Berlin

the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Topography of Terror on the former Gestapo site, and the government quarter

the former concentration camp north of the city, now a memorial + documentation site, visited with gravity and a study guide

the death-strip memorial where the Wall is preserved in situ, and the former Stasi remand prison

five museums on one UNESCO island, in the island's bicentenary year

the Hohenzollern Baroque palace and gardens, plus the free glass Reichstag dome for the city panorama

the panorama from the 1969 TV Tower over the whole city, and the Gemäldegalerie's Old Masters + the Neue Nationalgalerie at the Kulturforum

Frederick the Great's rococo Sanssouci palace + park, the Cecilienhof, and the Dutch Quarter — a half-day of Prussian grandeur just outside the city

the UNESCO Spreewald biosphere reserve — a labyrinth of canals poled by traditional flat-bottomed Kahn boats through Sorbian villages, an hour southeast

the world's most serious techno scene plus the Kreuzberg/Neukölln bars and late kitchens

the canal-side beach bars, a boat on the Spree, and a sundowner on a rooftop — Berlin's warm-weather scene at its easiest

the 76th Berlin International Film Festival — premieres, red carpets, the Berlinale Palast — or a concert in the Berliner Philharmonie

the street-food canon and Berlin's rising Michelin scene, plus the Markthalle Neun

Street Food Thursday in the historic Kreuzberg market hall and the canal-side Turkish market — the multicultural table where Berliners actually eat

one of the world's most species-rich zoos, the hands-on DDR museum, and a boat along the Spree past the government quarter

the Museum für Naturkunde holds the world's tallest mounted dinosaur skeleton and Tristan the T-Rex, and Legoland Discovery sits at Potsdamer Platz

a suite at the Adlon facing the Gate, a walk through the Tiergarten to Charlottenburg, and a candlelit dinner

the vast Balinese-style vabali spa or a rooftop hotel spa