21 Awesome Things to do in Spring 2019

In mid-May Selig reopened at Herrfurthplatz, right next to the church. Whenever I think of church cafés I think of dark and dingey places. The new Selig is exactly the opposite: light, open, modern and gastronomically creative. Who would’ve expected an urban jungle in a church in the middle of Neukölln? Selig considers itself a brunch and lunch café and the menu is constructed accordingly. Pastrami and club sandwiches, pancakes and breakfast bowls, porridge and cheese platters. It’s particularly full on weekends.

The next time you take the U7 towards the West you should glance away from your phone in order to take in the landmarked underground stations of the post-war period, such as Spandau or Fehrbelliner Platz. “Underground Architecture. Berliner U-Bahnhöfe 1953-1994” sums up the particularly outstanding examples. Functional-chic elegance, flashy pops of color and historical cathedral architecture all under one roof.

The Okay Café is much more than okay, it’s fantastic! You can get tasty Swedish delights such as cinnamon rolls, Plättar (Swedish pancakes), homemade cake, and breakfast dishes such as grilled cheese, omelette, granola bowls and French toast at the café near Maybachufer. It all started with homemade Semla, sold at street food markets by the owner and chef Makki. You can still get Semla, cardamom bread rolls with cream, during Lent.

They used to load and unload ships here, but now you can relax on the water along the Mittlerer Oder river. There is a wonderful holiday appartment for up to four people on the top four floors of the former loading tower (Verladeturm), with an open fireplace, loft-style kitchen and a balcony facing the river. There’s a little café on the bottom three floors where you can get coffee and cake as well as treat yourself to rich, traditional style food such as Käsespätzle (Swabian noodles) and Maultaschen (meat dumplings). The former conveyor bridge is now a viewing platform and offers a wonderful panorama of the countryside.

The Simsim has brought Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese food to Prenzlauer Berg. You feel like you’re right in the Middle East in the cosily decorated restaurant with its patterned tiles, walls with black and white photographs, painted ceramics and vintage silver serving trays, as well as the many plants and candle light. Hospitality and authentic cuisine are on the menu here. They serve small and large dishes that taste best when you share them with your company. Salads and homemade hummus, chicken kebobs and lamb cutlets, kibbeh and moussaka, pita and okra – no matter if you’re vegan, vegetarian or an omnivore, everyone will leave full. If you love good Arabian food you’ll love Simsim.

If you feel like enjoying a bit of idyllic countryside outside of the city but want to vacation in Berlin you should rent a house boat in Rummelsburger Bucht. You almost want to have the boats from Flodd to yourself for the whole year: you have a view of Rummelsburger Bucht and the TV tower in front of the fireplace in winter, and in the summertime you can dangle your feet in the water or just enjoy looking at the sky. A bonus: Sysiphos is just across the street.

It’s sporty from the start when you travel from Berlin by bike, which can easily be accomplished within the day. A quicker and more comfortable option is to take the train from Berlin to Rheinsberg. Tons of different bike tour options start from this area, for example the lake tour through the Ruppin countryside with its beginning and end at Schlosspark Rheinsberg.

The Großsiedlung in the neighborhood Britz was named after it’s main group of buildings, which were constructed in a horseshoe shape between 1925 and 1933. The designs were from Bruno Taut, who is one of the important players of the so-called Neues Bauen (“International Style”) and always designed his buildings according to the principle “great architecture for common people”. The more than 100 appartments of the Hufeisensiedlung in Britz all have the same layout and were a programmatical architectural project, initiated as an answer to the then acute lack of living space in Berlin. Stylistically, the neighborhood design is functional and conservative, but if you are well-aquainted with architecture from this time period and have an eye for detail, you’ll quickly fall for the beauty of this architectural style. There’s also a lake in the middle of the horseshoe and every home has access to a garden.

The common Berliner doesn’t just drink anything anymore. Most now prefer high-quality spirits from Berlin manufactures instead of mass-produced products. It doesn’t matter whether gin, vodka or liqueurs – it tastes better when made with love. The thirsty minds from Deutscher Spirituosen Manufaktur adhere to this motto as well: you can get exclusive spirits and also create your own in workshops. You get to take the results home with you, of course.

We always get butterflies when we fly over Berlin with an airplane on the way to our vacation destinations – but there are about 200 other people on board with us. If you want to have that one-of-a-kind feeling to yourself and to see Tempelhofer Feld or the Oberbaumbrücke from above you can book a helicopter ride with Air Service Berlin. The 15-minute flight costs 99 euros and starts at Schönefeld airport – and quite dependably without a delay, for once.

Vintage Revivals deserves some love even if only for their amazing photos on Instagram. They take the word “vintage” seriously – you believe you’ve landed in the 70s and 80s when browsing their profile. Luckily you can buy the clothes from their photos right at the store on Schönhauser Allee. And we want to after nearly every photo.

The drinks at Lamm Bar in Prenzlauer Berg are called Lämmer (lambs) and Lämmchen (little lambs) depending on the size, and have names like Jurke, Taco Tuesday or Snax. They don’t have typical bar food here either, but instead “Bayshi”: Bavarian sushi, with or without meat. The walls are unplastered, the benches and stools are covered in green velvet, plants hang from the walls and the bar is made out of cement. Really pretty, cosy and tasty.

Whiskey made in Germany: at the Spreewood distillery, which has set up camp in Spreewald. Not only can you buy the tasty whiskey, you can also go for a tasting or tour to find out more about the secrets of the liquid gold. The premises is a great place to spend a whole day when the weather is a bit warmer: you can sip on tasty fairtrade coffee in the café and satisfy your hunger in the summer in their courtyard garden with barbecued morsels. Besides whiskey they also have different liqueurs – our favorite is Oma’s Apfelkuchen (Grandma’s apple cake) – or you can try the tasty Gurkengeist (“cucumber spirit”) that has over 40% alcohol content and packs quite a punch, but is made with real Spreewald cucumbers.

We love asparagus! And every year we can barely wait for the first white stalks to land in our pots and then our tummies. We don’t even need to tell you that the best asparagus comes from the Beelitz area. But if you would rather cut it yourself than buy it from the cute asparagus stands at the U-Bahn stations you can do it at Spargelhof Elsholz. You just have to sign up on the website shortly before and then you’re off! Spoiler: it’s pretty damn demanding and you will definitely appreciate your food more. If you’re still lazy you can also just buy the asparagus at the farm shop.

Berlin feels more like Amsterdam when you head to Flutgraben. Bridges, boats and love, welcome to the sunny side of life! The restaurant Freischwimmer is a floating restaurant on a boat at the riverside where you can enjoy a nice dinner in a super relaxed atmosphere. And if you’re ready to dance afterwards head to IPSE a new club with river access where you’ll find the hip Berlin party people at one of the typical open airs they host during the summer season. Ahoi!

The „Bienenfreunde“ (bee friends) show you how to bee-keep throughout the year, among other things. For a onetime payment you can attend various courses from April until September. They have courses about the hands-on work, but also theory courses all about beekeeping and breeding, bee diseases and the biology of bees.

If the Tierpark or zoo is too full for you, journey out of Berlin into Brandenburg. You can see brown bears, lynxes and large cats, wild horses, various species of game and arctic foxes at Wildpark Johannismühle. If you ask you can also join a tour and if you’re really eager, sign up for a day behind the scenes and play zookeeper.

We’re all familiar with those huge boats, full of tourists, that glide along the Landwehr Canal past the Museumsinsel. And we all think that we’ll never take part in one of those boat tours, but secretly we would love to see Berlin from the water (just not on one of the tourist boats). And now you can with Berlin Liquide, where you can rent an entire boat including the skipper and take private, little tours with up to 15 people. You can even choose between different tours – a highlight is the Early-Bird-Tour where you can see Berlin during the early hours when everyone is still sleeping – or dancing.

If you’re a fan of long walks and taking a break from the hustle and bustle of the city then Schlachtensee is just the thing for you. 5,5 kilometers of lakeside paths provide quiet and space for great chats. You can hold hands and walk around here without being disturbed and if your tummy starts rumbling, grab some classic German cuisine at the Fischerhütte. If you want to prolong your date we recommend making a stop at the wine store next door.

You don’t need the ocean in Berlin in order to get a bit of that North Sea feeling. You can sit right on the water at the restaurant and Biergarten Hafenküche in Rummelsburg and you don’t even have to leave the city. And there’s more than fish on the menu. You can spend a wonderful spring afternoon here with the Spree right under your nose and sparkling sun rays dancing in the air. And if you’d rather enjoy couple time you can grab some treats in the form of a picnic basket from the restaurant. No wish goes unfulfilled: from couscous and egg salads to currywurst to avocados, freshly baked bread, danish pastries and apple crumble.

You don’t necessarily need a Schrebergarten (allotment) – there are lots of herbs and kinds of vegetables you can grow on your balcony. You can get useful tips from the garden experts here and the beauty of the painstakingly laid out gardens is worth the trip to Dahlem.

• Königliche Gartenakademie