One is a lawn in Mitte with almost nothing left standing. One is forty hectares of forest past the tram terminus. One shuts at 14:30 every Friday and all day Saturday. Berlin’s historic cemeteries are not a single attraction with a single opening time, and treating them as one is how people end up at a locked gate. Here is what is inside each of the five, how far each really is from Alexanderplatz, and which one fits the time you have.

The Berlin Wall runs straight through central Berlin, marked by a cobblestone line most visitors walk over without noticing. Here is where it crosses Mitte and how to read it on foot.

Central Berlin hides some of its strongest history in plain sight. Follow one 5.3 km walk from Anhalter Bahnhof to Alexanderplatz through a ruined station, a GDR watchtower, Tränenpalast, memorials and old railway architecture.

Two of Gendarmenmarkt's three landmarks are called cathedrals, and neither one is. A local guide to Berlin's most beautiful square: what each building really is, the free exhibition inside the German Cathedral, and whether the French tower climb is worth it.