Berlin travel tips for families: all you need to know before you go for a fantastic stay
Berlin travel tips for families with kids. Our best, practical tips to help you plan a trip to Berlin with kids: where to stay in Berlin with kids, tips for visiting Berlin with a toddler, top kid-friendly things to do, based on our own travels.
Berlin is a lovely city to visit with kids and, in our experience, one of the easiest big cities in Europe to explore as a family.
Despite being a big center, Berlin is well organized and super kid-friendly so we found it was possible to enjoy it with kids of all ages without major planning or stress.
That said, especially if you are traveling with toddlers, a few tips from a mama can help!
We have been to Berlin several times.
The first family trip there had us in Berlin with a toddler and me pregnant with my daughter and then we went again where my kids were in primary school.
I have shared here >>> Our family itinerary in Berlin.
Today, I share my best tips to plan a visit. Safe travels!
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Berlin with kids: atmosphere and feel
Berlin is a vibrant, dynamic, buzzy place with an eclectic soul. Here you find lovely park for quiet days, crazy nightclubs and anything in between!
It is a great place for families as no matter how little or grown up the kids are, you can be sure to find something they’ll love.
Berlin is a big city and parts of the city are busy and trafficked; however, overall it is not as overwhelming as Paris or Rome. Overall, the city works well, it is easy to navigate and has a family friendly atmosphere.
Kids are welcome pretty much anywhere so you do not need to go out of your way to find family friendly restaurants.
The assumption is that kids can go pretty much wherever you can go (with obvious exceptions like night clubs) so you will see kids in trendy cafes, beer gardens etc no problem.
The city has many green spaces and playgrounds. On google maps, search for ‘spielplatz’ or ‘Playground’ and you’ll find several! They are usually well equipped and well kept.
Berlin Tips – Best Areas to Stay with Kids
We have been to Berlin with the kids several times and we have experimented with different locations.
The best areas to stay in Berlin with kids in our experience are:
Mitte – specifically we stayed in a nice hotel called Calma, close to Oranienburg Tor.
This location was great as it is central, close to big attractions like Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island, and Alexanderplatz.
It is walkable, felt safe, it is very well served wit public transport and has plenty of restaurants etc without feeling too touristy.
Tiergarden (zoo) / Charlottenburg – we stayed here as I had a conference at the Intercontinental so we used it as a base to also explore and found the area excellent.
The Zoo is nearby, there are tons of nice restaurants around, it is a pleasant and walkable neighborhood and it is super well connected by public transport.
It is a little further from some of the attractions but with the bus, metro etc, this doesn’t pose issues in Berlin.
Family hotels in Berlin you may like are:
Intercontinental – an IHG hotel, the Intercontinental is a large, luxury hotel with nice rooms, breakfast buffet and meal options on site at its cafe / restaurant downstairs.
The hotel has the feel you expect from and Intercontinental property, it is large and spotless: they have rooms for families up to 4 guests, rollaway beds are also available.
Calma – Calma Hotel is a lovely, simple yet pleasant and spotless hotel in Berlin Mitte.
The atmosphere is welcoming and family friendly, they have rooms for up to 4 guests, a lovely breakfast and a cute yard. Bike rental is possible and can be a fun way to experience the city if you have older kids!
Need to know: occupancy rules are strict. You need to declare all occupant to each room at the time of booking and this includes babies and kids who may share a bed with you.
Using Berlin Public Transport with Kids
Berlin has an efficient public transportation system with metro, bus and trams. We have used it extensively and found it safe and easy to understand.
During our last trip, I got the Berlin card as I wanted to be able to hop on and off any transport options with no worries and found it excellent.
Like all passes however, it comes into its own if you use it a lot so I would recommend making a plan and see how much you’re likely to use it first.
Berlin public transport is stroller friendly for the most part: trams and buses have spaces for strollers and metro stations tend to have lifts.
Like in all big cities however, Berlin’s public transport may get busy: in this case you may have to fold the stroller or wait for the next tram/ bus / train.
Occasionally we have found ourselves using taxis and noticed that some had car seats, but not all.
We have found conflicting information about the legalities of car seats in taxis but our experience was that one of them refused us without one and another one had a seat in the trunk.
Traveling from the airport, you can ask for assistance getting a taxi with a seat, asking to one of the attendants.
Berlin with toddlers
We found Berlin to be stroller friendly.
We found many of the pavements large and well kept, with crossing pints often equipped with ramps.
Public transport is overall stroller accessible.
We found most restaurants had high chairs and kids were welcome pretty much everywhere, even in establishments you may not immediately think are family friendly (trendy bars or our son fell asleep on a tatami mat in a Japanese restaurants, with nobody batting an eyelid about it!).
Baby food, toddler snacks and diapers are easy to find in supermarkets and while the selection and brands may differ from back home, we found many options.
What to pack for Berlin
You can find here >>> my complete family packing list for Berlin
Best things to do in Berlin with kids
Berlin is very welcoming to children so I recommend to mix traditional sightseeing with specific kids’ attractions that can help the kids have fun and relax.
Among my favorite things to do in Berlin with kids there are:
Take an inexpensive bus tour on Bus 100
Bus 100 is a normal Berlin bus with something special: it brings you around many of Berlin’s tops sites in about 1 hours!
The bus doesn’t provide a commentary so we cannot call it a guided tour yet it works very much like one as you sit down, let the bus take you places and take in all the sights.
Along its journey, you see Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (partially destroyed during the war), the Zoo’s famous ‘Elephants’ Gate’, Congress Hall, Brandeburg Gate, Under den Linden Boulevard, the cathedra, Marx-Engels-Forum and Alexanderplatz.
A fantastic inexpensive way to have a first overview of many of Berlin’s main sites without having walk much.
See the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery
We loved seeing what is left of the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery. Here you can walk along part of the wall and it is both an educational and fun experience as the wall now has many colorful murals.
You can walk along it in your own time, no need for a tour.
See Check point Charlie
Check Point Charlie was the inner city crossing point between West and East Berlin during the cold war, and it is still a disturbing yet fascinating place.
Now the checkpoint is basically as touristy as it gets, to the point of tackiness, yet it is still interesting to see. Some info panels in the area help put it in context.
The Museum Island
Berlin’s famous museum island is UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of my favorite places in Berlin.
It hosts five museums, built between 1824 and 1930: The Pergamon Museum (with Pergamon Altar and Entrance to Babylon), Neues Museum (with Nefertiti), Altes Museum (ancient art), Bode Museum (Sculptures) and Alte Nationalgalerie.
My personal favourite, and one that also is easily enjoyable by a child, is the Pergamon museum: the impressive altar and the incredible gates to Babylon are a sight to behold and will impress all ages.
While not interactive or ‘fun’ as such, I consider this one of the great museums of the world and highly recommend a visit.
Visit Berlin Zoo – Tiergarden
Berlin Zoo is a long standing, well established, historic European Zoo and a great place to visit with kids of all ages.
There is a petting zoo with goats and farm animals, tons of space to walk with a stroller or for kids to run around, playgrounds and of course animal enclosed with wonderful species like giraffes, elephants but also pandas!
Kid-friendly cafes inside make it easy to spend a day here.
Play in Lego® Discovery Center
The Lego® Discovery Center is a fantastic indoor attractions for kids in Berlin city center dedicated to Lego® bricks.
Here you can find miniature reconstructions of Berlin (Complete with a falling wall!), play center, constructions areas, interactive installations and all Lego® fans can dream of.
Perfect rainy day activity.
See the Brandeburger Tor
The Brandeburg Gate is a spectacular landmark in Berlin and an easy one to see with kids.
Free to see and overlooking a large piazza, it is easy to include in a walk around the center and it often has street performers just in front.
See the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
The Memorial to The Murdered jews of Europe is a significant and touching monuments in Berlin city center you can visit with kids of suitable age.
The memorial, outside, is not disturbing for kids so you can visit at any age. However, because of its meaning, I recommend to visit with children who can understand the story it tells.
Rainy Day activities in Berlin for kids
As well as the museums of Museum island, some cool rainy day activities for kids in Berlin are:
Sea Life Aquarium
Lego Discovery Center
Rausch House of Chocolate, 3 floor entirely devote to chocolate creations to see and, of course, to eat!
Hurricane Factory Berlin Berlin’s wind tunnel experience, for adrenaline loving kids
JUMP House Berlin Trampoline indoor park
Playgrounds
Berlin has many playgrounds. Some that are likely to be close to attractions you’ll visit are:
Spielplatz Auf dem Helmholtzplatz Raumerstraße 8-9, 10437 Berlin, Germany
Spielplatz Monbijoupark https://maps.app.goo.gl/QoynApQjKBw7znyA8
Spielplatz Tiergardenstasse https://maps.app.goo.gl/zn4j3Rt1EB2savgT8
Spielplatz Berlin Tiergarden John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin
Where to eat in Berlin with kids
Berlin restaurants are pretty much all family friendly so we found in terms of family friendliness we had no issues finding places.
Some specifically kid friendly places you may like are:
Family Cafe Blume: https://blumeberlin.de/en/
Children Cafe Kindrkafe Spielzimmer https://spielzimmer.berlin
Luise Dahlem restaurant https://www.luise-dahlem.de
Best time to Visit Berlin with kids
Berlin is very seasonal, with hot summers and cold winters and having experience them all, I can tell you: there are definitely better times than others to visit Berlin with kids!
For us, the best is early summer (June- early July) and September.
At this time you tend to have warm but not scorching hot weather, festivals, and open-air events and you can explore parks and outdoor attractions.
If you are looking specifically for festive atmospheres, Christmas can work also but be prepared for serious cold!
Fall and spring are in-between seasons and there is no guessing the weather. With kids, it is a good idea to have a list of rainy day activities if visiting at this time.
On the upside, Berlin in the fall has stunning foliage and very quiet in terms of tourism, so this is a good time if you want to experience a more local side to Berlin city life.
I hope you enjoyed these quick tips for visiting Berlin with kids and they helped you plan your stay. Safe travels!
