Top 10 Berlin: 2019

Overall, a well-designed mini-guidebook. The first part covers the 10 best of the entire city in several categories. The second part of the book divides Berlin into multiple neighborhoods, and provides the best of for each neighborhood. To me, this organization was ideal. The first part allowed me to chose from the major sites, places that are worth traveling to just for that one site. The second part allowed us to find nearby sites when wondering in various neighborhoods. It also includes a very small but decent German (language) dictionary and the standard general tourist information. It's not perfect. It would be better if the side of the book used different colors for different area, and if there were a neighborhood map in with each neighborhood, but those are details. Also, once in a while, it just fails; for example, try to find Arkaden based on information in the book. [I couldn't.] The big problem is that the book is quite dated. The copyright is 2002, and while it says it's been updated since then, there is some out-of-date information. Some examples: "Turkish families having barbecues" (pg 70) -- not any more, there are "no grilling" signs everywhere. "you can assess progress in the construction of the Holocaust-Denkmal" -- which was completed in 2005, as correctly stated elsewhere on the same page. "There are no intercontinental flights to Berlin" (pg 161) -- there are now. While we didn't encounter noticeable problems with the information being out of date, it did make me wonder what we missed.

If you are planning a short trip to Berlin this is a must have book. It covers excellent restaurants and wonderful places to stop and shop. The essential sights are all listed by region and are explained in enough detail for one to decide if they want to visit. If you are going for a longer period of time I would recommend a bigger guide but I would still get this one to walk around with.

I have bought many Eyewitness travel guides but this was the first time I used one of their Top 10 guides. It is an incredible travel aid, especially for first time visitors to a major city like Berlin. The guide is about much more than just the top 10 sites in Berlin. For example, each major site, such as the Pergmamon Museum, is further divided into its own top 10. This is an especially helpful aid in a city such as Berlin where the museums alone are worth the trip and each museum deserves days of exploring. When we fell further and further behind our self-imposed schedule, we defaulted to the Top 10 guide and used it extensively: the top 10 at the Egyptian Museum, the top 10 at the Pergamon, the top 10 on Unter den Linden, etc. In addition, the book lists the top 10 in each of a number of categories such as museums, art galleries (which are separated from museums), restaurants, stores, bars, architectural sites, etc. Plus there are neighborhood sections, each with a top 10 list of things to see and a list of cafes, bars and restuarants. This allowed us to go to a major Top 10, see the top 10 within, and then see some of the top 10 of the surrounding neighborhood. I found the recommendations to be reliable. The book is very well organized and includes helpful thumb nail photos. You may or may not agree with all the "top 10" judgements but as a first time visitor I was less concerned about that and more concerned with getting the most that I could out of my few days in a major city. This is the best city guide I have ever used. As an addendum, if you are going to Berlin, buy the murder-mystery novel "The Good German" set in August 1945.