Over 170 museums are scattered throughout Berlin. If you want to get an overview of the sea of art and culture in Berlin, the 207-metre-high dome of Berlin’s TV tower in the city centre offers a magnificent view of some of the most beautiful exhibits on Museum Island, for example. Find out more about our top 10 best museums in Berlin, along with recommendations on art exhibitions and galleries in Berlin!
Museum Island with many of Berlin’s museums
The so-called Museum Island with some of the best museums in Berlin is worth a visit for its architecture alone. The unique island, which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to the Old Museum, the New Museum, the Old National Gallery and the Pergamon Museum with, among others, its famous altar.
If you want to take your time exploring the island from antiquity to 20th century art, we recommend the Berlin Welcome Card. Not only does it provide free entry to all five of Berlin’s museums, it also offers special discounts on tickets and bundles to the Berlin TV Tower, the Sphere Bar, the Sphere Restaurant and other city landmarks such as the Observation Deck. Your Welcome Card also works as a ticket for public transport. Isn’t that neat?
German Spy Museum Berlin
Visiting the German Spy Museum is an absolute must for both: locals and visitors! After all, the divided capital was a hotbed for spies during the Cold War for 40 years. But the interactive exhibition is also a lot of fun for history buffs and even museum buffs! In the secret laboratory and laser labyrinth, children can try their take at being mini spies and adults can take a lie detector test – if they dare. Not only fans of 007 and Mission Impossible will be amazed by the gadgets on display. With real spies reporting on their work, you can give your image of the cool agent a reality check. The fun continues right next door at the partner of the Berlin Spy Museum because our next recommendation for visiting Berlin is just a few minutes’ walk away and your next upcoming event!
Germany Museum
The ‘Deutschlandmuseum’, which opened in 2023 and therefore has not been a part of Berlin’s museum landscape for so long, but delights visitors of all ages with an innovative exhibition concept that appeals to all the senses. Walk through the Teutoburg Forest, let the pungent smell of gunpowder fill your nose or sit on an outhouse.
The design of the rooms, which tell 2000 years of German history from ancient Germania to the 2006 Football World Cup, is as immersive as it is entertaining and also impresses internationally: In 2023, the ‘Deutschlandmuseum’ was the first German museum from Berlin to receive the Californian THEA Award; a major prize in the entertainment industry (also known as the ‘Museum Oscar’), which annually recognizes special achievements in the fields of leisure and museums. Insider Berlin tip: With the combined ticket, you save 30 percent on the admission price to the German Spy Museum Berlin and the ‘Deutschlandmuseum’.
Museum of Natural History
One of the most traditional and still best museums in Berlin is the ‘Museum für Naturkunde’ (Museum of Natural History). Nowhere else you will get such a vivid impression of what it must have been like when dinosaurs still ruled the earth. The imposing skeleton of the majestic Brachiosaurus sits enthroned in the atrium above the carnivorous Allosaurus and the Stegosaurus and, at 13,27 metres high, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world. But it’s not just dinosaur fans who get their money’s worth in this museum. In the room next to the dinosaur exhibition, you can snuggle up comfortably on a huge lounger and embark on a fascinating journey through our universe.
In addition to the numerous specimens, some of them are over 200 years old, this is one of the best museums in Berlin as it also regularly exhibits unique finds such as the fragments of a meteorite that fell to earth in early 2024.
German Museum of Technology
‘Technology that inspires!’
The famous advertising slogan of a German car manufacturer could also be the motto of this museum in Berlin, because it’s not just car fans and railroad enthusiasts who are in good hands here. In addition to vintage cars, locomotives, aeroplanes and ships, you can also learn about beer brewing, candy making and film production. Thanks to the experimental stations and interactive exhibits, there is never a dull moment with children in Berlin. The German Museum of Technology is not only one of the best and varied museums in Berlin, but also super-affordable and family-friendly, as all children under the age of 18 are admitted free of charge. Thanks to its 26500 square metres of exhibition space, you can easily spend a whole day here.
DDR Museum
In this cool museum in Berlin, the DDR charm of days gone by is brought back to life on 1000 square metres. Thanks to the reconstruction of a typical prefabricated apartment with ochre-coloured pattern wallpaper and chipboard cupboard walls from the ‘VEB Möbelkombinat’ (nationally owned factory in the former DDR), you can experience history in the truest sense of the word. Of course, the famous car ‘Trabi’ is not to be missed. With the driving simulator, you can drive it through historical scenery. The many interactive exhibits make it to one of the best museums in Berlin and the ideal destination for families. In addition to the Life in slab construction buildings and Public Life sections, there is also the State and Ideology section, which deals, among other things, with the building of the Wall and Stasi (state security service of the former GDR) activities.
Stasi Museum Berlin
Speaking of the Stasi: If you want to find out more about the infamous secret service of the former German Democratic Republic (DDR), the Stasi Museum is a MUST.
The museum is located on the former site of the headquarters of the Ministry of State Security and provides a wealth of information about this powerful political instrument for monitoring DDR citizens. It is best to bring enough time to follow the whole story from the founding to the dissolution of the secret service apparatus. Particularly impressive to explore is the office of Erich Mielke, the long-serving and last Minister of State Security of the DDR, which has been preserved in its original state. We highly recommend a guided tour when visiting this museum in Berlin, which vividly conveys the methods and extent of spying.
‘Tränenpalast‘ – Site of German Division
The ‘Tränenpalast’ at Friedrichstraße station is small but mighty. In the exhibition of Berlin’s attractions, you can experience first-hand the harassment and drama that took place when entering and leaving the inner-German border. It is not for nothing that the former border crossing point bears its name. The original border gates that had to be passed, photo and film documentation and original sound recordings of contemporary witnesses make the sometimes oppressive atmosphere of the time comprehensible. A big plus: admission is free.
The Jewish Museum Berlin
Before you even enter the Jewish Museum in Berlin, you will be amazed by the modern architecture by Daniel Libeskind that meets the baroque old building and forms the Jewish Museum together with the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy. Just as different architectural styles form an impressive ensemble on the outside, the past and present come together inside the building to create a living mosaic of Berlin’s Jewish culture. A mixture of classical exhibition, multimedia presentations and art gallery in the heart of Berlin illuminates various aspects of life, religion and history of Jews in Europe. When it comes to the Holocaust, the architecture, which reflects the diversity and complexity of Jewish identity, once again works hand in hand with the exhibition and has a thoroughly depressing effect on visitors. Admission to the permanent exhibition Jewish History and Present in Germany is free of charge. Admission to ANOHA, the children’s world of the Jewish Museum Berlin, is also free. At the entrance, a giant sloth invites young visitors to learn about the story of Noah’s Ark in a playful way.
Topography of Terror Documentation Centre
The horror of the National Socialist terror is impossible to put into words. Thanks to the Topography of Terror Memorial, which is one of the best museums in Berlin, you can at least begin to understand it. The exhibition is located on the site where the Gestapo and SS institutions were based at the time and documents their crimes on a tour of the site. We recommend a tour with an audio guide. The documentation centre is one of the most important places in the world – even beyond the borders of Berlin – and, as one of the best museums in Berlin, it is one of the most frequented exhibitions in Germany with over one million visitors per year. Admission is free.
