Restaurants and a cinema inside the Sony Center complex at the Potsdamer Platz.

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Potsdamer Platz

Top choice in Berlin


The rebirth of the historic Potsdamer Platz was Europe's biggest building project of the 1990s, a showcase of urban renewal masterminded by such top international architects as Renzo Piano and Helmut Jahn. An entire city quarter sprouted on terrain once bifurcated by the Berlin Wall and today houses offices, theatres and cinemas, hotels, apartments and museums. Highlights include the glass-tented Sony Center and the Panoramapunkt observation deck.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Berlin attractions

1. Berlin Wall Segments

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Tourist like to pose in front of these graffiti-festooned segments of the Berlin Wall set up along its original course outside the Potsdamer Platz train…

2. Panoramapunkt

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Europe’s fastest lift, Panoramapunkt yo-yos up and down the red-brick postmodern Kollhoff Tower in 20 seconds. From the bilevel viewing platform at a…

3. Boulevard der Stars

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Berlin's own version of Hollywood's Walk of Fame features 101 (and counting) brass stars embedded in a red-asphalt 'carpet' along Potsdamer Strasse. They…

4. Daimler Contemporary Berlin

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Escape the city bustle at this quiet, loft-style gallery where the Daimler corporation shares selections from its considerable collection of international…

5. Weinhaus Huth

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This rare eyewitness to the pre-WWII Potsdamer Platz was designed in 1912 as a wine restaurant. It was one of the first steel-frame buildings in town. The…

6. Dalí – Die Ausstellung

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If you only know Salvador Dalí as the painter of melting watches, burning giraffes and other surrealist imagery, this private collection will likely open…

7. Museum für Film und Fernsehen

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Germany's film history gets the star treatment at this engaging museum. Explore galleries dedicated to pioneers like Fritz Lang, ground-breaking movies…

8. Sony Center

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Designed by Helmut Jahn, the visually dramatic Sony Center is fronted by a 26-floor, glass-and-steel tower and integrates rare relics from the prewar era…