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After weeks of travelling through Europe with my eight-year-old, we'd reached the stage where the uninspiring playgrounds weren't cutting it and museums were starting to lose their appeal.

She'd seen enough marble busts, old buildings and art masterpieces, and we were conscious she was probably coming to the end of her travel resilience.

Then we arrived in Berlin. We were there to see a friend, and it was somewhere my partner and I hadn't been to before.

What we found was a city full of playgrounds, green spaces, easy-to-use public transport and abundant kid-friendly attractions.

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The independent local playground that blew our minds.

We stayed near Alexanderplatz (a central square in East Berlin during the Cold War), in the hip inner-city borough of Pankow with lots of cool bars, vintage stores and cafés selling flat whites.

The streets were tree-lined, there were plenty of dogs to pat and the weekend market had wine, cake and bratwurst.

A weekend market nearby the ultimate kids' playground. Image: Supplied.

It was also full of families and things for kids to do. The neighbourhood playgrounds were bigger, more exciting and better maintained compared to the relatively sad ones we'd encountered on our trip so far.

On our morning explores and searches for coffee, we stumbled across what looked like a derelict property with a sign reading 'No adults allowed'.

Inside, kids were building cubbies, skating half-pipes and hammering together their own creations from bits of wood.

We walked past and thought, 'that's kind of cool' and 'there's no way that would be allowed in Australia'. The place looked a bit wild, and we kept going.

A few days later, while my partner toured a World War Two anti-aircraft tower with our friend, my daughter and I walked past the property again on our way home from the market.

The sprawling 'playground' was open and full of kids. We lingered at the entrance, and I asked one of the adults inside, "Are we able to come in?" Turns out, on Saturdays, parents are allowed in but also, I didn't have to stay.

There were some adults running craft stalls and supervising the bread baking in the fire pit, but otherwise, kids were running around doing their own thing.

My daughter was disappointed — she did not want me in there with her. The woman waved her hand and said definitively, "You can go — go for 15 minutes or go for longer". I didn't even have to sign a waiver. And it was free.

I got a coffee and tried to take my time, but then spent the next 45 minutes hiding outside the fence looking anxiously in.

My daughter revelled in the freedom — swinging in the hammock, burning food on the fire, blowing bubbles and climbing the shoddy looking wooden towers and bridges which seemed suspiciously like they'd been built by kids.

Where we found a place to play and learn.

In the neighbourhood and dotted throughout Berlin are Children's Museums. These are like indoor play centres but without plastic. We went to the one closest to us, the MACHmit! Museum for Children with entry costing about $14 AUD each.

On the ground floor, my daughter got to play and learn through the interactive displays about seasons and climate, including having a joyous time in the fake snow hut and cleaning up plastic bottles from the 'ocean' off a boat.

Fake snow play at the Children's Museum. Image: Supplied.

It was so lovely to see my daughter playing with other kids and for her to have a break from the company of her parents for a while.

The next level housed different craft stations with educators helping kids to make their own beaded bracelets, paintings and decorated boxes — my daughter's idea of heaven.

A wooden slide, tunnels and climbing wall helped burn some energy before a peaceful wind down in the library nook filled with books in different languages.

Bliss.

The Berlin attractions that are made for kids.

Outside our neighbourhood bubble, we travelled to the Berlin Zoological Garden — one of two zoos in the city as a result of the split into East and West after the Second World War.

Berlin Zoo contains 35 hectares of habitats with the largest variety of species of any zoo in the world, including pandas, gorillas, an aquarium and giant brown bears sitting calming opposite the impressive playground.

Brown bear at the Berlin Zoo. Image: Supplied.

The giant wooden castles, boats, climbers and play equipment were a massive hit with my daughter, along with the squirrel she saw under a bush and the exotic guinea pig enclosure.

While we had already had our fair share of museums, Berlin offered some that were definitely geared toward children (young and old), so we skipped the historical ones for these instead.

Berlin is apparently the spy capital of the world, and it's showcased in the German Spy Museum.

Spy Museum. Supplied: Spy Museum Berlin

Here we learnt all about spy craft, from codes, Cold War dead drops to the more modern cyber espionage. Hands on challenges perfect for kids included cracking ciphers, navigating a laser maze, trying out a lie detector and cracking into a safe.

My game-loving daughter (and husband) spent ages at the Computer Spiele (gaming) Museum learning about the history of gaming and getting to play old school games like Snake, Mario Cart, Spyro the Dragon and arcade machines.

Much more engaging than screen time and my daughter had a ball while I made myself comfortable on a chair and waited.

Dad and daughter at the Computer Spiele Museum. Image: Supplied.

With more time, we could have also explored the Futurium, the Archenhold Observatory, the modern science theatre, the Zeiss-Großplanetarium and the Museum for Nature.

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These creative, hands-on and relatively inexpensive experiences made Berlin unexpectedly one of the most fun cities we visited as a family. Our daughter was able to be a kid – to run around, be amongst others her own age, explore without (many) limits and learn a thing or two through play.

The author travelled to Berlin on her own expense.

Feature Image: Supplied.