7 Best Sights in Berlin, Germany

Of all Berlin’s many transformations, this one—from airport to park—might be the quickest. The iconic airport (it was the site of the 1948–49 Berlin airlift) had its last flight in 2008. Only two years later, it opened as a park, complete with untouched runways. It's now one of the city’s most beloved and impressive outdoor spots, where bikers, skaters, kite flyers, urban gardeners, picnickers, and grillers all gather. Although the Nazi-era airport buildings are not open for wandering, you can explore them on a two-hour tour (book online).

Two blocks west of gritty, noisy Karl-Marx-Strasse, this small, beautifully landscaped park, built in the 1910s, resembles a French chateau garden. Today it remains something of a hidden treasure, cherished by locals but barely known to outsiders. At one end of the park, water cascades down several steps of a multitiered fountain into a round pool; at the other end you'll find the stately former orangerie, which now houses a gallery and café, and presents a concert every Sunday in summer.

This former no-man's-land between East and West Berlin (the name translates to "Wall Park") was off-limits to the public from 1961 to 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell. After reconstruction, the area reopened as a rough-around-the-edges park in 1994; renovations completed in 2020 have given the park more green space and trees, plus a popular playground and skatepark. Today it's filled with hipsters, musicians, and tourists on sunny days and for the weekly Sunday flea market. It's also home to the hugely popular open-air Bearpit Karaoke Show, which runs Sunday afternoon from spring through late fall and attracts a boisterous mix of people of all ages.

Like the more glamorous Tempelhof Park, Gleisdreieck, one of Berlin's newest green spaces, was until recently neglected space—in this case, abandoned and overgrown WWII railyards. In between the Kreuzberg and Schöneberg neighborhoods, the park includes playgrounds and open meadows, paths for running and biking, pits for skateboarding, and even a community garden. Most interesting, however, are the remnants of the park’s past: train tracks, signs, and switches have been left intact (if a bit rusty), making this park an urban paradise of the sort Berliners love—one with history hiding in the grass.

The quiet greenery of the 520-acre Tiergarten, originally planned as the royal family's private hunting grounds, is a beloved oasis today, with some 23 km (14 miles) of footpaths, meadows, and two beer gardens, making it the third-largest urban green space in Germany. The inner park's 6½ acres of lakes and ponds were landscaped by garden architect Peter Joseph Lenné in the mid-1800s. The park's most popular attraction is the 85-acre Berlin Zoo (Tiergarten literally translates to "animal garden").

Perhaps best known for the Soviet War Memorial located in it, this Spree-side park is a lovely place for a stroll. True to their outdoorsy reputations, hardy German families don snow boots even during winter’s darkest days and traipse around the park’s fields and paths, perhaps with a dog in tow, just to get some fresh air. Stick to the waterside promenade for the best people-watching: the elaborate, eccentric houseboats moored there are a glimpse into yet one more alternative Berlin lifestyle.

A neighborhood favorite, the small Viktoriapark offers one of the highest lookout points in the city center—and definitely the best place to get a free panoramic view. Beginning at the edge of the park, all trails gradually slope upward; at the top stands an elaborate cast-iron monument designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1821 to commemorate the so-called liberation wars against Napoléon of 1813–15. On the way back down, take the path heading to Kreuzbergstrasse, next to which a lovely little waterfall trips and burbles over rocks and boulders—a favorite splashing spot for local children.