Your Prenzlauer Berg Insider Guide

Welcome to our neighborhood, Berlin Prenzlauer Berg – once a working-class district, now one of Berlin’s trendiest areas. Over the past 30 years, Prenzlauer Berg has developed a colorful mix of great restaurants, picturesque streets, and cool shops. In this article, we introduce you to our neighborhood and, as true Prenzlauer Berg locals, share our best insider tips.

The Kulturbrauerei – the Heart of Prenzlauer Berg

We are unbelievably lucky to have found a home in one of Berlin’s most beautiful industrial monuments. The former brewery, a huge 19th-century complex, houses numerous cultural institutions, small shops and restaurants, as well as a dance school. Since 2004, this has been our base – and besides our bike tours, there is plenty to see and experience in and around the Kulturbrauerei.

Museum in the Kulturbrauerei

The biggest daytime attraction is now the Museum in the Kulturbrauerei, directly at the entrance on Knaackstraße (corner of Danziger Straße). In the free permanent exhibition Everyday Life in the GDR by the Haus der Geschichte, you’ll learn a lot about daily life in East Germany and can look at everyday objects from the former GDR.

From a typical living room to a Trabi with rooftop tent, to fashion, magazines and design objects, you’ll get a unique glimpse into life on the other side of the Berlin Wall. If you’ve taken a bike tour with us along the Berlin Wall or through the former East Berlin, this museum is a great addition.

Don’t forget the rotating photo exhibitions right next door – often featuring fantastic photos from the time before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Admission is free here as well.

The Trabant aka Trabi was THE car in East Germany with waiting times of up to 10 years. Here you see one with a roof tent. The private company producing the tents didn’t survive the Fall of the Wall.

TIC – Tourist Information Center Prenzlauer Berg

Do you have questions about Berlin or Prenzlauer Berg or are you looking for insider tips? The northeast of Berlin has its own tourism office, the TIC. They provide information about art, culture, and what’s happening in the neighborhood and the rest of the city. Their knowledge is huge, making hours of research unnecessary.

Theater and Film in the Kulturbrauerei

Our lovely neighbors at Panda Platforma have turned the small venue into one of the most important meeting spots for East European communities in Berlin. With changing art exhibitions, concerts, performances, and parties, they offer young and oppositional artists a platform and a safe space and give you the opportunity to discover this creative scene for yourself.

You can also go to the movies in the Kulturbrauerei – fittingly called Kino in der Kulturbrauerei. The multiplex screens films in the original language with German subtitles every day, the usual blockbusters, as well as a solid arthouse program and occasionally live-streamed concerts.

Theater RambaZamba is an inclusive cultural venue run by, with, and for people with and without Down syndrome. The productions are developed by the actors themselves and are known for their subtle, sharp-witted humor that broadens your perspective. Concerts, panel discussions, and other events also take place here.

Going Out in the Kulturbrauerei

The Kulturbrauerei is known in Berlin and beyond, especially among younger crowds, as a place to party. There are several concert venues, clubs, and a cozy beer garden in summer. The courtyards also host many large events and parties, including public screenings of major football tournaments and the famous Lucia Christmas Market.

At Soda Club on the main courtyard, you can dance from Thursday to Sunday. The crowd is relatively young (under 30), and the program is mainstream with occasional themed nights like Salsa or Ladies Night. Opposite, Kesselhaus and Maschinenhaus host festivals, rock and pop concerts, as well as jazz and blues concerts, for which the Kesselhaus is particularly well known.

At the entrance on Schönhauser Allee you’ll find the Frannz Club, which depending on the season and time of day is a beer garden (summer), restaurant, club, concert venue, or lounge. With several dance floors, there’s always something going on – and the atmosphere is always relaxed.

Although you obviously can’t smoke here anymore, Pool & Cigars still offers an incredibly unique atmosphere for playing billiards. Around 20 tables are arranged in a golden hall with a 6-meter ceiling. On weekends, reservations are recommended.

The grounds are also home to many small and medium-sized businesses, providing the typical Berlin mix: advertising agencies, the “Center of Dance”, a school for martial arts and a theater school for kids and teens, the Berlin branch of New York University, a gym for women, a travel agency, and more.

Street Food Market & Christmas Market in the Kulturbrauerei

Every Sunday, a relaxed Street Food Market takes place in the courtyard of the Kulturbrauerei. From 12 to 6 p.m., Street Food auf Achse presents everything the Berlin street food scene has to offer. You can expect a changing selection of dishes from around the world, such as: empanadas, tacos, Cantonese dumplings, streetfood from Brazil and Uzbekistan, Swabian Spätzle, and for your sweet tooth Kaiserschmarren or crepes with all kinds of toppings.

The market runs every Sunday from mid-January to the first Sunday in November. After that, the wonderfully romantic Lucia Christmas Market is set up. It opens the Monday before the first Advent, closes on December 22 and is dedicated to the Nordic countries. With its unique atmosphere in front of the historic buildings of the Kulturbrauerei, it’s one of Berlin’s most beloved Christmas markets. Expect mulled wine, glögg, hot chocolate, handmade gifts, and northern European treats.

Our Lunch Tips Around the Kulturbrauerei

Bike tours can really work up an appetite!

One of the most important questions after any bike tour is, of course: where to eat? The selection in the immediate area is breathtaking and truly offers something for everyone. On Kastanienallee and Oderberger Straße one restaurant follows the next – from the cheapest Italian with €6 pasta to the wonderful, mid-range Prater beer garden and upscale Japanese cuisine.

Here are a few of our personal lunch favorites.

• Zeit für Brot – This bakery at the corner of Eberswalder Straße is famous citywide for its fantastically fluffy cinnamon rolls. They also have sandwiches and quick salads, perfect for a fast lunch. Downside: it gets crowded.
• Hako Ramen (Kastanienallee) – For something warm and hearty, try their delicious fresh Japanese ramen soups.
• Habba Habba (Kastanienallee) – Delicious salads and falafel sandwiches

You can find more tips for restaurants and snack places in our neighbourhood in our Food Guide Prenzlauer Berg.

Top Tips for Berlin Prenzlauer Berg

Around the Kastanienallee

Although you can find more and more cafés and restaurants here, the area around Kastanienallee is still a good fashion destination. In the streets around Kastanienallee there are lovely stores where you can shop for new clothes and shoes. With an emphasis on Berlin designers and sustainable fashion, this is the place to shop if you’re looking for something different.

The best place to start your shopping adventure is at the subway stop ‘Eberswalder Strasse’. Walk down the Kastanienallee in the direction of Rosenthaler Platz and you will encounter beautiful clothing and shoe stores, wonderful stationary and book shops (including an English one) and a handful of secondhand stores. Don’t skip Oderberger and Schwedter Strasse on your stroll!

Kollwitzkiez in Prenzlauer Berg

If you walk down the Knaackstrasse from the Kulturbrauerei, you quickly reach the beautiful Kollwitzplatz. On Thursdays and Saturdays, a farmers’ market takes place here, and the large playground on the square is perfect for families with young children. In the area are some wonderful restaurants and cafés: Anna Blume on Kollwitzstrasse offers delicious coffee and an amazing selection of cakes and pies. If this popular cafe is overcrowded: directly opposite you’ll find So Wohl als Auch, which is an excellent alternative. This corner of Berlin is also full of cute shops and boutiques.

On Knaackstrasse at Kollwitzplatz, look to your right and you’ll find a black iron gate decorated with a Star of David. This is the old back entrance to the Jewish cemetery on Schönhauser Allee. The gate was used for many years as a shortcut between the cemetery and the big synagogue on Rykestrasse.

If you keep following the Knaackstrasse you will soon see the beautiful Water Tower, one of the most important landmarks in Prenzlauer Berg. Keep walking and you will arrive at a triangle shaped square to your left. There are two restaurants here which we highly recommend. The first is Pasternak, which serves excellent Russian-Jewish cuisine in a friendly atmosphere, and Umani, a wonderful Vietnamese-Indochinese restaurant.

The Water Tower itself, nicknamed ‘Dicke Hermann’ (Fat Hermann), has a dark history. Shortly after Hitler’s rise to power, Nazis took over the basement of the Water Tower and turned it into a so-called ‘Wild’ concentration camp. ‘Wild concentration camps’ were improvised camps in already existing buildings like basements and sports halls, while official camps like Sachsenhausen were still under construction. The Nazi regime held and brutally tortured communists, trade unionists, and Jews here. On the corner of Kolmarer Strasse you can find a memorial about this dark time.

The basement of the Water Tower now houses an art room, and the park around it is a perfect place to enjoy a beer at sun set, with a great view of the TV Tower.

A few meters down the Rykestrasse lies the largest synagogue in Germany, which shows the great influence Jewish cultural and religious life had on this neighbourhood.

Nightlife in Prenzlauer Berg

Prenzlauer Berg was once famous for its vibrant nightlife, and home to amazing clubs like Icon, Knaack and Club der Republik. While these sadly vanished because of gentrification in Prenzlauer Berg, there is still reason for hope. Just outside Kulturbrauerei you can find the bar August Fengler, established in 1936, which offers a small dance floor as well as table tennis and foosball (beware: at the time of writing still cash only). Those who prefer alternative rock and 80s music can head over to Duncker Club.

In a smokey but relaxed atmosphere, night runs into day at Nemo, one of the other few remaining traditional pubs in the neighbourhood, where tourists and locals alike can get together over beer, billiards and foosball.

Insider Tip: Helmholtzplatz and Stargarder Straße

Just a stone’s throw from the Kulturbrauerei lies one of the most beautiful squares in Prenzlauer Berg, the Helmholtzplatz. Here you will actually see more locals than tourists! On the way there, you should stop by the wonderful Heipl Berlin, a great place to find gifts that you actually wanted to buy for others but then ended up keeping for yourself. If you love cooking, your next stop is Goldhahn and Sampson, a wonderful delicatessen with a huge selection of food and cookbooks, that also offers cooking classes to warm any foodies heart. Crochet and knitting fans should check out Wollmeister on Dunckerstrasse.

Just around the corner, Stargarder Strasse has become increasingly busy and interesting in recent years. Here you will not only find the best ice cream parlour in the area (Hokey Pokey), but also a number of great stores, of course including one for coffee. A little bit further you will find a cute second-hand clothing store called No Socks, No Panties and the quirky housewares shop, Kontinentalwaren, which advocates for ‘slow shopping’ and where you can buy unique and high quality gifts and souvenirs. And if you’re looking for something for the little ones, family friendly Prenzlauer Berg is the right place for you: we recommend the stores Findus and Mia and Leo!

Follow our tips and you’ll find the hidden gems of this beautiful neighbourhood, with many more surprises along the way.

Whilst we aren’t the biggest fans of mainstream shopping malls, if you’ve finished exploring the cool boutiques and hidden gems of Prenzlauer Berg, and you need to shop for groceries or more standard supplies, the shopping centre on Schönhauser Allee is a useful place to end your tour. Here you will find three floors with many well-known chains, as well as a drugstore and a supermarket. Under the mall is the S-Bahn line, in front of it the U2 subway and the M1 tram line which will send you quickly into the city center Mitte.
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Flea Market and Karaoke at Mauerpark

Finally, we can’t leave out the ‘big green living room’ of Prenzlauer Berg, Mauerpark. During the week and in winter the park is relatively quiet, and locals use it for walking their dogs, kite flying, or basketball. On the weekends, however, everything is different! On a beautiful Sunday up to 40 000 people come to the park and its huge flea-market. Buskers set up and you can hear (live) music everywhere, and if you are lucky you will meet Joe Hatchiban with his world-famous karaoke system in the afternoon. The Mauerpark karaoke he organizes is legendary and it’s great to see the amphitheater filled with people ready to sing and celebrate together.

Behind the Karaoke amphitheatre is a remaining stretch of inner Berlin Wall that has become a popular place for Berlin’s street art community. Graffiti may be legally sprayed here, and plenty of it is! It is a well-known meeting point for the graffiti scene with great views over the whole park.

Five Things that Prenzlauer Berg is Famous For

• Cargo bikes as far as the eye can see! Prenzlauer Berg is a popular area for families with small children, and as parking is difficult to find, nowhere else in Berlin will you see so many people carting kids around on Cargo Bikes.
• Street Art by El Bocho: both his Citizens series and the Little Lucy are everywhere!
• The Zeiss Grand Planetarium: one of the last major projects undertaken by the GDR, the planetarium was recently renovated, so visitors can now enjoy cutting edge technology during its shows. Here you can travel into space and see fascinating objects in the starry sky, under the guidance of expert scientists. In addition, the planetarium puts on film and radio nights and popular concert programmes. Great fun for curious children and adults alike! We make sure to come here at least once every year.
• The Zionskirche (Church of Zion) has a special history as a centre of resistance. From Dietrich Bonhoeffer during the Nazi regime to the Umweltbibliothek (Environmental Library) in the 1980s, a meeting place for activists against the East-German state, this is a place well worth seeing. You can visit the church for free. The church tower offers a fantastic view over Prenzlauer Berg and all of Berlin for only 1 Euro (currently only Sundays from 12 till 18.00h).
• Konnopke’s Imbiss: the place in Prenzlauer Berg to get a Currywurst, the city’s culinary speciality. Konnopke’s has been around since 1930 and is the best-known Currywurst joint in East Berlin. It is right around the corner from us, under the U2 line at the Schönhauser Allee and Kanstanienallee intersection.