If you had three days to spend in Berlin what are some of the things you really must see in town and nearby?

What are the "must see's" in Berlin and within a short train ride away?

Focus on the most popular things. On the "west" side, go to the Ku'Damm and walk around. Go to Breitscheidplatz.
Hop on bus 100 and take it to the "east" side. You will go past many popular attractions on the way. I would suggest getting off at the Reichstag (German Parliament) walking to Brandenburg Gate. Go see the Holocaust monument - it was built on Hitler's bunker! I haven't seen it yet. Then head down Unter den Linden and check out the embassies, museums and universities. Stop in a cafe and have a coffee. It is a great walk!

Go to Friedrichstrasse and take in Checkpoint Charlie and the museum there. If you are interested in the Wall and the division of the city, that is a great museum.

Be sure and go to Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center.

There are also great parks- Tiergarten, Zoo, Tierpark, Wannsee, Weisensee... It just depends on whether you want to see more nature or more culture.

Be sure and check out the area around Hackesche Hoefe. It is really nice.

Have a great time!

is there not a zoo there

First of all, you should buy a day ticket for the BVG, that's the local transport company. Once you have that, you have a variety of choices.

If you're culturally interested, you shouldn't miss the "Museumsinsel", Berlin-Mitte with the beautifully restored "Hackesche H枚fe", and, of course, don't miss the Reichstag building. You won't meet Angela Merkel there, but it's a beautiful sight. "Schloss Bellevue" and the Congress Center (by Berliners respectlessly named "the pregnant oyster") are also nice to see. There's a tourist bus driving you to all these famous places which can be used with your day ticket; it's line 100, starting at "Bahnhof Zoo", which is also a railway and subway station.

For the more experienced, I'd recommend a visit to Kreuzberg, the quarter famous for the 1st of May riots that happened in the 1970ies and 80ies. Nowadays, although it's called "little Istanbul", you have nothing to fear there, not even at night. Descending from U-Bahnhof Kochstra脽e, you face Checkpoint Charlie straight ahead (if you take the right exit; there are two of them), and heading left, you walk along Kochstra脽e, and then go ahead into Oranienstra脽e, the riot mile, which is peaceful except for the 1st of May, and you'll find all kinds of shops and caf茅s there, to any liking. You can follow this street and decide where to go, it splits up into the Wiener Stra脽e and the Skalitzer Stra脽e. No matter which way you turn, you can spend hours strolling the little side streets. Just make sure that you know where the "U1 - Schlesisches Tor" is; this subway (which isn't a subway at that station, because it's overground, but see for yourself) will take you back to where you stay, or nearby, even on weekends.

Another must-see is the Potsdamer Platz, where there was the wall, and where in 1990 the legendary concert by Roger Waters (formerly at Pink Floyd) took place, and German reunification was celebrated by more than onemillion people from all over the world. I was one of them. Nowadays, you have the Sony center there, and the Daimler-Chrysler building, and something called the Marlene-Dietrich-Platz. As a former inhabitant of Berlin, I don't think it worthwile; but as a tourist, maybe you'd like to see it. It's the U2 at Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park; don't continue until Potsdamer Platz, that's the middle of the prairie.

Well, after seven years of living in Berlin (I'm in Bavaria now), I have no better suggestions, except one more: Trust your feelings, and do what you feel inclined to. Berliners are maybe the most loveliest people throughout Germany, and they will always give you hints about what's going on in the neighborhood, and help you out of trouble, if necessary. But they don't speak German, in no way. Forget what you learned in your lessons, it won't help. Trust them, and trust your English.

Also, have a look at this magazine. It's in English and gives a lot of hints what to do and how. For instance how the ticket machines for public transport work (not easy, when you're a tourist) and so on...

http://www.exberliner.net/home.php

P.S. The jewish museum is really worth a visit. The architecture is stunning. If you looked from above, you'd see a smashed swastika. And the inside is very confusing and interesting to look at.

Didnt see any sad animals but the zoo is a great day out for very little money,worth it just to see Knut the baby polar bear being brought up by his keeper.
A good day out for little money is also Potsdam but use public transport which is cheap compared to organised trips.

You can do so much in Berlin:
Take a city tour with the bus, visit the ZOO, go shopping, check the nice museums, there is so many, go to Brandenburger Tor and walk there to East/West, go out at the night time and have fun, go shopping, visit the nice restaurants, go to jazz clubs, visit the new train station, just sit some where and look at the nice different peoples. There is so much things to do, I was in Berlin four times and can't get enough. It's a such a nice place.

i would by part of the berlin wall unless its free i wish i could have gone when i was there

I think they have a "love parade".

I spent 8 hours there, and was incredibly bored.

3 hours at the zoo - watching the sad animals pacing back and forth.