What's a good 3-day itinerary for Berlin?

Three days, three districts. Day 1 stays in Mitte, where the big-ticket sights sit within 3 km of each other. Start at Zeit für Brot on Alte Schönhauser Straße by 8:30 for a Franzbrötchen and filter coffee, about 6 EUR total. The cinnamon-butter smell hits you before you find the door. Walk south to Brandenburg Gate by 9:30, when Pariser Platz is still half-empty. The Reichstag dome is free but requires online booking at least 3 days ahead. Take the 10 AM slot, and Norman Foster's glass spiral catches the morning light at its best. Head east along Unter den Linden. Lunch at Monsieur Vuong on Alte Schönhauser Straße by 12:30, where Vietnamese mains run 10-12 EUR with fast turnover. The Pergamon Museum is still closed for renovation, so the Neues Museum on Museum Island is the better pick right now. The Nefertiti bust alone is worth the 14 EUR entry. Berlin Cathedral is a 5-minute walk south. Pay 7 EUR, climb 270 steps, and the Spree panorama from the dome teaches you more about the city's shape than any map. Dinner at Zur Letzten Instanz on Waisenstraße, open since 1621, Eisbein about 18 EUR.

Day 2 moves east to Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg. The East Side Gallery runs 1.3 km along Mühlenstraße, 100-plus murals painted on a surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall. Get there by 9 AM before the group tours arrive. Dmitri Vrubel's Fraternal Kiss panel near the Oberbaum Bridge end gets all the photos, but Birgit Kinder's Trabant crashing through concrete hits harder when you're standing in front of it. Cross the Oberbaum Bridge into Kreuzberg. The brick towers and the U1 rattling overhead make it one of Berlin's most recognizable crossings. Lunch at Curry 36 on Mehringdamm costs 3.50 EUR for a currywurst with fries. The sausage gets sliced, not left whole, and the curry ketchup has a paprika bite that lingers. The Jewish Museum on Lindenstraße deserves 2 hours at 12 EUR. Daniel Libeskind's angular zinc corridors feel disorienting by design. In the Memory Void, 10,000 iron face sculptures clank underfoot. Walk the Landwehr Canal by late afternoon, and eat at Defne for grilled lamb by the water, about 15 EUR.

Day 3 goes west. The U7 from Mehringdamm reaches Charlottenburg in about 25 minutes. The palace, finished in 1791, is the largest royal residence in Berlin. The 14 EUR ticket covers the Old Palace state rooms, where gold-leaf ceilings and a blue-and-white porcelain collection fill 90 minutes. The gardens behind are free, quiet before 10 AM, with gravel paths that crunch down to the Spree. Take the U-Bahn back to Wittenbergplatz for KaDeWe's 6th-floor food hall. Smoked salmon and a glass of Riesling might cost 20 EUR, which is steep for lunch, but the counter quality tends to be better than anywhere nearby. Walk east through Tiergarten. The park covers 210 hectares, and the path from the Zoo entrance to the Victory Column takes about 40 minutes at an easy pace. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe sits at Tiergarten's southeast edge, where 2,711 concrete slabs rise from knee-height at the perimeter to well over your head at the center. Dinner at Lutter & Wegner near Gendarmenmarkt, schnitzel around 22 EUR.

Berlin's U-Bahn and S-Bahn run on an AB zone ticket. A single ride costs 3.20 EUR, an all-day pass 9.90 EUR. The day pass pays for itself by the third trip. Most stations have no turnstiles, but plainclothes inspectors check tickets and the fine is 60 EUR. June temperatures sit around 17-23°C right now, so a light jacket handles the evenings. Pack a small umbrella. To be fair, English works well at restaurants and ticket counters in Mitte and Charlottenburg. In Kreuzberg, Turkish and German are more common on the street, though restaurant staff tend to switch without trouble. Total walking across the three days comes to about 28 km, with the U-Bahn covering another 15 km between districts. If your legs are tired by Day 3, Tiergarten has benches every 200 metres.