Berlin

Your group arrives in Berlin and transfers to your centrally located accommodation. After checking in, take a guided walking tour of central Berlin's most iconic sites. Start at the Brandenburg Gate - the greatest symbol of German reunification - and walk through the Tiergarten park to the Reichstag building (Germany's parliament), whose spectacular glass dome by Norman Foster can be visited in the evening with pre-booked tickets. Cross to the Holocaust Memorial - a profoundly moving space of 2,711 concrete slabs - and visit the underground Information Centre below. Walk along the former course of the Berlin Wall to Checkpoint Charlie, the most famous border crossing between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. For dinner, explore the multicultural food scene of the Kreuzberg neighbourhood - Berlin's most diverse and creative quarter.

Today focuses on Berlin's essential 20th-century history sites. Begin at the Topography of Terror - a free outdoor and indoor museum built on the former site of the SS and Gestapo headquarters. The extraordinary documentation of the rise of National Socialism, the machinery of terror and the Holocaust is essential historical education for any student. Walk to the nearby Jewish Museum - Daniel Libeskind's extraordinary zinc-clad building is itself a powerful architectural statement, its empty voids and disorienting spaces designed to evoke the experience of those who suffered. The museum's comprehensive account of 2,000 years of German-Jewish history is exceptional. In the afternoon, visit the East Side Gallery - the longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall, transformed into a 1.3km open-air gallery - and the DDR Museum (German Democratic Republic), which gives a vivid insight into everyday life in Communist East Germany.

Berlin's Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site housing five world-class museums on an island in the River Spree. The Pergamon Museum alone - with its reconstructed Pergamon Altar, Ishtar Gate from Babylon and Market Gate of Miletus - justifies a morning's visit. The Neues Museum (with the famous bust of Nefertiti) and the Alte Nationalgalerie (19th-century art) are also outstanding. After lunch on the island or in the charming Hackesche Höfe courtyard complex nearby, students have free time to explore Berlin independently. Options include: the Hamburger Bahnhof (Museum for Contemporary Art), the Berlin TV Tower (Fernsehturm) for city views, exploring street art in Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, or visiting the vibrant Mauerpark flea market (weekends only). In the evening, the area around Alexanderplatz and the Hackesche Höfe is filled with bars, restaurants and live music venues.

On your final morning, consider visiting the Charlottenburg Palace - Berlin's most impressive Baroque royal palace - or the Bauhaus-Archiv museum dedicated to Germany's most influential design school. The Berlin Philharmonic building and the nearby Kulturforum with its outstanding Gemäldegalerie (Old Masters collection) are also excellent options. For last-minute Berlin gifts, the markets along Unter den Linden or the KaDeWe department store (Germany's largest) are excellent. Your your UniLife account manager will coordinate the transfer to the airport. Berlin - a city that always surprises. Auf Wiedersehen!