Berlin for The Family Explorers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

The lift takes forty seconds and the children count them; the viewing floor at 203 metres, book the slot so there is no queue.

A riverside playground opposite the Bode Museum with a climbing ship and a paddling pool in summer; benches for the grown-ups.

A brewery restaurant on the Spree in the Nikolaiviertel, Berlin dishes at long tables and nobody minding a dropped fork. Ask for a children's portion when you order.

Germany's oldest zoo at opening, the pandas and the hippo house before the crowds; the Elephant Gate entrance is the one to use.

After the nap: a Rosinenbomber on the roof, steam locomotives in the old depot, and the Spectrum science centre with 150 hands-on experiments.

A villa under the Viktoriapark hill with a play corner and a garden, pasta and Schnitzel in child sizes, dinner done by seven.

The one-hour city cruise from the old quarter, under twenty bridges with the cathedral and the Reichstag from the water; open deck in summer.

Tristan the Tyrannosaurus and the tallest mounted dinosaur in the world, then the wet collection in jars; open Sunday until six.

A beer garden on the Tiergarten lake with rowing boats to hire alongside. Simple food and a lemonade at an early table, and the walk back before the light goes.

Enigma machines, a laser maze to crawl through and a lie detector; the only museum here the children ask to go back to.

The runways of the old airport as the biggest playground in town: kites, scooters and a loop that tires everyone out before the flight.

Lunch from the hall's stalls, open on a Monday: pasta from one counter, a Käsespätzle from another, eaten at the long tables.