Nearly two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German capital is becoming ever more popular with young tourists who have made it Europe’s third most visited city, as much for the über-cool nightclubs as for the history.
Defying all expectations, the city drew more foreign visitors in the first half of the year than in 2006 when Germany hosted the Soccer World Cup.
The trend continued in July, despite heavy rains, as tourism figures increased by 6,5% compared with the same month last year, and the capital’s tourism office says Berlin is now Europe’s most popular city to visit after London and Paris.
“It’s Europe’s most interesting city. It’s the place to be,” says Paul, a 29-year-old Scotsman.
It is 2am and he is queueing to get into the trendy club 103 in a tumble-down building metres away from where the wall used to mark the border between Berlin’s Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain neighbourhoods.
The bouncers at 103 claim to have become experts on the many cultures that converge here and part only at daybreak.
Brits, Spaniards and French pack the club, for the most part wearing oversized sunglasses as protection against the strobe lights.
“The Swedes are the best. They are adorable,” doorman Sandy remarks while his dreadlocked colleague, who insists on being called Blackout, estimates that half the visitors here are foreigners.
As if to underscore the point, a group of slightly tipsy Canadians arrive and declare that Berlin’s the best party to be had on the continent.
“We are doing a tour of all Europe’s biggest cities and Berlin is the best. We’re having a ball,” 20-year-old Sean says.
Natacha Kompatzki, spokesperson for Berlin’s tourism office, told Agence France-Presse the number of visitors had skyrocketed in the past five years.
“This year, we expect 17-million overnight stays in hotels, which will be a 10% increase on last year.”
Visitors not only come to sample the edgy nightlife, but to see the scars of the Cold War and to tap into “Ostalgie”, the German word for the sort of nostalgia for the artefacts of the communist era that has made even East Germany’s rickety Trabant cars collectors’ items.
Those who want the full treatment visit the remains of the Berlin Wall — whose fall led to German reunification on October 3 1990 — then book into the new “Ostel”, which was designed to lull visitors to sleep in a time warp under portraits of communist leader Erich Honecker.
But the city has also in recent years begun to attract an increasing amount of business visitors.
This is partly due to the success of big business fairs, like the bi-annual IFA telecommunications fair and the so-called “Green Week” ecological event, but major companies like DailmerChrysler and Lufthansa also choose to hold their annual general meetings here, though their headquarters are elsewhere.
Berlin’s tourist boom coincided with the advent of the low-cost airline EasyJet, which put it within easy reach of young travellers looking for fun, or even a job.
Two Spaniards in their late 20s, Juan and Oskar, said they plan to combine job interviews with sightseeing.
And if the fares are roughly the same as flying to Paris, London or Madrid, Berlin’s cheap meals and hotels mean that a weekend in the once-divided city may not cost much more than staying at home. — AFP