Berlin Districts
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Berlin is without doubt the most fascinating city in Germany. Covering around 341 square miles Berlin is a unique landscape. With its numerous parks, lakes and wooded areas it is sometimes easy to forget that Berlin is the capital of Germany. The troubled history of this celebrated capital has for many years attracted tourists from around the world. It is estimated that around 80% of Berlin was destroyed during the Second World War; landmarks like the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church stand as a lasting reminder of the mass destruction this city once endured. Perhaps one of Berlin's most famous landmarks is the Berlin Wall, the 'iron curtain' that divided this great city into two halves between 1961 and 1989. The East was governed by communism while the West was allowed to flourish under a democratic capitalist government. Even now, over a decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the differences between the former East and West are still very apparent. Berlin has an undeniable and at times uncomfortable air of mystery that has always been and always will be a major draw for tourists from around the world.
With about 3,400,000 inhabitants, Berlin is the largest City in Germany.
Berlin's twelve administrative districts sometimes seem like separate small towns.
Each district has its own charm and special appeal and you are just as likely to encounter breathtaking natural scenery and tranquil areas as a truly cosmopolitan atmosphere. This is what makes Germany's largest city so remarkable.
Mitte
TopThere seem to be no end of major attractions in Berlin's Mitte district. The Brandenburg Gate is Berlin's most famous landmark and the emblem of the city. "Unter den Linden", the famous boulevard, leads from here to the Schlossbrücke bridge and each of the buildings along it has its own story to tell. Humboldt University, the State Opera, the Comic Opera, the armoury and the Crown Prince's Palace are just a few of its best-known sights. The imposing group of grand classical buildings on Berlin Museum Island has been designated a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. Alexanderplatz square with its cold yet impressive high-rise buildings remains the centre of East Berlin, dominated by the 365-metre television tower. Elegant Friedrichstrasse's boutiques and upmarket department stores are places to shop and browse. Exclusive and quirky shops, chic cocktail bars and bohemian courtyards crowd together in the Hackesche Höfe complex. The reconstructed Nikolaiviertel quarter has preserved the charm of a small 18th century town. Gendarmenmarkt, designed by Schinkel and considered one of the most beautiful squares in Europe, with its Concert Hall and the German and French Cathedrals, lies close to the prominent domed building of St Hedwig's cathedral. Potsdamer Platz at the heart of Berlin extends across the Mitte and Tiergarten districts.
Kreuzberg
TopIn recent years, Kreuzberg has become a fashionable area but has not lost its bohemian feel. Kreuzberg's multi-cultural life is a particular feature of the city's most populous district, once a melting pot of different nationalities, groups on the fringes of society, and the alternative scene when Berlin was a divided city. When the Berlin Wall fell, the area suddenly found itself in the geographical centre of Berlin and its proximity to the upmarket Mitte district brought the advent of fashionable restaurants and cocktail bars.
Prenzlauer Berg
In the 19th century, Prenzlauer Berg was a traditional working-class district with five-storey tenement blocks dominating the skyline. The area went into decline under the GDR regime and became a focus for opposition movements. Numerous protest services and peace vigils were held in its churches in 1989. In recent years, Prenzlauer Berg has taken the place of Kreuzberg as the centre of autonomous, alternative culture. Schönhauser Allee is its main thoroughfare and shopping street and the area around the water tower is the place to stroll and relax.
Charlottenburg
TopThe Charlottenburg District is situated north of the famous Kurfürstendamm, one of Berlin's major shopping areas that developed in the West during the years that Berlin was divided. The Charlottenburg district has a number of famous landmarks, perhaps the best known being Schloss Charlottenburg, an elegant palace commisioned in 1695 by Queen Sophie Charlotte. This part of Berlin is also home to some fine bookshops, bars and restaurants, mainly around the Savignyplatz.
Wedding
Wedding is a district in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany and was a separate borough in north-western Berlin until it was fused with Tiergarten and Mitte in 2001. The former borough of Wedding included the district of Gesundbrunnen.
Wedding was the western terminus of one of the first refugee tunnels dug underneath the Berlin Wall. It extended from the basement of an abandoned factory on Schälnholzer Strasse in the Soviet sector underneath Bernauer Strasse to another building in the west. Though marvellously well constructed and its secrecy maintained, the tunnel was plagued by water from leaking pipes, and had to be shut down after only a few days of operation. A section of the Berlin Wall has been reconstructed near the spot on Bernauer Straße where the tunnel ended. Two sections of wall run parallel to one another down the street with a strip of no man's land in the middle. A nearby museum documents the history of the Wall. More than other 19th century working class districts, the original character of Wedding has been preserved. It is said to be a place to find the Schnauze mit Herz (big mouth and big heart) of the working class. However, the spirit is not exclusively German. The multicultural atmosphere is visible in the bilingual shop signs (German and Turkish, or German and Arabic). The buildings of Wedding are relics of European post-war Modernism. Many are monolithic housing blocks. Some old buildings survived the war and urban renewal and still have coal heating.
Tiergarten
TopTiergarten (Animal Garden) is the name of both a large park in Berlin and a neighborhood within the borough of Mitte. Before German reunification, the borough of Tiergarten was a part of West Berlin. Before Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, Tiergarten was also the name of a borough, consisting of the current neighborhood of Tiergarten (formerly called Tiergarten-Süd) plus Hansaviertel and Moabit. A new system of road and rail tunnels running under the park is located in the neighborhood, and Berlin's new central station, Berlin Hauptbahnhof, is located nearby in Moabit.
Among others, the Reichstag (parliament), the office of the German Chancellor and several embassies, as well as the residence of the German President, Schloss Bellevue, are located in Tiergarten. The Brandenburg Gate and the Potsdamer Platz are situated on its eastern border, which used to be the frontier between East and West Berlin. The Tiergarten also contains several notable sculptures and sites of interest, including the four-tiered Victory Column, the Bismarck Memorial and several other memorials to prominent Prussian generals, all of which were located in the ceremonial park facing the Reichstag before they were moved to their present location by the Nazis. In addition, the tree-lined walkways emanating from the Victory column contain several ceremonial sculptures of Prussian aristocrats enacting an 18th century hunt. At the Victory Column, located at the heart of the Tiergarten, the German Live 8 concert took place on July 2, 2005.
The Tiergarten was largely deforested after 1944 because it served as a source of firewood for the devastated city. In 1945, the Soviet Union built a war memorial along the Straße des 17. Juni, the Tiergarten's main east-west artery, near the Brandenburg Gate.
Wilmersdorf
TopWilmersdorf is an area of Berlin, formerly a borough but since 2001 part of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. The Kurfürstendamm runs through the area. Wilmersdorf was a village near Berlin (Deutsch-Wilmersdorf) and was made a part of "Greater Berlin" in 1920. The borough with the name of Wilmersdorf included also the areas of Halensee, Schmargendorf and Grunewald.
Schöneberg
Schöneberg inhabitants are known for their style, even if non-style is in, and have no trouble bridging the blatant lifestyle gap between Kreuzberg and Wilmersdorf. The whole area is full of places offering the best in modern living - or is it only trendy? Way-out shoes, exclusive antique shops, gracious interiors, elegant restaurants and erotic, innovative clothes.
One of the oldest and biggest dance temples is the Metropol at Nollendorfplatz. This includes the Loft, venue of legendary concerts, like Café Swing opposite. Genuine Schönebergers gather on Saturday mornings before 2 pm to go shopping at Winterfeldtmarkt and start the day amid the easy-going bustle wearing dark glasses after the long Friday nights. On the days when there's no market, inline skaters and various other kinds of boarders turn the flat expanse of the square into an arena. The surrounding cafés, Sidney, Berio and Belmundo invite you to a big leisurely breakfast. Habibi, one of the best falafel bars in the city, is also directly on Winterfeldtplatz. You can spend the whole day at Tim's Canadian Deli. Breakfast from 8 am, and later you can tuck into muffins, chicken wings, spare ribs, burgers and all those other tasty Canadian delicacies. But the place to get really soused is Green Door nearby. Watch out for the bouncers at the door!
Off the south side of the square, to the right in Hohenstaufenstraße is the scene pub Mutter. Further on in Goltzstraße is a whole array of pubs and cafés. After the Indian institution Rani you find the famous Café M, with Lux next door. They offer big cups of their highly popular café au lait at any time of day or night. Good cocktails are professionally mixed in Mr. Hu's Bar. And close by is Havanna with salsa, latino and hiphop on three dance floors. There's no lack of culinary delights here either: along with Indian food, there are snack bars for hot dogs, pizza, Tex-Mex and much more. It's well worth peeping into the side streets and strolling down Akazienstraße towards Hauptstraße - the network of cafés, restaurants and bars is getting more intricate all the time.
Friedrichshain
TopIn the old working-class district south of Karl-Marx-Allee you can discover a nice neighbourhood. Lots of students have moved in here since 1991 or simply transferred over the Spree from Kreuzberg because rents in the old houses were quite low. If you like places with rather austere charm where style isn't so important and prices are rock bottom, Friedrichshain is just the right district for you.
Right by the Oberbaumbrücke, which offers a wonderful view across the Spree on both sides, is East Side Gallery, the longest remaining section of the Berlin Wall (more than 1 km long). The artworks were created immediately after German unification - this is a piece of wall that was never painted in communist times. Here on Spreeufer is Speicher, an American-inspired amusement complex with discos and bars on 4 floors. A bit further to the east, directly under Warschauer Straße S-Bahn station, dance fans can swing a leg in Matrix.
Around the corner you can relax wonderfully after all that running around in the living-room atmosphere of Karel Duba. Just a few steps away is Non Tox, where the weekend parties are full of subversive musical contrasts.
Templehof
Tempelhof is a industrial and living district for families. The northern part is mainly occupied by the airport Tempelhof which is due to close in 2007.
Lichtenberg
Lichtenberg is situated in the heart of the former east Berlin. It pleases residents with the advantages of both, its geographical position close to the city centre and the spacious atmosphere of a suburban area. The zoological park Friedrichsfelde with its 160 hectare ranks among Germany's biggest ones; the neighbouring castle is designed in the style of a Dutch mansion. The park area was originally designed by Lenné in 1816 and is home to the Tierpark since 1955. To the northwest of the Tierpark the Zentralfriedhof (central cemetery) Friedrichsfelde is situated, on which Käthe Kollwitz rests in peace. On this cemetery there are many interesting and sometimes pompous graves, that remind of well-to-do Berliners of the past.
Treptow
Treptow is connected superbly to the city-train net: the lines S3, S41/42 (ring train), S6, S8 and S9 open up the district, regional trains stop at train station Schöneweide. South of Treptow there is Schönefeld airport just outside the city's border. The narrow, longish district between Köpenick and Neukölln is one of Berlin's favourite jaunting target: the vast Treptower Volkspark and the Plänterwald forest permit a near-to-centre nature experience. The recovery area on the Spree river is to be reached by city-train as well as by steamer. Treptower Hafen, a marina, is one of the main landing stage for Berlin's sightseeing ships.
In the Treptower Volkspark the monumental, in Stalinistic architecture designed Soviet Memorial recalls a sunken era. The Bridge of Hearts guides you to the "Insel der Jugend" (Island of Youth). Persons and institutions who engage for the dreams and hopes of children are honoured here with blue hearts which are embedded in the bridge. The giant sculpture, 30 meters in height, of the "Molecule Man" in the Spree points to the newly raised office centre "Treptowers" facing Volkspark. In Archenhold observatory, whose 21 meter large lens telescope is the world's longest, Albert Einstein presented his relativity theory to the public. A visit in Adlershof, where writer Anna Seghers resided, kann pay off: the modern research and science centre WISTA with its futuristic buildings as Photonic Centre and the former television centre of the GDR attract the science- and technique-devotee.
Neukölln
TopU8 underground connects Neukölln with the city centre, the ring train (S41/42) with the western and eastern districts; U7 opens up the whole district up to the city border in the South. The northern part of Neukölln is dominated by well-preserved and populous old building quaters and resembles in many ways the neighbouring Kreuzberg. One of Berlin's most vivid squares is Hermannplatz which is adjoined by Karl-Marx-Straße, a popular shopping avenue. Here you also will find Germany's probably most unconventional opera house, the Neuköllner Oper. Just a few steps ahead is Rixdorf, one of the most beautiful and relaxed downtown old-building-quarters. Rixdorf also hosts a gem of urban history: the Böhmisches Dorf (Bohemian village) around Richardplatz. Amidst of the metropolis the character of this village has been preserved in an over 250 years old architecture, crowned by the legendary and still economically successfully run forge in the middle of the square. Neukölln's southside is completely different: canals and waterways, the castle Britz, the beautiful Garden of Britz (Britzer Garten, location of the National Garden Exhibition of 1985) and remote one-family-house settlements can be found here. The Hufeisensiedlung ("horseshoe settlement") of Bruno Taut in Britz is well known by fanciers of architecture.
Steglitz
U9 underground, S1 and S25 city-trains connect Steglitz to the city centre. Car drivers reach downtown as fast as Berlin's surroundings via Schlossstraße, and on its south-west extension "Unter den Eichen" to Berlin's surroundings. Tempelhof airport is close.
Steglitz' mixture of close-to-centre quarters, exclusive residential areas, suburbs and green is typical for Berlin's South. The district's axis is the Schlossstraße, one of the city's major shopping avenues. Around the clinker building of the old and the tower block of the new townhall there is an independent, vital centre with restaurants, cinemas and the Schlossparktheater; the sightseeings like the pretty Wrangelschloss palace with its small park, nowadays used for cultural events, concentrate here. The Botanical Garden, home of more than 20,000 different species, hosts exotic plants within its big glass greenhouses also in the wintertime. Parts of the bourgeois, urban Friedenau (see also Schöneberg) belong to Steglitz. In the South there is Lichterfelde with its city mansions from the 19th century, whereas the district's West is coined by the Freie Universität.
City-trains S7 and S1 hook up the favoured jaunting target to the city centre superbly; Dahlem is traversed by the U1 underground. Wannsee, terminus of the S1, is also a long-distance station.
Zehlendorf
TopZehlendorf, Berlin's classical exclusive residential area, allures the metropolitans to summer resorts like Wannsee lake and Grunewald forest – there's hardly any Berliner who does not dream of a comfortable mansion in Berlin's most genteel district with its scenic landscape on the Havel river. The opportunity to sightsee an especially beautiful villa is provided by a visit to the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin on the Wannsee shore, where writers of international rank are hosted regularly. The glamour of past times can be felt in the Max-Liebermann-Villa at the Wannsee, where the famous painter lived until his death in 1935. Nearby, a splendid mansion was the scene of an eldritch conference. In January 1942 in the House of the Wannsee Conference, the Nazis resolved up on the most disgusting crime ever: the "final solution of the Jewish question", the systematic assassination of the European Jews.
The romantic paradise of the Pfaueninsel (peacock island), where peacocks stroll freely through scenic gardens, artificial ruins and a fairytale castle, can only be reached by ferry. Not only Wannsee lake attracts swimmers and vacationers: it is particularly the small lakes like Nikolassee, Krumme Lanke or Schlachtensee that offer calmness in idyllic surroundings. Museum village Düppel with its traditional farm houses enables a trip to the past.
On the way to Potsdam you will find one of Berlin's most picturesque places: at the classicistic summer residence of Glienicke Lenné and Schinkel have shaped the castle's park, a terrific garden. The famous Glienicker bridge towards Potsdam was an impermeable border until 1989. This bridge is best known for trade-offs of agents during the Cold War.
Closer to the city centre is Grunewald, where the in Bauhaus style realized Brückemuseum exhibits paintings by the expressionist artists group "Die Brücke" (the bridge). The museums in Dahlem with the collections of mainly Asian art and the Ethnologic museum rank among Berlin's most important exhibition places besides Tiergarten's Kulturforum and Museum Island in Mitte. InDahlem there is also the Freie Universität (the Free University) that brings students and a young lifestyle to Zehlendorf. The campus university, founded as an alternative to the Humboldt university in the former East-Berlin, is idyllic situated here in the southwest of Berlin. The new library "Berlin Brain" in the main building, designed by Lord Norman Foster, is a fascinating example of contemporary architecture.
Spandau
Spandau has been a district of Berlin since 1920. Heart of the colony is the Citadel dating back to the 16th century. Italian paragons have been sampled for the fending fortress on an island where the rivers Spree and Havel unite. Except for military purposes the citadel served as prison and treasury. Since it has been restored it is open to visitors.
Whereas the most quarters of Berlin are coined by Wilhelminian or modern architecture, Spandau's old town neighbouring the citadel recedes further into the past. The precursor of the Nikolai church, realized in North German clinker gothic, dates back into the time around 1200 as well as the first fortress buildings. The narrow, winded lanes set the scene for Europe's biggest christmas market every year. The district with its many watercourses and forests has a lot to offer in regards of landscape, too. Of course, also the modern times have left their traces in Spandau: Siemensstadt, Spandau's western offshoot, set the standards for social, architecturally worthy housebuilding with which the workers have been fetched from their overcrowded slums between the world wars.
Reinickendorf
A journey to Berlin by airplane will possibly bring you to Tegel in the district of Reinickendorf: Berlin's biggest airport, used as a military airfield by the French occupators until 1960, connects the city to West Europe and overseas. But Tegel is not only an airport: West of the old, pretty village centre, a favoured jaunting target since the 19th century, the Lake Tegel with its neighbouring forest invites for rambling and bathing or for strolling along the Greenwichpromenade. Near Berlin's second largest lake architect Schinkel designed the elegant castle Tegel ("Humboldt-Schlösschen") for statesman Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose inheritors still reside here.
The vast, traditional industry site of the Borsig works engrosses a part of the lake's shore. Also the other quarters of Reinickendorf, West Berlin's largest district, are characterized by contrasts between villages, scenic landscapes, industry, old workmen's sites and tower block colonies like the Märkisches Viertel, adjoining the attractive village of Lübars with its village green and its church.
Pankow
Towards the end of the 19th century, when Berlin grew a metropolis, prosperous citizens settled around the small village of Pankow and castle Niederschönhausen with its ample park. The bourgeois character and the Wilhelminian lifestyle have been preserved in the dignified surroundings of the Amalienpark. Since the 1950s the name of East Berlin's mansion quarter is closely connected to prominent politicians of the former GDR like Otto Grotewohl and Walter Ulbricht who lived here next door to famous artists, writers and scientists; Carl von Ossietzky, Hanns Eisler, Arnold Zweig, Stephan Hermlin and Christa Wolf did resp. do reside in Pankow. Many still remember Udo Lindenberg's popular ironic song "Sonderzug nach Pankow" about the wish of the singer to visit Erich Honecker in the 1980s. Castle Schönhausen, where Queen Christine (wife of Friedrich the Great) was literally bored to death and where the Nazis deposited "decadent art" rose to the office of GDR-president Pieck and to a national guest house which accommodated Fidel Castro and Michail Gorbachov. The GDR's end also was initiated here with the "Round Table" discussions and the negotiations for the reunification treaties. For one hundred years, the Erich Weinert Colony is used by artists as room for living and working.
Weilbensee
Berlin's smallest district (by inhabitants) was always outshone by its neighbours Prenzlauer Berg and Pankow. But close-to-centre Weißensee is an excellent choice for the ones seeking for a medium between urban life and seclusion. Anyway, the district grown around the Weiße See (White Lake), which never reminds of a cold suburb thanks to its partly historical architecture, owns its places of interest, above all Europe's largest Jewish cemetary. Prominents like the painter Lesser Ury and the publishers Samuel Fischer and Rudolf Mosse are buried here. The art school is of nationwide rank.
Hohensomonhausen
Similar to Marzahn and Hellersdorf, Hohenschönhausen is a young district that was founded in the 1980s. Around the village centres of Old Hohenschönhausen, Malchow, Wartenberg and Falkenberg children- and family-friendly colonies with vast recreation areas and attractive lakes for bathing have emerged. Taborkirche church in Old Hohenschönhausen is one of the typical Brandenburg field stone buildings and is situated next to the old castle. Worth the visit is also a mansion on Obersee lake by Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe who has left his last work before emigrating in 1938.
A few steps to the north the nature-sanctuary of Fauler See lake (belonging to the district of Weißensee) is one the vast landscapes still existing in the metropolis Berlin. The gym Sportforum Hohenschönhausen is home of ice hockey club Eisbären Berlin. It is one of Berlin's top sport venues hosting halls for multiple purposes, a stadion and a bicycle circuit.
Marzahn
Berliners and tourists alike are often times positively surprised when they see the renovated and often times very colourful settlements of Marzahn. The district has for example many parks to offer, and for this reason a lot of young families feel comfortable living here. Therefore the district is the opposite of grey and depressing, which was earlier a common preconception regarding these newly build settlements.
The village museum shows in its permanent exhibition the lifestyle of past days. The core of the old village is still intact. So is the mansion Schloss Biesdorf that dates back to the year 1868 and is integrated in the park Biesdorfer Schlosspark. The trademark of the district is the Marzahner Mühle, a wooden windmill. Another interesting old building in Marzahn is a church from 1870, created by Stüler. Nowadays much time and effort is spend to establish a stronger cultural life in Marzahn. The "KulturGut Alt-Marzahn for instance, a studio for painters and ceramics, is a good example for this strategy. The recreation park was inaugurated in 1987 for the 750th anniversary of Berlin. In 2000, the "Garden of the Regained Moon", Germany's largest Chinese Garden, was added to the recreation park. For the project "Gardens of the world" a Japanese, a Balinese, a Korean and an Oriental garden were also opened. These remarkable gardens celebrate the art of gardening in the whole world.
Hellersdorf
Berlin's youngest district is a family-friendly place: From Hellersdorf you can easily reach the green landscape of Brandenburg with its many lakes and woods. Berlin's city centre is also nearby. The tower block colonies of the former GDR were constructed and modernized. Parks and playgrounds are installed. The old villages and residential areas like the "Lichtenberger Gartenheim", designed by Bruno Taut in the 1920s, remain intact. One of the most attractive villages in the district of Hellersdorf is Mahlsdorf, where a mansion hosts a museum of Wilhelminian style, fondly furnished by the famous transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf.
Köpenick
This is the largest district of the city and it is even older than Berlin itself. Here in the southeast of the city, the quality of life is of great importance. Woods and hills attract those people looking for fun and recreation. Especially the many large lakes are important for the relaxed atmosphere of Köpenick. For example around Müggelsee, the largest lake in Berlin, are picturesque villages and woods to be found. People can easily get an idea of the manifold pretty sights of the district on a walk or just as well on a boat-trip. Köpenick was originally founded on a little island as a fisherman's village. Up to the present it kept the feeling of a small town, with its city hall, its churches and lanes.
Thinking of Köpenick, to most peoples heads comes the story of the "Hauptmann von Kopenick" (Captain of Köpenick). This was an unemployed shoemaker that in 1906 dressed up as a high-ranked member of the military and used peoples obedience to rob them. This way, he exposed the Prussian blind belief in military authority, made fun of it and used it to his advantage.
The former fishermen's village raised on an island has preserved its smalltown charm with its town hall (the scene for that farce), its churches and the narrow lanes. The beautiful baroque castle, where Friedrich I put on a trial against his son Friedrich II (later "the Great") because of desertion, has being wonderfully restored. The castle in general is one of the highpoints of architecture in Berlin and is the sole building left from the time around 1700. Around Müggelsee, Berlin's largest lake, there are picturesque villages between wide forest areas. Especially lovely is Friedrichshagen on Müggelsee tunnel, where playwrights Gerhart Hauptmann and Erich Mühsam worked, or Neu-Venedig ("new Venice") in Rahnsdorf, where the residents row on their boats through narrow channels from house to house. Towards the city centre the visitor finds a vast recovery and amusement park in the Wuhlheide. Numerous activities for children and teenagers are offered in leisure and recreation centre FEZ in the Wuhlheide.
