KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens), Berlin

It is the 2nd largest department store in Europe attracting thousands of visitors each day. Walking around a department store is not really my cup of tea BUT venture to the top of KaDeWe and you can have a very civilised cup of tea (and more)! There are 7 floors in total. Floor 6 is an enormous delicatessen & floor 7 a top floor restaurnat sporting windows for walls (very nice).

If you are in this neck of the woods it is worth a little venture to the food floors if nowhere else!

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Shoppoholics might call me crazy, but I think such shopping paradises like the KaDeWe are the first thing you can delete from your to-do-list if you have limited time. Ok, I admit, I went there for 30 minutes on our last visit although we had a tight schedule, and looked for some things I had not found in New Zealand (and I did not find them there either LOL) – and had I not just had had breakfast shortly before, I would have stayed longer and tasted some of the delicatessen they offer there on a whole floor ;-)

KaDeWe stand for Kaufhaus des Westens – Department Store of the West. It is more than just a store with a good selection of everything. It is the biggest one of its kind in continental Europe, bigger than Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Germany’s Harrods.

It was founded in 1907, so has just become a hundred years old. However, it was hugely damaged during World War II but reconstructed and reopened in 1950.

On eight storeys you find – nearly – everything. Apart from cheap stuff, perhaps. You can spend a fortune for all the nice and exclusive things.

My favourite floor is the sixth. This is the culinary paradise and gourmet temple of the building. Do not go there hungry, or you get crazy because you will not be able to decide which delicatessen you should taste first. Lobster, oysters, fish bites, rinse it down with a glass of champagne. Also the hundred different and artistically decorated cakes, all kinds of bread and smallgoods you can imagine can give you a hard time – especially if you are an expatriate living in a country which has neither a bread nor a smallgoods culture… Believe me, walking through those aisles can make me homesick, and I really do not get this feeling very often. Isn’t it strange that food you grew up with forms part of your identity?

But sure, as they have delicatessen from all parts of the world you will always discover something nice from your home country. All nice – and all expensive LOL

Open Mon – Thu 10am – 8pm, Fri 10am – 10pm, Sat 9.30am – 8pm

Great department stores in Berlin!....I thought we had it good in the states...Much larger and amazing selections plus a killer buffet at this store...Also loved Galleria store near Alexanderplatz station

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Nowadays a department store is not a big thing, but as West Berlin was intended to be a showcase of capitalism in Cold War days, Berlin took great pride in the KaDeWe, comparable to Harrods in London. There is nothing you won`t find in the KaDeWe. The food department is spectacular!

Visit KADEWE, the department store close to Kudamm !!!! and pls do not forget to reach the food floor ... IT'S ABSOLUTELY AMAZING !!!!! and you can go for eating in several restaurants within the store !!!!

While KaDeWe is a nice store, there is not much that differentiates it from Macy's or Harrods. So if you have been to either of those stores, there is not much need to go to KaDeWe as a tourist destination. However, there is one perfectly good reason why you MUST go. On the top floor where they keep the food and the spirits, there is one section that is make up entirely of different kinds of sausage. This is what make Germany special to me, for I would never see so much wurst in any other place outside of Germany. I could have stayed in there for hours, just sampling all they have to offer, but, of course, that was no an option. So if you go to KaDeWe, make sure you look into this German epitomizing culinary characteristic.

The largest and most magnificent department store on continental Europe invites you to shop and window shop. Its six floors are home to the famous food department, a conservatory restaurant under the roof, the well-known glass panorama lift and countless departments selling everything anyone could possibly want to buy.

When the Wall came down, thousands of East Berliners streamed through the now-unmanned checkpoints and made their way to the legendary department store KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens). They wanted to see whether the stories about the place were true and, by and large, they are.

This place is on a par with Harrod’s of London, and probably a notch above the most famous of New York’s stores on the strength of its food hall alone. That’s the most spectacular floor, with every conceivable product on hand, all of it expensively-priced, and with staff members constantly adjusting displays so that everything looks perfect. There are also several places to eat, including an excellent, and good value, fish restaurant, once you recover from the assault on your senses: it’s a bit like going grocery shopping in Buckingham Palace!