The Hamburger Bahnhof – 'Museum für Gegenwart' which was originally a train station is a terrific museum featuring a selection of contemporary art.

A good place to drown your Berliner winter-melancholy. The bartenders are top notch and the interior is warm but stylish, with the inevitable retro vibe. Open from 6 till late. There´s also a legendary (and kinda expensive) restaurant next door, which provides the bar with some excellent snacks. Works for dates and for friends, but if you´re planning for a bigger group it might be wise to reserve.

The Cô Cô bánh mì deli serves great vietnamese sandwiches and the best lemon grass tea I've ever had.

New type of museum. It's a private collection from contemporary art pieces such as by Anish Kapoor or Nobuyoshi Araki to Chinese imperial furnitures or ancient Asian sculptures. The collection is wonderful and the light design is perfect. There is no description or title of the artworks - it invites you to purely see/feel the artworks themselves without influencing by the names. Must to go.

This museum of photography is really great, and the highlight for me after the inspiring exhibitions is the good coffee and great cakes at their coffee place. I find myself there almost every second week for a drink and a slice of cake. The food is perfect, the ambiance is nice and it's really alive as a lot of people are coming directly from the running exhibition. At the entrance you can find an interesting bookstore and the best photoautomat of the city right outside. Last but not least, it's only some meters from the Helmut Newton Fondation ( which doesn't have a nice coffee place itself yet ).