Parliament, the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust memorial and Gendarmenmarkt, then along to the cathedral and Museum Island, finishing at the TV Tower.
Best time: Morning (book the Reichstag dome for the start); museums close Mondays
The route, stop by stop 1 Reichstag Building and Dome Pre-booked dome visit with ID; 45-60 min.
The seat of the Bundestag under Norman Foster's glass dome: a spiral ramp over the debating chamber with a free audio guide and one of the best free views of the government…
2 Brandenburg Gate Pariser Platz; 10 min.
The 1791 gate that stood in the no-man's-land of the Wall until 1989 is Berlin's symbol of division and reunification; it is at its best lit up at night with the square empty.
3 Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe Walk through the stelae; information centre 30-45 min optional.
Peter Eisenman's field of 2,711 concrete stelae; the underground information centre gives names and family stories behind the numbers.
4 Gendarmenmarkt Berlin's grandest square; 10 min.
Berlin's most elegant square, framed by the Konzerthaus and the twin French and German churches.
5 Friedrichswerder Church Schinkel's brick church, sculpture inside (Wed-Sun); 20 min.
Schinkel's neo-Gothic brick church, now a sculpture gallery of 19th-century works from the Nationalgalerie.
6 Humboldt Forum Closed Tuesdays; 15 min outside or 60+ min in.
The rebuilt Berlin Palace opposite the cathedral houses the state museums' ethnological and Asian art collections and exhibitions on Berlin.
7 Berlin Cathedral Dome walk; 45 min.
The Protestant cathedral with the Hohenzollern crypt and a dome walk to the gallery almost 100 m up, overlooking Museum Island.
8 Altes Museum Lustgarten lawn and Museum Island; pick one museum.
Schinkel's 1830 neoclassical temple of a museum with Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities and a domed rotunda of statues.
9 Ishin Alternative lunch near Unter den Linden: fair-priced sushi (Mon-Sat).
Where Mitte office workers get good sushi and donburi at fair prices, a few minutes from Unter den Linden's tourist restaurants.
10 Berlin TV Tower Finish with the view at Alexanderplatz; timed ticket.
The 368 m GDR tower has the highest viewpoint in the city, with a revolving restaurant run with chef Tim Raue.
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