    Commented Jan 21, 2013 at 8:29
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    Ok :) Sorry for being a little bit vague. I am interested in going to an antique shop or two, to a food shop (where i can buy Lebkuchen and good German sausages) and I really enjoy the hidden architecture gems of old houses. Nothing new, nothing fancy, nothing modern. I'd like to skip the museums and galleries, I have the tendency to spend in there too much time, which I don't have with this occasion.
    – Ferenc Deak
    Commented Jan 21, 2013 at 8:56
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    @fritzone I recommend editing your question + title to make it more specific.
    – gerrit
    Commented Jan 21, 2013 at 12:32
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    @mithy I don't agree with you. The OP is looking for old houses (like Fachwerkhäuser) and not for communist architecture
    – Dirty-flow
    Commented Jan 21, 2013 at 18:56
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    Lebkucken, Fachwerkhäuser, sausages. That's Nürnberg. But not typical for Berlin
    – Maître Peseur
    Commented Jan 21, 2013 at 22:33

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For shopping I'd suggest the area around Kurfürstendamm (not far from Tiergarten). KaDeWe has a large toy section, there's also a Lego store nearby. Actually, you find pretty much everything at KaDeWe (at relatively high prices, of course). There's a whole floor for food which has a designated "sausage stand".

Berlin's full of classic architecture. Do you mean something like this? A quite nice area for this is Kreuzberg, e.g. the streets around Bergmannstr. where facades have been nicely renovated in the last 20 years. However, there are a lot places for this, if you don't have much time it's also fine wandering around Charlottenburg, meaning near Kurfürstendamm.

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  • Excellent, I did exactly this :)
    – Ferenc Deak
    Commented Feb 6, 2013 at 8:36
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I've been to Berlin a few times, and if I only had a half day I would go check out one of these two abandoned spots (I've been to both already).

They're not touristy, and I haven't been anywhere like that anywhere else in the world. If you're interested in street art / graffiti and checking out some spooky locales I can highly recommend them for an afternoon.

The spy tower is the more interesting of the two, but it's a bit farther from the city. On the plus side, there's a nice lake near the spy tower where you can take a dip if the weather is nice when you go.

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    He's specifically asked about "an antique shop or two, to a food shop (where i can buy Lebkuchen and good German sausages) and I really enjoy the hidden architecture gems of old houses. Nothing new, nothing fancy, nothing modern" - I get that you have a great suggestion, but it wasn't really what he asked for.
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 16:44
  • He also asked for my recommendation: "What do you recommend I should go and see/taste? I am not aiming for classical "tourist" spots, as we have a guided city tour before, hopefully it will show all the interesting spots, but much more the the things that are not so obviously on the must see and do, but they are still interesting."
    – johndbritton
    Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 17:44
  • Also, if you look at his original question, he doesn't have those qualifiers. OP can decide if this answer is helpful or not.
    – johndbritton
    Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 17:52
  • Err, you ignored the later revision where he updated the question. Before you wrote your answer :/
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 18:14
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    Both suggestions are wonderful, I like them, and definitely I would go to both of them if I would have more time to spend there. Unfortunately for this short visit I will restrain myself to more central and "commercial" spots... such as buying gifts, fetching a starbucks coffe :) They don't have it in Norway... :(
    – Ferenc Deak
    Commented Jan 24, 2013 at 18:41
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Standard tourist locations are museums, Fernsehturm, Zoo etc., so I think you'd like to avoid that.

There are many ways to spend single afternoon. You could for example visit Mauerpark or just wander through the alleys of Kreuzberg or somewhere near the city center. Just wandering without specified aim is a quite good way to spend free time.

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  • He's specifically asked for places to buy certain foods, antique shops and asked about a toyshop, so just wandering is counter to his plans. However the flea market in Mauerpark might be a good bet for that, if it's open when he's there...
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Jan 22, 2013 at 20:05

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