Neues Museum

The Neues Museum is the second most popular sight of Berlin’s Museum Island (right after the Pergamon Museum). It can generate big queues for the ticket booth, especially during high season (July-September). You can avoid wasting time by pre-booking your ticket online and will be able to skip the whole queue and go straight in at the chosen time.

The best way to avoid crowds at the Neues Museum is to arrive early, with your pre-booked ticket in hand. The best time slot for a quiet visit is right at the opening time, at 10:00am. You’ll have about 1,5 hours before the museum fills up, and that’s the average visit duration (1,5-2 hours). Otherwise you can try coming on Thursday evening, when the museum stays open until 20:00.

The main highlights of the museum are parts of the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, as well as the prize exhibit the Nefertiti bust. You should know that the Nefertiti room is the most popular and therefore always the most crowded part of the museum, so do it first thing in the morning if you arrive at the opening time or last thing at night if you visit before the closing time to avoid crowds. There’s one more way you can try to explore the museum without crowds, if you arrive at opening time: start from Level 2 of the Museum (with Nefertiti) and then go down level by level. Most people will be handling their visit of the Neues Museum in inverse order, you’ll probably even find yourself alone in the rooms if you’re lucky!

For your visit, the busiest time is between 11:00 and 14:00 in most museums. If you are thinking of doing “a museum day” and leaving the rest of your time in Berlin for other sights without coming back to Museum Island, Pergamon and Neues should be on your “must see” list.
Since they are always busy - it would be crucial to start from the Pergamon at its opening time, then visit some not-so-popular museums (maybe the Old National Gallery) during peak hours, have lunch and then head to the Neues in the afternoon, after 15:00.

Thursday is the best day for such a charged program, with longer opening hours (they may serve as a time buffer in case you stay in one of the museums more than planned).

Remember that Saturday is the most crowded day to visit!

This page will give you many tips to avoid crowds in Berlin as well as crowd schedules for top tourist attractions in order to plan your visits.

You can take photos in most parts of the museum, except for the Nefertiti room. It’s forbidden, even without flash.

There’s a strict policy in Berlin’s Museums concerning coats and jackets. You should either wear it all the time or leave it in the cloakroom. Holding it in hand or tying around the waist is not permitted.

Last admission is one hour before the closing time.

Cloakroom and lockers are available in the museum for free.

Admission ticket Neues Museum

• Adult : 12,00 €

• Concessions : 6,00 €

Area ticket Museum Island Berlin

• Adult : 18,00 €

• Concessions: 9,00 €

Photo credits to Olivier Bruchez via Flickr