Sustainable and Fun Hotspots in Berlin

A few weeks ago I went to Berlin with my boyfriend for a weekend. Even though I had a blast, a weekend is too short. Berlin is huge! And amazing at the same time. So much to see, so many hotspots, a woman from the bike tour we did told us Berlin is six times larger than Paris! In this blogpost I want to tell you about the things we went to, so that when you visit Berlin, you’ll have a blast too. I’ll post it today, but I’m sure I’ll edit it through time, since I’ll definitely go back one day (or more!). So, here it is. A blogpost about the sustainable and fun hotspots Berlin.

Travel

I’ve said it before, flying is a disaster for our environment. So, if you visit Berlin, please don’t go by plane. Let’s boycot planes together! I went to Berlin by car, which is a better option. You do need to buy an environmental sticker on your car when you want to go into Berlin, because of the pollution (I support that fully, go Berlin!). But even though I didn’t do it myself (going by car was free for me and my boyfriend because of his lease car), I would recommend going there by train. It’s the most sustainable option (besides a holiday on bike, which is on my bucket list too) and you’ll be in the heart of Berlin. In the Netherlands you can go forth and back to Berlin for 78 euros.

Once you’re in Berlin I’d recommend using public transport through the city. It’s not expensive and so relaxed! Traveling through Berlin by car or bike when you don’t know the city very well is something I would not recommend. The traffic is terrible. We payed 32 euros for a 72-hour ticket to use public transportation. That’s bus, train and metro all included in all zones. It’s a sin that most of the traveling is underground, but still I think this is the best option. Once you’re there, you can visit sustainable and fun hotspots inside Berlin, but the travel is very important too.

Stay

Traveling on a tight budget (I’m a student), we did not go to an eco-hotel or anything like that. I’m sure there are things like that in Berlin, but we chose to go for a cheap hotel. We stayed at Motel Plus. The location is great, near a metro station, but not in the centre. We tried to make our stay as sustainable as possible ourselves by making sure our room was only cleaned at our departure and using towels longer. It was fine for now. We paid about 300 euros for 3 nights.

Food

Now, since Berlin is basically heaven for anyone who lives vegan, I’m going to start with this section. If I lived in Berlin, I would definitely weight 20 pounds more because of all the good vegan food haha (which is fine of course)! Veganism and sustainability go hand in hand, so these are definitely sustainable (and fun!) hotspots in Berlin.

1990 vegan living

This restaurants as the name says is 100% plant-based! It has Vietnamese food, mainly small bites to share. I was soooo exited to visit this. This meant I could share all of the food! Normally ‘sharing’ my food means they eat my vegan food but I can’t eat their non-vegan food. But, this was perfect. I loved the place and the food was amazing! There were a lot of options, so I plan on going back one day! It was not the best food I’ve ever tasted, but it was a lovely place with good food.

Geh veg

This place is for breakfast and lunch. To be honest I did not really know what to expect from this place, but is surprised me in such a good way. We came there and it was a lovely small and cozy place with a good spot in the sun for us to eat. They had some amazing-looking vegan cakes in the display case, but I went for a burger and an Oreo shake. Oh my, that was the best thing ever! My boyfriend had such a colorful plate too, with all sorts of flavor! I loved it.

Veganz

Throughout Berlin there are three supermarkets which are 100% plant-based. I was so exited for this place! They basically have everything there, but it is of course expensive. They also have a small section for takeaway food. I thought it was amazing but most things I wanted to try were in the fridge or freezer so I could not take them since we slept in a hotel. I bought muffins, whipped cream, garlic cream, tortellini, stuffed vine leaves and a mix for scrambled tofu! All vegan. God, I wish they had this in my city. Or my country, that would be nice too.

Brammibal’s donuts

This is a must visit, I swear! They have vegan donuts! Must I say more? No. I had two of them and they were delicious. Loved it, absolutely loved it. Quick, vegan and delicious!

Bona Kollektiv

Just before we left to go back home, my boyfriend and I wanted to eat breakfast somewhere and I just had no inspiration. My boyfriend searched for something and it was perfect. Again, a small and cozy place with such a nice ambiance. They have vegan options, but not everything is vegan, which is great when your company is not living vegan (like mine). An amazing compromise. This dish I had was just stunning, delicious and filling as well!

Highlights

I don’t really feel the need to explain every single historical highlight in Berlin here, because there are so many! I will sum up a few thing which I personally loved and for all the other must sees (like the Berlin Wall, the Berliner Dom, Reichstag etc.), well, that’s just too obvious.

A bike tour

Every single person I’ve talked to about Berlin I’ve recommended this to. A bike tour! Like I said, public transportation is mostly underground, so that’s just a sin. Biking is such a fun way to discover Berlin, if it’s guided. We did a highlight tour, to the Berlin Wall, the Holocaust monument, The Reichstag and all those obvious things because we had never been there. But, you have bike tours for anyone. For the new tourists, for the ones who’ve been there 5 times already, it does not matter. It is just amazing! I am so exited about it that I want to do it in every city now. I love biking. We did a tour at BajaBikes which was in Dutch, but there are tours in many languages. This is a must.

The Monkey Bar

I did not know about this bar at all, but my boyfriend wanted to go there. The Monkey Bar is bar which is located at the 10th flour of a hotel, so the view is absolutely stunning. It is popular, so you’d probably have to wait in line for a while, but that is totally worth it. We went there when it was still light but was starting to get dark so we sat there and watched the sunset from that hight. Oh my. They have some lovely drinks and food up there, music and the vibe is just great! I would definitely recommend it.

Tempelhofer Feld

This park used to be an airport, so it is huge. The runway is still there, so you can skate, bike and do whatever you want on there. But, there is also a big area of grass to just chill. We went there when it was about 25 degrees around dinner time, so it was busy, people were barbecuing, playing football, all of the fun and relaxing things humans do. There is just a vibe of peace in the air which is a-ma-zing. If you have little time in Berlin I get that you do not want to visit a park and just sit there, but to us it was totally worth it. It was such a weird feeling that it was all just peace and love there and that there used to be war and an airport. What a contradiction.

Mauerpark Flee Market

Thrifting! Even on holidays. On Sunday’s there is a huge flee market in the Mauerpark, next to where the olympic stadium used to be. It was fun! But, we had too little time. For flee markets you should really take a full day to just sniff around and look at what’s in there. But, we had limited time so it was fine for just an hour. A quick flee market is still a lot of fun when you visit Berlin and they have lovely vegan street food too!

Second hand shopping

Humana

Due to a lack of time, we only went to one second hand clothing store in Berlin, but it was a good one! Humana has a lot of different stores throughout Berlin, so you’ll probably will be able to go to at least one (or all!). As usual, you just have to take time and really search well, but that’s the fun part about thrifting in my opinion. I was not so exited about upstairs but downstairs they have a separate vintage second which is totally my style. Consequently, I hope they’ll have that section in every Humana store. I bought a jeans, something I really needed. That’s a succes!

Do you know any more sustainable and fun hotspots in Berlin?

Yours sincerely,
Romee