The Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedaechtniskirche Christmas feels like a combination of street market with fairground attractions and in the middle of the afternoon you are wandering around with ordinary Berliners enjoying a bit of local colour as well as visitors from all over the world. Look at the church too. The original church, or “hollow tooth”, “Germany’s most beautiful ruin” according to architect Walter Gropius, sits alongside Eiermann’s new church building which ranks as one of the major church buildings of the post-war era. There are two churches on one site simply because the ruin of the original was considered just too beautiful to restore.

Time is getting on, so make tracks now to Zoologischer Garten station. You now need to get on bus 100, which, along with the 200 is the bus to take to see all the famous Berlin sites (and, hot tip! for Eur 2,20 for a ride of up to two hours it’s a great way to take a great tour that won’t break the bank). Go upstairs to take full advantage of the view, and you’ll spot the 69m-high Victory Column (Siegessaeule) on the way. Then on up to the Reichstag, along Unter den Linden and finally get off at the Staatsoper, the State Opera House.

Now it’s Christmas market number two for the afternoon, a more nostalgic one in the grander setting of Unter den Linden. Stop to take a look around for a moment, and on the other side of the road you’ll spot, amongst other things, the Neue Wache (New Guardhouse) designed by Schinkel, one of Berlin’s major architects, in 1816. Although if you really do want to see something newer, look across to your right and you can’t miss the Fernsehturm (Television Tower) blinking out over Mitte, Berlin’s most central district. Here you can take a ride in an old-fashioned horse-drawn taxi, or even a dog sled.

If the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedaechtniskirche Christmas market was caramelized almonds, the Unter den Linden Christmas market is much woodier, with open wood fires barbecuing sausages and steaks. Other hearty German food to recommend includes an unrealistically large chunk of rye bread spread with Schmalz (dripping) and sprinkled with crispy onions, ham and gherkins. It cannot be possible to go home hungry from a Christmas market. Strictly in the name of research, Berlinsider couldn’t resist trying a pear schnapps: a whole peeled pear in a glass with pear juice, freshly topped up with William’s pear Schnapps on ordering. For architecture fans, take a stroll down one of the passageways that makes up this market onto the parallel Werdescher Markt, incidentally the site of Germany’s foreign office. Here you can visit another Schinkel masterpiece, the Werdescher Kirche, again destroyed in the war but rebuilt as a small museum with an upper gallery displaying a time line of Schinkel’s life and work.

Leaving the best until last, come out of the Werdescher Kirche and wander up to the Gendarmenmarkt to Berlinsider’s favourite Christmas market. Calling itself the “Gendarmenmarkt Weihnachts Zauber” or “Christmas Magic” market, do not be put off by the one euro entrance fee. It might possibly be the best euro you’ve ever spent at Christmas. If you’ve timed it right, you’ll be arriving at dusk (that’s around 4pm in December) to see some impressive silhouettes of the Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral) and the Schauspielhaus (Playhouse/Concert Hall) standing out against a deepening sky.

The theme of this market is along the lines of pantomime, with characters in costume chatting to the crowds and children singing Christmas songs on stage. Here is where you really stop and eat. But how about sitting at a bar and starting with a glass of Prosecco, or if you are feeling chilly go for a Gluehwein. An insider tip is be aware of Pfand - even at Christmas markets food and drink is not especially expensive, but stalls do make you pay a Pfand (a deposit) on glasses, so for a Gluehwein you’ll pay euro 5, but you’ll get euro 2.50 back again when you hand in your mug. When the aperitif is over, look around at what you can eat. Maybe you’d like to sit “inside” at a table and have a Wiener Schnitzel or game stew. Berlinsider decided to go with Berlin’s Turkish-Arabic influence and have a delicious falafel sandwich with salad and tahini sauce, while Berlinsider’s companion went native and had the Bratwurst and beer. Germans are brilliant at hot puddings. Germknoedel, a steam-cooked yeast dumpling with vanilla or hot fruit sauce is a must. Berlinsider went for Kaiserschmarren this time, thick, fluffy pancakes chopped into shreds, dusted in icing sugar and topped with cherries and hot vanilla sauce.

Time for some shopping next. The Gendarmenmarkt Christmas market is the place to buy from artisans and you can watch some of them working as you wander around. Silver jewellery, leather belts, pottery, hand-made soap … definitely the place for that special Christmas present. And the atmosphere is relaxed, the food is good, hearty and freshly made and the setting is one of the most elegant Berlin has to offer. Not something you’d really want to miss.

When it was time to go home, Unter den Linden in the dark is too good to miss, so walk straight back onto it and walk down the avenue of illuminated trees. The light decorations are so simple but so incredibly atmospheric. Take a stroll all the way down to the Brandenburg Gate and look at the Christmas tree and the menora for Chanukkah.

The journey was now ready to end were it began. The choice was the 100 bus back to Zoologischer Garten or, in exploring spirit, a walk up Dorotheen Strasse past the Reichstag (the dome looks other-worldly illuminated in the dark) along the banks of the Spree River to Friedrichstrasse station. Then a quick trip on the S-Bahn (the city train) back to Zoologischer Garten station.

So, if you follow in Berlinsider’s footsteps, you can do three Christmas markets and some serious architecture, not to mention more serious eating, drinking and shopping all in about five hours. And all on foot, apart from the journeys to and from Zoologischer Garten to Unter den Linden and back.

And we haven’t even touched the original Berlin Christmas markets at Spandau, or the arts-and-crafts Christmas Market at Mexiko Platz in Zehlendorf to the south of Berlin. The Charlottenburg Palace (Schloss Charlottenburg) Christmas market is grand but intimate, and the Christmas Market at Domaene Dahlem, one of Berlin's city farms, is more rural. But it's been more than enough to eat and drink for one evening so, if you don’t mind, can we leave those for another day?