Maritim Hotel Berlin

• Leaving from the Zoo station or Friedrichstrasse, busses with the numbers 100 and 200 are a great way to gain initial first impressions of the city. Tip: depart the bus at the Brandenburg Gate and walk along the 'Unter den Linden' boulevard to the Gendarmenmarkt - weather permitting, it is an invigorating experience (no guided tours).

• Mall of Berlin (LP12) at Leipziger Platz: more than 270 shops with food court
• Potsdamer Platz Arcades: over 100 stores and boutiques spread over 3 floors
• Friedrichstraße: Galeries Lafayette and design boutiques
• Tauentzienstraße: KaDeWe - the Kaufhaus des Westens enviably located at the Wittenbergplatz with its famous connoisseur level on the 5th floor
• Hackescher Market in Berlin-Mitte: mostly small, quirky stores and boutiques
• Gendarmenmarkt: Fassbender & Rausch - internationally renowned chocolatiers which is home to over 500 types of handmade pralines, truffles and sweets housed within the world's longest praline counter
• Alexanderplatz: Alexa Shopping Centre, Galeria Kaufhof, Saturn and many more
• Kurfürstendamm: A multitude of department stores, shops, design boutiques and eating establishments
• RITTER SPORT Bunte SchokoWelt: chocolate lovers young and old can enjoy, discover and create with chocolate to their heart's content over three floors covering almost 1,000 sq.m.

Berlin is the city of museums. Over 170 museums in Berlin keep the history, art and knowledge of the city alive and form a unique museum scenery - a dynamic landscape that is growing in breathtaking speed. Many of the museums also form the city's memory banks if you will. Among other things, they document the Kingdom of Prussia, the city's turbulent role in two world wars and the affects of the Iron Curtain.