Question 1

Is Berlin a city or a federal state?

Accepted Answer

Both, and this is the single most common visitor confusion. Berlin is one of Germany's 16 federal states and simultaneously a single city — there is no separate city government and no larger state it belongs to. Germany has three of these city-states: Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen.

Question 2

So what is the capital of the state of Berlin?

Accepted Answer

Berlin itself. Because the city and the state are one and the same entity, the city is its own capital, and it is also the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. One office, the Governing Mayor, runs both.

Question 3

How is Berlin divided up?

Accepted Answer

Into 12 boroughs (Bezirke), each with its own assembly and borough mayor handling local matters such as schools and libraries, and each split further into neighbourhoods, 96 in all. Mitte, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Pankow, Neukölln and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf are the ones visitors hear about most.

Question 4

When is the best time to visit Berlin?

Accepted Answer

May to September for lake swimming, beer gardens and daylight that runs late into the evening. Late autumn and winter are grey, but that is when the museums, clubs and concert halls are at their best and hotel prices at their lowest outside the Christmas market weeks.

Question 5

Who actually governs Berlin?

Accepted Answer

The Governing Mayor heads the Senate, which is the state government and includes up to ten senators running policy departments. The House of Representatives, the Abgeordnetenhaus, is the state parliament and had 159 members after the 2023 election.

Question 6

When did Berlin become Germany's capital again?

Accepted Answer

Berlin was named capital of reunified Germany in 1990, but the Bundestag and most of the government only moved from Bonn in 1999. Bonn still holds the title Federal City and keeps parts of several ministries, which is why some federal business still happens on the Rhine.

Question 7

How big is Berlin and how many people live there?

Accepted Answer

891 sq km, with about 3.7 million residents at the end of 2025 — the most populous city proper in the European Union and Germany's largest by both area and population. It grew by roughly 15,000 people during 2025, entirely through migration.

Question 8

What does Berlin actually feel like?

Accepted Answer

Flat, spread out and green rather than dense and vertical. Roughly a third of the area is forest, park, lake and waterway, distances between neighbourhoods are long, and the city reads as a string of distinct villages rather than one centre — partly a legacy of the 28 years it spent split in two.

Question 9

Which transport ticket do I need in Berlin?

Accepted Answer

Fares run on two zone combinations. AB covers the whole city up to the boundary; ABC adds the surrounding area, Potsdam Hauptbahnhof and BER airport. A single AB journey is 4 euros and a 24-hour AB ticket 11.20 euros, with the ABC versions at 5 euros and 12.90 euros.

Question 10

Is the Deutschlandticket worth it in Berlin?

Accepted Answer

If you are staying most of a calendar month, easily — it costs 63 euros in 2026 and covers the whole VBB network including zone C and BER airport, on U-Bahn, S-Bahn, tram, bus and RE, RB and FEX trains. It does not cover first class, ICE and IC trains, tourist boats or regional services into Poland.

Question 11

How do I get from BER airport into the city?

Accepted Answer

The station Flughafen BER sits directly under Terminal 1 on level U2. The FEX airport express reaches Berlin Hauptbahnhof in about 23 minutes and runs every 15 minutes from 4am to 1am; S-Bahn lines S9 and S85 plus several regional trains also serve it. You need an ABC ticket, or the Deutschlandticket.

Question 12

How many museums does Berlin have, and where should I start?

Accepted Answer

Around 170. Start with Museum Island, a UNESCO site whose five museums form the world's largest single museum ensemble, then add the Gemäldegalerie for European painting and the Jewish Museum or the Topography of Terror for twentieth-century history.

Question 13

What are Berlin's UNESCO World Heritage Sites?

Accepted Answer

Three: Museum Island, the Berlin Modernism Housing Estates, and the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin, which Berlin shares with Brandenburg and which takes in Glienicke Palace and Peacock Island on the Berlin side.

Question 14

Where can I still see the Berlin Wall?

Accepted Answer

The East Side Gallery in Friedrichshain is the longest surviving stretch at 1,316 m, painted in spring 1990 by 118 artists from 21 countries. For the sober version go to the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse, which preserves the full death-strip layout.

Question 15

What should I eat in Berlin?

Accepted Answer

Currywurst, invented here in 1949 when Herta Heuwer mixed her sauce at a kiosk on Kantstrasse, and döner kebab, popularised in Berlin in the early 1970s — the city now has well over 1,000 kebab shops. Beyond that, Berlin is Germany's strongest city for international and vegan food.

Question 16

Do I need a car in Berlin?

Accepted Answer

No, and it is usually a liability. Public transport runs through the night at weekends, the city is flat and genuinely good for cycling, and central Berlin sits inside a low-emission zone that requires a green Umweltplakette sticker on German and foreign cars alike. Save the car for day trips into Brandenburg.

Question 17

What is the capital of Berlin?

Accepted Answer

Berlin — the city and the state share the same name. Berlin is a city-state: the city of Berlin is administered as its own state/region within Germany.

Question 18

How many cities in Berlin does lodomap cover?

Accepted Answer

lodomap currently covers 1 city in Berlin — Berlin. See the full list in the Cities & Towns sidebar.

Question 19

What is Berlin known for?

Accepted Answer

Berlin is known as Germany's capital — and a city that is also a federal state in its own right, with 12 boroughs, Cold War scars, around 170 museums and more lake than most people expect.

Question 20

What is the national capital of Germany?

Accepted Answer

Berlin is the national capital of Germany.

Berlin (State)

Berlin at a Glance

Info about Berlin

Know Before You Go — Germany