Reasons for you to visit Berlin Buzzwords #

I’ve heard of several people who are not quite sure yet whether they should visit Berlin Buzzwords or not - in particular when having to travel far and cross 9 time zones to attend. My general recommendation is to plan to spend some more days in Europe. The conference is conveniently scheduled on Monday and Tuesday which gives you one weekend before to explore the city and the whole week afterwards to go and see more either in the city or around.

In case you are wondering whether the city is a worthy destination when travelling with children - below is a list of things to do and places to go I sent to someone recently. Hope it helps with your decision as well. In general the city is pretty green, there are several locations specially amenable to a visit with kids - so treat the list below as what it is: An incomplete listing of some of the most obvious locations that might be of interest collected by someone who knows a few parents and their children. Also in case you speak German make sure to check out one of the many guide books for Berlin with children available in local book stores - Dussmann and Hugendubel generally have the largest selection though Chatwins is my preferred one for anything about travelling.

In the city

• Tierpark Berlin - make sure you visit Tierpark (not Zoo) - it’s much larger and friendlier. See also images taken by Berlin Buzzwords fotographer Philipp, general images.
  
• There is a huge park in walking distance of Brandenburger Tor: Tiergarten for recreation after sight seeing.
  
• For swimming head over to either Wannsee or Schlachtensee
  
• For exploring a NSA listening station head west to Teufels-berg
  
• On warm evenings plan for some time at Maybachufer
  

• If your kids like tech go to Technik Museum (it features one of the first computer (the one built by Zuse that is))
  
• If you kids like nature go to Naturkunde Museum
  
• If you are interested in science - make sure to be here for the long night of science (web page may need google translate unless you speak German.)
  
• For a city tour check out the following scribbles - they also include some interesting parts of the bus line 100 and 200
  

Close to the city:

• 80km north: rent a canoo and explore Mecklenburg
  
• 200km north: visit Rügen, spend some time swimming, some time to see the amazing chalk cliffs, some time to see the isle by bike
  
• 250km south: go hiking or rafting in Elbsandsteingebirge
  
• 80km south: rent a canoo and explore the canals in Spreewald
  

Recommendations from friends

• Dawid Weiss: Badeschiff - a pool-on-the-river thing. It’s not something you get in any ordinary city :)
  
• Steve Loughran: My son’s favourite part of a trip to berlin (age 9) was actually the Bauspielplatz: Smaller kids get a play area where they can use the sand + water to build streams, dam them and generally make a mess, while the 8+ get a playground where they actually help build it under adult supervision. They also run a good open air waffle/pancake/coffee shop. They’re open in the afternoons.