Berlin's Most Beautiful Parks for Relaxing

Berlin is greener than most major European cities. Around 33 percent of the city's total area consists of green spaces, forests, and waterways — more than Paris, more than London. You feel this on a warm afternoon, when half the city heads to the nearest park, lays out blankets, and simply stays. Berliners know exactly what they have in their parks.

Tiergarten: The Green Heart of the City

At 210 hectares, the Tiergarten is Berlin's largest inner-city park. It sits right next to the government quarter, between the Brandenburger Tor and the Zoologischer Garten, and you can walk through it for hours without seeing a single building. In a world city, that is no small thing.

In summer, the Café am Neuen See hires out rowing boats for around 10 euros per hour. The lake is small enough that getting lost is never a concern, yet large enough to feel like a proper water experience. The café itself has a beer garden on the bank that ranks among the best in Berlin — not for any particular sophistication, but for its setting beneath old chestnut trees right on the water's edge.

The Siegessäule stands at the Große Sternkreuzung in the Tiergarten and can be climbed via 285 steps. Admission is 3 euros. From the top, you get one of the few panoramic views over flat Berlin: the Tiergarten, the Fernsehturm, the Reichstag, the Havel. The English Garden in the north-western section of the park has the feel of a slightly wild landscape garden — less manicured than the main avenues, and all the more pleasant for it.

Anyone walking through the Tiergarten on a summer weekend will not miss the FKK meadows. Nudist sunbathing in parks has a long tradition in Berlin and is openly accepted. Those who prefer to avoid it simply do so.

Volkspark Friedrichshain: Berlin's Oldest Park

Laid out in 1848, the Volkspark Friedrichshain is Berlin's oldest public park. Its 52 hectares lie between Friedrichshain and Prenzlauer Berg and are busy in every season — in winter for sledging, in summer for lying in the sun, and year-round for running.

The centrepiece is the Märchenbrunnen in the western part of the park: a neo-Baroque fountain from 1913, surrounded by life-sized figures from Grimm's fairy tales. Free and fully accessible, it is one of Berlin's most underrated spots. The figures are beautifully detailed, the grounds are spacious, and on a quiet morning it is surprisingly lovely.

The two hills in the park — known colloquially as the Bunkerberge — were built up from the rubble of the Second World War. They are steep enough for decent sledging and offer clear views over the eastern part of the city from the top. In summer, an open-air cinema runs on one of the meadows — programme details are available from Freiluftkino Friedrichshain.

Tempelhofer Feld: The Airfield Turned Park

355 hectares, right in the middle of the city, completely flat and almost entirely unbuilt. The Tempelhofer Feld is the former apron of Flughafen Tempelhof, which closed in 2008. Since then it has been a public park — and one of Berlin's most unusual ones.

On the old runways, people cycle, rollerblade, and longboard. Kite flyers make use of the open expanse. Barbecue zones are marked out, and urban gardens tend plots around the edges. Bicycles can be hired at the entrance for around 5 euros per hour. The sheer vastness is what makes it special — you can see the horizon, which is rare in a major city.

The Tempelhofer Feld is not a romantic park in the traditional sense, but a democratically used open space. In the evenings, families, joggers, grillers, and dog walkers all converge. It is lively and loud, and sometimes feels like a city within a city.

Viktoriapark in Kreuzberg

At 14 hectares, the Viktoriapark is the smallest park featured here, but it has something the others do not: a waterfall. From May to October, an artificial stream flows down the Kreuzberg hill, rushes over rocks, and collects in a small basin at the bottom, where people sit and watch.

On top of the Kreuzberg hill — 66 metres high, the tallest natural elevation in the inner-city area — stands a monument to the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon. From up there, you get one of the best views over the western part of Berlin. On the slopes, vines actually grow. The grapes are harvested each year, and the resulting wine is auctioned off symbolically.

Treptower Park and the Soviet War Memorial

Treptower Park on the southern bank of the Spree is generous, peaceful, and less crowded than the Tiergarten or Tempelhofer Feld. The rose garden blooms in June and July. Boats are moored along the bank, and you can stroll or simply sit and watch the Spree drift by.

The Soviet War Memorial in the park is free to enter and impresses through sheer scale: granite from the demolished Berliner Stadtschloss, a 12-metre bronze figure, and two curved stone flags framing the entrance. It is a monument that demands to be taken seriously — not because one must agree with everything it symbolises, but because the 7,000 Soviet soldiers buried here were real people.

Anyone looking for parks and green spaces in Berlin will never have to walk far. For the city's waterside, there is a dedicated article on Spree boat trips, showing how to experience Berlin from the water.