Autumn in Berlin – 21 Awesome Things to Do in 2016

One of the reasons it’s so amazing to live in Pankow is the immediacy of nature. Dog owners, joggers and walkers are equally happy and go picnicking, running and playing like there’s no tomorrow. At Bürgerpark there’s an animal enclosure for the little ones, and a the nearby Kinderbauernhof Pinke Panke there’s always something to discover. Parkcafé Rosenstein is great for bratwurst, beer and tarte flambée on warmer days, even if you need a little patience for the queue. If you want to get rid of the calories you can walk along the Pankewanderweg (Panke trail), where you can run into everyone who enjoys a view during their run, whether running idly or training for a marathon.

Pretty sweet: you can rent a clay oven, the self-proclaimed Pizzeria Tempelhof, at Tempelhofer Feld and bake your own pizzas. Just send an email to [email protected] and you will receive all the required information in order to use the oven.

Since its reopening, Zeiss-Planetarium in Prenzlauer Berg has been shining brightly with its 360° video projecting dome which illuminates the entire dome with video images of the galaxy and transports you throughout the universe. Madness! They have great events such as the Drei??? (iconic radio dramas “The Three Investigators). Totally worth it.

The olympic stadium is one of the model examples of the megalomaniacal Nazi architecture. It has remained strong until today and refuses to weaken of old age despite all of the Hertha home football games and music events held there. The former Olympic village hasn’t held up quite as well though, roughly 20km west of the limits of Berlin in Brandenburg. After the Second World War the Red Army took over the previous athletes housing until the soldiers fully withdrew in 1992. Since then the property has been mostly abandoned and has deteriorated to a great extent. A tour throughout the ruins is worth it regardless or precisely because of the history which comes to life here in an eerie way.

When it starts to get ugly outside sometimes the only thing that can make us happy again is food. Like waffles. You can get some of the - without dispute and for many years - best waffles at Kauf dich Glücklich (Oderberger Straße is the comfiest location) in Prenzlauer Berg. Get them with apple sauce, hot cherries or just whipped cream. Moabiters can rely on the waffles with salted caramel sauce at the (ice cream) café Einer dieser Tage. You can get tasty vegan waffles at Le Johann Rose in Neukölln. Nomnomnom.

If you are at Grunewald anyway, you should definitely stop at Grunewaldturm (Grunewald tower). From up there you’ll have a great view over the forest. If you’re too lazy going up, there is a nice restaurant at the bottom of the tower as well.

The seats on the raft at Stella and Apos Bootshaus are popular. No wonder – directly along Lietzensee you get a beautiful view of the glittering water and villas along the riverside. Your little break from the day-to-day is perfect with a snack and a sparkling rhubarb juice.

Those of you who still have a sweet spot for watching movies in movie theaters and not streaming them at home will feel quite at home at the movie line-up Mädchenkino (yes, boys can come too). At the over 100 year old Saal at the former Kino Klick DaWanda Snuggery and director Patrick Banush show old and new movies, from “Annie Hall” from Woody Allen to “Everyone Else” from Maren Ade.

During the summer months, people were dancing in front of Monbijoutheater, now they continue moving at Clärchens Ballhaus. Most nights of the week you can learn to dance swing, tango or set-pattern dance here. The best day to go, however, is on Mondays when they give an introduction to Salsa for free. They also host classic concerts in a really pretty room, called Spiegelsaal. Fancy!

Roughly 150 years ago the royal building comissioner Heino Schmieden had Schloss Biesdorf built – a two-story classical tower villa. The building deteriorated over time, was repaired half-heartedly sometimes, and then finally restored with the second floor reopened as the Zentrum für Kunst und öffentlichem Raum (Center for Art and Public Spaces). Now you can go here for exhibitions, artist presentations or just to soak up a bit of the atmosphere. Worth seeing!

If you’re not up for the expensive, snobby tourist trap Reinhard’s im Kempinski Hotel around the corner you should instead take your parents or grandparents to the quiet and idyllic Literaturcafé for the obligatory “Kaffee und Kuchen” (coffee and cake). You can sit in the garden reading your book, listening to chirping birds, without having to put up with the snobby car displaying at the Ku’damm. Also worth it is a walk along Fasanenstraße with its magnificent old buildings, shops and galleries. This is where you can find the fancy Berlin. And Richard Burger will serve up a couple literary works if you want a portion of culture with your dinner on Monday evenings.

It almost sounds too good to be true: the New Deli Yoga Café offers free yoga classes. You can start your day off nice and fresh and then during the day the rooms are converted into a café (which is pretty good, by the way) with fresh dishes. Amazing!

As soon as the temperature drops below 10° some people immediately crave a warm bath, soft slippers and “Gemütlichkeit” (coziness). If you want to round off your evening of pampering at home you can have a masseur from wellnow come by and knead the last tensions out of your back. The massage therapists bring everything that they need for the massage: a massage table, a couple of towels and various massage oils. Go for it!

The Spreepark is Berlin’s famous abandoned amusement park – everyone knows it. It has been rotting away between Plänterwald’s trees since 2001. Only a couple dinosaurs, a rusty rollercoaster, a lonely pirate ship and a couple remnants of a wild west town remain. The park was originally opened as “VEB Kulturpark Plänterwald” to commemorate the 20th birthday of the GDR in 1969. The city is now planning to reopen the park, although not in it’s original form. But “dit is Berlin” (“That’s Berlin”) – where nothing goes as planned. Since the end of July you can take tours through Spreepark again, more information here.

There are a lot of beautiful old cemeteries in Berlin, but the winding Jerusalem Kirchhof at Mehringdamm is a gem among them. It is the perfect place to listen to the breeze amongst the old chestnut trees, write poetry or just sit in the sun and read. Unlike other parks in the area, you won’t have to worry about the romantic atmosphere being interrupted by loud music or smoking barbecues as it is peaceful at every time of the day. But every so often a squirrel or fox will drop by.

If you want to go up high, you might as well start right at the top: the TU (Technische Universität) cafeteria is on the 20th floor of the Telefunkenhochhaus at Ernst-Reuter-Platz. From 7:30am on you can enjoy coffee, snacks and the view here and let your thoughts wander – and if you get there that early you’ll have the best pick of seats right along the window.

If you mean business looking for bargains, then get up early and make your way to Lichterfelde. Except for a couple sellers who have horrendous prices for rusty tools, most of the sellers at their tables are there privately and just want to get rid of their things. The market is large and visited by many families. The early bird really does get the worm here – many sellers start packing up two hours before the end of the selling day.

The best thing about bad weather is that you can finally mess about properly again. The best way is with a stack of great magazines. The store Do you read me? in Mitte is a safe bet but no secret. The magazine store Soda at Rosenthaler Platz just opened this summer. At the media store and café Westberlin along Friedrichstraße you can get a coffee, cinnamon pastries and “Stullen” (open-faced sandwiches) alongside your magazines.

You already know what Berlin looks like above the ground, but you might not have seen it’s underground bunkers. Take a tour with Berliner Unterwelten e.V., they even do them in English or Spanish.

The Volksbar, with over 100 seats, is pretty large and doesn’t lack in nice seating. Perfect for drinks, but also for watching Tatort (weekly Sunday crime show with rotating actors in different German cities – going strong since 1970). If you come here, be sure to come early in order to grab the best seats in front of the screen.

Go to Teufelsberg, where you’ll have an amazing view over Berlin, or stop at Tempelhofer Feld to fly a kite. It’s fun and it will make you love the windy weather for once.