Reichstag Building
Book the Reichstag Dome Before You Book Your Berlin Hotel
This is not hyperbole. The dome and rooftop terrace of the Reichstag are free to visit but require online registration through the Bundestag website (bundestag.de/en/visitthebundestag). In practice, this means booking several weeks ahead during peak season – spring through autumn – if you want a specific time slot. This is the single most important logistical fact about visiting one of Berlin’s most significant buildings. Everything else is secondary.
The Reichstag was completed in 1894 and has had one of the more eventful histories of any government building in Europe. It burned in February 1933 under circumstances that remain disputed; the fire gave Hitler pretext for the emergency powers that ended German democracy. It was severely damaged in the Battle of Berlin in 1945, abandoned in divided Germany (the functioning West German parliament moved to Bonn), and served largely ceremonially until reunification.
The Dome
Norman Foster’s 1999 glass dome is a 23-metre sphere with a mirrored cone at its centre channelling natural light into the plenary chamber below. A double-spiral ramp winds to the top. From the rooftop terrace the view takes in the Brandenburg Gate immediately south, the Tiergarten to the west, the Spree and government district to the north, and the Fernsehturm (TV Tower) 4km east.
The Soviet soldiers who captured the Reichstag in 1945 left graffiti on the interior walls. Foster preserved some of it behind glass during the renovation. Looking at pencilled Russian names and dates from May 1945 in a functioning 21st-century democracy is one of the more affecting things you can do in the building – a detail that most visitors walk past.
Free audio guides in multiple languages explain the history visible from each point of the ramp. Worth using.
Getting There and Around
The building sits on the Platz der Republik, five minutes’ walk from the Brandenburg Gate. The nearest S-Bahn station is Hauptbahnhof. Security procedures at the entrance are thorough; arrive 10 to 15 minutes before your slot.
The Memorial and the Government District
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Holocaust-Mahnmal) is 10 minutes south near the Brandenburg Gate: 2,711 concrete stelae designed by Peter Eisenman. When you walk into them from the edges where the blocks are low and find yourself 4 metres below grade at the centre, the geometry is disorienting in a productive way. Open 24 hours, admission-free, and should not be skipped.
The Federal Chancellery and the parliamentary buildings flanking the Spree are a deliberate piece of 1990s and 2000s urban design representing the reunified republic. Walking through this district along the river bank makes the architectural intention legible.
Eating Near the Bundestag
The building contains Restaurant Kafer, an upscale option with panoramic views requiring a separate reservation from the dome visit. The cafe in the Paul-Lobe-Haus serves basic meals at civil-servant prices. For more options, Mitte is 15 minutes’ walk.