Berlin

No other city keeps three publicly funded opera houses, a museum island and a club culture that starts when the rest of Europe goes to bed.

Berlin is the only capital in this guide that solved the culture question by refusing to choose. The division left it with duplicates of everything: two opera houses became three, two collections became five, and nobody has had the heart to close any of them. The result is a city where a Wednesday in February offers a Baroque revival, a Turkish-German premiere and a twelve-hour set in a former power station, and where all three cost less than one ticket in London.

The money shows in the programming rather than the buildings. The Staatsoper Unter den Linden sells standing room for the price of two coffees, the Volksbühne has spent three decades arguing with its own audience and the project spaces of Neukölln open in shops that still have the old signage. Berlin rewards the visitor who books nothing and walks instead: the best rooms here are the ones you find because the door was open.

The one thing the city does badly is opening hours. Ticket offices keep their own counsel, museums close on Mondays, and the club doors are decided by a person who owes you no explanation. Come with a plan for the afternoon and none at all for the night.