For anyone into alternative therapies and treatment methods, Berlin may prove to be a mecca. The city is awash in alternative treatment centres that run from the hippy to the hokey. Many doctors incorporate aspects of eastern medicine, such as acupuncture, into their treatment methods and at least one hospital mixes its medical care with beliefs in other types of healing powers.

A number of alternative practitioners offer advice using Chinese, Indian or other centuries-old healing methods. Homeopathy is also a regular staple of many pharmacies and doctors. Public insurance won’t cover any alternative methods, but that may be ok – most are easily affordable. Some private insurance policies are willing to cover some of the more popular methods, such as homeopathy and acupuncture. If you want your insurance to pay, it’s best to check before you make an appointment with a faith healer.

The industry continues to expand, with new centres opening regularly, even after an in-depth report by the country’s most trusted consumer protection magazine, Stiftung Warentest, which showed alternative treatments offer no improvement over a placebo. But alternative methods are often as much about feeling better as getting better.

The Havelhöhe hospital between Berlin and Potsdam mixes traditional medicine with a belief in an abstract spiritual world that was defined by Rudolf Steiner, who also founded the Waldorf educational method. Havelhöhe is a good common ground for anyone with faith in modern medicine but who also has a belief in something beyond science.

Most of the doctors will likely be on your wavelength and will only turn to traditional medicine when they think it’s vital, allowing you to try natural childbirth first or allow your immune system to fight off a bad flu. It’s also a good way to sneak alternative treatments past your insurance company, because they’ll be included in the doctor visit, which the insurance will cover. Check out www.havelhoehe.de for more information in German.

Germans are also currently in a bit of tizzy about ayurvedic medicine, which is traditionally practised in India, Nepal and Indonesia. It’s hard to go very far without finding a centre that either teaches ayurvedic nutrition or movement, or offers related medical services. Like many folk medicines, ayurveda relies on plant and animal extracts, as well as massage and unique purification techniques. Dr Rene Richter has one such practice in Mitte at Neue Rossstrasse 11 (030 5321 5123).