Landing at Berlin Brandenburg Airport in Berlin puts you right in the middle of things, with places like Potsdam, the Spreewald, and Leipzig all close by. Berlin is the German capital, a city of reinvention where Cold War history, cheap doner kebabs, techno clubs, and famous museums all share the same streets. It is scruffy and creative, flat and bike-friendly, and ringed by lakes and forests you can reach by S-Bahn.

Things to do in Berlin: - Walk through the Brandenburg Gate and up to the glass dome of the Reichstag - Follow the murals along the East Side Gallery, the longest surviving stretch of the Wall - Spend a day on Museum Island, from Nefertiti to the Pergamon altar - Browse Mauerpark's Sunday flea market and watch the open-air karaoke - Eat currywurst at a street stand and a doner in Kreuzberg - Bike or picnic on the old runways of Tempelhofer Feld - Explore the bars and canal paths of Kreuzberg and Neukolln - Swim in Wannsee or Schlachtensee on a summer afternoon - Tour Charlottenburg Palace and its gardens

Berlin sits in the lake-dotted state of Brandenburg with easy escapes in every direction. Potsdam, with the rococo palace of Sanssouci and its terraced gardens, is about 40 minutes away. The Spreewald, a forest of canals where you punt past farms and buy pickles from a boat, is about 75 minutes southeast. Leipzig, Bach's city and now a hub for artists, is a little over an hour by train. Berlin is at its best in summer, when beer gardens fill and the lakes warm up, but its museums and bars never close for winter.