Museum Island

Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage site and puts five separate museums on one island in the Spree river: the Pergamonmuseum, the Neues Museum, the Altes Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Bode-Museum. Between them they cover ancient Egypt, classical antiquity, Byzantine art and 19th-century European painting. The complex was laid out in the 1800s as a deliberate answer to the Louvre and the British Museum.

Do not try to do all five in a day. Pick one or two, buy timed tickets online, and let the rest be a reason to come back. For a first visit the easiest choice is the Neues Museum, home of the Nefertiti bust, plus the Alte Nationalgalerie. Large parts of the Pergamonmuseum are closed for a long-running renovation, so check what is actually open before you plan around it.

One practical note that catches Americans out: most German museums close one day a week, usually Monday, and several stay open late one evening. Check the day you plan to go rather than assuming.

The island sits between the Lustgarten square and Berlin Cathedral, a few minutes on foot from Unter den Linden, the Humboldt Forum and the Hackescher Markt courtyards. The S-Bahn stops at Hackescher Markt and several tram lines run past the northern end, both about a five-minute walk from the entrances.