5 Ways To Stay Cool in Berlin

The Brilliant thing about Berlin is there is so much to see and do that you could go 10 times and have a completely different experience every time. As temperatures soared to 35°, traipsing around the sites was not an appealing option. Our priority was to keep cool and luckily for us, Berlinners are a very chilled bunch so here are my top 5 ways to wipe the sweat from the brow.

No. 1 Badeshciff

Head to Badeshciff, which translates to 'Bathing Ship'. It started as an art project which transformed the hull of a vessel into a swimming pool right in the middle of a neglected stretch of the Berlin Spree. There's nothing quite like the feeling of swimming in a clear pool, surrounded by the murky water. It all gets a bit flash on the decking, with a bar, DJ and expensive drinks but get up before the Berlinners and beat the queues of 1hour + to get in the water for one of the most amazing swimming experiences you'll ever have.

www.arena-berlin.de

No. 2 Wonder around (in the shade)

Berlin has been doing casual pop-ups before we coined 'pop-up' to mean a slightly contrived tempary set-up. We got chatting to a man who told us 15 years ago, without mobile phones it was impossible to plan where to meet because you would go to a bar or gallery one week and it would be closed the next. For that reason, some of the best Berlin has to offer won't be in the guide book. We stumbled upon a DJ playing on a beach on top of a yellow taxi, some optical illusion street art and got lots of awful photos taken in the Photoautomats.

Mauer Park watermelon

Engelberg meat and cheese platter

No. 3 Eat outside

Here are some snaps of some of our cullinary finds. Water melon from Mauer park flea market, a gerkin from a beer garden and meat + cheese plate from Engelberg cafe.

No. 4 Drink outside

Whether it be in a beer garden or just walking down the curb of a Straße, Berliner Kindl in hand. A cool beer is the ultimate accessory.

No. 5 Go to the Flea markets

Have a good old rummage in the Mauer Park flea market and you will be sure to emerge with a great cheap find. We did get a bit hot, but that didn't matter becuase we got soaked by these guys who responded to everyone's "cool me off" cries by attaching a fireman's hose pipe to a water main and drenching grateful passers by.