Some days the kids want a big outing. This list sticks to the ticketed ones that hold a child's attention for hours: animals up close, sharks behind glass, LEGO rides and a forest train where kids check the tickets. Here's what we checked, from Zoo Berlin to the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre. The popular ones get busy on weekends and in school holidays, so book ahead.
Germany's oldest zoo, opened in 1844, keeps around 20,000 animals and more species than any other zoo in the world. Kids can watch Germany's only giant pandas, plus elephants and pygmy hippos, and pet goats at the petting zoo.
Many animals live in indoor houses, so it works on a cold day too. The aquarium by the Elefantentor gate needs a combined ticket.
Aquarium Berlin fills three floors of the historic building at the Zoo. The ground floor holds the fish: blacktip reef sharks, a coral reef, seahorses, octopuses and drifting jellyfish.
The first floor is reptiles, with snakes, iguanas, a chameleon and the glass-walled Tropical Hall, where a wooden bridge crosses the crocodile river. The small top floor has glowing scorpions, poison frogs and leafcutter ants farming fungus gardens.
An indoor LEGO play center at Potsdamer Platz with more than 5 million bricks under one roof. Kids ride the Dragon Ride through a LEGO castle, climb around the Dino Explorer and NINJAGO City Adventure play zones, watch a 4D film and spot Berlin landmarks rebuilt in the LEGO Miniland.
Toddlers get their own DUPLO Village, and there is a large LEGO Store on site.
Tierpark Berlin spreads across 160 hectares of parkland around the 18th-century Friedrichsfelde manor house, making it Europe's largest animal park. Kids can watch tigers in the renovated Alfred Brehm House, spot red pandas and snow leopards on a cloud-forest trail, and see giraffes and zebras on an African savanna.
Between animals there's a petting zoo with goats and ponies, a seaside-themed water play area, and the Fabelwald woodland playground.
A narrow-gauge railway that winds through Volkspark Wuhlheide, linking stations at the FEZ, the Badesee lake, the Parkbühne open-air stage and the train depot. Diesel locos pull the regular trains, with a steam engine on some afternoons.
Much of the crew is local kids and teens, trained from fifth grade as conductors, crossing keepers and station chiefs. Toddlers who love trains get a long ride; older kids watch peers at work.
Domäne Dahlem is a working organic farm and open-air museum on an old manor estate. It breeds endangered livestock: Red Höhenvieh cattle, German Saddleback pigs, Pomeranian sheep, longhaired goats, Konik and Exmoor ponies, and rare hens and ducks.
Kids can walk the fields and orchards and visit the Culinarium museum about food and farming. A farm shop and country inn sit by the courtyard.
Some days the kids want a big outing. This list sticks to the ticketed ones that hold a child's attention for hours: animals up close, sharks behind glass, LEGO rides and a forest train where kids check the tickets. Here's what we checked, from Zoo Berlin to the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre. The popular ones get busy on weekends and in school holidays, so book ahead.
Germany's oldest zoo, opened in 1844, keeps around 20,000 animals and more species than any other zoo in the world. Kids can watch Germany's only giant pandas, plus elephants and pygmy hippos, and pet goats at the petting zoo.
Many animals live in indoor houses, so it works on a cold day too. The aquarium by the Elefantentor gate needs a combined ticket.
Aquarium Berlin fills three floors of the historic building at the Zoo. The ground floor holds the fish: blacktip reef sharks, a coral reef, seahorses, octopuses and drifting jellyfish.
The first floor is reptiles, with snakes, iguanas, a chameleon and the glass-walled Tropical Hall, where a wooden bridge crosses the crocodile river. The small top floor has glowing scorpions, poison frogs and leafcutter ants farming fungus gardens.
An indoor LEGO play center at Potsdamer Platz with more than 5 million bricks under one roof. Kids ride the Dragon Ride through a LEGO castle, climb around the Dino Explorer and NINJAGO City Adventure play zones, watch a 4D film and spot Berlin landmarks rebuilt in the LEGO Miniland.
Toddlers get their own DUPLO Village, and there is a large LEGO Store on site.
Tierpark Berlin spreads across 160 hectares of parkland around the 18th-century Friedrichsfelde manor house, making it Europe's largest animal park. Kids can watch tigers in the renovated Alfred Brehm House, spot red pandas and snow leopards on a cloud-forest trail, and see giraffes and zebras on an African savanna.
Between animals there's a petting zoo with goats and ponies, a seaside-themed water play area, and the Fabelwald woodland playground.
A narrow-gauge railway that winds through Volkspark Wuhlheide, linking stations at the FEZ, the Badesee lake, the Parkbühne open-air stage and the train depot. Diesel locos pull the regular trains, with a steam engine on some afternoons.
Much of the crew is local kids and teens, trained from fifth grade as conductors, crossing keepers and station chiefs. Toddlers who love trains get a long ride; older kids watch peers at work.
Domäne Dahlem is a working organic farm and open-air museum on an old manor estate. It breeds endangered livestock: Red Höhenvieh cattle, German Saddleback pigs, Pomeranian sheep, longhaired goats, Konik and Exmoor ponies, and rare hens and ducks.
Kids can walk the fields and orchards and visit the Culinarium museum about food and farming. A farm shop and country inn sit by the courtyard.
