We visited Berlin in late October 2023 when our boys were 9 and 11. Read on for our top things to do in Berlin with tweens (and teens!).
- Graffiti your own patch of the Berlin Wall.
- Lunch at the top of the TV Tower.
- Foodie tour of Berlin with Fork and Walk Tours.
- Pretending to be James Bond at the German Spy Museum.
- Learning about democracy (and good architecture) at the German Parliament (Reichstag).
- Animal time at Berlin Zoo.
- Cold War Berlin tour with Insider Tours.
1. Spray-painting the Berlin Wall with teens and tweens
This was a highlight of our Berlin for our tweens (and we loved it to!). Read our review here.
2. Lunch at the top of the TV Tower (Fernsehturm)
Situated on Alexanderplatz in the heart of the Mitte district, the TV Tower can be seen from most parts of the city. At some 368 metres high, it is the tallest structure in Germany.
The former East German Government built the TV Tower in the late 1960s. Constructed very close to the Wall, it was designed to be a symbol of Communist power, although it did function as a broadcasting facility.
If you don’t want to have a meal, you can just go up to the Observation Desk. However, our tweens loved the experience of lunch in the rotating Sphere Restaurant.
The restaurant, at 207 metres high, does a full 360-degreee rotation every 30 minutes. As such. the views across Berlin are amazing, even on a slightly cloudy day.
People visit for the experience and the views rather than the food. However, we really enjoyed our meal. The menu changes seasonally but can be viewed on their website. We visited in the Autumn. For vegetarians, there was a very tasty mushroom stew, a cheese platter with various breads and risotto. Equally, in late spring / early summer, there are lots of dishes featuring locally grown asparagus, both white and green. Asparagus season is a huge treat for Germans!
You do need to book a table for breakfast or lunch well in advance. Your ticket for the restaurant table includes entry to the Tower and you can skip the queue on arrival, which is a definite bonus! Tickets can be booked here.
Lastly, there is also a VR experience on the ground floor (which is a history of Berlin through the centuries). However, I thought it was quite expensive so we didn’t do this.
