Related: 12 Simple ways to save big on your trip to Berlin

That said, there are still plenty of free or relatively cheap museums in Berlin. We’ve put together a list below, and included some additional tips for how to get more cultural bang for your buck.

Free museums

Nearly 50 museums and historical sights in Berlin do not charge an entry fee. Here are some of the highlights.

Allied Museum
Housed in the Outpost Theatre, a former movie theater for American soldiers in the heart of the former American sector, the Allierten Museum (Allied Museum) traces the history of Allied forces in Berlin from 1945 to 1989. (Address: Clayallee 135)

The Berlin Wall Memorial is a powerful experience. Photo: Craig Nelson

Berlin Wall Memorial
Located on Bernauer Strasse in Berlin’s Mitte district, the Berliner Mauer Gedenkstätte (Berlin Wall Memorial) has preserved a section of the wall to offer a historical glimpse at Berlin’s divided past. (Address: Bernauer Straße 111)

Daimler Art Collection
Daimler’s contemporary art collection presents works across a wide spectrum of major 20th-century art movements up to the present. (Address: Alte Potsdamer Straße 5)

District Museums
Each Berlin district also has its own admission-free museum tracing the neighborhood’s history and development. Some examples include the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum (Address:Adalbertstraße 95A), the Wilmersdorf-Charlottenburg Museum (Address:Schloßstraße 55) and the Mitte Museum (Address: Pankstr. 47).

Holocaust Memorial
You’ll be amazed how disorienting and moving it is wandering through the concrete pillars erected on uneven terrain in the beautifully haunting Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. (Address: Cora-Berliner-Straße 1)

Knoblauchhaus
Erected in 1760, this house lets the visitor delve into the world of the Biedermeier period by exploring the original furnishing and objects owned by the Knoblauch family. (Address: Poststraße 23)

Topography of Terror
This museum, located at the former SS headquarters, documents Nazi institutions of terror during this dark chapter of Germany’s history. (Address: Niederkirchnerstraße 8)

Tränenpalast
Until 1990, this building located at Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse station was the departure hall for border crossing from the GDR to West Berlin. The scene of many heartbreaking goodbyes between Germans from the West and those from the former East, Berliners soon aptly dubbed the place “Tränenpalast” (Palace of Tears). (Address: Reichstagufer 17)

Museums under €10

Here’s a list of museums in Berlin with tickets for under €10 and also offering free admission to those 18 and under.

Berlinishe Galerie
A Museum of modern art, photography and architecture, Berlinische Galerie presents art from Berlin from 1870 to the present day. Adult admissions: €7 (Address: Alte Jakobstraße 124–128)

Märkisches Museum
Take a stroll through Berlin’s history in the permanent collection of Berlin’s city museum. Adult admission: €5 (Address: Am Köllnischen Park 5)

Mies van der Rohe Haus
Located far off the tourist beat in a residential neighborhood in Berlin’s Hohenschönhausen district, this house was designed by the famous Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe. Adult admission: €5 (Address: Oberseestraße 60)

Museum für Kommunikation
The Museum für Kommunikation (Communication Museum) is worth a visit for the three robots in the atrium alone. Adult admission: €4, free admission for children 17 and under (Address: Leipziger Straße 16)

Museumsdorf Düppel
This open air museum is a reconstructed medieval village where you can briefly live like its 1259.  Adult admission: €3 (Address: Clauertstraße 11)

Museums entry packages

If you’re a true culture nut and plan to hit Berlin’s museums in a major way, you can also save on admission fees by purchasing a Berlin Museum Pass, which grants free admission to 50 museums and exhibitions over three consecutive days.

The three-day pass costs €24 for adults and €12 for students. If you’re not quite that ambitious, you can also purchase other passes for a shorter period of time, such as the one-day pass for Museum Island.

Related: Which museum pass in Berlin makes the most sense for your trip?

The post Berlin: 15 Free and affordable museums under €10 appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

For those of you who want to go off the beaten path, let me suggest four especially eclectic museums:

1. Deutsch-Russisches Museum (German-Russian Museum)
Zwieseler Straße 4
Tel.: +49 (0)30 50 15 08 52
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Tuesday to Sunday)
Free entry
Web site

This historical collection on the eastern edge of the city is well worth the S-Bahn ride. Housed in a former Nazi officers’ school where the Wehrmacht officially surrendered to the Soviets, the museum offers a fascinating overview of German-Soviet relations spanning from 1917 to 1990.

You’ll see a whole lot of propaganda, odd uniforms, in-depth documentaries and even WWII Soviet tanks. Before the fall of the Wall, the museum was exclusively open to members of the Soviet Army. Today, anyone can visit, free of charge.

2. Jugend Museum (Young People’s Museum)
Hauptstraße 40-42
Tel.: +49 (0)30 90277 61 63
Hours: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. (Wednesday and Thursday), 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. (Saturday and Sunday)
Free entry
Web site

While the Jugend Museum aims to educate young Berliners about the city’s diversity, the real treasures are found in the basement. Don’t be put off by the musky smell and charge forth past the human skeleton on display. Immerse yourself in the German tradition of Wunderkammern, or cabinets of curiosities.

Part ethnography, part zoology and part freak show, the 27 haphazardly curated cabinets feature anything and everything collected from the neighborhood—from centuries-old ceramics to a 1920’s toilet. It’s a fantastic little place to learn about Berlin’s present and past. (Full disclosure: The author used to work here.)

3. Abguss-Sammlung Antiker Plastik Berlin (The Ancient Sculpture Plaster Collection)
Schlossstraße 69 b
Tel.: +49 (0)30 33 77 83 32
Hours: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. (Thursday to Sunday)
Free entry
Web site

Yes, it’s far from the city center; yes, it’s open only three hours a day, three days a week. But come on. It’s a roomful of plaster replicas of famous sculptures. Imagine all the hilarious photo ops. Enough said.

4. Buchstaben Museum (Museum of Letters)
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 13
Berlin Carré, 2nd floor
Tel.: +49 (0)177 420 15 87
Hours: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (Thursday to Saturday)
Entry: €2.50
Web site

Dedicated to the world of typography, the Museum of Letters collects interesting store signs and stacks them from floor to ceiling. While they continue to search for a permanent space, the friendly curators (who are always up for a nice chat) open the crammed temporary showroom to public from Thursday to Saturday, two hours each day. You’re bound to discover something beautiful in the collection, even if it takes quite a bit of shuffling and restacking.

The post Berlin: 4 quirky—and mostly free—museums appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.