Cutting Berlin travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

From stylish hotels, retro-chic bars that resemble cold-war bomb shelters to boutiques that elevate kitschy East German goods to high design, Berlin is still divided. The city is a mixture of past and future. Take a stroll into the twisted backstreets and you might bump into building, a courtyard or a block that looks frozen in 1989. The art mile in the Mitte district, in drab contrast to the slick galleries and Ikea-fied apartments.

Berlin is extremely rich in music and art. The music, as eclectic as the beer selection, is played by a rotating cast of floppy-haired D.J.’s. For modern beats in a retro lounge, climb the rickety scaffolding to Klub der Republik, or K.D.R. , a grungy hangout in Prenzlauer Berg named after the Palace of the Republic, the dismantled East German parliament building.

Berlin has 170-plus museums, but only one examines how ordinary East Berliners lived under Communist rule — another example, perhaps, that reunification is a work in progress. The small, privately financed DDR Museum opened in 2006 and offers a playful trip behind the Iron Curtain with authentic artifacts and archival film.

Berlin was a huge city even when it was divided. To cover more ground, see old East Berlin behind the wheel of a Trabant, the plastic car that was a symbol, for better or worse, of the Communist regime. See also how the other side lived. While East Berliners were scouring markets for fresh fruits and vegetables, Iggy Pop and others were drinking absinthe and ordering entrecote at the Paris Bar , in the upscale Charlottenburg district of what was West Berlin.

The city has coolest night life. whether it’s the urban beach bars that seem to wash up wherever there’s open space or the perpetually long lines outside the Watergate Club. Vintage drink carts. For groovy East German goods at moderate prices, bring your tote bag to Arkonaplatz, a little park at the edge of Mitte that becomes a retro-trendy flea market on Sundays. Cute cafes ring the park. Bring your sunglasses.

Photos by: Denny Lee