Berlin

Berlin is not pretty in the postcard way, and that is exactly the point. It is a city that has been divided, rebuilt and reinvented within living memory, and you can read all of it in the streets. Walk from the Brandenburg Gate to a surviving stretch of the Wall, then cross to Museum Island, where whole civilisations sit in grand halls. Come evening, the city turns into a patchwork of neighbourhoods, from Kreuzberg cafés to techno clubs that run until Monday.

Talking points

• The Wall once split the city in two, and its route is still marked in the pavement
• Museum Island packs several major museums onto one small island in the Spree
• Its green spaces and cafe culture give it a relaxed feel for a capital
• Its green spaces, like Tempelhof airfield, are unlike anything in other capitals