“Green Berlin”

Parks in Berlin

The Tiergarten is a large park in the heart of Berlin, where – at least on sunny days – you will find large Turkish families enjoying barbecue parties, as well as a romantic lake and the Café am Neuen See with its spacious beer garden on its shore. The many parks in the various parts of the city, such as Volkspark Friedrichshain, the Japanese Garden and the Chinese Garden in Marzahn, and Britzer Garden, also invite visitors to linger. Two rivers, the Havel and the Spree, flow through Berlin, and the Teltowkanal and the Landwehrkanal are the major canals. Water covers 6.6 percent of the city’s territory, almost 18 percent is forestland, another 11.5 percent is devoted to recreation areas, and more than 5 percent is used for farming.

Recreational options all year round

Berlin offers a multitude of options for recreation on foot, on a bicycle, or on a boat. Tempting possibilities include the Müggelsee lake and the Müggelberge hills, Peacock Island (Pfaueninsel) and the peninsula Schwanenwerder, the coves along the Havelchaussee, and the hunting lodge Jagdschloss Grunewald. Ice skaters flock to the lakes Schlachtensee and Krumme Lanke on frosty winter days, and when there is enough snow, not only tobogganers but even skiers can be found in Berlin’s forests and parks. The Potsdam city limits are on the other side of the Glienicke Bridge; the palace and gardens of Sanssouci are just a stone’s throw from there. Other possibilities include trips to the countryside surrounding Berlin, such as the nearby Spreewald and Schloss Rheinsberg, following in the footsteps of the nineteenth-century writer Theodor Fontane.