Kreuzberg plan: A great dinner, great live music and a beer for 8 EUR

While this may not be that "hidden", I have found many people in Berlin don't know about two great venues in Kreuzberg: the Burgermeister and Madame Claude. Visiting the two in a single night makes for a quality yet cheap plan, provided you like burgers and alternative / experimental music.

Madame Claude is the greatest bar I've been to so far, not only because of its friendly, surrealistic atmosphere but also because of its cultural offering, as in: experimental music on Monday (the so called "Experimontags"), a music quiz on Wednesday, pretty interesting live music on Friday and Saturday and a singer/songwriter jam session on Sunday.

Tip: The last.fm page is the most updated one if you want to see upcoming events.

Tip 2: Buy a beer and wait around the "live music room" if you want to get a decent seat.

So this is my typical Monday night "happyness recipe": Go to U1 Schlesisches Tor, have a burger at Burgermeister for 3.5 EUR, head to Madame Claude, pay a couple of EUR for the entrance, get a beer and watch the artists of the "Experimontag". All together, 8 EUR.

And if you don't care about budget, but you like good food and alternative music, you'll be happy too!

A night in the cinema, back into my childhood

It has been many years since I've went to a cinema like this. I've lived in big cities where all cinemas became the same: many movies, small projection rooms, huge, impersonal candy & corn crisps shops...

When I was a child, I used to go to a cinema with only one movie and a big projection room. Now I can go back to my childhood at "Odeon" cinema, just a few blocks away from my flat in Berlin. Not only is this a charming one-movie cinema, they also have original English-language with german subtitles!

Tip: Take a close look to the price list. On weekends it can get a bit expensive!

Tip 2: Not a rare thing in Berlin, but you might not think about it: you can drink a bottle of beer inside the projection room while watching the film.

Tip 3: You can reach it by S-Bahn Innsbrucker Platz or U4 Rathaus Schöneberg.

Steglitz: Urban art & odd buildings, outside "the ring"

Some people believe there's nothing interesting "outside the ring" but actually Berlin has many surprises for you, further than you may think. I like to walk around western districts such as Steglitz where there is no "hipe", just german people, and places for german people. They are the perfect place for a Sunday-morning-walk far from the noise of "inside-ring", gentrified districts.

So I woke up for a 5 kilometer walk from Bayerischer Platz - where I live - to the weird "Bierpinsel" (a strange, futuristic building from the 70's which used to be a restaurant, now closed). From Innsbrucker Platz, I took "Hauptstrasse" all the way down, finding all sort of interesting shops (like Pasculli's bikes)...

... and restaurants (never been to a croatian one!).

The "Bierpinsel" appeared in front of me and I took some pictures of it.

But the biggest surprise was inside "Schlosstrasse" U-Bahn. I found the whole station full of cool graffiti! And the station itself was quite quirky.

You can find this station in line U9, 3 stops away from the ring. The "Bierpinsel" is right outside of it.

Rathaus Schöneberg & Rudolph-Wilde Park

I live in a quiet and not so-well-known district of Berlin called Schöneberg. Full of great places for eating and drinking, this western neighborhood also offers marvellous places for relaxing and walking around. My favourite one is around "Rathaus Schöneberg", a relevant building where Kennedy once pronounced the famous words "Ich bin ein Berliner", surrounded by a vast green area (Rudolph-Wilde Park) where one can enjoy walking, running or biking any time of the year.

The park is specially nice on summer, but it also becomes interesting in autumn, full of coloured leaves:

And in winter too!

You can get there by U4 Rathaus Schöneberg, but U7 Bayerischer Platz is also nearby (5 minutes).

From the ring (Innsbrucker Platz) you just have to walk 5 minutes.

If you are into asian food, I recommend you to eat at Viet Rice where they have fantastic dishes for 5 euros. The eastern area up to Eisenacher strasse is also full of nice coffee places.