Curated Berlin plans, ready to follow

Berlin is vast - the city is around nine times the size of Paris, and two sights can easily sit several kilometres apart. The single most useful planning tip is therefore to bundle your days by district rather than racing back and forth across town. A morning around Museum Island and Unter den Linden, an afternoon in Kreuzberg - that saves both journeys and nerves. That is exactly how our plans are built.

You need no car to get around. The web of U-Bahn, S-Bahn, tram and bus covers everything, and a day ticket for zones AB is enough for almost any inner-city stay. If you stay longer, a weekly ticket or the Berlin WelcomeCard works out cheaper and adds discounts on many attractions. Download a public-transport app before you travel and you will find every connection in real time.

The best time to visit is May to September, when beer gardens, lakes and the Tempelhofer Feld come into their own - but that is also when hotels are priciest. If you can be flexible, travel in April or October: mild weather, thinner crowds and noticeably lower room rates. Each plan below closes with a hotel suggestion that fits its district, so the short journeys survive past check-out too.