10 largest cities in Germany
Berlin
Hamburg
Munich
Cologne
Frankfurt am Main
Hanover
Dusseldorf
Leipzig
Bremen
Dresden
Berlin is the capital and since 1999 also the seat of government of
the Federal Republic of Germany and with over 3.6 million inhabitants
the most populous city in Germany and Central Europe. Berlin is an
independent federal state that is surrounded by the state of
Brandenburg.
Berlin is not only the political center of Germany,
but also an internationally important location for culture, science,
research and trade fairs. With over 30 million overnight stays in 2019,
the cosmopolitan city is also a magnet for domestic and foreign
visitors.
The very wide range of cultural activities, the lively
scene cultures and, last but not least, the prices, which are still
moderate compared to other European metropolises, are very much
appreciated by tourists.
Berlin is a comparatively young city. In its current
form, it was created 100 years ago (on October 1, 1920 to be exact)
through the incorporation of cities that were older than Berlin itself,
such as Spandau or Köpenick, from communities that quickly grew into
cities in the 19th century, such as Charlottenburg, Schöneberg, and
Wilmersdorf , furthermore from a total of 59 rural communities and 27
estate districts (sic!) on the basis of the Greater Berlin Law. This
explains the decentralized structure of Berlin, which is still evident
today. There is a kernel of truth in the joking statement that Berlin is
not actually a city, but "a collection of villages". The 20 districts
founded at that time still shape the urban structure to this day: train
stations are named after them (e.g. "Charlottenburg", "Rathaus
Steglitz") as well as striking buildings (e.g. "Rathaus Schöneberg").
Many signposts in the streetscape still use the old district names.
A further regional reform in 2001 divided Berlin into twelve
districts. It is somewhat confusing that this regional reform left some
of the existing districts untouched (Neukölln, Reinickendorf, Spandau),
but also merged two districts into new "hyphenated districts" or merged
three old districts into one, which took the name of one of the former
districts carries. So there are Berlin-Mitte and Berlin-Pankow as names
with completely different area layouts. Each new district has between
200,000 and 400,000 residents and could be a major city in its own
right. The districts each have several districts, which can be further
divided into local locations, neighborhoods and neighborhoods. To this
day, Berliners tend to feel more like they belong to their districts –
someone from Prenzlauer Berg would never say they live in Pankow, and a
Grunewalder not in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Only real estate agents
and hoteliers are happy to be able to advertise the last bar in the
backyard of Moabit as Berlin-Mitte.
The old districts are often
used for travel information - this travel guide is also largely based on
them with its district articles. The inner-city parts of Mitte,
Tiergarten, Charlottenburg and Westend are particularly interesting for
tourists, since most of the sights and museums are located here.
Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg are known for their many
pubs, restaurants and places to go out.
Berlin Mitte/ Center: THE historic
center of Berlin between the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag and
Alexanderplatz with the stately historic buildings of the former
Prussian capital of the Empire along the magnificent boulevard Unter den
Linden, the elegant Gendarmenmarkt, the World Heritage Site of the
Museum Island, but also the new buildings of today's capital and the
lively ones Quarters around Hackescher Markt, Friedrichstrasse or the
old Scheunenviertel.
Tiergarten: The former district of Tiergarten to
the west of the historic center ranged from the opulent villas of the
diplomatic quarter on the edge of the park of the same name, the
cultural temples of the Philharmonie and National Gallery in the east
(Tiergarten and Hansaviertel) built in the post-war period to the
industrial sites and tenements of Moabit in the west.
Wedding: North
of the historic center is Wedding, dominated by industry and dense
residential development, with its once strong workers' movement, which
gave it the name "Red Wedding". Today, Wedding makes a significant
contribution to Berlin being Turkey's fourth-largest city.
Together, Mitte, Tiergarten and Wedding form today's Mitte district. It
is one of two districts that were made up of former East (Mitte) and
West Berlin districts (Tiergarten and Wedding).
Friedrichshain:
working-class district in the east of the historic center, in which the
GDR later presented its capital architecturally (Karl-Marx-Allee) and
which today has lively neighborhoods around the Frankfurter Tor,
Boxhagener Straße, Boxhagener Platz, Simon-Dach- and Warschauer Straße .
Kreuzberg: The Kreuzberg really exists, it reaches a remarkable 66m
above sea level and towers about 30 meters above its surroundings,
enough to look over the rooftops. One overlooks a densely built-up urban
area in which the "Kreuzberg mixture" of living and working in the same
house used to be created. Later, since the 1970s, a mixture of oriental
migrant workers and Swabian military service migrants developed in the
shadow of the Wall and the Landwehr Canal, establishing a lively,
multicultural milieu that still has an impact today, with galleries,
pubs, cabaret, street festivals and which occasionally resisted the
rampant Gentrification resists.
Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg now
form the mixed Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district, consisting of the
former East Berlin district of Friedrichshain in the north and the
former West Berlin district of Kreuzberg in the south.
Prenzlauer
Berg: This former workers' quarter along the Schönhauser, Prenzlauer and
Greifswalder Allee, which was little destroyed in the Second World War,
was the counterpart to Kreuzberg in the GDR, a little more rebellious, a
little less FDJ blue shirts, a little longer (or more colorful) hair
than elsewhere. Even in the elections in the GDR, there was occasionally
less than 99% official approval for the candidates for the National
Front. Since reunification, gentrification has spread with the
renovation of the old buildings, which has blown up the former resident
structure of long-established Berliners, workers and alternatives. It's
easier to get a wheat protein-based vegan meat loaf these days than a
regular Schrippe or a parking space for the SUV.
Weißensee and
Pankow: Once synonymous with the GDR state power as Pankofff (and in the
1950s there really were the gated communities of the GDR official elite
in the Majakowskiring in Niederschönhausen), Berlin is gradually fraying
to the north here. The apartment buildings are mostly only three storeys
high, even in urban centers such as around Antonplatz in Weißensee. The
Breite Straße in Pankow is still reminiscent of the former village green
and the further north you go, extensive single-family house settlements
spread out, which merge into fields.
Today these three districts
are administratively combined as the Pankow district.
Charlottenburg:
The village of Lietzow near Charlottenburg Palace, which was still built
as Lietzenburg at the end of the 17th century, slowly grew into a small
town west of Berlin, explosively from the middle of the 19th century.
Since 1875, the Kurfürstendamm had been planned far away from the narrow
streets and the stench of Berlin's tenements, a boulevard 53m wide, only
a little narrower than Unter den Linden. Magnificently built, it
stretched from the eastern border of Charlottenburg (today Budapester
Straße) to the Grunewald. While there was already a lot of construction
going on in the west around Breitscheidplatz, further east there was
still a "desert panorama interspersed with asparagus fields and railway
embankments", according to Theodor Fontane in 1892. That changed
quickly, Charlottenburg was the twelfth largest city in Prussia when it
was incorporated and became the twelfth largest city in Prussia at the
time of the division Berlin is the center of West Berlin around the Zoo
and Kudamm with numerous neighborhoods of diverse character.
Wilmersdorf: The further west, the better the city air. This is the case
in the entire west wind zone and is no different in Berlin. The
apartments in Schöneberg are better than Kreuzberg and Wilmersdorf are
better than Schöneberg. Some are still tenements, the large and high
apartments on Kurfürstendamm (which Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf
share) or Schmargendorfs can be reached not only via an opulent
staircase to the front, but also via servants' entrances in the side
wing. There is hardly any trade left. Around Halensee and Grunewald,
stately villas in shady park-like gardens follow for those who can
afford it.
Since 2001, Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf have formed
the joint district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.
Spandau: According
to the thesis of the westerly winds, the largest villas are in Spandau
in the westernmost part of Berlin, but Spandau is not Berlin. Instead,
Spandau is a microcosm with its own old town, a pedestrian zone, a
citadel and everything that a city with a population like Chemnitz has.
Spandau also has numerous bodies of water with the Havel and a portion
of Havel lakes.
Spandau was large enough to survive the district
reform unchanged.
Steglitz: Due to the good rail connections, the
villages such as Steglitz, Lichterfelde, Lankwitz developed into upscale
residential areas of the middle class with the spacious apartment
buildings in the north of Steglitz, and further outside, especially in
Lichterfelde, well-kept villa colonies, interrupted by a few commercial
areas along the Teltow Canal. In accordance with the purchasing power of
the public, Schlossstraße Steglitz developed into an upmarket shopping
mile. In the transition area to neighboring Dahlem there are a number of
research institutes whose history goes back to the imperial era, as does
the botanical garden.
Zehlendorf: The southwest of Berlin is green.
The Grunewald, the largest contiguous forest area in Berlin, stretches
between the Havel with its bays such as Wannsee and a chain of lakes
between Nikolassee and Halensee, which is already in Wilmersdorf. It is
good to live here and the elite of the Empire to this day built their
villas here - the closer to the forest and/or one of the lakes, the more
lush. The Havel island of Schwanenwerder became Schlossallee in Berlin
Monopoly. Zehlendorf includes the districts of Dahlem, Nikolassee and
Wannsee. In addition to the gardens and palaces reaching out from
Potsdam, such as Glienicke and Peacock Island, which are part of the
World Heritage List, numerous museums in Dahlem and, last but not least,
numerous tourist attractions in the district attract visitors.
Today, Steglitz and Zehlendorf have merged into the eponymous
hyphenated district of Steglitz-Zehlendorf.
Schöneberg: The former
village of Schöneberg was built up a little later in the Wilhelminian
period as Kreuzberg, and here too there is a mix of residential and
commercial areas. A special feature is the Schöneberger Insel, a
triangular part of the city that is surrounded on all sides by railway
lines and developed its own history. Distinctive scene around
Nollendorfplatz and Winterfeldtplatz, well developed by subway partly in
the basement partly upstairs, S-Bahn above and buses and small shops
everywhere. You can afford flower discounts instead of parking spaces,
the green local transport vision is almost a reality here and makes
Schöneberg, and especially the Friedenau district in the south-western
part of the district, the preferred residential area for those who have
arrived in the march through the institutions.
Tempelhof: That sounds
like aviation fuel and an airlift, even if Tempelhof Airport has a long
history and there has long been a dispute over the large airfield, new
district or local recreation. After the referendum, Tempelhofer Feld
remains a green space. With industry along the Ringbahn and Teltow Canal
and more and more settlements towards the city limits with Mariendorf,
Marienfelde to Lichtenrade, the district has a lot of suburbia and
little that is exciting for visitors.
Schöneberg and Tempelhof
are today merged as Tempelhof-Schoeneberg also with hyphen.
Neukölln:
Once the most populous district in West Berlin, Neukölln has its share
of the fourth largest Turkish city alongside Wedding and Kreuzberg,
which can be seen at one of Berlin's most colorful markets along the
Maybachufer. Once located at the gates of Berlin, Rixdorf, as it was
called at the time, had such a weird reputation as an entertainment
district that it lost its name with the incorporation and was renamed
Neukölln. Neukölln, which marked the south-eastern edge of West Berlin,
also has its commercial yards and dense tenement buildings, industrial
areas and suburbs. Gropiusstadt in the south-eastern part of Neukölln
is, alongside the somewhat younger Märkisches Viertel in Reinickendorf,
another attempt to solve West Berlin's space problems by using the
vertical. Despite the prominent planner, Gropiusstadt, in contrast to
the neighboring housing complex of the Hufeisensiedlung Britz, did not
become a world cultural heritage, but a social hotspot. The villages of
Britz, Buckow and Rudow, which have grown into small towns, close off
the district to the south-east.
Neukölln remained as an independent district.
Treptow: The
district of Treptow extends radially in the southeast from the Ringbahn
to the city limits, partly along the Spree. This results in different
densities of development, residential and industrial areas such as
Adlershof, but also extensive recreational areas along the Spree, in
Treptower Park with the former Plänterwald amusement park. Towards the
city limits, the suburban and residential character takes over.
Köpenick: Köpenick is to the east what Zehlendorf is to the west - a
district strongly characterized by water and forest areas. The Spree and
its tributary the Dahme form extensive lake areas, including the
Müggelsee, the largest lake in Berlin. The Wuhlheide is a forest area,
but Köpenick also has distinctive industrial areas in Schöneweide or
Spindlersfeld and with the former town center of Köpenick with its
castle and town hall ("Der Hauptmann von Köpenick") its own suburban
structure. A waterfront property in Rahnsdorf, Grünau or Schmöckwitz is
not the worst address then as it is today, and in Friedrichshagen it is
even linked to an almost urban boulevard, the Bölschestraße.
Köpenick and Treptow now form the Treptow-Köpenick district of the same
name.
Marzahn and
Hellersdorf: were only spun off as new districts
in the 1970s and 1980s in order to take account of the massive influx
into these new development areas in the east and north-east of Berlin
that had arisen on the green field. There are still rural cores such as
Biesdorf, Kaulsdorf or Mahlsdorf, but otherwise prefabricated housing
estates with a tendency towards social hotspots predominate. Some new
facilities, such as the Gardens of the World in Marzahn, do little to
change that.
Marzahn and Hellersdorf today form the joint
district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf.
Lichtenberg: From urban Lichtenberg
it becomes more and more village-like to the east. So rural that in GDR
times so many sewage farms were covered with prefabricated buildings
that Hohenschönhausen, Marzahn and later Hellersdorf were released as
new districts. For Lichtenberg there remained enough Platte, a trotting
track, the Friedrichsfelde Zoo, the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery
with the Socialist Memorial and the officers' mess, in which the
victorious powers summoned the Wehrmacht High Command to record the
capitulation again.
Today's district of Lichtenberg again
includes Hohenschönhausen.
Reinickendorf: Many visitors to Berlin may
have set foot in Reinickendorf in the past without really realizing that
Berlin-Tegel Airport is located here. Otherwise there is the largest
satellite town of the former West Berlin, a lot of suburbs, some suburbs
up to individual villages. But also fields, meadows and forests, which
could give an impression of loneliness even at the time of the Wall.
Reinickendorf was large enough to survive on its own as a district.
Berlin Brandenburg Airport internet (Willy Brandt, IATA: BER), Willy-Brandt-Platz, 12529 Schönefeld. Phone: +49 (0)30 609 16 09 10 . In the southern location of the former Schönefeld Airport, the new international “Berlin Brandenburg Airport” was opened in October 2020 after several postponements. Tegel Airport was closed on November 8, 2020. The former Schönefeld Airport was initially operated as Terminal 5 because it was assumed that the handling capacities of the new BER would not be sufficient. However, in February 2021, Terminal 5 was closed. Berlin Brandenburg Airport can be reached by train, S-Bahn and bus.
At the main terminal there is the train station
"Flughafen BER - Terminal 1-2", from here the regional lines run:
FEX
(Berlin-Ostkreuz, Berlin-Gesundbrunnen, to Berlin main station from 3:30
a.m. - 11:30 p.m. every 30 minutes)
RE 7 to Wünsdorf-Waldstadt,
Berlin-Ostkreuz, Berlin-Alexanderplatz, Berlin-Friedrichstrasse, Berlin
Hbf, Berlin-Zoo and Dessau
RB 14 to Berlin-Ostkreuz,
Berlin-Alexanderplatz, Berlin-Friedrichstrasse, Berlin Hbf, Berlin-Zoo,
Berlin-Spandau and Nauen
RB 22 to Königs Wusterhausen and Potsdam
(and on to Berlin-Zoo, Berlin Hbf and Berlin-Friedrichstraße, but there
is a significantly longer journey time than with the other lines)
S9
via BER Airport Terminal 5 (Schoenefeld) to Schöneweide, Ostbahnhof,
Alexanderplatz, Friedrichstraße, Hauptbahnhof, Zoo and Spandau
S45
via BER Airport Terminal 5 (Schoenefeld) to Schöneweide, Neukölln and
Südkreuz.
Since the airport is in tariff zone C, a corresponding
BC or ABC ticket, or alternatively a connection ticket or a
short-distance ticket, is required to enter tariff zone B. Depending on
the number of passengers, connection tickets are sometimes cheaper than
4-trip short-haul tickets or vice versa.
limited barrier-free The
Flughafen-Express FEX is not barrier-free, only trains with steps are
used. All other trains are barrier-free.
Lines X7 and
X71 every 5 minutes to Rudow (connection to the U7), X71 even further to
Alt-Mariendorf (connection to the U6).
There is also an “airport
shuttle” that is subject to a surcharge and is intended to offer more
space for luggage, line BER1 to Rathaus Steglitz (+8€) (hourly) and line
BER2 via Stahlsdorf and Teltow to Potsdam (+6€) (every 60 to 90 minutes)
.
Berlin Central Station internet, Europaplatz 1,
10557 Berlin. Features: wheelchair accessible, wheelchair accessible
with assistance. Open: 24-7.
At the main station, which opened in
2006, Stadtbahn trains in west-east direction (upper platforms) cross
trains from Hamburg, Hanover, North and South downstairs in the
basement. All ICEs, ICs and regional express trains stop here, as well
as the East-West S-Bahn and the U5 underground. You can reach Berlin in
long-distance traffic every hour with ICE trains from Cologne/Düsseldorf
(via the Ruhr area and Hanover), Frankfurt am Main, Munich (via
Leipzig/Halle) and Hamburg, every two hours from Stuttgart or Basel.
There are IC/EC connections every two hours from Prague (via Dresden)
and Amsterdam. There are direct connections from/to Emden, Münster and
Warsaw (via Poznań) only once or a few times a day. Long-distance
tickets with a City-Ticket are also valid on local public transport
within the S-Bahn ring (tariff zone A).
In addition to
long-distance trains from Deutsche Bahn, the private long-distance train
Flixtrain also stops. There are daily night train connections (with
sleeping or couchette cars) with the ÖBB Nightjet from/to Zurich (Basel,
Freiburg i. Br.) and to Vienna via Wroclaw. Only during the summer
season there is also a night train service between Berlin and Malmö.
Regional transport lines run to Berlin from all parts of Brandenburg
as well as from Magdeburg, Dessau, Wismar, Schwerin, Rostock and
Stralsund. The Interregio-Express from Hamburg (via Lüneburg) is
considered a regional train and can be used with the relevant local
transport services.
There are connections to the following local
transport lines at the main station: S3, S5, S7, S9, U5, tram M5, M6, M8
and M10, bus M41, M85, 120, 123, 142, 147, 245, bus M41, M85, 120 , 123,
142, 147, 245, night bus N5, N20 and N40.
Limited barrier-free
access Although the main train station is generally barrier-free, it
cannot be fully recommended for people with restricted mobility.
Depending on the exit track, several levels have to be overcome over
long distances, for which you have to find the right and also unusually
slow elevator. Escalators do not go continuously, e.g. B. to the
long-distance tracks in the basement. The platforms on the top level
also have bottlenecks above the station hall, where the platform is very
narrow. If you want to pass here with a walker and luggage or with small
children while the train is already pulling in, you will quickly get
stuck in the crowd and have no alternative. People with limited mobility
or parents traveling alone with small children should therefore
definitely use the Deutsche Bahn mobility service on Tel. (0)180 6 512
or msz@deutschebahn.com when boarding, alighting or changing trains at
the main station.
Berlin-Spandau train
station, Seegefelder Strasse 1, 13597 Berlin. ICE from Hamburg, Hanover
and Frankfurt/Main via Kassel, IC from Amsterdam, RE from Wismar,
Rathenow, Pritzwalk, Cottbus and Ludwigsfelde, RB from Nauen, Wustermark
and Schönefeld Airport. At Spandau station there is a transition to the
S3 and S9 S-Bahn. The Rathaus Spandau terminus of the U7 subway is in
front of the door. The train station is located opposite Spandau Town
Hall and Spandau's old town.
Berlin Gesundbrunnen train station,
Badstrasse 1-3, 13357 Berlin. In Berlin-Gesundbrunnen, ICE trains are
used towards Munich and Stuttgart via Erfurt and Frankfurt/Main.
Passengers without reservations may consider boarding here. You don't
usually save any time, but you do have the chance to get a seat that
hasn't been allocated yet, as the trains only fill up at the main train
station. Regional trains also run here in the direction of Stralsund,
Rostock, Schwedt, Stettin and Wittenberge or Falkenberg, Wittenberg,
Elsterwerda in the south
At Berlin-Gesundbrunnen train station there
are connections to lines S1, S2, S25, S26, S41, S42, U8, 247 and N8.
5 Ostbahnhof, Koppenstrasse 3, 10243 Berlin. Feature: wheelchair
accessible.
At Ostbahnhof station there are connections to lines S3,
S5, S7, S9 and to bus lines 140, 142, 147, 240, 248, 347 and N40
barrier-free People with restricted mobility should use the Ostbahnhof
if possible, as this is clearer and quieter; In addition, the platforms
for long-distance traffic are wide enough and there is usually more time
for boarding and alighting, since at least the trains heading west and
Frankfurt/Main are only used here and usually arrive a few minutes
earlier.
Berlin Südkreuz train station, General-Pape-Strasse 1, 12101
Berlin. Trains coming from the main station in the south and
Frankfurt/Main via Erfurt stop here
At Südkreuz station there are
connections to the following lines: S2, S25, S26, S41, S42, S45, S46 and
to bus lines M46, 106, 184, 204 and 248
Berlin Lichtenberg train
station, Weitlingstrasse 22, 10317 Berlin .
In GDR
times, Lichtenberg was the long-distance train station with the most
connections. Today only trains from Poland and regional trains stop
here.
There is a connection to the lines S5, S7, S75, U5 to the city
center, trams 21 and 37, buses 108, 240, 256, 296, N5, N50, N94
The
stations Zoologischer Garten, Charlottenburg, Friedrichstrasse,
Alexanderplatz, Potsdamer Platz, Lichterfelde-Ost, Wannsee and
Jungfernheide are also important in regional transport.
When
arriving by local train, the network ticket Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket,
which is valid throughout Germany for local transport, is a
cost-effective alternative. The Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket is also valid on
local trains and S-Bahn trains in Berlin (but not on the U-Bahn, trams
and buses), valid Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. the following
day, on Saturdays, Sundays and Sundays public holidays from midnight to
3 a.m. of the following day.
Various companies offer
bus connections to Berlin, which usually end at the central bus station
(ZOB) at the radio tower.
Central Bus Station Berlin (ZOB). Tel.:
+49 (0)30 30 10 01 75, fax: +49 (0)30 30 10 02 44, e-mail:
verkehrsleitung@iob-berlin.de
Connection to local transport
with the buses A05, 139, 218, M49, X34 and X49, the S-Bahn station
"Messe-Nord/ICC" (S41, S42, S46) and the underground station
"Kaiserdamm" (U2)
There are also long-distance bus stops at
Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, at the S-Bahn stations Ahrensfelde,
Alexanderplatz, Ostbahnhof, Pankow-Heinersdorf, Südkreuz, Treptower
Park, Wannsee, Zoologischer Garten and at the Tegel underground station.
Busliniensuche.de connection search, timetable and fare information
Around Berlin there is the outer ring road A10, the
Berliner Ring, which mostly runs outside the city limits. From it, some
feeder roads lead to or near the city highway, in parts an inner city
ring road (A100), which forms about a semicircle from northwest to
southeast.
A111 from the Oranienburg interchange in the north to
the A100 at the Charlottenburg interchange
A113 from Schönefelder
Kreuz in the southeast to the A100 at Dreieck Neukölln
A114 from the
Pankow Autobahn triangle in the northeast to Pankow-Heinersdorf
A115
from the Nuthetal interchange in the southwest to the A100 at the
Funkturm interchange. This is partly the former AVUS car race track.
Numerous exits from the Berliner Ring lead via federal roads to the
suburbs of Berlin, route planner and traffic situation with traffic jam
display
Basically, there are many resident parking zones, the
parking space management with prices from 2 € per hour is constantly
being expanded and monitored more and more. It is therefore advisable to
use the car only for arrival and departure and to travel around the city
by bus and train.
The sometimes poorly signposted Park & Ride
offers are suitable for day trips to Berlin.
In Berlin,
environmental zones have been set up in accordance with the Fine Dust
Ordinance. If you don't have the appropriate badge, you risk a fine of
€100 when entering an environmental zone. This also applies to foreign
road users.
The environmental zone includes the entire area
within the S-Bahn ring. A violation will be punished with a fine of €80.
For more information, including where the fine dust stickers are issued,
see Berlin's environmental zones
Berlin can be reached by river cruise ships. The terminal for river cruise ships is located in Berlin-Spandau not far from where the Spree flows into the Havel at Spandauer Burgwall 23.
Within Berlin and on the
feeder roads there are cycle paths that allow you to travel from the
state of Brandenburg. However, the signage in the transition to the
state of Brandenburg and partly also within Berlin is incomplete. Cycle
paths are often uncomfortably paved.
Berlin is the station and
end point of several cycling routes. The most important long-distance
cycling routes are:
the European cycle route R1 comes from Potsdam
over the Glienicker Bridge to Berlin, leads along the Havel, the
east-west axis (Heerstraße, Straße des 17. Juni, Unter den Linden) to
the Berlin Cathedral, then along the Spree towards Treptower Park,
Friedrichshagen, Müggelsee and on to Erkner.
The Berlin-Copenhagen
long-distance cycle route starts at the Brandenburg Gate heading north
along the Spandau shipping canal, past Plötzensee and Tegel Airport,
crosses the Havel and leaves Berlin along the Havel in the direction of
Hennigsdorf.
the long-distance cycle route Berlin - Usedom starts at
the Berlin Cathedral and leads north through Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg,
Pankow and leaves Berlin in the suburb of Berlin-Buch in the direction
of Bernau.
the Spree cycle path comes from Erkner in the southeast
and follows the Spree parallel to the R 1 via Müggelsee,
Friedrichshagen, Köpenick, Treptow, Friedrichshain to the Berlin
Cathedral. The continuation to the mouth of the Spree in the Havel has
not yet been fixed.
the Berlin - Leipzig cycle path reaches Berlin
from the south (Zossen) and meets the city limits in Lichtenrade. It
runs parallel to the Wall Trail to Marienfelde and then via Lankwitz,
Schöneberg along the Anhalter Bahn and ends at the Brandenburg Gate.
There are also many other tourist cycle routes that lead to Berlin.
See also cycle routes in Berlin and Brandenburg
Berlin has a dense bus, train and ferry network, made up of regional
trains, S-Bahn trains, underground trains, trams, buses and ferries,
which can be used with one ticket within the Verkehrsverbund
Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB). It is therefore advisable to leave the car at
home and use public transport. A mobile timetable is available with the
Jelbi or BVG app, with which - after registration - tickets can also be
bought. Line plans The BVG also offers an overview plan for download.
Berlin drivers are not known for their empathy towards foreign
license plates creeping their way.
If you want to be able to use
different modes of transport (“inter- or multimodal”), you can use the
Jelbi app operated by the BVG. This can be used, for example, to buy
tickets or book electric scooters, rental bikes or cars without having
to install the app of each provider and register with them individually.
Regional trains allow fast movement within the city
and to the surrounding area, e.g. B. to Potsdam or Oranienburg. The
centerpiece is the 4-track Stadtbahn, which crosses Berlin in a
west-east direction and passes many sights on a journey between Ostkreuz
and Charlottenburg. Depending on the line, regional trains run every
half hour or one hour, on some routes several lines overlap at shorter
intervals. Compared to S-Bahn, regional trains have the advantage that
they have toilets.
With a few exceptions, S-Bahn trains use the
same routes as regional trains, but have their own tracks. They stop
much more frequently and run at least every 20 minutes, usually every 10
minutes or more. The S-Bahn network forms a cross with the Stadtbahn and
the partially underground north-south railway, which intersect with the
U6 underground line at Friedrichstrasse station. Almost all trains are
connected to the Ringbahn, which, in addition to its importance for
local public transport, presents a Berlin away from the travel guides on
its one-hour tour. In the outskirts, the S-Bahn network is denser in the
former eastern part, since the GDR, as the heir to the Deutsche
Reichsbahn, was also the operator of the Berlin S-Bahn. In the western
part, the S-Bahn was boycotted after the Wall was built, which led to
some line closures, some of which still exist today. In the core area,
several lines run on one route. The Ringbahn S41 and S42 only go in one
direction. Reinforcement trains usually do not go to the terminus of the
line. Please note announcements and advertisements on the platform.
The subway network is dense, especially in the former western part,
and, in combination with the S-Bahn, opens up large parts of the city
area. The subways also run mainly underground in the outer districts.
Only in Kreuzberg, Schöneberg, Tegel, Prenzlauer Berg and to Hönow does
it have longer elevated railway lines. The underground trains run every
5 minutes during the day, every 10 minutes in the evening and every 15
minutes at night on weekends.
Trams had been completely abolished
in the western part since 1967 and therefore now run almost exclusively
in the former eastern part. Some lines are operated as "metro lines"
with a higher clock frequency, recognizable by the M in front of the one
or two-digit number. These run at least every 10 minutes during the day.
Buses cover the entire city area. The bus network is divided into
express buses, recognizable by the X in front of the number or
combination of letters. Express buses only stop at selected stations and
are therefore faster than regular buses. In addition, MetroBusse,
recognizable by the M in front of the two-digit number, are the backbone
of the bus network, which are important routes that run at least every
10 minutes and are also listed in the network maps available from the
BVG. The other buses, recognizable by their three-digit numbers, cover
the entire city area. There is a code for the numbers, but it is not
worthwhile for visitors to learn. The formerly widespread double-deckers
are still driving, mostly in inner-city districts.
The bus lines
100, 200 and 300 are interesting for tourists. They run on different
routes from Alexanderplatz through Berlin-Mitte to the western center to
the zoological garden and pass many sights. The routes are very similar
to those of the paid sightseeing buses.
There are various night
bus and night tram lines for night traffic, which also run every 30
minutes between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. during the week. All metro lines run
continuously. Most S-Bahn and U-Bahn lines run all night on weekends. No
separate tickets are required for night traffic.
Bicycles can be
taken on the S-Bahn, U-Bahn and trams at any time with an additional
ticket (for prices, see the "By bike" section). Bicycles may only be
taken on buses on lines N1 to N9 on nights when there is no subway
service. At peak times, however, the chance of being able to squeeze
your bike into a vehicle is low.
Berlin's
bus and train network is divided into three fare zones. Fare zone A
covers the inner city of Berlin within (and including) the S-Bahn ring.
Fare zone B covers the city area between (also including) the S-Bahn
ring and the city limits. Tariff zone C is the surrounding area up to
approx. 15km (e.g. Potsdam, Oranienburg or Berlin-Brandenburg Airport).
Tickets exist for the combinations AB, BC and ABC. Tickets only for zone
A or B are not available (tickets valid only for zone A are available as
"City-Tickets" in combination with a long-distance ticket for Deutsche
Bahn). Tickets for zone C are available as connecting tickets to a valid
ticket in the tariff zone AB (e.g. corresponding weekly tickets). The
connecting ticket is always valid for two hours.
Children aged 6
to 14 inclusive can take advantage of the reduced fare.
Tickets
are valid on all regional trains, suburban trains, underground trains,
trams, buses and ferries in the respective zones. Tickets purchased on
buses and trams are validated and valid for immediate travel. If you buy
your ticket from a machine or kiosk, you must validate your ticket on
the platform using the machines provided on the underground, S-Bahn and
regional trains BEFORE boarding. Purchase or validation on trains is not
possible. In buses and trams, validation is carried out on board the
vehicle.
Berlin fares as of June 2021
Short-distance (3
S-Bahn, 3 U-Bahn or 6 bus stations - no transfers possible): €2, reduced
€1.50
Entire city of AB • Single ticket: €3, reduced €1.90 • 4 trips:
€9.40, reduced: €5.80 • 24-hour ticket: €8.80, reduced €5.60 • Small
group ticket up to the 5th Persons: €25.50
Outside of the S-Bahn ring
and surrounding area of BC: • Single ticket: €3.50, reduced €2.40 •
24-hour ticket: €9.20, reduced €5.90 • Small group ticket for up to 5
people: €26
All of Berlin and the surrounding area ABC: • Single
ticket: €3.80, reduced €2.70 • 24-hour ticket: €10, reduced €6 • Small
group ticket for up to 5 people: €26.50
7-day card VBB environmental
card AB: €36, ABC: €43. It is valid for 7 consecutive days. From 8 p.m.
and all day on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 1 adult and up to
3 children can be taken along free of charge.
For some tourists,
it takes some getting used to the fact that in Berlin you can only board
buses at the front and have to show the driver your ticket.
The
WelcomeCard offers free travel on public transport and discounts on
around 200 cultural, culinary and tourist offers. Usually there are 25%
discounts, sometimes up to 50%. The museums on Museum Island are not
included.
For 48 hours, the card costs (AB): €23, with Potsdam and
the surrounding area of Berlin (ABC): €28, for 72 hours: €33/€38, for 4
days €40/€45, for 5 days: €46 / 49€ and for 6 days 49€ / 52€. With the
ABC variant, children under the age of 14 can travel for free. Tickets
are also available from any ticket machine. The brochure can be picked
up later at the tourist information.
The WelcomeCard Museumsinsel
offers free travel in Berlin (AB) and Berlin and the surrounding area
(ABC), discounts at around 200 attractions and free entry to the museums
on Museumsinsel on 3 consecutive days:
Price for 72 hours: 51€ / 55€.
(Prices for 2020)
The less interesting City Tour Card offers free
travel in Berlin, Potsdam and the Berlin area. You save 15% to 50% at
around 40 tourist attractions in the city and the surrounding area. Most
of the time the discounts are only 1-2€. Main attractions such as Museum
Island or Zoo are not included. These cards are also available for 48
hours, 72 hours, 4, 5 or 6 days. Costs between €19.90 (48 h AB) and
€47.90 (6 days ABC).
So if you want to spend this period in the
city without visiting museums, you can travel more cheaply with three
day tickets. If you stay five to seven days in Berlin, we recommend the
seven-day ticket (from €36), late risers who stay at least ten days
should consider the 10 a.m. monthly ticket, which is valid for one month
from the date of issue is (63€ AB, 78€ ABC). Large luggage and dogs are
included in the price of many of the fares mentioned.
For the
environmentally and price-conscious visitor to Berlin, it is therefore
essential to study the tariff overview beforehand. It should also be
noted that 24-, 48- or 72-hour tickets are valid to the hour after
validation, 7-day tickets to calendar days. With digital tickets, on the
other hand, the validity is precise to the second.
Families and small groups consisting of 3 to 5 people
(children under 6 are not counted, because they travel for free anyway)
and can do without museum discounts travel best with the small group day
ticket. The card is valid for a maximum of 5 people and costs €25.50
(AB), €26 (BC) or €26.50 (ABC) (as of June 2021). You can buy them from
vending machines or at the BVG sales counter; it must be validated at
the start of the journey. Buying small group day tickets is also the
cheapest option for families and small groups if they are traveling for
a longer period of time, i. H. 1 or 2 weeks, stay in Berlin.
Small families who do not have more than 2 to 3 trips per day can
calculate whether they can get by with single tickets (or the cheaper
4-trip tickets) or short-distance tickets even cheaper than with a small
group day ticket. With 4 or more trips per day, the latter is definitely
worth it.
points of sale
You can also pay with the usual
credit cards at the ticket offices of the S-Bahn stations; Ticket
machines (at all S-Bahn & U-Bahn stations, some bus stops) accept debit
and credit cards or cash (only coins on the trams). Single tickets can
be purchased from bus drivers, but only against cash payment (large
banknotes are not accepted). Almost all tickets can also be purchased
via the Jelbi or BVG app - an internet connection is required for the
purchase, but not during the journey. Registration (credit card or bank
account) is required to make a purchase in the apps.
There are over 7,000 taxis in Berlin, which passengers can order at the
taxi stand or on the street. Orders by phone or app are also possible.
Taxis have a transport obligation, i. H. they have to go to any desired
destination in the city area.
Ordered by mobile phone and from
the hotel or at the many stops, you get on for €3.90 and then pay €2 per
km. Large taxis with more than four people or bulky luggage cost extra,
as do waiting times. You can pay in cash, with a debit (EC) card or with
major credit cards. If you hail a taxi on the street, you can drive a
short distance, which must be less than 2km, for €5. This must be
announced to the driver before starting the journey. If the journey is
longer, the taximeter increases very quickly to the normal rate of
around €7.
You can read the current taxi tariff on the website of
the taxi guild. There is also a rate calculator.
If you
can't help it, be prepared that this is not an exercise for the
faint-hearted. Even if Berlin does not have an old town center with
winding alleys, but on the contrary comparatively wide streets, the
often multi-lane traffic with increased average speeds, turning lanes
and a high number of cyclists and scooter drivers is unfamiliar to many
drivers. The structure of the Berlin road network is comparatively
simple once you have understood the system. There are several concentric
rings (not all are 360 degrees) that are intersected by radial roads.
Traffic density has increased enormously in recent years. Many roads are
congested, especially during peak traffic times, and the city motorway
almost all day.
Parking spaces vary in availability. In the city
there are parking garages or underground garages. Parking on the side of
the road is time-limited and expensive, which can quickly cost 4 euros
per hour. There are parking spaces available there. In the densely
built-up residential areas, on the other hand, parking spaces are
scarce. In the outskirts, on the other hand, it is rather unproblematic
to find a parking space, apart from the town centres. All in all, it is
advisable (and much less stressful) to leave the car at the
accommodation and to use the well-developed local transport system.
In the city of Berlin there are
stations of the major car rental companies (including Sixt, Europcar,
Avis), various local providers (including ES car rental), free-floating
car sharing, i.e. the possibility of returning the car independently of
stations, is offered by FREENOW and MILES offered.
Ridesharing is
offered under the BerlKönig brand in the eastern part of the S-Bahn
ring.
There are cycle paths, also along the
Havel and Spree rivers and the main canals. Unfortunately, the cycle
paths are often uncomfortably paved, sometimes interrupted at
unfavorable places. The signage is also incomplete, especially in the
transition to the state of Brandenburg. The "Berliner Mauerweg" (bike
map with description) is interesting, it leads along the former borders
of the western part of Berlin. Sometimes the signage is confusing,
especially in the Mitte district. • Cycle routes
There are no
bicycle parking garages or other secure parking facilities in Berlin.
Possibly you should do the sightseeing tours that require leaving the
bike unattended without a bike.
S-Bahn, U-Bahn, tram and ferries
offer bicycle transport. An additional bicycle ticket is required at a
price of €1.80 - €2.40, day ticket: €4.70 - €5.30, monthly ticket:
€10.20 - €12.70. However, according to the conditions of carriage, only
a few bicycles can be taken on the subways; Groups should therefore
prefer the S-Bahn or the regional trains. Bicycles are not allowed in
the first carriage of the subway. Some drivers pay very close attention
to this.
In addition to the classic bike rental
from bike shops or directly from the accommodation, there are a variety
of app-based rental bike systems. A distinction must be made here
between systems in which bicycles have to be returned to stations
(“station-based”) and those in which bicycles can be parked freely
within a larger area (“free-floating”):
next bike. Around 5000
two-wheelers are available in a mainly station-bound system at around
725 stations. If you want to return bikes beyond stations, an additional
fee applies. It is also possible to register without a credit card, and
holders of a VBB environmental card can also use the bicycles with it,
and booking via Jelbi is also possible.
call a bike Until 2020 LIDL
bike. Purely station-bound system.
Donkey Republic Bikes. Donkey
Republic bikes from Denmark can also be found occasionally.
lime.
Lime also has a few bicycles on offer.
With
the release of electric scooters in 2019, numerous rental companies for
these scooters sprouted up. Usually, scooters are rented exclusively via
apps, both at fixed stations and from randomly parked scooters. If you
pay attention to the price, you should alternatively consider rental
mopeds, as these often compensate for their slightly higher price with
their higher speed.
The traffic rules must be observed: Electric
scooters, like bicycles, may not be used on sidewalks, but only on cycle
paths or the road.
Some ferry connections are offered
by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe; the usual tariffs of the VBB apply
there, including the tickets for the other means of transport. Line F10
(Wannsee-Kladow) is an insider tip. It runs in Wannsee on the hour every
60 minutes. Kladow with its cafés is reached after a 20-minute crossing.
Barrier-free
With the keyword barrier-free Berlin, the city tries
to give people with disabilities, senior citizens and other people
partially, permanently or temporarily restricted in their mobility
access to museums, sights, restaurants, cinemas, clubs, department
stores, shopping centers, shops and of course the public transport
network make possible. Corresponding city maps and information are
available from mobidat and wheelmap. The latter is also available as a
smartphone app.
Wheelchair users can use elevators or ramps in
almost all train stations (list of broken elevators: brokenlifts,
S-Bahn, BVG). Some buses and trams (metro lines) use low-floor
technology. Pubs, restaurants and hotels not covered by the
grandfathering were obliged to install toilets suitable for the
disabled. Museums, venues and sights are also technically equipped for a
group of wheelchair users. Nevertheless, it is still difficult to
venture into areas that are not so well developed for tourism, since
many sidewalks have not yet been lowered and Berliners are very
tolerant, but can also be indifferent due to the hustle and bustle of
the big city. Various private providers, who also work for the Berlin
special transport service, offer Berlin visitors pick-up from airports,
transfers, city tours and much more in suitably equipped buses. The
wheelchair breakdown service helps with problems such as further
transport, repair/replacement wheelchairs on 84 31 09 10 or 0180 111 47
47 (24 h).
Visually impaired and blind people can find their way
around in elevators and trains using the many appropriately equipped
traffic lights and acoustic signals. Many stations have guide strips
with a rough surface that mark the edge of the platform. In some train
stations (e.g. Hauptbahnhof) there are tactile handrail labels with
instructions in Braille on the handrails. Information and special
excursion destinations for the blind and visually impaired can be found
here.
Deaf people can find out about special offers here.
Highlights
Berlin has a very large number of different sights,
with the most important being in the old center (district Mitte),
Zoo/Ku'damm and in the area around the Kulturforum and Potsdamer Platz.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site includes the Museum Island with, among
other things, the Pergamon Museum, the Old National Gallery, the Bode
Museum, as well as the Berlin Modernist housing estates from the 1920s
and the palaces and parks of Potsdam and Berlin that extend from
Potsdam. Other sights that should not be missed when visiting Berlin are
the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag building, the Holocaust memorial,
Alexanderplatz with the TV tower, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and
the palaces of Charlottenburg and Pfaueninsel.
Berlin Cathedral, Am Lustgarten 1 . The
Berlin Cathedral is a central site of the Protestant Church in Germany
and is located on the northern part of the Spree Island, which is called
Museum Island. The 78m high dome was built at the beginning of the 20th
century based on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Open: Mon - Sat: 9 a.m. -
7 p.m., Sun. 12 p.m. - 7 p.m., April - Sept: until 8 p.m. Price:
Admission: €7 including children up to 18 years, reduced: €4, audio
guide: €3.
Marienkirche near the television
tower. The only building in the Marienviertel that survived the bombs
and bulldozers. Probably the most photographed church in Berlin because
of its proximity to the television tower.
New Synagogue,
Oranienburger Strasse 30. The Jewish house of worship
was built by Knoblauch in 1859-66, partially destroyed in 1938 and only
restored between 1988 and 1995. Germany's largest and most magnificent
synagogue represents a masterpiece of engineering at the time. The 50m
high dome has small side towers ("miniminarets"). This and the facade of
the building give the building a Moorish appearance. An exhibition is
housed in the building. The dome can be climbed from April to September.
Open: Sun - Fri from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., in winter Fri until 3 p.m.
Price: €5, reduced: €4, dome: €3 / €2.50.
Kaiser- Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche.
In the middle of the Kurfürstendamm. This church
would probably never have gained national fame if it had not been
partially destroyed in World War II and, now located in the center of
West Berlin, had not served as a memorial against the war. In addition
to the ruined tower, the octagonal church hall and a new tower were
inaugurated in 1961, which create a soft, diffuse light in the interior
with their blue glass mosaic stones. Open: daily from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00
p.m. Worship service: Sun.: 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
Charlottenburg Palace is the most important baroque building
in Berlin, along with the armory that houses the German Historical
Museum. During the Second World War it was significantly more damaged
than the Berlin City Palace, which was blown up in 1950. In contrast,
the Hohenzollern residence in Charlottenburg was completely rebuilt.
During the renovation of Bellevue Palace, Charlottenburg was the
residence of the Federal President. At times, the palace may be closed
to the public during state visits and receptions. · Not only the castle
is important, but also the castle park north of the castle. Part Rococo,
part English park with some small architecture and exhibition buildings
Humboldt Forum. The Hohenzollern city palace stood on the site, which
was blown up in 1950, as well as the GDR representative building, the
Palace of the Republic, until the 2000s, the demolition of which was
highly controversial. The building in the reconstructed facades houses
several museums and galleries as well as cafes and a book and souvenir
shop.
Peacock Island/ Pfaueninsel. It is a landscape park in the Berlin area of
the Havel. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1990,
along with the palaces and parks of Sanssouci in Potsdam and Glienicke
in Berlin. The 67-hectare Pfaueninsel, which Friedrich Wilhelm II
acquired in 1793, is characterized by its landscaping design and an
ancient tree population of around 400 picturesque oaks. Eyserbeck, Lenné
and Fintelmann brought them to bear with the routing and grouping of
trees. Free-roaming peacocks can be admired. The island is only
accessible by ferry. The White Castle on the Peacock Island was built in
1794 and, with its characteristic towers and the bridge connecting them,
is a landmark of the city of Berlin. The castle is closed for renovation
work until 2024! Open: Daily ferry times March: 9am-6pm, April: 9am-7pm,
May-August: 9am-8pm, September: 9am-7pm, October: 9am-6pm, Nov-Feb:
10am-4pm Clock. Price: return ferry €3, reduced €2.50, family ticket:
€8, castle €3.
Glienicke Castle.
Glienicke Castle is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was the summer
palace of Prince Carl of Prussia. Today's classical form goes back to
Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Today the building is used as a castle museum.
Klein Glienicke Park, erroneously also called Volkspark Glienicke, is a
large English landscape park between Havel, Moorlake, Königsstraße (B 1)
and Glienicke Bridge. Glienicke Castle and Park are also part of the
World Cultural Heritage. Open: Apr-Oct: Tue-Sun 10:00am-6:00pm, Tue-Fri
Visit with guided tour only, last tour: 4:00pm; Nov-Mar: Sat-Sun with
guided tour 10am-4pm. Price: €6, concessions: €5, photo permit: €3.
Bellevue Palace, Spreeweg 1, 10557
Berlin. Early classical three-wing complex from 1785/86. Second official
seat of the Federal President since 1957 and first since 1994. Can only
be viewed from the outside, entry by invitation only. edit info
For more palaces and castles, see the district articles.
As a capital with centuries of tradition, Berlin has a
large number of representative buildings from all eras up to the present
day. The competition during the division meant that many institutions,
from airports to universities to zoos, were duplicated. Only the most
important buildings are listed here. Numerous other entries can be found
in the district articles.
Government district with the Reichstag
building and the neighboring palace of the President of the
Reichstag
(today Jakob-Kaiser-Haus, both from 1894), and the modern buildings for
the members of the Bundestag (Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus) and the
Federal Chancellery built in the same line. Architecture of power from
the empire and now.
House of World Cultures (Congress Hall) .
built by the Americans after the war in 1956, called the "pregnant
oyster" by the Berliners because of the sweeping shape of the roof. The
roof that collapsed in 1980 buried some people.
Brandenburg Gate. THE Berlin
landmark and symbol of German unity, even at the time of division, is
located at the western end of Unter den Linden at Pariser Platz and at
the transition to Straße des 17. Juni in Tiergarten.
Berlin television tower. Email: info@tv-turm.de. tallest building in the
city with a viewing platform at 203m and 207m.
Tempelhof Airport -
When it was completed in 1941, the airport building, a 1,200 m long,
arched, multi-storey building, was the largest building in the world (by
floor space). In its history it was not only a terminal building, but
also an aircraft hangar, concentration camp, US military base,
exhibition hall and sports facility. In front of the building is the
memorial to the Berlin blockade of 1948/49. Today, the building can only
be viewed from the inside as part of a guided tour; concerts and part of
the Berlin Fashion Week occasionally take place on the apron.
Horseshoe settlement Britz
Settlements of Berlin Modernism. Six
different tenement housing estates from the 1910s and 1920s in the New
Building style, planned by architects such as Bruno Taut, Otto
Salvisberg, Martin Wagner and Hans Sharoun, have been included in the
UNESCO World Heritage List. These are:
Gartenstadt Falkenberg in
Bohnsdorf (formerly Treptow district): Around 120 apartments have been
built by the architect Bruno Taut since 1912, known as the paint box
settlement because of their colourfulness. Unfinished due to World War
I.
Schillerpark in Wedding Approximately 300 cooperatively financed
apartments in multi-family houses, also planned by Taut Bruno Taut
between 1924 and 1930.
Hufeisensiedlung Britz in Neukölln Settlement
with 1,300 apartments in multi-family houses as well as terraced houses,
built in the late 1920s by Bruno Taut and Martin Wagner with a
distinctive horseshoe-shaped row of houses in the center.
Wohnstadt
Carl Legien in Prenzlauer Berg - Six elongated U-shaped blocks of flats
with large loggias, designed around green inner courtyards, planned in
1928 by Bruno Taut.
White town in Reinickendorf - large settlement
with 1,300 apartments in a loose construction from 1928 - 1931. Planners
were Salvisberg, Ahrends, Büning.
Large housing estate Siemensstadt
in Charlottenburg-Nord - company apartments of Siemens AG for several
thousand families, planned e.g. by Scharoun and Gropius.
East Side
Gallery, Mühlenstrasse. Connected piece of wall along Mühlenstraße,
which has been converted into a large canvas for graffiti artists since
1990. In the meantime, the area has unfortunately lost a lot of its
impression due to the dense new development all around. Feature:
wheelchair accessible.
Berlin is comparatively
flat. Nevertheless, there are some natural elevations, which are also
indicated by district names such as Kreuzberg or Prenzlauer Berg.
Slightly higher elevations are the Müggelberge in the south-east and in
the Grunewald in the west. There are also observation towers:
Müggelturm
Grunewald tower
Both towers rise about 30 meters
and allow an all-round view. The view encompasses the surrounding
forests and bodies of water, with the city silhouetted distantly on the
horizon.
Elevations closer to the city are the natural elevation
of the Kreuzberg with the memorial for the wars of liberation at the
top, a cast-iron monster that one has when looking over the city in the
back. In the surrounding Victoria Park an artificial waterfall, replica
of the Zackelfall near Schreiberhau in the Giant Mountains.
Help
was given by piles of rubble on
Teufelsberg info edit in the west of
the city. On the highest mountain of rubble in Berlin stood a listening
station operated by the US armed forces until the 1990s, listening from
here to the Urals. The listening station is still standing and is now
the subject of one of Berlin's more bizarre guided tours. Wide all-round
view, kites are warned of.
Humboldthain in Gesundbrunnen and
Volkspark Friedrichshain is comparatively close to the city. Both are
mountains of rubble that were piled up around an anti-aircraft bunker.
At the Humboldthain he still looks out at the top.
There are
numerous tall buildings in Berlin that offer vantage points. These are
next to that
TV tower - it doesn't get any higher. Observation pulpit
at 203m and 207m height. Long queues, pre-booking advisable
Dome of
the Reichstag building with a view of the government district and the
Tiergarten. Admission free, but pre-registration required
Dome of the
Berlin Cathedral, which can be climbed as part of a tour of the
cathedral
Roof terrace Park Inn - on Alexanderplatz, inexpensive and
queue-free alternative to the TV tower, 270-degree view
Europa Center
- viewing platform in City West under the Mercedes star
Telefunken
high-rise - at Ernst-Reuter-Platz (Charlottenburg). The canteen of the
Technical University operates a cafeteria on the 20th floor. Admission
is free and a snack with a drink costs the same as admission elsewhere.
Potsdamer Platz panorama point on the Kollhoff Tower
Funkturm - You
can't get any higher in the fresh air. Just outside in the Westend on
the exhibition grounds
Unter den Linden. The
baroque axis of the residence leads from the palace (today the
Humboldt Forum) to the Brandenburg Gate. In addition, it
continues a good 10km to the west to Scholzplatz in the Westend.
Berlin's boulevard with representative buildings e.g. with the
Humboldt University and State Library, Hedwig's Cathedral,
Bebelplatz, the State Opera, the Neue Wache and the Arsenal and
an equestrian statue of Frederick the Great. Also hotels,
showrooms for luxury cars, cafes and restaurants.
Gendarmenmarkt . Elegant square with the German Cathedral, the
French Cathedral and the Schauspielhaus (officially:
"Konzerthaus") in Mitte.
Potsdamer Platz internet. Once the
busiest square in Berlin with an early traffic light in the
1920s. Later fallow in the no man's land between East and West
Berlin and around the turn of the millennium, Europe's largest
construction site. Today high-rise film, shopping and
residential complex with film house with the film museum and
Sonycenter.
Breitscheidplatz built in the 1950s and 1960s to
become West Berlin's showcase with the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial
Church, Zoopalast (cinema) and Europa Center with a Mercedes
star shining from afar on the roof.
Kurfuerstendamm.
Charlottenburg's counterpart to the boulevard Unter den Linden
with fewer representation and more strolling. Even if the
Ku-damm feels the competition of the Linden, the
Friedrichstraße, there are still many posh boutiques and shops
to be found here, so that even window shopping can be worthwhile
Alexanderplatz. Shopping center and transport hub. Nothing of
the flair of pre-war Berlin has been preserved here; the war,
socialist urban planning and post-reunification real estate
speculation have done a great job. Massive and average goods
that tend to become junky, but occasionally still shell players.
Several high-rise buildings have been under construction here
since 2020, which will significantly change the square.
Chamissoplatz. Living in Kreuzberg has never been as beautiful
as it is now after the renovation. Old Berlin at its best as
well as nearby in Bergmannstraße with many small shops and
cafes.
Karl Marx Allee. Former GDR grand boulevard built in
the 1950s as Stalinallee with palaces for the avant-garde of the
working class.
Friedrichstrasse . Busy, in parts noble
shopping and entertainment mile. Comparatively narrow by Berlin
standards and therefore more urban, lively flair than elsewhere.
Bolschestrasse. Suburban promenade between Müggelsee and S-Bahn
JotWeeDee, in Friedrichshagen, just under half an hour by
S-Bahn. But nice.
Holocaust memorial (in the OT center on the edge of the
Tiergarten). walk-in labyrinth made of concrete pillars and a
small underground exhibition. The area is a popular photo
opportunity, but climbing the steles is both frowned upon and
forbidden.
Victory Column (on the Great Star in the
Tiergarten). Phone: +49 (0)30 391 29 61 . with gilded winged
Victoria in memory of 70/71. Standing in front of the Reichstag
until 1938, it was increased from 50.66 meters to 66.89 meters
when it was moved to the Großer Stern in 1939.
Marx-Engels-Forum (in the OT center on the edge of the green
area to the Liebknechtbrücke) . Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
larger than life and with frock coats, popularly known as Sacco
and Jacketti, a popular group of figures for selfies.
Soviet
War Memorial (in Tiergarten) . Memorial monument and burial
place for fallen Red Army soldiers.
Soviet Memorial (in
Treptower Park) . Largest of the four monumental memorials with
soldiers' graves
Airlift Memorial (in front of Tempelhof
Airport) . Sculpture commemorating the Berlin Airlift and its
victims.
Hohenschoenhausen Memorial, Genslerstrasse 66, 13055
Berlin. Tel.: +49 (0)30 98 60 82 30, fax: +49 (0)30 98 60 82 36,
e-mail: info@stiftung-hsh.de . Former remand and torture prison
of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR.
Neptune Fountain from 1891 - dismantled from the square in front
of the Berlin Palace and restored in 1969 and re-erected on the
green area in front of the Red City Hall.
globe fountain .
(Water Klops) on the Breitscheidplatz at the zoo.
Fairy tale
fountain in Volkspark Friedrichshain. Built in 1913, the
fountain with fairytale characters is a popular selfie backdrop
for children and lovers.
Berlin has a wide range of museums. From the cast collection of
antique plastic to the sugar museum, over 200 houses invite you.
There is an overview here. If you want to visit several museums,
you have the option of purchasing combination tickets in
different versions. Here you have to pay close attention to
which museums are included and the corresponding period (if you
can do it sensibly without rushing).
Many museums in
Berlin are free of charge every first Sunday of the month. In
some cases, a reservation is necessary in advance. More
information at Museums Sonntag Booking.
Museum Pass - The
3-day ticket for €29 (reduced: €14.50) gives you free access to
around 30 museums. The museums of the Museum Island and the most
important museums of the Kulturforum and around the
Charlottenburg Palace are included.
The Museum Island area
ticket costs: €18, reduced €9 and is worthwhile from the second
visit to the museum.
For discounts with the "Berlin
WelcomeCard" in connection with bus and train day tickets, see:
Tourist Cards
Good to know for families: Children up to the
age of 18 have free entry to all state museums.
Other
overview pages are the joint page of the State Museums in Berlin
and the joint page of the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin.
The museums on the 31st Museum Island are part of the UNESCO
World Heritage.
Pergamon Museum, Bodestrasse 1-3, 10178
Berlin. Tel.: +49 (0)30 266424242, email: service@smb.museum.
Today the Pergamon Museum houses three museums: the antiquities
collection with the architecture halls and the sculpture wing,
the Near Eastern Museum and the Museum of Islamic Art. The
impressive reconstructions of archaeological buildings such as
the Pergamon Altar, the Market Gate of Miletus and the Ischtar
Gate with the processional street of Babylon and the Mschatta
facade have made the museum known worldwide. The hall with the
Pergamon Altar and other sections are expected to be closed
until 2023 due to extensive building renovations. Open: Tue-Sun
10:00-18:00. Price: €12.00 (as of 2022-12-23), €6.00 (students,
as of 2022-12-23).
Bode Museum, Am Kupfergraben, 10117
Berlin. Phone: +49 (0)30 266424242 . The Bode Museum on the
Museum Island mainly exhibits sculptures. After being destroyed
in World War II, the museum has been open to the public again
since 2006 with its sculpture collection, the Museum of
Byzantine Art, the coin cabinet and works from the picture
gallery. Feature: luggage storage.
Altes Museum, Bodestrasse
1-3, 10178 Berlin. Tel.: +49 (0)30 266424242. The building was
originally created for the Berlin art collections. Between 1943
and 1945 the building burned down and was severely damaged. The
reconstruction lasted until 1966. Since 1998 the antiquities
collection in the Altes Museum has been showing its Greek
collection with the treasury on the ground floor of the
building.
Old National Gallery, Bodestrasse 1-3, 10178
Berlin. Phone: +49 (0)30 266424242 . In the Old National Gallery
works of classicism, romanticism, Biedermeier, impressionism and
the beginning of modernism are exhibited
Neues Museum,
Bodestrasse 1-3, 10178 Berlin. Tel.: +49 (0)30 266424242, email:
service@smb.museum wikipediacommonsfacebook. The New Museum
houses the papyrus collection and the Egyptian Museum with the
bust of Nefertiti, the Museum of Prehistory and Early History
with objects from Priam's treasure and parts of the antiquities
collection.
James Simon Gallery internet, Bodestrasse, 10178
Berlin. Phone: +49 (0)30 266424242 .
In the 1960s, an ensemble of cultural temples with the
Philharmonie and chamber music hall, state library and several
museums was built in the western part of the 38 Kulturforum in
Tiergarten, not far from Potsdamer Platz, on a wasteland near
the Wall. These include:
New National Gallery, Potsdamer
Strasse 50, 10785 Berlin. Tel.: +49 (0)30 266424242. The Neue
Nationalgalerie is the museum for 20th-century art of the
Nationalgalerie Berlin. The museum building, which opened in
1968, was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and is considered
an icon of classical modernism. In addition to the museum
Sunday, admission is free on Thursdays from 4 p.m.
Berlin
Picture Gallery, Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin. Tel.: +49
(0)30 266424242. The Berlin Picture Gallery shows holdings of
old European paintings from the 13th to the 18th century.
Kupferstichkabinett, Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin. Tel.: +49
(0)30 266424242. The Kupferstichkabinett is the largest museum
of graphic arts in Germany and one of the four most important
collections of this kind in the world. Its holdings include more
than 500,000 prints and around 110,000 other works of art on
paper, i.e. drawings, pastels, watercolors and oil sketches.
Museum of Decorative Arts, Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin.
Phone: +49 (0)30 266424242.
Musical Instrument Museum,
Tiergartenstrasse 1, Berlin. Tel.: +49 (0)30 25481178. With
around 3,500 instruments, the Berlin Musical Instrument Museum
has one of the largest and most representative collections of
musical instruments in Germany.
A bit away from the
Kulturforum
Hamburger Bahnhof − Museum for Contemporary Art
(in Moabit near the main train station).
Bauhaus Archive,
Klingelhöferstrasse 14 . Exhibition on the history of the famous
architectural style, the world's largest collection on the
Bauhaus theme. The permanent exhibition of the Bauhaus Archive
is closed until probably 2025 due to general renovation and
expansion.
All around that
Schloss Charlottenburg, which is itself a
major museum site, there are a number of fine museums of
painting.
Berggruen Museum, Schlossstrasse 1, 14059 Berlin.
Tel: +49 (0)30 266424242. The Berggruen Museum (opposite the
castle) exhibits paintings by Picasso and his time. In addition
to works by Picasso, classical modern art by numerous other
well-known artists can be seen - including Cézanne, Klee, Braque
and Matisse. Closed until 2025 due to general renovation!
Collection Scharf-Gerstenberg, Schloßstrasse 70, 14059 Berlin.
Tel.: +49 (0)30 266424242. The Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection
shows top-class works by the Surrealists and their predecessors
from the holdings of the "Foundation Dieter Scharf Collection in
Memory of Otto Gerstenberg". The spectrum of artists ranges from
Piranesi, Goya and Redon to Dalí, Magritte, Max Ernst and
Dubuffet.
Bröhan Museum, Schloßstrasse 1a, 14059 Berlin.
Tel.: +49 (0)30 32690600. With Art Nouveau, Art Deco and
Functionalism (1889-1939).
Collection of casts of antique
plastic, Schloßstraße 69 b, 14059 Berlin. Tel.: +49 (0)30
3424054. The collection features 2,000 plaster casts of Greek
and Roman sculptures from the 3rd millennium B.C. to about 500
AD
Museum Center Dahlem
The ethnological museums are
housed in the Dahlem Museum Center in Dahlem, Lansstraße 8 or
Arnimallee 25, U3 Dahlem-Dorf. After the opening of the Humboldt
Forum in the rebuilt city palace, they are to move there.
Museum of Asian Art, Schlossplatz, 10178 Berlin. Phone: +49
(0)30 266424242.
Ethnological Museum, Schloßplatz, 10178
Berlin. Phone: +49 (0)30 266424242.
Museum of European
Cultures, Arnimallee 25, 14195 Berlin. Phone: +49 (0)30
266424242.
All three museums have some of the most extensive
collections of their genre in the world.
Zeughaus (Deutsches Historisches
Museum)/ German Historical Museum (DHM), Unter den Linden 2
Berlin-Mitte. Tel.: +49(0)30-20 30 40. Museum of German history
and place of enlightenment and understanding of the common
history of Germans and Europeans. Extensive collections on
German history, near the Berlin Cathedral and the Museum Island.
Open: Mon-Sun 10:00 - 18:00. Price: €8, reduced €4, children
under 19 free.
Jewish Museum Berlin , Lindenstrasse 9-14 in
Kreuzberg. Tel.: +49 (0)30 2599 3300. Persecution of Jews
1933-1945, Jewish life in Germany since late antiquity,
importance of Judaism in Germany for cultural development in
Germany, special exhibitions. Interesting architecture. Open:
Mon 10:00 - 22:00, Tue - Sun 10:00 - 20:00. Price: €8, reduced:
€3, family: €14.
Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Strasse 119 and 111,
Gesundbrunnen / Mitte. Tel.: +49(0)30-467 98 66 66, e-mail:
info@stiftung-berliner-mauer.de . The division of Germany was
most blatant in Bernauer Strasse. The street belonged to the
West Berlin district of Wedding, houses in the East Berlin
district of Mitte. After the ground floors were bricked up on
August 13, 1961, the refugees jumped out of the upper windows
onto the street. Escape tunnels were also dug. On a 1.3 km long
piece of the former border, the border installation and the
situation at that time with the fate of people is shown. Open:
outdoor area: accessible all year round; Visitor Center:
Apr-Oct: Tue-Sun 10am-6pm. The documentation center at Bernauer
Strasse 111. Price: Admission free.
Documentation Center
Topography of Terror, Niederkirchnerstraße 8, 10963 Berlin
Mitte/Kreuzberg. Tel.: +49(0)30 - 25450950, E-Mail:
info@topographie.de . The documentation center of the
"Topography of Terror" foundation shows permanent exhibitions
from the time of National Socialism: The focus is on the
permanent exhibition in the building on the Gestapo, SS and the
Reich Security Main Office and the crimes they committed.
Outside, the exhibition "Berlin 1933-1945" can be found on a
piece of the former Berlin Wall. Special exhibitions and guided
tours complement the program. During the Nazi era, the
headquarters of the Secret State Police (Gestapo) was located on
the site. Open: daily 10:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m., closed 24/12, 31/12,
01/01 Price: Admission free.
House at Checkpoint Charlie
(Wall Museum), Friedrichstrasse 43, 10969 Berlin-Kreuzberg.
Tel.: +49(30 - 253 7250, email: info@mauermuseum.de . History of
the Berlin Wall and the division of Germany. The private museum
on the former border crossing shows a lively exhibition on the
Berlin Wall and is visited by many visitors Visited from all
over the world Open: Mon-Sun 9am-10pm Price: €12.50, students:
€9.50, children 7-18 years: €6.50.
Museum in the
Kulturbrauerei (in Prenzlauer Berg). Email: berlin@hdg.de with
the permanent exhibition “Everyday life in the GDR” Open:
Tue−Sun and public holidays 10:00−18:00, Thu until 20:00. Price:
Admission free.
German Resistance Memorial Center,
Stauffenbergstraße 13-14, 10785 Berlin (Mitte/Tiergarten;
entrance via the Ehrenhof). Tel.: +49-30-26 99 50 00, e-mail:
sekretariat@gdw-berlin.de.
German Museum of Technology internet,
Kreuzberg. Tel.: +49 (0)30 90 25 40, fax: +49 (0)30 90 25 41 75,
e-mail: info@technikmuseum.berlin . Exhibitions on aerospace,
shipping, rail, road and municipal transport and photo and film
technology, as well as energy technology, production technology,
computing and automation technology, communications technology,
writing and printing technology, paper technology, textile
technology, historical brewery and special exhibitions . More on
this.
Museum for Internet Communication, Leipziger Strasse
16, 10117 Berlin-Mitte. Phone: +49(0)30-202 94 205, email:
mfk-berlin@mspt.de. History, present and future of
communication, permanent exhibition: Communication is everyday
life. How do media change the perception of space and time? What
are the effects of accelerating the movement of people, goods
and data? How are messages protected? How is the self-portrayal
of institutions and nations changing? Special exhibits: Blue and
Red Mauritius, television tubes from before the television era,
Philipp Reis' first telephones. i.a. Exhibition about the mail.
More on this. Open: Tue 9am-8pm, Wed-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat-Sun
10am-6pm. Price: €4, reduced €2, children under 18 free.
Museum für Naturkunde internet (Natural History Museum, Humboldt
Museum), Mitte. Tel.: +49 (0)30 88 91 40 85 91, fax: +49 (0)30
88 91 40 88 41, e-mail: info@mfn.berlin . The Museum of Natural
History in Berlin is (along with the Senckenberg Museum in
Frankfurt) the largest natural history museum in Germany. The
museum is best known for a skeleton originally classified as
Brachiosaurus brancai, the world's largest assembled skeleton of
a dinosaur. Also on view in the atrium is the very
well-preserved original of an Archeopteryx (“Berlin specimen”),
the Paraves, widely known as the oldest bird, from the
Solnhofener Plattenkalks in southern Germany. The museum also
exhibits: minerals, fossils, ungulates and native animals. The
dioramas, which show various animals in their natural
environment, are considered to be of cultural and historical
value. Feature: wheelchair accessible. Price: €8.00.
Botanical Garden with Botanical Museum. with large greenhouses
over 100 years old.
Tierpark internet, Lichtenberg (U-Bahn
U5) wikipediacommons. Tierpark Berlin is the East Berlin zoo
with lots of space in Friedrichsfelde. With over 160 hectares,
it is one of the largest zoos in Europe and is highly
recommended for visitors. A visit to the pachyderm house is
recommended on weekends around 12:00 when the elephants are
bathing. More on this.
Zoological garden in the Tiergarten
near the Zoo train station with the aquarium. One of the oldest
and most species-rich zoos and green oasis in the busy
City-West.
Large zoo. The Brandenburg electors used to hunt here. Now
walkers stroll, joggers jog and cyclists cycle through the
extensive park, the green lung of the city.
Tempelhof field.
The site of the former Tempelhof Airport is now a wide open and
green space. It opened to the public in May 2010 and is
available for leisure, sports and recreation during the day.
Treptow Park. Park on the west bank of the Spree with the
adjacent Plänterwald. Soviet memorial and former amusement park,
now overgrown. Feature: public toilet.
Grunewald . In
Wilmersdorf with nearby Havel lakes. Largest contiguous forest
area in Berlin between the city area and the Havel in the
south-west of the city.
Tegel Lake. with Tegel Forest. The
Tegeler See is a large bulge of the Havel, on the northern shore
of which borders an extensive forest area.
Müggelsee .
Berlin's largest lake.
Berlin offers a wide variety of sights, activities, museums and
exhibitions that, in addition to the two zoos, are specially
geared to the needs of children. Below are a few particularly
worthwhile destinations for children aged 3 and over.
Join the Museum, Senefelder Str. 5, Prenzlauer Berg. The
MACHmit! Museum für Kinder is a very special museum: numerous
MACHmit! offers to discover, try out and explore encourage
children to learn through play and to gain unusual experiences.
Labyrinth, Osloer Strasse 12, Wedding. Whether by touching,
trying out, jumping, climbing, folding, kneading, smelling,
running, hearing, seeing, asking, screaming, thinking or
relaxing: Learning through doing things yourself is the way that
not only children make the best progress.
FEZ Wuhlheide, road
to FEZ 2, Köpenick. The FEZ Berlin is Europe's largest
non-profit center for children, young people and families. It
offers creative play, fun, relaxation and culture for the whole
family.
Legoland Berlin, Potsdamer Strasse 4. Email:
berlin@legolanddiscoverycentre.de commons. Tourist trap at
Potsdamer Platz. Open: Monday - Sunday 10am - 7pm (last
admission 5pm).
Youth Museum, Hauptstr. 40/42, 10827
Berlin-Schoeneberg. Phone: +49 (0)30 902776163, email:
museum@ba-ts.berlin.de. an experimental history museum for young
people. It is based in the "Millionenvilla" in Berlin's
Schöneberg district. Unusual exhibition and workshop rooms and a
lively program. Open: Sat - Thurs 2 p.m. - 6 p.m., Fri 9 a.m. -
2 p.m.
Ritter Sport Bunte Schokowelt, Französische Str. 24,
Mitte (near Gendarmenmarkt). On three floors and almost 1000m²,
big and small chocolate lovers can enjoy, discover and create as
they please. Admission free.
Fassbender & Rausch,
Charlottenstr. 60, middle. Here you can enjoy quality chocolate
and view Berlin's sights from 300kg of chocolate in the shop
window.
Parties/Festivals
Berlinale - Berlin International Film Festival.
Mostly in the second half of February in numerous Berlin venues. All
films in the competition have their ceremonial premiere at the Theater
am Potsdamer Platz, which at the time was called the “Berlinale Palast”.
The opening ceremony and awarding of the official prizes also take place
here.
Carnival of the Cultures. Street festival in Kreuzberg with a
big parade. Always on the Pentecost weekend, from Friday to Monday.
Interesting superimposition with the football cup final, also usually on
Pentecost Sunday.
Fete de la Musique. Every year at the beginning of
summer on June 21st with numerous stages and bands in the city
Christopher Street Day (CSD). The CSD Berlin takes place on the last
weekend in June.
Open Air Gallery, on the Oberbaum Bridge over the
Spree between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain. Annually in early summer
Berlin shines. Light artists spectacularly stage buildings in the city
with light and projections - dates in spring and autumn.
Festival of
Lights. At the beginning of October, the Festival of Lights once again
transforms many well-known buildings in the metropolis into a
glittering, colorful city.
New Year's Eve party at the Brandenburg
Gate. At 12 noon on New Year's Eve, the 2 km long party mile on the
Straße des 17. Juni between the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column
will open. Between 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. there will be music
rehearsals for the artists performing in the evening. The stage program
begins at 7 p.m. with various live bands and DJs. From 12:30 a.m. the
big party with DJ entertainment starts. Up to 1,000,000 people
celebrating the new year.
Long Night of Museums. In the summer, the
Long Night of the Museums takes place every year, with around 80 museums
taking part. Combined ticket including the shuttle buses and public
transport from 3 p.m.: €18, reduced €12, children up to 12 years have
free admission, but need a ticket for the public transport.
Berlin is a popular trade fair location. The big trade fairs take place at the exhibition center in the Westend. Well-known public fairs include the Green Week in mid-January, the International Tourism Exchange (ITB) in early March and the IFA in early September.
Berlin has an unmistakable
range of stages and classical concerts, variety shows. Event information
can be found in the print or online editions such as Zitty or tip. There
are also event information on the official city website.
Tickets
are available in advance at the respective theater box offices, online
or in the central ticket office Hekticket am Zoo - ticket sales in the
foyer of the Deutsche Bank, opposite the Zoo station in Hardenbergstraße
29 D (Monday - Saturday 10am - 8pm, Sun + public holidays 14th – 6 p.m.)
or with Hekticket at the Alex in the Kulturkiosk at Berlin Carré, U+S
Bahn Alexanderplatz, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 13 (Mon – Sat 10 a.m. – 8
p.m.). It is worth asking the staff there for advice. Tel.: +49 (0)30 –
230 9930. Half-price tickets for events on the same evening are
available daily from 2 p.m.
Only the largest regularly played
houses are listed here. For detailed information and other houses, see
the relevant district articles.
Staatsoper Unter den
Linden (German State Opera, Berlin State Opera), Unter den Linden 5-7,
10117 Berlin-Mitte. The Staatsoper Unter den Linden is the most
important opera house in Berlin. The building was part of the Forum
Fridericianum and was built as the Royal Court Opera from 1741 to 1743
according to plans by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff. The building
was the first free-standing opera house in Germany and at the time the
largest in Europe.
Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bismarckstrasse 35, 10627
Berlin-Charlottenburg. Tel.: +49(0)30-343 8401, e-mail:
info@deutscheoperberlin.de. The Deutsche Oper Berlin is the largest of
the three opera houses in Berlin. The building at Bismarckstraße 34-37
in Charlottenburg was opened in 1961 and was a replacement for the
Deutsche Oper, which was destroyed on the same site in 1943 during World
War II. With 1859 seats, the Charlottenburg House is one of the largest
theaters in Germany.
Komische Oper Berlin, Behrenstrasse 55, 10117
Berlin-Mitte. The Komische Oper Berlin is the smallest of the three
Berlin opera houses. In the theater building erected in 1892, the
Theater unter den Linden played first, and from 1898 the
Metropol-Theater. Shortly before the end of the Second World War, large
parts of the building as well as the entrance area and the ceiling
painting were completely destroyed. The auditorium remained almost
undamaged. In 1947, Walter Felsenstein founded the Komische Oper Berlin
here. With the work of Walter Felsenstein, who was director and chief
director of the house until his death in 1975, the Komische Oper Berlin
achieved worldwide recognition as the birthplace of modern music
theatre.
Friedrichstadt-Palast, Friedrichstrasse
107, Berlin-Mitte. Email: happiness@palast.berlin. Revue theater built
in 1984 on Friedrichstrasse. Berlin's biggest show with over 100 artists
on the world's largest theater stage.
Theater of the West, Kantstr.
12, Berlin-Charlottenburg. Email: happiness@palast.berlin. Former opera
and operetta house, built in 1895/96 in the style of Wilhelmine
historicism. Since 2003 musical theater of Stage Entertainment. A
variety of musicals have been performed, including "Mamma Mia", "Dance
of the Vampires" and "The Fellowship of the Ring".
Bluemax Theater at
Potsdamer Platz with the Blue Man Group, Marlene-Dietrich-Platz 4, 10785
Berlin wikipediacommons. at Potsdamer Platz with the Blue Man Group, mix
of music, comedy, art and science.
Admiralspalast, Friedrichstrasse
101, 10117 Berlin. Musicals, shows and concerts are performed in the
historic building near the Friedrichstrasse train station.
Philharmonic Orchestra Herbert von Karajanstr. 1, Berlin
Tiergarten. In the Kulturforum in Tiergarten - Ingenious construction of
a concert hall, the orchestra podium is in the middle of the room.
Adjacent to the Chamber Music Hall, built 24 years later next to the
Philharmonie.
Concert hall on the Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin-Mitte
Berliner Ensemble, Bertolt-Brecht-Platz 1, 10117
Berlin(-Mitte). Phone: +49 (0)30 284 080 . The Berliner Ensemble became
famous through performances of the works of its founder Bertolt Brecht
and is considered one of the leading German-language theaters. The
Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin-Mitte has been the venue of the
Berliner Ensemble since 1954.
Deutsches Theater, Schumannstrasse 13,
10117 Berlin(-Mitte). Phone: +49 (0)30 284 410
Volksbühne am
Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Linienstrasse 227, Berlin-Mitte. Tel.: +49 (0)30
24 065 - 5, email: info@volksbuehne-berlin.de wikipediacommons.
Komödie am Kurfürstendamm in the Schillertheater, Bismarckstraße 110,
Berlin-Charlottenburg. Phone: +49 (0)30 88 59 11-88.
Schaubühne am
Lehniner Platz, Kurfürstendamm 153, Berlin-Wilmersdorf. Phone: +49 (0)30
890020, email: ticket@schaubuehne.de.
Maxim Gorki Theater − With 440
seats, it is the smallest of Berlin's theatres. The program covers the
entire breadth of contemporary theatre. It resides in the building
erected by the choir association of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin behind
the Neue Wache on Unter den Linden boulevard. It is named after the
Russian Soviet writer Maxim Gorky.
Renaissance Theater on
Knesebeckstrasse in Charlottenburg is the only well-preserved Art Deco
theater in Europe.
Cabaret Theater Distel, Friedrichstrasse 101. Tel.: +49 30 20 30 00 0,
email: distel@distel-berlin.de
21 Cabaret Theater The Porcupines, Tauentzienstraße 9 - 12 in the Europa
Center. Tel.: +49 (0)30 261 47 95, e-mail:
info@diestachelschweine.de
Cabaret Theater Die Wühlmäuse,
Pommernallee 2-4, near Theodor-Heuss-Platz. Phone: +49 (0)30 30 67 30
11, fax: +49 (0)30 30 67 30 30, email:
info@wuehlmaeuse.de
Major events such as concerts, guest performances by rock
bands, etc. take place in
Olympic Stadium, Olympischer Platz 3, 14053
Berlin. Phone: +49 (0)30 30688100.
Waldbühne, Glockenturmstrasse 1,
14053 Berlin. Tel.: +49 (0)30 74737500. Open-air stage for 20,000
visitors.
Mercedes-Benz Arena, Mercedes-Platz 1, 10243 Berlin. Tel.:
+49 (0)30 20607080. 15,000 visitors.
Velodrom, Paul-Heyse-Strasse 26,
10407 Berlin. Phone: +49 (0)30 443045.
Max-Schmeling-Halle, Am
Falkplatz 1, 10437 Berlin. Phone: +49 (0)30 443045.
There are countless organizers in Berlin who show visitors the city on land, on water and in the air, above ground, underground, with and without a bicycle, Segway, pub crawls, even with a dog.
Sightseeing flights with the Cessna are offered from Strausberg, helicopter sightseeing flights from Schönefeld. The fun can quickly reach triple digits.
Numerous providers navigate the rivers and canals of Berlin, not
just the Spree and Havel. A classic is a three to four-hour round
trip via the Spree and Landwehr Canal, which runs in the heart of
Berlin, at Museum Island, Reichstag, Jannowitzbrücke begins. The
tour goes over the Spree under Oberbaumbrücke to the Landwehr Canal
through Kreuzberg and Schöneberg, past Potsdamer Platz through
Tiergarten, past the Zoological Garden to the Spree in Moabit and on
the Spree past the main station back to the Reichstag and Museum
Island. Various providers run the round trip or parts of it,
especially on the Spree. The largest providers are Reederei Riedel
and Stern- und Kreisschifffahrt.
There are also various
themed trips such as bridge, Spree, city center trips and special
trips, e.g. Aquarella, Krimimobil, Icke in Berlin, but also charter
trips. Longer trips take the Spree to the mouth of the Havel in
Spandau and on to Wannsee (that would be a full day tour). The Havel
from Tegeler See to Wannsee via Spandau is also used. Excursion
boats travel up the Spree towards Müggelsee from Treptow. An
overview of the shipping companies can be obtained from the Berlin
Shipowners' Association.
Canoe tours are also offered, e.g.
B. Walking on Water. Those who want and are allowed to sail
themselves will also find what they are looking for. Various boat
rentals in Berlin and the surrounding area enable individual
planning. These include i.a. Berlin boat rental, yacht charter
Werder, ALS boat rental and boat charter Keser.
Various providers operate hop-on hop-off trips with double-decker
buses, often with a folding roof that can be opened when the weather
is nice. The routes hardly differ and touch on the main tourist
destinations. The clock frequency (usually 15 minutes) and the
prices hardly differ. Day tickets are between 27 and 30 euros,
two-day tickets around 50 euros. There are also combined offers with
ship tours or museum visits.
A cheap alternative to
commercial hop-on hop-off trips is the BVG day ticket with over
7,000 hop-on hop-off points, i.e. bus stops, in the city area. This
includes a sightseeing tour on the 100, 200 and 300 double-decker
yellow buses.
Get on at S-Bahn and U-Bahn station Zoo or
Alexanderplatz, drive past the most important sights and interrupt
the journey at any stop. An audio commentary is even available for
line 100 as an MP3 or iPhone app. The Berlin start-up "City Pirates"
offers a free audio guide (German and English, Android and iOS) for
the 100 bus. At sights, suitable audio content is automatically
played on the smartphone via GPS during the journey.
For
individual Berlin city tours on the desired date from the starting
point of your choice for groups of all sizes in a coach, panorama
minibus or minivan: Berlin City Tour
Bus line 100
Line 100
runs every 5 minutes or 10 minutes in the evening and has a journey
time of around one hour:
Hertzallee stop: If you want to get a
seat at the top of the bus, you should get on here (to the north of
Zoo station, walk under the railway bridge).
Regional, S-Bahn and
U-Bahn station Zoologischer Garten
Breitscheidplatz:
Zoo-Aquarium; Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church; Europa Center
Lützowplatz: Bauhaus Archive
north. Embassies/Adenauer
Foundation: access to the Tiergarten
Big Star Victory Column:
Office of the Federal President
Bellevue Palace: Bellevue Palace
– seat of the Federal President
House of World Cultures: Congress
Hall - House of World Cultures
Platz der Republik: Footpath to
the Federal Chancellery
Reichstag/Bundestag: Reichstag building;
Paul Löbe House; Footpath to the Brandenburg Gate
S+Bahn station
Brandenburger Tor: footpath to Brandenburger Tor; Footpath Holocaust
Memorial; Boulevard Unter den Linden
Unter den
Linden/Friedrichstr.: State Library; Walk to Gendarmenmarkt
State
Opera: State Opera; New guard; Walk to Museum Island
Lustgarten:
Old Museum (Museum Island); pleasure garden; Schlossplatz (site of
the former Palace of the Republic and the planned City Palace); Walk
to the Berlin Cathedral and the DDR Museum
Spandauer
Str./Marienkirche: Marienkirche; Walk to Hackescher Markt/Hackesche
Höfe; Walk to the Red Town Hall
Regional, S- and U-Bahnhnof
Alexanderplatz: Everyone has to get off at the end station, the stop
for the way back is on the opposite side of the street • Walking
distance to the television tower and the famous shopping center
"Alexa".
Bus line 200
The 200 bus has a different route. It also runs
between the Zoo and Alex, but past the Philharmonie and across Potsdamer
Platz. So you can easily start with the 100 at the Zoo or Alex and take
the 200 back to the starting point from the other end. The 200 bus runs
every 10 minutes.
Other means of transport
For small groups,
but also as an individual tour, there are round trips in cars, from
(stretch) limousines to minibuses to Trabant on fixed or individually
agreed routes. For shorter distances there are guided tours with
everything that rolls - bicycle, electric scooter, Segway.
Finding-Berlin-Tours offers alternative Berlin tours with restored
classic bicycles. The tours are in English or German and mainly
represent the alternative culture of Berlin.
Berlin Cycling Tours,
Reichstagufer 19, 10117 Berlin. The traditional company Berlin Cycling
Tours offers guided bike tours in Berlin, special city tours in Berlin
Mitte, Berlin Prenzlauer Berg and city tours in the beautiful state
capital Potsdam. The city trips are offered for families, couples,
students, companies, clubs, groups and school classes. Berlin Cycling
Tours also rents out various bicycles and e-bikes in Berlin and Potsdam.
Timely registration is required for the guided bike tours in Berlin and
city tours through Potsdam. Open: Mon - Sun from 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
by arrangement, appointment, registration required!
There are numerous organizers in Berlin who offer guided tours of the
city. These can be public tours above and below ground, but also offers
for groups, overview tours, tours in individual districts, but also
thematic tours (such as the Wall, Jewish life, political Berlin,
culinary tours or pub crawls), but also apps with which the visitors can
walk alone. In addition to German-speaking tours, public tours are also
offered in foreign languages, mostly in English or Spanish. Many public
tours are advertised in the city magazines or their online editions. The
city information page also offers an overview with a search function.
Vendors include
City walks with the Berlin Greeters Under the
motto "Come as a guest, leave as a friend", the Berlin Greeters offer
free city tours. The guests get to know the city off the beaten track
from the perspective of the locals. The greeters are happy to show the
guests their city in an authentic way, with all its rough edges.
Personal stories and experiences or tips for going out and leisure are
also discussed. In the concrete agreement between guest and greeter,
thematic wishes are taken into account, which thus turn these walks into
a personal and individual encounter with the city. In order to preserve
individuality, the greets are only carried out in small groups of up to
6 people. The Berlin Greeters are members of the International Greeter
Association (formerly Global Greeter Network).
Cherrytours Berlin -
Meine Stadtführung, Mittelstraße 30 (office, starting point of the tours
differs). Tel.: +49 30 20620285, email: office@cherrytours.de. public
city tours, private or in small groups for individualists. Price: from
€15. Accepted payment methods: cash, Master, Visa, Amex.
Berlin city
tours Sightseeing Tours offers individual Berlin city tours and city
tours on foot that can be booked on the desired date, Berlin Christmas
lights tours and certified Berlin tour guides; Phone 030 797 456 00.
Sightseeing Point Berlin - offers public city tours and boat trips in
Berlin and Potsdam on fixed dates, groups by arrangement.
Instead
trips Berlin - background city tours and thematic tours. For public
dates see website
Berlin underworlds - Berlin from below, bunkers
from war and cold war, old tunnels
Berlin on Bike - Guided bike tours
e.g. B. along the wall, see website for dates
stadt-im-ohr.de offers city tours in Berlin with audio guides. With an audio city tour, the capital can be explored on your own. The tours are in German, English and Italian.
On the traces of the Berlin Monopoly field of 1936: Turmstrasse and
Huttenstrasse in Moabit were the cheapest fields, Grunewald and
Schwanenwerder the most expensive. In between Schönhauser Allee,
Köpenicker Strasse, Oranienstrasse and Friedrichstrasse. Original
geocaching tour, about 70km, which also gives an impression of how the
districts were rated then compared to the impression of today.
Berlin Wall Trail Walk around Berlin following the traces of the Berlin
Wall, 160 km in one go or in separate stages.
Berlin has several
large city forests and chains of lakes that extend far into the
surrounding area:
Grunewald and Wannsee, Berlin's green south-west
Grunewald Tower - Wannsee - Pfaueninsel • "By bus 218 through the
Grunewald" (see also article: Havelseen).
Müggelsee, Dahme and
surroundings, Berlin's green south-east
Köpenick − Grünau − Alt
Schmöckwitz: • "With the tram 68 through the green Köpenick" in the deep
southeast of Berlin.
Tegel, Heiligensee and Spandau-Hakenfelde,
Berlin's green northwest.
Berlin is home to various professional teams in the highest German
leagues.
There is Bundesliga soccer for the men at Hertha BSC in
the Berlin 28 Olympia Stadium and at Union Berlin in the 29 Stadion Alte
Försterei in Köpenick. In addition, international matches of the
national team occasionally take place in the Olympic Stadium, as does
the men's and women's soccer cup final every year. However, tickets for
this are difficult to obtain.
An experience for sports fans are
also the basketball team Alba Berlin, in ice hockey the games of the
Eisbären Berlin, both of which play in the 30 Mercedes-Benz Arena in
Friedrichshain. The volleyball games of the BR Volleys and the handball
games of the Füchse Berlin take place in the 31 Max-Schmeling-Halle in
Prenzlauer Berg.
Well-known major sporting events are also:
ISTAF - International Athletics Festival in September
The Berlin
Marathon - end of September
Six-day race - cycling races in February
There are trotting races at the 32 Mariendorf trotting track and the 33
Karlshorst trotting track, and gallop racing at the 34 Hoppegarten
gallop racing track, just outside the eastern outskirts. Race days are
mostly on the weekends.
Indoor and outdoor pools are described in the respective district
articles. If the weather is bad, you can also visit one of Berlin's
spectacular indoor pools, some of which are historic. The following
outdoor pools and bathing areas are particularly recommended:
Freibad Tegeler See (beach Tegelsee, Strandbad Tegel, Strandbad Tegeler
See, best water quality in Berlin), Schwarzer Weg 21, 13505
Berlin-Tegel. Phone: +49(0)30-4341 078 . Facilities: Sandy beach, beach
chairs, slides, diving platform, snack bar, beach volleyball, children's
playground, table tennis tables. Price: €5.50, reduced €3.50.
Strandbad Plötzensee, Nordufer 26, 13351 Berlin-Wedding. Phone:
+49(0)30-4502 0533, email: info@strandbad-ploetzensee.de. Facilities:
Sandy beach, sunbathing lawns, children's playgrounds, nudist area,
beach and water slides, beach chairs, table tennis tables, jetties,
beach loungers, tightrope, beach volleyball, basketball, soccer field,
restaurant, snack bar, grill. Open: May 1 - Sept: 9:00 - 19:00. Price:
€4, reduced €2.50.
Strandbad Wannsee, Wannseebadweg 25, 14129
Berlin-Nikolassee. Tel.: +49(0)30-803 5450, email:
kundenberatung@berlinerbaeder.de . Largest inland lake resort in Europe.
Facilities: 1km sandy beach, nudist area, beach chairs, deep-water
slide, beach volleyball, football, park, promenade, boat rentals,
children's playground, snack bars. Price: €5.50, reduced €3.50.
Lido
Müggelsee. Strandbad Müggelsee on the northeastern shore of the lake is
a popular recreation area with textile and nudist zones.
In Berlin, shops are allowed to open around the clock from Monday to
Saturday. On two Sundays in Advent and on six other Sundays and public
holidays, it is open from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. A current list of the
planned opening times for many shops can be found on the City of Berlin
website. Many supermarkets/supermarkets are open until 10:00 p.m. or
midnight.
Shopping streets
The decentralized structure of
Berlin is reflected in the fact that almost every district has its own
shopping street. Some have supra-regional importance, others only
locally. The epidemic-like spread of shopping arcades is partially
reducing the importance of the old shopping street. This is particularly
evident in the former eastern part, where hardly any shopping boulevards
could develop during the GDR era and where the shopping centers
immediately took over after the reunification. The main boulevards are:
Kurfürstendamm (approximately up to Olivaer Platz) and Tauentzienstraße
in Charlottenburg
Friedrichstrasse in Mitte between Friedrichstrasse
station and Mohrenstrasse
Wilmersdorfer Strasse in Charlottenburg
between Kantstrasse and Bismarckstrasse
Schönhauser Allee in
Prenzlauer Berg between Eberswalder and Bornholmer Strasse
Schloßstraße in Steglitz between Walter-Schreiber-Platz and Steglitz
town hall
Department stores
The most important department
stores in Berlin are the Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Schöneberg, as
a counterpart in the east the French department store Galeries
Lafayette, newly built after the reunification on Friedrichstrasse in
Mitte, the former Centrum department store Galeria Kaufhof on
Alexanderplatz in Mitte, Karstadt am Kurfürstendamm, at Hermannplatz and
in Steglitzer Schloßstraße.
Department Store of the West
(KaDeWe), Tauentzienstrasse 21-24, on Wittenbergplatz in Schöneberg.
Phone: +49(0)30-21 210, Email: info@kadewe.com. The Kaufhaus des Westens
(KaDeWe) is a department store in Berlin with an upscale range and
luxury goods that opened on March 27, 1907. It is the most famous
department store in Germany. In the course of its eventful history, the
Kaufhaus des Westens was expanded and rebuilt many times, the parent
company changed six times and it burned down during the Second World
War. Today, with 60,000 square meters of retail space, KaDeWe is the
largest department store in continental Europe. A special attraction
since the late 1920s has been the delicatessen department, the so-called
"Feinschmeckeretage". After an expansion, it has been the second largest
grocery department in a department store in the world since 1978. The
restaurant on the upper floor of the department store is particularly
recommended. From here you can enjoy the beautiful view and the hustle
and bustle on Tauentzienstraße and Wittenbergplatz with coffee and cake
or champagne and salmon sandwiches. Open: Mon-Thu 10am-8pm, Fri
10am-9pm, Sat 9:30am-8pm.
Galeries Lafayette, Friedrichstrasse 76-78,
Friedrichstadt in Mitte. Tel.: +49(0)30-209 480, email:
berlin@galerieslafayette.de . The department store Galeries Lafayette
Berlin is operated by the French department store chain Galeries
Lafayette. The department store is one of the few Galeries Lafayette
branches outside of mainland France - the others are in Dubai,
Casablanca and Jakarta. The building by French architect Jean Nouvel is
also known as Quartier 207 and is considered one of the most important
buildings of the 1990s in Berlin. Open: Mon-Sat 10am-8pm.
Galeria
Kaufhof Berlin Alexanderplatz, Alexanderplatz 9, Berlin-Mitte. Phone:
+49(0)30-247430. The former Centrum department store was given its
present form by renovations between 2004 and 2006 according to plans by
the architect Josef Paul Kleihues. The central staircase and the view
from the top floor over Alexanderplatz are impressive. Goods from the
medium-priced segment are offered on 35,000 m². At the back of the
ground floor is a well-equipped delicatessen department. On the 5th
floor there is an upscale self-service restaurant with large picture
windows. Open: Mon-Wed 9:30-20:00 Thu-Sat 9:30-22:00.
Humana
Secondhand & Vintage department store, Frankfurter Tor 3, 10243 Berlin.
Tel.: +49 30 4222018. Europe's largest second-hand department store.
There are clothes for women, men and children as well as accessories on
five floors. In the vintage department you will find well-preserved
original clothing from the 1950s to the 90s. Open: Mon to Sat 10:00 a.m.
- 8:00 p.m.
The large department stores are under growing competitive pressure
from large shopping centers that are being built in many places; there
are now over 70 in Berlin. The most important of these are in the east
the Alexa on Alexanderplatz and the East Side Gallery near the Warsaw
Bridge, and in the north the Gesundbrunnen Center at the U-Bahn, S-Bahn
and long-distance train stations Berlin-Gesundbrunnen. In the center of
Berlin is the Mall of Berlin on Leipziger Platz. With 270 shops and
76,000 m², it is larger than KaDeWe with 61,000 m². Before the Second
World War, Germany's most beautiful department store stood on Leipziger
Platz, today the tall buildings on the square are boring.
Alexa,
Am Alexanderplatz, Grunerstrasse 20, Berlin-Mitte. Phone:
+49(0)30-269340121 facebook. The Alexa on Berlin's Alexanderplatz is
56,200 m² in size and is one of the largest shopping centers in Berlin.
Open: Mon-Sat 10-21.
The Castle, Schloßstrasse 34, Steglitz. Tel.:
+49(0)30-6669 120, e-mail: info@das-schloss-steglitz.de. The castle
borders the Steglitz town hall on two sides, whose covered inner
courtyard was integrated into the shopping center as a restaurant area.
It is home to 90 retail stores. Open: Mon-Thu 10am-8pm, Fri-Sat 10am-9pm
Other shopping centers in the Schloßstraße are: Boulevard Berlin,
Forum Steglitz and Schloss-Straßen-Center, as well as the department
stores Karstadt and Naturkaufhaus in the Galleria.
Potsdamer Platz
Arcades, Alte Potsdamer Strasse 7, Berlin-Mitte. Tel.: +49(0)30-2559270
wikipediacommonsfacebookinstagram. Opened in 1998, the shopping center
with 133 shops, restaurants and cafés is around 180m2 with a sales area
of 40,000m². The arcades are easy to reach by bus, U+S and regional
trains. Open: Open: Mon.-Sat. 10am - 9pm.
Gropiuspassagen,
Johannisthaler Chaussee 295, Neukölln. Phone: +49(0)30-67066640, email:
mfi.gropius@mfi.eu . The Gropius Passagen, which was renovated in 1994,
is the largest shopping center in the city with 85,000 m² of retail
space and one of the largest shopping centers in Germany. Here are over
140 shops, the department store Galeria Kaufhof, several restaurants and
a multiplex cinema. It has direct access to the U7 subway station
Johannisthaler Chaussee. Open: Mon-Fri 10am-8pm Sat 10am-10pm.
outlets
Fassbender & Rausch factory outlet, Wolframstrasse 95, 12105
Berlin (near Ullsteinstrasse underground station). Factory outlet of
Fassbender & Rausch Manufaktur with the Rausch range, as well as
inexpensive pralines, truffles and chocolate. Open: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm,
Sat 10am-2pm.
Ulla Popken Warehouse Sale, Oudenarder Straße 16, 13347
Berlin (near subway station Nauenerplatz). Stock sale of plus size brand
Ulla Popken. Open: Mon-Fri 09.30-19.00, Sat 09.30-16.00.
Leiser
Outlet, Grenzallee 9, 12057 Berlin (near S-Bahn station Köllnische
Heide). Leading German shoe retailer with numerous branded shoes.
Fashionart Outlet Berlin, Eberhard-Roters-Platz 4, 10965 Berlin.
Exclusive women's fashion: evening dresses, wedding dresses, business
dresses, prom dresses and cocktail dresses. Open: Fri 12:00-20:00, Sat
10:00-18:00.
Bahlsen factory outlet, Oberlandstrasse 52, 12099
Berlin. Sweet and savory baked goods from the Bahlsen product range.
Open: Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-1pm.
KPM factory outlet (Royal
Porcelain Manufactory Berlin), Wegelystraße 1, 10623 Berlin. Phone:
+49(0)30-39009215. Tableware and decorative items made of porcelain, 2nd
quality and remaining stock. Open: Mon-Sat 10:00-18:00.
promobo
(young designers & manufacturers in the box), Hackesche Höfe Hof 3.
Tel.: (0)30 30347671. beautiful and original gifts, handmade in Berlin
and Brandenburg. Open: Mon-Sat 10am-8pm. Accepted payment methods: EC,
Visa, Master, cash.
Christmas markets
During the Advent season
there are a number of Christmas markets in the festively decorated
capital. A small selection:
Christmas Magic Gendarmenmarkt,
Gendarmenmarkt 1, Berlin-Mitte. Tel.: +49(0)30-20912631, e-mail:
info@weihnachtsmarkt-berlin.de. One of the most beautiful and
atmospheric Christmas markets in Berlin. Open: 23.11. – 31.12. from 11
a.m. to 10 p.m. Price: €1 entry on weekends, children under 12 free.
Christmas market on Alexanderplatz, special attraction: ice skating rink
Christmas market at the Red Town Hall, Rathausstraße 15, 10178
Berlin-Mitte. Special attraction: 50m high Ferris wheel with closed
panorama gondolas. Open: 24 November – 28 December 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Spandau Christmas market in the old town, Carl-Schurz-Strasse, 13597
Berlin-Spandau. Special attraction: Square concerts on Fridays. Open:
24.11.-23.12. Sun-Thu 11-20, Fri 11-21, Sat 11-22. Price: Free entry.
Christmas market at Potsdamer Platz, Alte Potsdamer Strasse 1, 10785
Berlin-Tiergarten. Special attractions: toboggan run, ice rink, curling.
Open: 11/01 - 01/04 10am-10pm. Price: Free entry.
International
specialties
In Kreuzberg, Neukölln, Moabit and Wedding there are many
shops with Turkish and Arabic specialties. There are a number of Russian
shops in the eastern districts of Lichtenberg and Friedrichshain and in
central Charlottenburg. There is a large Vietnamese outlet in the
eastern district of Lichtenberg.
beverages
More than 100 years ago, Prussian Berlin was known for
its many breweries and beers, including the refreshing Berliner Weisse,
which was served in numerous beer gardens at the time. When numerous
breweries emerged after 1871, Berlin became the world's largest brewery
location with almost 100 breweries, including such large ones as the
Berliner Kindl brewery, Engelhardt brewery, Jostysche brewery,
Patzenhofer brewery and Schultheiss brewery. The beer was of very
different quality, the vernacular spoke of dividend manure. After the
end of the GDR in 1990, several brewery locations were closed following
a wave of re-privatization in the early 1990s.
In addition to the
"Molle" (as some Berliners called their beer), the breweries also
produced the "Brause" (carbonated lemonade) as a soft drink, with the
"Faßbrause" also containing herbal and malt extracts. In addition to the
"Molle" there is also the expression "ene Blonde" in Berlin pubs and
beer gardens - meaning a Berlin wheat beer; "Pull" for bottle and only
in West Berlin the expression "Futschi" for a brandy with cola.
Food
In all Berlin districts there are plenty of inexpensive
gastronomic offers in restaurants and snack bars with local and
international cuisine. The boulette and also the grilletta are meatballs
that are served with grilled chicken (in East Berlin: broiler) and
ketwurst, which, in contrast to the hot dog, is served with a warm
tomato sauce. It is still a popular product in fast food stands in East
Berlin, despite American competition from "Burger King" and "Mc
Donalds".
Berlin creations are, for example, “Berliner Luft” for
dessert or “Hoppelpoppel”, a simple Berlin dish made from potatoes,
roast leftovers, eggs and cream.
The famous currywurst should
also be mentioned, because it was invented in Berlin. The invention of
the currywurst goes back to Herta Heuwer (* 1913 − † 1999). According to
her own statements, she first offered her new creation on September 4,
1949 at her snack bar on the corner of Kantstrasse and
Kaiser-Friedrich-Strasse in Berlin-Charlottenburg, where a plaque
commemorates her. Her creation at that time consisted of fried boiled
sausage (without casing) in combination with a sauce made of tomato
paste, curry powder and Worcestershire sauce. There are about as many
insider tips for the best currywurst as there are snack bars. Konnopke
(Prenzlauer Berg) and Curry 36 (various locations) are known nationally.
Other good addresses can be found here and here.
Doner kebab is
one of the most famous dishes in Turkish cuisine. It is uncertain when
the first kebab shop opened in Germany, according to legend it was in
the early 1970s in Berlin on Kottbusser Damm. According to another
account, confirmed by the Association of Turkish Doner Kebab
Manufacturers, the doner kebab - at that time as grilled meat in
flatbread with just onions - including its preparation on a rotating
metal skewer was invented by the Turkish immigrant Kadir Nurman; his
first kebab shop was at the Zoo train station in the early 1970s.
A list of typical Berlin dishes can be found on Wikipedia: Berliner
Küche.
Restaurants
Berlin has a wide range of gastronomy, from
simple restaurants to beer gardens, international cuisine (almost) of
all nationalities, event gastronomy to star cuisine. As of March 2020,
Berlin had 31 Michelin stars, divided into 18 one-star, five two-star
and one three-star hotels.
There are a number of unusual
restaurants in Berlin, such as: dark restaurants; the guest touches and
smells the food in complete darkness, restaurants in private apartments
("underground supper clubs"), restaurants with unusual furnishings such
as launderettes, interactive dinners ("criminal menu"). In addition
historical ambience, high up in various sky bars, on a ship, the
selection is wide.
It will not come as a surprise that the
restaurant density is higher in the touristically interesting districts
such as Mitte, parts of Tiergarten and Charlottenburg, and in trendy
districts such as Prenzlauer Berg, Kreuzberg, parts of Friedrichshain or
Schöneberg, and there in turn higher in the old building areas than
anywhere else or in new development areas.
Detailed
recommendations for gastronomy can be found in the articles on the
districts and districts as well as in the overview article Eating and
drinking in Berlin.
Weekend, Alexanderstrasse 7, 10178 Berlin. Electro.
Berghain. Fax:
+493029351830, e-mail: support@berghain.de, lost@ostgut.de (lost
property office) wikipediacommonstwitter. Internationally known club
(electro, techno) with an equally legendary high probability of not
being admitted.
Bastard, Kastanienallee 7-9, 10435 Berlin-Prenzlauer
Berg. (electro)
Frannz, Schönhauser Allee 36, Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg.
fine club, electro and indie.
Sage Club, Köpenicker Str. 76/ corner
of Brückenstr. 10179 Berlin-Mitte. Alternate Metal.
Dunckerclub,
Dunckerstr. 64, 10439 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg. Alternative, hard rock,
independent.
Watergate, Falkensteinstr. 49a, 10997 Berlin. Electro.
Insel Berlin, Alt-Treptow 6, 12435 Berlin.
Havana, main street 30,
10827 Berlin.
RAW, Revalerstraße 99, Berlin-Friedrichshain, old
railway area. various alternative events.
Yaam, An d. Schillingbrücke
3, 10243 Berlin. diverse alternative events with beach, concert hall,
skate ramp, graffiti, melting pot of subcultures.
Zyankali Bar,
Gneisenaustrasse 17, 10961 Berlin. Tel.: +49 (0)30 68830170. Institute
for Entertainment Chemistry. Cocktail bar, mental laboratory, cinema.
International crowd, English speaking staff.Last modified Dec.
Ma
Baker Club, Johannisstrasse 2, 10117 Berlin. Party club since 1992.
New Berlin pub crawl - the alternative for those who don't want to
commit to one bar. With an experienced city guide through five bars and
then into a club!
2nd Face Club Berlin, Parkstrasse 50, 13086 Berlin.
well-known swing club.
Insomnia, Alt-Tempelhof 17-19, 12099 Berlin.
Tel.: +49 (0)30 91909891. well-known swingers club.
Avarus Club,
Seestrasse 50, 13347 Berlin. Tel.: +49 (0)30 45308244. Nightclub with
sauna, whirlpool, steam bath and much more.
Mensch Meier (electronic
music), Storkower Strasse 121, 10407 Berlin. Tel.: +49 (0)30 65832595.
last change: Dec.
Clubguideberlin The club search engine for Berlin
since 2007 with all popular events and parties.
Bar wannabe
Berlin has accommodations in all price ranges. Since Berlin is very
large in terms of area, not only the price range and the demand for
accommodation play a role in the selection, but also the district and
the time of arrival. Hotel rooms in Berlin also become scarce and
correspondingly expensive during the major public fairs such as Green
Week or the International Tourism Exchange Berlin (ITB) or on long
weekends such as Pentecost (cup final) or around October 3rd. Those who
can should avoid these times. Then surprisingly low prices are sometimes
possible.
In addition to smaller hotels and guesthouses, which
can be found almost everywhere, the centrally located ones in City West,
City East or Berlin Mitte are particularly noteworthy, with Potsdamer
Platz in between, which also belongs to East Berlin's center - as well
as Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain.
Of particular
interest are luxury hotels, which are inexpensive in Berlin due to the
tough competition in international comparison. In the low-budget
segment, hostels have long been considered trendsetters and an
inexpensive alternative to hotels without the restrictions of youth
hostels of the past. In the meantime, however, they are increasingly
closing the gap to the hotel and are increasingly competing with
national, inexpensive hotel chains.
The 3-star area - the
so-called middle class - is looking for its place between these extremes
and small family businesses in particular are coming under increasing
pressure here.
Since 2014, the city of Berlin has levied an
accommodation tax for private travelers of 5% on the overnight price.
The city tax is to be paid directly at the accommodation. Business
travelers are not taxable.
For a better overview, selected
providers are sorted by district. See also the articles on the
districts!
For families
Although Berlin now has a solid
selection of apartment hotels, as well as hotels offering family rooms
or connecting rooms, vacation rentals are still the cheapest for
families. People with simple requirements can find sleeping space for 4
or 5 people here for under 20 euros per night. If you want something
nicer, with separate bedrooms for children and parents, real beds for
everyone (instead of just a sofa bed for the kids), and a washing
machine and dishwasher, you can count on 100 euros per night.
Berlin has four well-known state universities:
Humboldt University
(Humboldt Universitat), Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin. Phone: +49
(0)30 209370333.
Technical University of Berlin, Strasse des 17. Juni
135, 10623 Berlin. Phone: +49 (0)30 3140.
Free University of Berlin,
Kaiserswerther Str. 16-18, 14195 Berlin. Phone: +49 (0)30 8381.
University of the Arts, Hardenbergstrasse 33, 10623 Berlin. Phone: +49
(0)30 31850.
There are also a large number of state universities of
applied sciences, e.g. e.g.:
Berlin University of Applied
Sciences, Treskowallee 8, 10318 Berlin. Phone: +49 (0)30 50190.
Technical University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Luxemburger Str. 10,
13353 Berlin. Phone: +49 (0)30 450402121.
In addition, the
University of Potsdam is located in the Berlin public transport area
information from libraries
Berlin still has a dense network of public
libraries, the holdings of which can be researched via the Association
of Berlin Public Libraries. The Central and State Library with the
locations of the Berlin City Library and the America Memorial Library is
the right address for the whole of Berlin. It also runs a "Center for
Berlin Studies" for those who are curious about Berlin.
Scientific literature can be found in the libraries of the universities,
the State Library of Prussian Cultural Heritage and in numerous
important special libraries. The holdings can already be researched from
home via the cooperative library network.
Finding a job is still easy only for specialists, freelancers and in
the low-wage sector. With tourism booming and the student quarters still
growing, odd jobs in the hospitality industry are easy to find.
Construction companies are experiencing a slight boom, and the number of
entrepreneurs has fallen due to the many insolvencies. However,
permanent employment and high wages are a thing of the past in most
areas.
Jobseekers from abroad often work in language schools, as
tour guides, give private lessons or look after children.
With a
European passport or for students from outside the EU who are allowed to
work at any time up to 90 days a year, the necessary work permit is a
formality. In order to obtain a work permit for people without a
European passport, the respective employer has to go through a
cumbersome process through various authorities, during which it has to
prove that there is no possibility of filling the job with similarly
qualified German personnel.
Within the ever-growing English,
Spanish and recently French communes, especially in the student
districts and in hostels, you can get help and information quickly.
In the federal state of Berlin, the federal public holidays apply, as
well as International Women's Day on March 8th.
Mon, Jan 1, 2024
New Year's Day
Wed, Mar 8 2023 International Women's Day
Fri, Apr.
7, 2023 Good Friday, the highest Christian holiday, commemorating the
crucifixion of Christ
Sun Apr 9, 2023 Easter Sunday Easter,
commemoration of Christ's resurrection
Mon Apr 10, 2023 Easter Monday
Easter, Commemoration of Christ's Resurrection
Mon May 1, 2023 May
Day International Labor Day
Thu, May 18, 2023 Ascension Day 40 days
after Easter, commemoration of the Ascension of Christ
Sun, May 28,
2023 Pentecost Sunday 7 weeks after Easter, commemorating the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit
Mon, May 29, 2023 Whit Monday 1 day after Whit
Sunday, commemoration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Tue, Oct.
3, 2023 Day of German Unity National holiday
Mon, Dec 25, 2023 Boxing
Day Christmas, commemoration of the birth of Christ
Tue, Dec 26, 2023
Boxing Day Christmas, commemoration of the birth of Christ
Christmas Eve (December 24) and New Year's Eve (December 31) are not
public holidays. Nevertheless, on these days many businesses are closed
all day and many shops and leisure facilities are closed from midday.
Most of the restaurants are also closed on Christmas Eve.
Berlin is generally a safe and tolerant city. As in all big cities,
there is petty crime such as bicycle and pickpocketing, scams (shell
games), but also drug-related offences. You should pay attention to
valuables, especially in the crowds of public transport and in tourist
centers, don't hang bags over chairs in restaurants, and don't leave
wallets and mobile phones lying openly on the table.
In parts of
Kreuzberg (Oranienplatz), Friedrichshain (Boxhagener Platz) and
Prenzlauer Berg (Mauerpark), there are regular riots on the night of and
on May 1st, but these have lost much of their drama in recent years.
Nevertheless, as a tourist you should try not to get caught between the
fronts.
According to the Berlin police, the main areas of crime
are at Alexanderplatz (centre); at the Warsaw Bridge and in a small area
of Rigaer Strasse (Friedrichshain); in Görlitzer Park and at Kottbusser
Tor (Kreuzberg); in parts of Hermannstrasse and at Hermannplatz
(Neukölln).
The emergency number for lost cheques, debit or
credit cards is 116 116.
Berlin has numerous clinics of different sizes that cover the entire
city area. In addition, there are the university hospitals, of which the
Charité is the best known. In the emergency room of the Charité
Philippstr. which is centrally located and can be reached quickly, for
example by taxi. 10, between the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the
main train station, you can get help around the clock in an emergency.
Unfortunately, long waiting times are normal.
There is also a
dense network of pharmacies with a 24-hour emergency service. The
pharmacy in the main station is open around the clock. Specialists of
all disciplines are sufficiently available in the private sector.
The phone numbers for some emergency services
Medical emergency
service: 31 00 31
a selection of medical and dental emergency
services
Dental emergency service: 89 00 43 33
Poison control
number: 19 24 0
A veterinary emergency service can be found online.
Berlin has one of the highest proportions of smokers in the world.
Cigarette smell is often present.
Berlin is a very spacious city that can put even the best pedestrian
to the test. The local public transport system is very good and
recommendable.
In recent years, many information signs and signposts
have been put up, mostly in two languages, signposting important sights,
museums, churches, train stations, parks and other tourist attractions.
Despite many prejudices, you can quickly find friendly Berliners and
newcomers who are happy to help if you ask. Many also speak English.
However, as in London, locals react irritably to blocked escalators.
Parking is on the right, a lane remains free for overtaking on the left.
There are many drinking water dispensers spread across the city,
from which Berlin tap water (with the appropriate taste) flows. A map
can be found online, and they are also marked in some mapping
applications.
Some Berliners speak with a Berlin dialect, which,
however, has extensive similarities with Standard German. The Berlin
dialect has some special features:
Groceries:
Schrippe: light
wheat roll, cobbler's boy, rye roll
Pancakes: yeast pastries with a
filling, sometimes known as “Berliner Ballen”, “Berliner” or “Krapfen”
outside of East German regions. The pan-fried egg dish, which is similar
to the French crêpe, is called "egg cake" in Berlin. Anyone who asks for
one loaf and two Berliners in one of the smaller bakeries, which often
also sell the morning papers, will most likely receive one loaf and two
copies of the Berliner Zeitung.
Molle: Term for "a small beer"
Boulette: Fried minced meatball, otherwise known as a meatball.
Futschi: brandy with cola
The times in quarter hour intervals are
sometimes given as follows:
a quarter to four = 3:15 p.m. (first
quarter of the fourth hour after noon)
half past three = 3:30 p.m
a quarter to four = 3:45 p.m
four = 4:00 p.m
North German
terms like "Sonnabend" instead of "Samstag" are common in Berlin. This
peculiarity of the expression of times and days affects not only Berlin,
but essentially also the whole of East Germany (and parts of South
Germany as far as the indication of the time is concerned).
In
addition, there were also differences within the city, which are usual
for East and West Germany with regard to individual terms. A garden shed
e.g. B. is called "Datsche" in the eastern part, while the West
Berliners call it "Laube".
Newspapers, magazines
city
magazines
The city magazines contain information on current events
and are helpful in planning the cultural visit program.
Zitty
prince
030. Free in bars and cafes.
daily newspapers
Berlin
daily newspapers
Berlin newspaper. Daily newspaper Mon-Sat.
Berlin morning post. Daily newspaper, with Sunday edition.
daily
mirror. Liberal daily newspaper, with Sunday edition.
TAZ.
Links-alternative daily newspaper Mon-Sat.
BZ. Tabloid Mon-Sat. Last
modified: Dec.
Berlin courier. Tabloid Mon-Sat.
Online
magazines
gratis-in-berlin.de. Information on events in Berlin that
are free to visit
church services
Holy Masses in Catholic
Churches in Berlin:
St. Hedwig's Cathedral, Bebelplatz, 10117 Berlin.
Behind the Catholic Church 3 (centre, near Unter den Linden, behind the
German State Opera). Open: Sun: 08:00, 10:00, 12:00, 18:00; Mon-Fri:
8:00 a.m., 6:00 p.m.; Sat: 8:00 a.m., 7:00 p.m.
Directory of Catholic
Churches in the Archdiocese of Berlin
Language
As in all of
Germany, German is the official language in Berlin. However, English is
also spoken as a foreign language. In Berlin, Turkish is also spoken by
immigrants of Turkish origin. Especially in Kreuzberg you can get along
as a Turk or person of Turkish origin even without knowledge of German.
Throughout Berlin, with a few exceptions, you should be able to get a
stable connection to all cell phone networks on a few subway lines. Many
shopping centers and hotels are housed in steel and glass constructions,
which occasionally causes problems for O2.
In areas with a large
number of immigrants and a correspondingly high need for calls abroad,
such as in Kreuzberg, Neukölln, Norden Mitte and Gesundbrunnen, there
are internet café-style telephone shops that offer cheap telephone
calls, but also other services such as faxing and copying.
There
are mailboxes everywhere. They are yellow boxes, usually set up on the
street or hung on the wall of the house. They are emptied twice a day in
the city center and usually have two slots − for Berlin/surroundings and
non-Berlin. Stamps are available from the post office − often from
machines (without change being returned) outside opening hours and in
hotels.
Public wifi
Berlin is the German pioneer when it comes
to public WLAN city networks. Various providers offer publicly
accessible WLAN hotspots, which overlap to form a comprehensive network
in the inner city area. In addition to the telecommunications operators,
these include the media authority Berlin-Brandenburg. The underground
stations and the newer buses of the BVG are equipped with WLAN from the
provider Hotsplots ("BVG Wi-Fi"), which can also be used without
registration. The Berlin-Brandenburg Evangelical Church doesn't want to
be left behind either and offers WLAN in the vicinity of numerous
churches and church institutions ("Godspot").
Berlin's prominent reference point, the Red City Hall, is
geographically located: 52°31'7" north latitude, 13°24'30" east
longitude, the center of the area of the city is about two kilometers
south of it in Kreuzberg (♁52° 30'10 .4″N, 13° 24′ 15.1″E). The greatest
expansion of the urban area in the east-west direction is around 45
kilometers, in the north-south direction around 38 kilometers. The area
of Berlin is almost 892 km². The city is located in the northeast of the
Federal Republic of Germany and is completely surrounded by the state of
Brandenburg.
The historic center is located at the narrowest and
thus most accessible point of the Warsaw-Berlin glacial valley, which
crosses Berlin from the south-east to the north-west and is traversed by
the Spree in an east-west direction. The north-eastern part of Berlin
lies on the Barnim plateau, almost half of the city area in the
south-west lies on the Teltow plateau. The westernmost district,
Spandau, is divided into the Berlin glacial valley, the
Brandenburg-Potsdam Havel area and the Zehdenick-Spandau Havel lowlands.
The landscape of Berlin was created in the Ice Age during the most
recent glaciation phase, the Vistula Ice Age. About 20,000 years ago,
the Berlin area was covered by the Scandinavian ice sheet (glacier)
several 100 meters thick. When the glacier melted back about 18,000
years ago, the Berlin glacial valley was formed.
bodies of water
and elevations
Berlin has numerous rivers and lakes. The Spree flows
into the Havel in Spandau, which flows through western Berlin in a
north-south direction. Berlin tributaries of the Spree are the Panke,
the Dahme, the Wuhle and the Erpe. The course of the Havel, actually a
glacial channel, often resembles a lake landscape; the largest bulges
are the Tegeler See and the Große Wannsee. The brooks Tegeler Fliess and
Bäke, which flow into the Havel, are partly in Berlin. The largest lake
in Berlin is the Große Müggelsee in the Treptow-Köpenick district.
In Berlin, 13 water protection areas covering an area of around 212
km² have been designated by water protection area ordinances. In
relation to the total city area of around 890 km², around a quarter of
the city area is designated as water protection areas.
The
highest elevations in Berlin are the Große Müggelberg (115 m above sea
level) in the Treptow-Köpenick district as the highest natural
elevation, and the Arkenberge (122 m above sea level) in the Pankow
district, which were created from construction waste and were heaped up
from rubble from the Second World War Teufelsberg (120 m above sea
level) in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district and the Ahrensfeld
mountains (114 m above sea level) in the Wuhletal landscape park in the
Marzahn-Hellersdorf district. The lowest point in Berlin is (28.1 m
above sea level) at the Spektesee in the Spandau district.
In addition to extensive forest areas in the west
and south-east of the city (Berliner Forsten), Berlin has many large
parks. Since almost all streets are lined with trees, Berlin is
considered a particularly green city. There are a total of around
440,000 street trees in Berlin, including 153,000 linden trees, 82,000
maple trees, 35,000 oaks, 25,000 plane trees and 21,000 chestnuts. The
more than 2,500 public green, recreational and park areas have a total
area of over 5,500 hectares and offer a wide range of leisure and
recreational opportunities. The largest facility in Berlin that is
currently used as a park is the Tempelhofer Feld, which was created from
the former Tempelhof Airport.
In the center of the city is the
Great Tiergarten. It is the oldest and, at 210 hectares, the second
largest and most important park in Berlin and was designed over the
course of more than 500 years. Originally an extensive forest area
outside the city gates, used by the Prussian nobles as a hunting and
riding area, this was gradually surrounded by urban development. Today
it stretches from the Zoo train station to the Brandenburg Gate and
borders directly on the government district. Several major roads
intersect the Tiergarten, including Straße des 17. Juni as an east-west
axis. They cross at the Großer Stern, in the middle of which the Victory
Column has stood since 1939. The Großer Tiergarten has the shape of a
semi-natural park landscape: Characteristic are the wide lawns,
criss-crossed by small watercourses and planted with groups of trees, as
well as the lakes with small islands and numerous bridges and avenues.
Plants such as the English Garden, the Luiseninsel and the rose garden
set ornamental accents in some places.
Alongside the Tiergarten,
Treptower Park in south-east Berlin is one of the city's most important
parks. It was created from 1876 to 1882 by Gustav Meyer, the first
director of horticulture in Berlin. The wide garden landscape that
stretches along the Spree is one of the most popular destinations for
Berliners, not least because of today's Zenner restaurant, which was
built in 1821/1822 by Carl Ferdinand Langhans as an inn on the Spree.
A specialty among the parks is the Botanical Garden. Located in the
south-west of the city, it is used not only for academic purposes (it
belongs to the Freie Universität Berlin) but also as a recreational
park. The previous facility had existed since 1697 on the site of
today's Kleist Park in Schöneberg. From 1897 the construction of the new
park in Dahlem and Groß-Lichterfelde took place.[26] After the Greater
Berlin Law of 1920 and the local government reform of 1938, the
Botanical Garden is now in the district of Lichterfelde. With an area of
over 43 hectares, it is the fourth largest botanical garden in the
world. It includes around 22,000 different plant species. The 25 meter
high, 30 meter wide and 60 meter long Great Tropical House is the
tallest greenhouse in the world.
Other parks in Berlin are the
palace gardens in Charlottenburg, Glienicke and on the Pfaueninsel (the
last two are part of the UNESCO World Heritage), the historic parks
Lustgarten, Viktoriapark, Rudolph-Wilde-Park and Schillerpark and the
numerous large public gardens. The Federal Garden Show took place in the
Britzer Garden in 1985, and the Berlin Garden Show in 1987 in what is
now the Gardens of the World. In 2017 the International Garden
Exhibition took place there. The Mauerpark on the former death strip of
the Berlin Wall, the Schöneberger Südgelände nature reserve, the
Görlitzer Park and the Spreebogenpark are among the younger parks in
Berlin.
Berlin has several zoological
facilities: the zoological garden with the aquarium and the animal park.
The Zoological Garden, which opened in 1844 on what was then the city
limits of Charlottenburg, is the oldest zoo in Germany and also the most
species-rich in the world (around 15,000 animals of 1,500 species). The
much younger zoo owes its existence to the division of Germany after
1945: because the Zoological Garden was in the British sector of the
city, the capital of the GDR did not have its own zoological facility.
In 1954, a zoo was opened in Friedrichsfelde under the direction of
Heinrich Dathe on the grounds of the Friedrichsfelde Palace Park. At 160
hectares, it is the largest landscape animal park in Europe.
In
Berlin there are 43 nature reserves (as of 2018) with a total area of
2668 hectares, which corresponds to about 3.0% of the state area. In
addition, there are 56 landscape protection areas, which take up another
14% of the state area. In addition, the districts of Pankow and
Reinickendorf have an area share of 5.4% in the transnational, 75,000
hectare Barnim Nature Park.
The city is located in the temperate climate zone at the transition
from maritime to continental climate. Since the beginning of the 20th
century, mean annual temperatures have fluctuated between 7°C and 11°C,
and the trend is rising. The average annual temperature in Berlin-Dahlem
is 9.5°C and the average annual precipitation is 591 mm. The warmest
months are July and August with an average of 19.1 and 18.2°C
respectively, the coldest January with an average of 0.6°C. The previous
maximum temperature in Berlin of 38.9°C was measured on August 7, 2015
at the Kaniswall station. Most precipitation falls in August with an
average of 64 mm, the lowest in April with an average of 33 mm (all mean
values from 1981 to 2010 from the German Weather Service).
With
regard to wind speeds and wind direction distribution, a two-part
maximum is recorded. Accordingly, northwest and southwest winds are
observed most frequently in Berlin, which are associated with higher
speeds, especially in winter, and mostly transport maritime, well-mixed
and clean sea air. The second maximum from the southeast and east is
often characteristic of high-pressure weather conditions in continental
air masses, which can lead to relatively hot or cold days, depending on
the season.
The small differences in altitude within the city
actually result in a rather homogeneous urban climate, but the dense
development in the city and the district centers leads to sometimes
significant temperature differences compared to large inner-city open
spaces and, above all, to the extensive agricultural areas in the
surrounding area. Especially on summer nights, temperature differences
of up to 10°C are measured. Overall, however, Berlin also benefits from
its large proportion of green space in this context: more than 40
percent of the city area is green; In 2012, "439,971 trees lined the
streets." The large number of smaller open spaces, but especially the
inner-city green spaces such as the Großer Tiergarten, the Grunewald and
the former Tempelhof Airport with the directly adjacent Hasenheide
create a cooling effect and are therefore also referred to as "cold
islands".
The administration of the state of
Berlin is carried out by the Senate of Berlin (the main administration)
and the twelve district administrations. The main administration takes
care of the city-wide tasks and includes the senate administrations, the
subordinate authorities (special authorities) and non-incorporated
institutions as well as the own companies under their supervision.
Since Berlin is a unitary municipality, the districts are not
independent municipalities, but in terms of population they are
comparable to larger districts in territorial states. Districts are
subject to district oversight by the Senate. Each district has a
district assembly (BVV). This elects the district office, consisting of
the district mayor and four city councillors, according to party
proportional representation. The district mayor is provided by the
largest faction or a larger counting community of several factions.
Borough mayors and councilors hold electoral officer status despite
their quasi-political election. Chaired by the Governing Mayor, the
mayors of the districts form the Council of Mayors, which advises the
Senate.
The structure and tasks of the Berlin administration
result from the General Competence Act (AZG). The structure and tasks of
the Berlin district administration are specified in more detail in the
District Administration Act (BezVwG). Since 1990, an administrative
reform has been carried out in Berlin in stages.
The
administrative structures and authorities of the city-state are
currently (as of 2016/17) both within Berlin and throughout Germany
classified as working too slowly and in need of modernization.
According to the Berlin Constitution, Berlin is divided into twelve
districts. These are in turn divided into 97 districts (as of 2021),
whereby the state constitution only makes a division into districts. The
districts do not represent administrative units, but form the basis of
official location information and therefore also have administrative
boundaries.
With the Greater Berlin Law of 1920, eight cities, 59
rural communities and 27 estate districts were combined. The new Greater
Berlin originally comprised 20 districts with 94 districts at the time,
which corresponded to the previous divisions with unchanged borders.
After the city was divided, twelve of these 20 districts were in West
Berlin and eight in East Berlin.
On the occasion of the creation
of new development areas on the eastern outskirts of the city, the
number of districts in East Berlin was increased to eleven by spin-offs
between 1979 and 1986 - without incorporations. The division into West
Berlin remained unchanged (except for an area exchange in 1945, when the
eastern part of Groß Glienicke came to Berlin in exchange for West
Staaken and became the 95th district).
In 1990, the reunified
Berlin initially had 23 districts, the number of which was finally
reduced to twelve in 2001 as a result of district mergers as part of a
local government reform. The number and layout of the districts have
also changed several times over the past few decades.
The name of the high medieval
founding city of Berlin goes back to the Old Polabian word Birlin,
Berlin, which means 'place in a swampy area'. The Berl lake in
Berlin-Wartenberg still exists today. It is based on Old Polabian birl-,
berl- 'swamp, morass', supplemented by the place name-forming Slavic
suffix -in. The documentary tradition with the article ("der Berlin")
speaks for a field name that the city founders had adopted. Like all
German place names of Slavic origin in north-east Central Europe that
end in -in (Schwerin, Stettin, Eutin, Templin, Küstrin, etc.), Berlin is
stressed on the last syllable.
The name Kölln is probably a
transfer of the name from Cologne on the Rhine, which goes back to the
Latin colonia 'plant town in a conquered country, colony'. However, a
derivation from an Old Polabic name *kol'no, which would have been
formed from kol 'post', cannot be completely ruled out.
The
city's name can be traced back neither to the alleged founder of the
city, Albrecht the Bear, nor to Berlin's heraldic animal. This is a
talking coat of arms that tries to depict the city name in a German
interpretation. The heraldic animal is derived from the city name, not
the other way around.
The city of Kölln, located on the Spree island, was first mentioned in
1237. In 1244 the first mention of (old) Berlin followed, which lies on
the north-eastern bank of the Spree. Recent archaeological finds show
that there were suburban settlements on both sides of the Spree as early
as the second half of the 12th century. In 1280 the first verifiable
parliament of the Mark took place in Berlin. This points to an early top
position, as can also be seen in Charles IV's land book (1375), when
Berlin, along with Stendal, Prenzlau and Frankfurt/Oder, are shown to be
the cities with the highest tax revenues. The two cities of Berlin and
Kölln got a common town hall in 1307.
Berlin shared the fate of
Brandenburg under the Ascanians (1157-1320), Wittelsbachers (1323-1373)
and Luxemburgers (1373-1415). In 1257, for the first time, the Margrave
of Brandenburg was part of the only electoral college entitled to vote
for the king. The exact rules were laid down with the Golden Bull in
1356; since then Brandenburg has been considered an electorate. After
the German King Sigismund of Luxembourg had enfeoffed Friedrich I von
Hohenzollern with the Mark Brandenburg in 1415, this family ruled in
Berlin until 1918 as Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg and from 1701
also as kings in and of Prussia.
From the 14th century, Berlin
was a member of the Hanseatic League of Commerce. In 1518 Berlin
formally withdrew from the Hanseatic League or was excluded from it.
Towards the end of the 14th century, the population of Berlin was
decimated by the effects of the plague. In 1448, residents of Berlin
revolted against the new palace built by Elector Frederick II
(“Eisenzahn”) in “Berliner displeasure”. This protest was unsuccessful,
however, and the city lost many of the political and economic freedoms
it had won. In 1486 Elector Johann Cicero declared Berlin the main
residence of the Brandenburg Electorate.
The Reformation was
introduced in 1539 under Elector Joachim II in Berlin and Kölln, without
any major disputes arising. The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648
had devastating consequences for Berlin: a third of the houses were
damaged and the population halved. Friedrich Wilhelm, known as the Great
Elector, took over the government from his father in 1640. From 1641 the
suburbs of Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichstadt were
founded.
Under Friedrich Wilhelm, a policy of immigration and
religious tolerance was cultivated. In 1671, 50 Jewish families from
Austria were given a home in Berlin. With the Potsdam Edict of Tolerance
in 1685, the Elector invited the French Huguenots to Brandenburg. Over
15,000 French came, of whom 6,000 settled in Berlin. Around 1700, 20
percent of Berlin's residents were French, and their cultural influence
was great. Many immigrants also came from Bohemia, Poland and the
province of Salzburg. From 1658 to 1683, the double city of Berlin-Kölln
was expanded into a fortress with a total of 13 bastions.
erlin attained the status of the Prussian
capital in 1701 through the coronation of Frederick I as King in
Prussia, which became official with the edict for the formation of the
Royal Residence Berlin by merging the cities of Berlin, Kölln,
Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichstadt on January 17, 1709.
As a result, the population of Berlin rose to around 55,000. Soon after,
new suburbs sprang up that enlarged Berlin. Around 1800, the city
developed into one of the centers of the German cultural landscape,
which was expressed in the metropolitan bourgeois culture known as
"Berlin Classicism". The religious and social tolerance during this
period made Berlin one of the most important cities of the Enlightenment
in Europe.
After Prussia's defeat by Napoleon's armies in 1806,
King Friedrich Wilhelm III left. Berlin towards Koenigsberg. Authorities
and wealthy families left Berlin. French troops occupied the city from
1806 to 1808. Under the reformer Freiherr vom und zum Stein, the new
Berlin city ordinance was passed in 1808, which led to the first freely
elected city council. A mayor was elected to head the new
administration. The swearing-in ceremony for the new city
administration, known as the magistrate, took place in the Berlin City
Hall.
The establishment of a university in Berlin, proposed by
Wilhelm von Humboldt, played an important role in the reforms of schools
and scientific institutions. The new university (1810) quickly became
the intellectual center of Berlin and soon became widely known. Further
reforms such as the introduction of a trade tax, the trade police law
(with the abolition of the guild system) passed under State Chancellor
Karl August von Hardenberg, civil equality for Jews and the renewal of
the army led to a new growth spurt in Berlin. Above all, they laid the
foundation for later industrial development in the city. The king
returned to Berlin at the end of 1809. On May 28, 1813, death sentences
by burning at the stake were carried out in Jungfernheide for the last
time in Prussia.
In the decades that followed, up to around 1850,
new factories settled outside the city walls, where the immigrants found
employment as workers or day labourers. As a result, the number of
inhabitants doubled due to immigration from the eastern parts of the
country. Important companies such as Borsig, Siemens and AEG emerged and
soon made Berlin known as an industrial city. This was accompanied by
the political rise of the Berlin workers' movement, which developed into
one of the strongest in the world.
As a result of the March
Revolution, the king made numerous concessions. In 1850, a new city
constitution and municipal code was passed, after which freedom of the
press and assembly were abolished, a new three-class electoral system
was introduced and the powers of the city councilors were severely
restricted. The rights of police chief Hinckeldey, on the other hand,
were strengthened. During his term of office until 1856, he was
responsible for the development of the city's infrastructure (especially
city cleaning, water works, water pipes, construction of bathing and
washing facilities).
In 1861, Moabit and Wedding as well as
Tempelhof, Schöneberger, Spandau and other suburbs were incorporated.
From 1862, the Hobrecht Plan regulated the expansion of the city. The
block development with an eaves height of 22 meters characterizes many
Berlin districts. The rapid increase in population, building speculation
and poverty led to precarious living conditions in the tenements of the
emerging workers' quarters with their narrow, tiered courtyards typical
of Berlin.
With the unification of the Prussian Prime Minister
Otto von Bismarck on January 18, 1871, Berlin became the capital of the
German Reich (until 1945). After the emergence of the German Empire, the
Gründerzeit followed, in which Germany rose to become a world power and
Berlin to a cosmopolitan city. In 1877, Berlin initially became a city
of over a million inhabitants and exceeded the two-million-inhabitant
mark for the first time in 1905. Four decades of peace ended with the
start of the First World War in 1914. After Germany's defeat in 1918,
Kaiser Wilhelm II never returned to Berlin. He fled to the Netherlands.
After the end of the First
World War, the Republic was proclaimed in Berlin on November 9, 1918. In
the months following the November Revolution, there were repeated,
sometimes bloody, clashes between the government and its volunteer corps
and revolutionary workers. In early 1919 the January Uprising shook the
city, followed two months later by a general strike. During the Berlin
March battles, field guns, mortars and planes with bombs were used
against the population on the orders of the Social Democratic Reichswehr
Minister Gustav Noske. A total of 1,200 people died in Lichtenberg from
March 3rd to 16th.
In 1920 there was a bloodbath in front of the
Reichstag and later the Kapp Putsch. In the second half of the year, the
founding of Greater Berlin was the largest incorporation in the history
of the city, in which the Berlin that had existed up to that point was
united with several surrounding towns and rural communities as well as
numerous estate districts to form what is now known as "Berlin". The
expanded city had around four million inhabitants and was the largest
city in continental Europe in the 1920s and the third largest city in
the world after London and New York. This was accompanied by a great
awakening to the future. In the years that followed, the city
experienced a heyday of art, culture, science and technology and, due to
the incorporation of the industrial suburbs in 1920, became the largest
industrial city in Europe in the statistics. This epoch later became
known as the "Golden Twenties", which then came to an abrupt end with
the global economic crisis at the end of the decade, also in Berlin.
After the National Socialists "seized power"
in 1933, Berlin initially regained importance as the capital of the
Third Reich, primarily due to the centralization that was associated
with the "synchronization" of the state governments. Adolf Hitler and
Albert Speer developed architectural concepts for the conversion of the
city into the "World Capital Germania", which were never implemented.
The Nazi regime destroyed Berlin's Jewish community, which numbered
around 160,000 before 1933. After the November pogroms of 1938,
thousands of Berlin Jews were deported to the nearby Sachsenhausen
concentration camp. Around 50,000 of the 66,000 Jews still living in
Berlin were deported to ghettos and labor camps in Litzmannstadt, Minsk,
Kaunas, Riga, Piaski or Theresienstadt from 1941 onwards. Many died
there under the adverse living conditions, others were later deported to
extermination camps such as Auschwitz and murdered during the Holocaust.
During World War II, Berlin was first attacked by British bombers on
August 25, 1940. The Allied air raids increased massively from 1943,
with large parts of Berlin being destroyed. The Battle of Berlin in 1945
led to further destruction. Almost half of all buildings were destroyed,
only a quarter of all apartments remained undamaged. Only 98 of 226
bridges were still standing.
After the city was
taken by the Red Army and the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht
on May 8, 1945, Berlin was divided into four sectors in July 1945 in
accordance with the London Protocols - corresponding to the division of
all of Germany into zones of occupation. The sectors of the USA, the UK,
France and the Soviet Union emerged. Neither the Yalta Conference nor
the Potsdam Agreement provided for a formal division into western and
eastern sectors (West Berlin and East Berlin). This grouping arose in
1945/46, among other things, due to the common interests of the Western
Allies.
As early as May 19, 1945, the Soviet military
administration in Germany created a magistrate for Berlin. It consisted
of a non-party mayor, four deputies and 16 city councillors. However,
all four main victorious powers retained overall responsibility for
Greater Berlin. An attempt was made to rename unwanted pre-war street
names in a new city map, but this was only partially done. After a
currency reform in the Western sectors in 1948/1949, the increasing
political differences between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union
led to an economic blockade of West Berlin, which the Western Allies
overcame with the "Berlin Airlift".
With the founding of the
Federal Republic of Germany in western Germany and the German Democratic
Republic (GDR) in eastern Germany in 1949, the Cold War also
consolidated in Berlin. While the Federal Republic set up its seat of
government in Bonn, the GDR proclaimed Berlin its capital. Since 1949
West Berlin was therefore a de facto part of the Federal Republic with a
special legal status and East Berlin was de facto part of the GDR.
The East-West conflict culminated in the Berlin Crisis and led to
the building of the Berlin Wall by the GDR on August 13, 1961. The East
and West of the city had been separated from each other ever since. The
crossing was only possible at certain checkpoints, but no longer for
residents of the GDR and East Berlin and until 1972 only in exceptional
cases for residents of West Berlin, those who were not only in
possession of the Berlin ID card. In 1972 the Four Power Agreement on
Berlin came into force. While the Soviet Union only applied the
four-power status to West Berlin, the western powers underlined their
view of the four-power status for all of Berlin in a note to the United
Nations in 1975. The problem of the disputed status of Berlin is also
known as the Berlin question.
On June 26, 1963, the American
President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin and gave his highly
acclaimed "I am a Berliner" speech in front of the Schöneberg town hall.
Although he used the expression incorrectly and said "Ich bin ein
Berliner" (instead of Ich bin Berliner) that can be translated as "I am
a donut".
Political change came in 1989 in the GDR, and the Wall
was opened on November 9th.
On October 3, 1990,
the two German states were united by the accession of the GDR to the
area of application of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
and Berlin became the federal capital by means of a unification treaty.
In 1994, the troops of the former occupying powers finally withdrew from
Berlin.
On June 20, 1991, after controversial public discussion,
the Bundestag decided that the city should be the seat of the German
Federal Government and the Bundestag. In 1994, on the initiative of
Richard von Weizsäcker, Bellevue Palace became the first official
residence of the Federal President. In the period that followed, the
Office of the Federal President was built in the immediate vicinity. In
1999, the government and parliament resumed their work in Berlin. In
2001 the new Federal Chancellery was inaugurated and moved into by the
then Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The vast majority of foreign
missions in Germany moved their headquarters to Berlin in the years that
followed.
As of January 1, 2001, the number of districts was
reduced from 23 to 12 to allow for more efficient administration and
planning.
Berlin had a total of 3,677,472 inhabitants
on December 31, 2021, making it the most populous city in Germany.
Within administrative borders, Berlin is the most populous city in the
European Union. The Berlin agglomeration has 4.7 million inhabitants
(December 31, 2019), the capital region Berlin-Brandenburg, which
includes both states, has around 6.2 million inhabitants.
Until
the middle of the 17th century the Berlin area was only sparsely
populated, the Thirty Years' War had cut Berlin's population in half
again. But after Elector Friedrich Wilhelm took over the affairs of
state from his father in 1640, he brought many Huguenots from France to
the region, among other things. The population rose from around 6,000 in
1648 to around 57,000 in 1709. The number of inhabitants grew steadily,
so that Berlin became a major city in 1747 and a city of over one
million in 1877.
The population increase in the Berlin area
experienced an acceleration as a result of the industrialization that
began after the Prussian reforms. Only 40% of Berliners in the last
quarter of the 19th century were born in Berlin. In 1900, over 20% of
the 1.9 million Berliners came from the Prussian provinces of
Brandenburg, East and West Prussia 9%, Silesia 7%, Pomerania 6%, Posen
5% and Saxony 4%. Immigration from other regions of Germany was
relatively low at three to four percent and from abroad at a good 1.5
percent. The proportion of Berliners with German as their mother tongue
was over 98% in 1895. With the Greater Berlin Law of 1920, the
population rose to almost four million through the incorporation of
previously independent towns and villages. In the 1920s and 1930s,
Berlin was the second largest city in the world in terms of area after
Los Angeles and the third largest city in terms of population after New
York City and London. The population passed the four million mark in the
1920s and peaked in 1942 at 4.48 million (a theoretical value at the
time).
The number fell again as a result of the Second World War
and has remained constant since then between three and three and a half
million inhabitants. Between 1957 and 1990, young men from the Federal
Republic of Germany were given the opportunity to move to West Berlin to
evade conscription in the Federal Armed Forces because the military
legislation of the Federal Republic did not apply there. The number of
people moving in and out has been between 100,000 and 145,000 annually
since 1991. The often-cited assertion from 2007 that 1.7 million
Berliners left the city after reunification (since 1991), 1.8 million
people moved there and thus ensured an extensive population exchange, is
based on the mere addition of all new arrivals and of all departures and
overstates the real population fluctuation. Berlin has always had a
population movement that is far above average in Germany. In 2014 alone,
317,151 people moved to Berlin, and at the same time 275,259 residents
left the city, which results in a positive migration balance of 41,892.
Berlin has been a migration area for Germans
from German-speaking countries since the end of the 17th century at the
latest. In 2009, around 18,000 people gained migration compared to the
rest of Germany.
At the beginning of 2020, of the 3.77 million
Berliners, 2.45 million were Germans without a migration background,
around 777,000 were foreigners and 543,000 were Germans with a migration
background. This means that 1.32 million people (around 35%) have
foreign roots.
In the decades after 1945, many guest workers from
southern Europe and Turkey came to West Berlin and contract workers,
especially from Vietnam, to East Berlin. Since the 1980s, many
Russian-German late resettlers and, since German reunification, Jews
from Eastern Europe, especially Ukraine and Russia, and later from
Israel, have set off. Citizens from around 190 countries live in the
city.
According to a study from 2015, among the large number of
Europeans migrating to the city, there is a particularly high proportion
of young academics at 24.3%, especially among the French, Spaniards and
Italians.
Kreuzberg and Neukölln are the focal points of the
German-Turkish population. With around 180,000 citizens of Turkish
origin, Berlin is one of the largest Turkish communities outside of
Turkey. In addition, around 70,000 Afro-Germans live in Berlin.
There are more than 25 groups, each with more than 10,000 people who
have a migration background.
It is estimated that between 100,000
and 250,000 unregistered immigrants live in Berlin, mainly from Africa,
Asia, the Balkans and Latin America. Due to the difficulties in defining
the migration background uniformly and recording it in surveys, the
actual proportion of people with a migration background could deviate
significantly from the figures given.
Berlin wants to take in
more asylum seekers than the allocated quota and is organizing itself
with other municipalities in the “Solidarity City” city network for this
purpose.
The official language in Berlin is German. Berlinisch (colloquially
also: Berlinerisch) is a so-called compensation dialect, which arose in
Berlin as an urban center over the centuries from various linguistic
influences. In terms of linguistics, Berlinisch is actually a metrolect,
an urban mixture of languages that is not only of regional origin, but
also arose from a mixture of dialects from different origins. Low German
serves as the substrate, which was gradually superseded by immigration
from other regions and the influence of East Central German. However,
individual forms that were perceived as “specifically Berlin” persisted,
such as det, wat, loofen, koofen (in contrast to standard German, what,
run, buy).
Berlinische took numerous words and phrases from other
languages and dialects such as French (settlement of Huguenots after the
Thirty Years' War), Yiddish (Jewish refugees since the 16th, but
especially in the 19th and 20th centuries) and Silesian/ Polish (after
the conquest of Silesia and the Polish partitions at the end of the 18th
century). Berlinisch is spoken in Berlin and in the Berlin area, and it
only contains common (proverbial) words or coined ironic idioms, the
so-called "Berolinisms".
In the vicinity of Berlin and in the
parts of the city that were villages without any significant contact
with the capital until the incorporation, East Low German dialects from
the Mark Mark were originally spoken. Since the end of the 19th century,
Berlin, as a growing metropolis, has also increasingly had a linguistic
impact on the surrounding area and the colloquial Berlin language has
displaced the local dialects or at least changed them considerably. In
fact, today's Brandenburgian is a variety of the Berlin Metrolekt.
In history, the Berlin language was the language of the simple
people, the educated classes mostly used impeccable High German. Many
new Berliners adopted parts of the Berlin language, but the constant use
was considered rather "unfine". In the GDR, this attitude changed to
some extent, so that Berliners was also cultivated in some educated
circles. As a result, the centers of increased use are mostly found in
the former eastern districts, the old western working-class districts
and the surrounding area. The language in Berlin is still influenced by
waves of immigrants and language habits shaped by the media, which means
that the colloquial language used is constantly evolving.
The 2011 census found that 21.6% of the Berlin population belonged to
the Evangelical Church, 9.6% to the Catholic Church, 1.5% to an Orthodox
Church and 0.7% to an Evangelical Free Church. Overall, 37.4% of the
population described themselves as Christians, 9.0% attributed
themselves to another religion or belief, 23.4% did not feel they
belonged and 30.2% gave no information. According to a calculation from
the census figures for people with a migration background, the
proportion of Muslims in Berlin in 2011 was 7.6% (around 249,200
people), close to the figure published by the State Statistical Office
for 2009 (around 249,000), whereas the BAMF -Study Muslim Life in
Germany assumed that there were around 279,800 Muslims in Berlin in 2008
(6.9% of around 4,055,100 Muslims in the Federal Republic of Germany).
Of the approximately 3.8 million Berliners at the end of 2020, 13.9%
were Protestant, 8.1% Catholic and 78% belonged to other denominations
and religions or none. In the eastern districts of the city, which
formerly belonged to the GDR, the proportion of Christians is
particularly low. In the previous year 2019, 14.4% of the residents were
Protestant and 8.3% Catholic. According to studies in 2018, 250,000 to
300,000 (7–9%) people were attributed to Islamic faiths.
Several
humanistic and other associations of non-religious people are
represented in Berlin. The German Humanistic Association, whose Berlin
state association had around 7,800 members in 2012, and the German
Humanistic Academy are based in Berlin. In 1982, the school subject
Humanistic Life Studies was introduced in the western part of Berlin,
with the number of participants in 2017 amounting to almost 62,650
students.
Bishop of the Evangelical Church
Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia is Christian Stäblein.
Archbishop of Berlin and Metropolitan of the Berlin Church Province has
been Heiner Koch since 2015.
The independent Evangelical Lutheran
Church, which is represented in the urban area with seven parishes,
mostly emerged from the Evangelical Lutheran Church that was established
in 1830. These parishes belong to the church district of
Berlin-Brandenburg.
A Russian-Orthodox and a Bulgarian-Orthodox
bishop are also based in Berlin, and most of the other orthodox and
ancient oriental national churches are also represented with
congregations.
The Anglican Communion or Church of England has a
so-called "Chaplaincy" (congregation), St. George's Anglican/Episcopal
Church. The congregation has its church in Westend on Preussenallee.
There is also an Old Catholic community in Wilmersdorf, which was a
guest in the old Schöneberg village church, but has had its own house
church near the Bundesplatz since 2010. The Old Catholic and Anglican
congregations are in church fellowship and celebrate joint services in
St. Mary's Church.
There have been Baptists in Berlin since the
middle of the 19th century. With their 36 congregations, they form the
largest free church in the city. Among other things, there are also 29
congregations of the New Apostolic Church. There are six congregations
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The oldest Mennonite
congregation in Berlin has existed since 1887.
Berlin has been
the seat of the Central Council of Jews in Germany since 1999. The
Jewish community in Berlin, the largest community of Jewish faith in
Germany, has more than 12,000 members. There are over eleven synagogues,
several Buddhist temples, seven mosque buildings and 91 Islamic prayer
rooms in the city. There have been Baha'is in Berlin since 1907, who
regularly take part in the interreligious dialogue in Berlin. In
addition, around 7,000 Hindus live in Berlin.
Honorary citizens are listed in the list of honorary citizens of Berlin, personalities born in the city in the list of sons and daughters of Berlin, biographies of people with a clear connection to Berlin are collected in the Person (Berlin) category. The members of the Berlin state governments since 1948 can be found in the lists of governing mayors of Berlin and list of senators of Berlin. Various city originals are summarized under Berlin originals.
In 1991, after reunification, the German Bundestag
decided in the so-called "capital city resolution" that Berlin, as the
federal capital, should also become the seat of the Bundestag and the
federal government. The Berlin/Bonn Act is a consequence of the capital
city decision of June 20, 1991, in which Berlin was also designated as
the seat of government.
Since 1994, the first official residence
of the Federal President has been in Bellevue Palace in Berlin. In 1999
most of the federal government moved from Bonn to Berlin. Since then,
the Bundestag (in the Reichstag building), the Bundesrat and the federal
government have started operating in the federal capital. In 2001, the
Federal Chancellery was inaugurated and occupied for the first time by
Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The newly built headquarters of the
Federal Intelligence Service was occupied in November 2018.
Ten
of the 16 federal ministries of the 20th German Federal Cabinet have
their headquarters in Berlin. These include the Federal Foreign Office
and the Federal Ministries for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection;
for finance; for family, seniors, women and youth; for work and social
affairs; of the interior; the judiciary; for digital and transport. The
other six federal ministries have their headquarters in the federal city
of Bonn. All ministries, including those based in the capital, have a
second seat in the other city.
In Berlin are the federal
ministries for education and research; for food and agriculture; for
health; for environment, conservation, nuclear safety and consumer
protection; Defense and Economic Cooperation and Development with a
second seat. About two thirds of the ministry employees, around 12,600
civil servants and employees (as of 2018), work in Berlin.
158
countries have their German embassies in Berlin, while the 16 federal
states are represented by state missions. A large number of diplomatic
missions are located in the Tiergarten district.
As the seat of
government of the state with the largest economy in Europe, Berlin is
one of the most influential and sought-after centers of European
politics. Party headquarters, trade unions, foundations, associations
and corporate lobby groups have their headquarters there so that they
can exert their influence on decision-making processes in parliament and
government. State visits and receptions at all political levels as well
as state acts and socially important celebrations characterize Berlin's
annual political calendar. The Federal Law Gazette, on the other hand,
is still published in Bonn today, and not a single federal court has its
seat in Berlin.
From 1808 to 1935 and from
1945 to 1948, the Prussian state capital Berlin was administered by a
magistrate headed by a mayor. In the period from 1935 to 1945, according
to the German Municipal Code, there was no magistrate. From 1948 until
reunification in 1990, the divided city had a magistrate in East Berlin
and a senate in West Berlin.
Today's Berlin (state appendix code
BE) has only been a German state in the constitutional sense since
reunification. This includes exactly the city of Berlin. In addition to
the Berlin state constitution of 1950, the German Basic Law also
declared the state of Berlin to be a member state of the Federal
Republic of Germany, but this was ineffective under international law
until then due to the reservations of the Allies. In fact, since 1949
West Berlin was part of the Federal Republic of Germany with some
restrictions, while the same had no actual effect on East Berlin, which
was formally included. Article 3 of the Unification Treaty enshrines the
Federal Republic's legal position that the Basic Law was already in
force in West Berlin before reunification.
The state of Berlin is
divided into twelve districts.
The state parliament of the country, the legislative power, is the Berlin House of Representatives under the Berlin Constitution. It currently includes representatives from the SPD, CDU, Die Linke, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, AfD and FDP.
The Senate of Berlin, consisting of the
Governing Mayor and ten senators, forms the state government. The
Governing Mayor is the head of the state and the city at the same time.
The Senate administrations correspond to the ministries in non-city
states and are currently constituted as follows: Senate administration
for finance, Senate administration for integration, labor and social
affairs, Senate administration for education, youth and family, Senate
administration for science, health, care and equality, Senate
administration for interior affairs, digitization and Sport, Senate
Department for Justice, Diversity and Anti-Discrimination, Senate
Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing, Senate
Department for Economics, Energy and Businesses, Senate Department for
Culture and Europe, and Senate Department for the Environment, Mobility,
Consumer and Climate Protection. The Berlin Senate has been led by the
SPD since 2001. Since then, the Left Party has mostly been involved, but
also the CDU and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen to some extent.
After the
election to the House of Representatives on September 26, 2021, the
Senate was formed by the SPD, Greens and Left Party, led by Franziska
Giffey (SPD) as Governing Mayor.
In the judicial
district of Berlin there are 15 lower regional courts and four higher
regional courts. Of the four locations of the higher administrative
courts in Berlin, two belong to the judicial district of the states of
Berlin and Brandenburg.
The Constitutional Court of the State of
Berlin has existed since 1990. In 2020, the state had eight correctional
facilities.
See also: List of courts in the State of Berlin and
List of prisons in Berlin
The expenditure of the state
of Berlin in 2012 amounted to 22.5 billion euros. The total debt of the
State of Berlin in 2013 was around 59.8 billion euros or 57.72% of the
gross domestic product. The European Union will add around 850 million
euros to the budget for the 2014-2020 period.
In 2012, the state
received around 3.2 billion euros from the state financial equalization
system and around 2.4 billion euros in supplementary federal grants for
the overall budget. In 2018, Berlin led the list of the four recipient
countries by a wide margin with 4.4 billion euros in grants from the
state financial equalization system.
In a study from 2013, in
which the reintroduction of the wealth tax was based on a concept of the
then red-green federal states, the resulting additional tax revenue was
broken down by federal state. According to this, the tax revenue of all
federal states would increase and poorer federal states would also
benefit from the additional revenue through the fiscal equalization of
the federal states. Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin would have the highest
additional tax revenue per inhabitant (according to the financial
equalization between the states).
The coat of arms of Berlin shows a red-armored and red-tongued, upright walking black bear, the so-called Berlin bear, in the silver (white) shield. A golden crown of five leaves rests on the shield, the circlet of which is designed as masonry with a closed gate in the middle. The origin of the bear as a heraldic animal is unclear, documents or papers are missing. There are several theories as to why city officials chose the bear. One of them says that Berliners thought of Albrecht the Bear, the founder of the Mark Brandenburg. Another is based on the onomatopoeic interpretation of the city name. The bear is first seen on a seal from 1280. For several centuries, the bear had to share the seal and coat of arms images with the Brandenburg and Prussian eagle. Only in the 20th century was the Berlin bear finally able to assert itself against the eagle as the symbol of the city.