Shopping – Berlin

Go shopping or just window-shopping at over a dozen shopping malls, on the main shopping streets (Kurfürstendamm or Friedrichstrasse) or at the more quirky shops in Kreuzberg, Mitte or Prenzlauer Berg districts. KaDeWe, the famous department store on Wittenberg Platz, is the largest store on the European mainland – a shoppers' paradise on six floors. Galeries Lafayette in Friedrichstrasse brings a frisson of French elegance to the city. Malls such as the Arkaden on Potsdamer Platz, the Europa Center on Breitscheidplatz or the Alexa near Alexanderplatz offer great shopping even in bad weather.

Kurfürstendamm and Friedrichstrasse

Kurfürstendamm (also known as Ku’damm) runs from the Memorial Church to Lake Halensee, which marks the beginning of the exclusive "villa district" in the west of Berlin. The top end of Ku'damm is packed with department stores and fashion boutiques, and is a shopping paradise for young and old alike. From Adenauerplatz the stores become more exclusive: designer names from Jil Sander to Yves St. Laurent in elegant fin de siècle buildings. Friedrichstrasse links the glory days of the Roaring Twenties with modern architecture. With its new buildings, smart offices and coffee shops, it brings a flavour of New York to the heart of Berlin.

Kaufhaus des Westens, Europa Center and the New Kranzler Eck

The largest department store in continental Europe offers a huge variety of international designer labels. It has everything the heart desires, from jewellery and porcelain to ladies' and men's fashions. No visit would be complete without a trip to the legendary food hall on the sixth floor.

The Europa Center is the classic amongst the westernly situated shopping-centers of Berlin. Diagonally across the Kaiser-Wilhelm memorial church almost 100 shops and numerous restaurants invite you to discover this shopping mall. A spacious cinema complex is situated as well in the 123,5 m high building, opened in 1965. The upper floors house a lot of service complexes.

The new-built Kranzler Eck is catching everyone's eye not only because of its daring architectural style. Around the preserved legendary Café Kranzler with its striking marquee of the fifties a glass-made tower block of modern design was constructed. The patio is decorated with countless aviaries and forms the location of the subsidiaries of well-known labels, small boutiques and a BERLIN infostore which have moved into the Kranzler Eck to change it to a famous shopping meeting point.

Potsdamer Platz Arkaden and ALEXA

At the new heart of Berlin, the Potsdamer Platz, a shopping mall has been built. Potsdamer Platz Arkaden combine shops of textiles, design objects, shoes, and more at three floors in an architecturally modern atmosphere. Right beside the shopping centre many cinemas, the musical theatre and a casino are tempting to extend a stay at Potsdamer Platz until midnight.

On five levels the shopping and leisure centre ALEXA offers visitors a new mixture of shopping and entertainment with 180 shops of fashion, beauty, electronics and culinary specialties. One outstanding highlight is the model railway exhibition LOXX.