Museums · Berlin · Germany
7 best museums in Berlin
The collections worth your time, how long each takes and how to fit them together.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Lklundin, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Quick answer
Start with Museum Island, Neues Museum and Topography of Terror. Together the 7 picks below take roughly 16–20 hours across 4 areas; 1 is free.
Key facts
- Places in this guide
- 7
- Free entry
- 1
- Time to see them all
- 16–20 hours
- Areas
- Mitte, Museum Island and Kreuzberg
Museums in Berlin
Museum · Mitte
1.Museum Island
Five museums share this UNESCO-listed island in the Spree: the Altes Museum with Greek and Roman antiquities, the Alte Nationalgalerie with 19th-century painting including Caspar David Friedrich, the Bode Museum with sculpture and coins, and the Neues Museum, all linked by the James Simon Gallery visitor centre by David Chipperfield.
- Time needed
- Half a day to a full day
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Iconic
- Art
- History
- Rainy day
- Architecture
Museum · Museum Island
2.Neues Museum
Rebuilt by David Chipperfield in 2009 while keeping its war scars, the Neues Museum holds the 3,300-year-old painted bust of Queen Nefertiti, Egyptian papyri and sculpture, and prehistoric treasures including the conical golden Berlin Gold Hat.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Iconic
- History
- Art
- Rainy day
Museum · Kreuzberg
3.Topography of Terror
On the site of the former Gestapo and SS headquarters, this free documentation centre explains how the Nazi terror apparatus worked.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- History
- Rainy day
Museum · Kreuzberg
4.Jewish Museum Berlin
Daniel Libeskind's zigzagging, zinc-clad building tells the story of Jewish life in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Architecture
- Rainy day
- Art
Museum · Mitte
5.Museum für Naturkunde
Berlin's natural history museum is dominated by the skeleton of a Giraffatitan, one of the tallest mounted dinosaurs in the world, and holds an original Archaeopteryx fossil.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Kids
- Rainy day
- Nature
- History
Museum · Kreuzberg
6.German Museum of Technology
The Deutsches Technikmuseum fills old railway sheds and a modern wing with locomotives, ships, aircraft, cars and computers; a Douglas C-47 'raisin bomber' from the Berlin Airlift hangs from the roof.
- Time needed
- 3–4 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Kids
- Rainy day
- History
Gallery · Potsdamer Platz
7.Gemäldegalerie
One of the world's finest collections of European Old Masters, from the 13th to the 18th century, is spread over 72 rooms at the Kulturforum: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Dürer, Titian, Caravaggio's Amor Vincit Omnia and Bruegel's Netherlandish Proverbs.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Art
- Rainy day
- Off the beaten path
Grouped by area
| Area | Places | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Mitte | Museum Island and Museum für Naturkunde | Half a day to a full day + 2 hours |
| Museum Island | Neues Museum | 2 hours |
| Kreuzberg | Topography of Terror, Jewish Museum Berlin and German Museum of Technology | 1.5–2 hours + 2–3 hours + 3–4 hours |
| Potsdamer Platz | Gemäldegalerie | 2–3 hours |
Booking and timing
Of these 7, 1 free, 3 low cost, 3 mid-priced. Book ahead for Neues Museum. The longest visit is Museum Island; group the rest by area to save travel time.
- Neues Museum: Timed tickets are recommended, especially at weekends.
How to fit them into 5 half-days
Grouped by area and kept to about four hours each, so you walk more than you ride.
- Half-day 1 (Mitte): Museum Island, at least 3 hours.
- Half-day 2 (Mitte and Museum Island): Museum für Naturkunde → Neues Museum, at least 4 hours.
- Half-day 3 (Kreuzberg): Topography of Terror → Jewish Museum Berlin, at least 4 hours.
- Half-day 4 (Kreuzberg): German Museum of Technology, at least 3 hours.
- Half-day 5 (Potsdamer Platz): Gemäldegalerie, at least 2 hours.
The quietest months for queues
- March: highs of 9°C (48°F), about 8 rainy days, quiet crowds. Chilly early spring, with the first sunny café terraces and blossom late in the month.
- November: highs of 8°C (46°F), about 9 rainy days, quiet crowds. Grey and damp, but the Christmas markets open late in the month and the clubs are in full swing.
- January: highs of 3°C (37°F), about 10 rainy days, quiet crowds. Cold, dark and grey with occasional snow; museums and clubs are the main draw, and hotel prices are low.
The neighbourhoods they are in
- Mitte — The historic centre: Unter den Linden, Museum Island and the Hackesche Höfe courtyards
- Kreuzberg — Turkish-German heritage, canal-side cafés, street art and late bars
- Potsdamer Platz and Tiergarten — Glass towers on the former border strip beside the Kulturforum and the city's great park
More of Berlin
Questions travellers ask
+Where should I start in Berlin?
Museum Island. Five museums share this UNESCO-listed island in the Spree: the Altes Museum with Greek and Roman antiquities, the Alte Nationalgalerie with 19th-century painting including Caspar David Friedrich, the Bode Museum with sculpture and coins, and the Neues Museum, all linked by the James Simon Gallery visitor centre by David Chipperfield.
+Which of these are free in Berlin?
Topography of Terror.