5 Things To Do In Berlin With Children

We went to Berlin back in January, the week after new year for a long weekend with the children. I thought it may be a good idea to share what we got up to, in case you too are thinking of going there with your family. It is worth bearing in mind that we went when it was super cold, really bitter weather so we did have to make our plans around not letting our babies freeze!

Alex is almost 2 and Daisy will be 4 in April just to give you an idea of their abilities and interests.

Berlin is only about an hour and a half flight for us from the UK so it was a perfect destination in terms of flight times. The transport system there (mainly the trains) is fantastic and as a whole the city was clean and felt safe with children.

So what did we get up to?

(1) Berlin Zoo

I had heard about the zoo long before we went and that in fact it is one of the top zoos in the world currently. This is not something I would usually consider on a city break but with children you have to do all that you can to keep them entertained and busy! We all really enjoyed it, there was loads to see and do including a petting zoo area, the biggest bird sanctuary I have ever seen, some huge penguins, a polar bear, Gorillas and the best play areas I think we have ever taken the children to. Daisy would have spent all day playing in there had it have been warm enough. She had a great time!

We just made sure we spent time in the indoors areas and thawed out a little with plenty of hot chocolates! The zoo was much bigger than I was expecting and we probably spent about 4-5 hours there, we could easily have spent much longer there had we not had been absolutely freezing by that point!

(2) Sealife Berlin

The Aquarium is super easy to find, located right in the heart of the city, nearby the Alexanderplatz and the Berlin Cathedral. This gave us everything you would expect to find at a sealife centre, lots of fish and amazing underwater creatures to grab the attention of toddlers who need entertaining! It was pretty much what it says on the tin, but worthwhile, especially when it is so cold during the winter!

(3) The Aquadom

This should perhaps be included in the above point but the Aquadom is worth its own category I think. Basically it is a 25 m tall cylindrical acrylic glass aquarium with a built-in transparent elevator which takes you up through it seeing all that lives in there. It is located at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Berlin-Mitte, it is directly opposite the sealife centre. Again well worth a visit, I think perhaps our children were a little young to understand how exciting it really was but I enjoyed the experience too.

(4) Cafes

Daisy absolutely loves visiting cafes having hot chocolates, sandwiches and cake! Much the same as her Mum!!!! Their cafes are pretty geared up families so don't worry about taking children in them, they're all fairly friendly!

(5) Bus tour

This made sightseeing much easier than it would have been on foot or other forms of transport. With the cold weather it meant we could stay on when we wanted to, having a rest and seeing the sights whilst staying warm but also being able to hop off when it was something we wanted to see, for example Checkpoint Charlie (Which actually really wasn't worth jumping off for!!!). Daisy loved having the headphones and skipping through the various languages, it kept her entertained and it was nice to be able to actually see Berlin a little. Alex tended to have a snooze while on the bus, which suited us perfectly!