Berlin tourist information

A handful of local habits, from Sunday closing to bottle deposits, are worth knowing before the first day in Berlin.

• Best time to visit: May to September brings the longest days and the busiest outdoor season, with June to August the warmest and most crowded months. Spring and autumn stay mild with thinner crowds, and from late November the squares fill with Christmas markets.
• Days needed: Three to four days cover the historic core at an easy pace: one for the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and Gendarmenmarkt, one for Museum Island and Alexanderplatz, and one or two for Kreuzberg, the East Side Gallery or Charlottenburg Palace. The 12 top sights in Berlin
• Money and tipping: Germany uses the euro, but cards are not taken everywhere, so some cash helps in smaller shops, cafés and restaurants; Visa and Mastercard are widely accepted, American Express often is not. Service is usually not included in the bill, and a tip of 5 to 10 percent is customary but never compulsory, given by telling the server the total to charge rather than leaving coins on the table.
• City tax: Hotels, hostels and holiday rentals add a city tax of 7.5% of the room price before VAT and extras such as breakfast, on every night of a stay under six months, and business trips have paid it since April 2024. How the Berlin city tax works
• Sundays and public holidays: Shops close by law on Sundays and public holidays, except station and airport shops selling travel needs and Spätis that keep to snacks, drinks and souvenirs, which may open from 13:00 to 20:00. The Senate allows up to eight shopping Sundays a year, two of them in Advent, and the tourist office guide lists the public holidays of 2026.
• Free museums: The Museumssonntag, which opened museums free on the first Sunday of the month, ended in December 2024. Memorial and history museums such as the Topography of Terror and the Tränenpalast are free on every opening day, and the Neue Nationalgalerie opens free on the first Thursday of the month from 16:00 to 20:00. Free museums in Berlin and when
• Tickets and inspections: One ticket covers the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams, buses and ferries within its fare zones. Paper tickets must be stamped in the boxes on the platform before boarding a U-Bahn or S-Bahn train, and digital ones activated in the app. Travelling without a valid ticket means an increased fare when inspectors check, payable by card, and genuine S-Bahn inspectors never ask for cash.
• Bottle deposit: Single-use drinks bottles and cans from 0.1 to 3 litres carry a deposit, shown by the DPG logo, which is paid back when the empties are returned to almost any supermarket or drinks shop, usually through a machine. A shop only has to take back the materials it sells, so cans go back to a shop that sells cans.
• Cycling and crossing the street: Bikes ride on the road or on cycle paths, and only children up to the age of 10, with one accompanying adult, may cycle on the pavement. Cyclists follow the traffic lights for cars unless the junction has bicycle signals, and at junctions with lights walkers must cross on the marked pedestrian crossing.
• Tap water: Berlin's tap water is natural groundwater that needs no added chemicals, and the consumer testing foundation Stiftung Warentest recommends it over bottled water. Free drinking fountains of Berliner Wasserbetriebe stand in many parks and squares.
• Safety and emergencies: Pickpockets work the crowds at Alexanderplatz, Hackescher Markt, Kurfürstendamm and the Christmas markets, and on buses 100 and 200 and the central S-Bahn. People posing as police sometimes ask to search bags for drugs, so it is fine to ask for a police ID card. 110, free from any phone, reaches the police, and 112 an ambulance or the fire brigade.
• Driving and parking: The low emission zone covers the centre inside the S-Bahn ring at all hours, and every car, foreign ones included, needs a green sticker to drive or park there. Street parking is charged only in 104 zones, all but one free on Sundays, and 20 park and ride sites at outer stations cost nothing. Free parking in Berlin
• Entry rules: Germany is in the Schengen area, so visitors from the UK and other countries exempt from EU visas can stay for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. The EU Entry/Exit System can register fingerprints and a photo at the border, and Germany runs temporary checks at its land borders.
• Free map: The free Berlin tourist map numbers 12 top sights, marks 31 hidden gems and draws a 5.7 km walking route from Checkpoint Charlie to the TV Tower, and it prints as a PDF.