Fernsehturm (TV Tower), Berlin

I visited the tower in the early nineties and enjoyed the experience. As I was passing recently I thought I'd have a ride to the top again. I was shocked to see that for an adult the cost for a two minute ride was now 11 euros. Please don't waste your money there are more enjoyable ways to spend your money in this exciting vibrant city.

Unique Suggestions: Don't it's not worth the money.

Fun Alternatives: Take a side trip to Nikkolei Viertel or a boat trip down the Spree on one of the boats

You can line up in a row, spend a small fortune to let your ears pop and another small fortune to have a mediocre (at best) coffee only to see that Berlin has no skyline worth to be mentioned.

Unique Suggestions: The TV tower was build as a boasting socialist landmark. The government wanted something that provides locals a breathtaking view over their city. Now, with that in mind: What do you see or in which direction do you look when you leave the escalator and enter the restaurant or visitor's platform? The western part of the city, right. The architects did so by purpose.

Fun Alternatives: Either go up the cupola on Reichstag building (free) or take the escalator at DaimlerChrysler center (the reddish high-raised building) (a couple of Euros) if Reichstag's cupola is not enough for you.

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Long wait to enter.

Unique Suggestions: The Berliner Dom is lovely inside and no queuing to enter, the views are great!

Fun Alternatives: The Reichstag may take 45 minutes but its well worth it and its free.
The views are wonderful too.

The "Fernsehturm" and the whole Alexanderplatz area are completely overrated. In my opinion this is the most unattractive part of central Berlin. The viewing platform of the "Fernsehturm" is not worthwhile as Berlin has no attractive skyline unlike Frankfurt, for example.

It costs 8 euro(no student discount) to take the elevator to the viewing point...which I think is too much.

Unique Suggestions: But maybe having a dinner on top of Berlin is fun for you? That'd be another story...there's a restaurant upstairs of the viewing point, which I think must be a luxurious place...

Fun Alternatives: There are a lot of other places where you can see the panoroma of Berlin, and for free or much cheaper! (e.g. Reichstag--the parliament: free entry 8:00-24:00) So don't bother to go...

Do not waste your 7,50 euro on this tower. The elevator is superfast (lots of ear-popping, but I guess if you really enjoy that kind of thing...) and the view is not even as good as the one you get FOR FREE from the dome of the Reichstag. Save your pennies and go have a beer instead.

Unique Suggestions: Take pictures so you'll always have a reminder of what a waste of money it was.

Fun Alternatives: See the city from the top of the glass dome on the roof of the Reichstag. It's free!

The fact that you can see this thing from practically all over central Berlin, means you're fed up with it before you even decide to go there. True, it's high and some people find it beautiful even, but truthfully I think it's an ominous piece of communist boasting. That said, the views must be amazing from up there. Still, I was quite happy to explore the city life down below instead.

Unique Suggestions: If you do go there and even go up, at least visit the area around it, like the Neptunbronnen, Marienkirche and Alexanderplatz. You can gawk at the tower from all around if you still don't get enough!

Fun Alternatives: For good views and a more cultural touch to it all, why not climb the dome of the Reichstag instead?

As explained to me by a friend named Chris, "schickey-mickey" what anything that was over-rated, really hyped up but had no true substance to it. He used the radio tower with the restaurant inside for an example. He said look but don't pay to go in, its a rip-off. "Schicky" was rather like suave or chic, and "Mickey" stood for Mickey Mouse, totally over-rated and hyped, thus you have things, people, places or attitudes that were "Schicky-Micky", looks good on the outside but really no fun at all. You may or may not hear something use this term while in Berlin, or maybe its only something Berliners explain to visitors who THEN say it and look really like the visitors they are.

Unique Suggestions: Take some great pics of the surrounding city. Stay as long as you can endure the slow spinning.

Most travellers want a good view of the city from above. In Berlin, the TV tower is the tallest building. Although the view from the TV tower is nice (when it isnt foggy or rainy), one can do much better...such as Berliner Dom or the Reichstag or....

Fun Alternatives: There are many alternatives:
Reichstag, Berliner Dom, and the Französische Dom offer much better views.
If you come in winter, remember to bring the hat and gloves along, because all of these are in the open air.

The TV tower is so commercialized. There are long lines. Everything is 5x more expensive then at other places.