Well. I knew there was a seedy underside to Berlin somewhere - and here it is. As part of my study…read moreof public spaces in Berlin for my thesis, Gorlizter Park was on my list. Its a big park, with a lot of parts. The north end is surrounded by hipster hangouts, a very nice church tower and an Ubahn station. Lots of people coming and going. There is also a hill with a swimming pool buried in the middle of it. One side has a glass jewelbox viewing window, the other side a particularly ugly curved concrete facade that looks to be left over from the GDR days. One would hope that the bulldozer will one day remove that hideous blot of concrete. There are 3 old buildings nearby that seem to be relics of a railroad past. Nice structures - one is a restaurant (Das Edelweiss) and one is marked 'clubhouse'. They are simply covered in graffiti. Sad really. There is an odd concrete construction facing the restaurant that seems to be either the worst designed amphitheater ever, or a failed fountain that now kinda serves that purpose. Not sure. Odd. Graffiti is an epidemic here. For some reason the lower half of the park has this yellow brick wall in many places that simply invites spray paint. There are no police to be seen. Lots of people out with strollers and dogs, even on a drizzly weekday late afternoon. Older folks walking about - and - drug dealers. I was warned in advance - but the blatant nature of the activity was rather surprising. Above Oppelner Strasse is mostly open and/or active recreation. Below, towards the river, is designed to offer a more 'natural' green experience. There is a strange depression in the middle that serves no purpose, and at Oppelner is a fountain that was inoperative. Perhaps due to the season. Dunno. Heres the strange thing: Right at the entrance, on either side of the fountain, are two grottos with benches and heavy vegetation/shielding for these spaces - its as if the designers ASKED the pot dealers how to set it up best for them and they did. Absolutely the dumbest thing I have ever seen in a park. One guy on a bike was simply convinced I was his newest customer. He gave up after two or three entreaties. It seems he was a runner for the dudes hanging in the grotto - I saw him going there and off again a couple of times. Clearly, attitudes about drugs are more relaxed here, but this park suffers greatly I think from the obvious disorder of street level drug sales and graffiti. Even with all that, given the location and size of the park, I'm guessing that in summer its a very busy place.

This is not a park to bring your children to play. Not at all. Berlintronix's review basically got…read moreit spot on. Görlitzer park does have an interesting history though, which I suppose contributes to it's current crappiness. It was the former site of Görlitzer Station, which connected West Berlin to East Germany, which after the wall was put up obviously became somewhat pointless, so they tore down the (beautiful) remains of the bombed-out station and half-heartedly turned the space into this park. In the centre of the park is the remains of an underground tunnel that lead into the station. It seems kinda weird that they just left it here. At the west-most end of the park is an indoor swimming bath, and outside next to it is a half-demolished water park. I don't quite understand what happened here, as it can only possibly have been built 30-40 years ago, but it looks like the ruins of some ancient civilisation. Weird. All in all a crappy place to bring children, but an interesting place to visit. I recommend checking out the cafe/bar Das Edelweiss which is at one end of the park.

A gem of a park in the Kreuzberg area of Berlin! We had been wandering around Berlin by foot and…read morebike for days, and I was exhausted! We decided to take a little break from touristing around Berlin to read our books in Viktoriapark! And it turned out to be one of my favorite places we explored on our short trip to Berlin! Viktoriapark opened in 1894 and contains a famous Berlin landmark - a cast iron monument dedicated by King Frederick William III of Prussia to the liberation wars fought at the end of the War of the Sixth coalition against France in the course of the Napoleonic Wars. The park also contains a beautiful (but totally artificial) waterfall that begins at the foot of the monument and continues down the hillside to the intersection of Grossbeerenstrasse and Kreuzbergstrasse. We walked along the paths running parallel to the waterfall to the top where the monument is - and stopped several times to take pictures of the beautiful park. After we reached the top, we walked to the open field area just off the monument where hundreds of people were reading, playing with dogs, playing Frisbee, drinking, smoking, etc. It definitely seemed like a place where young locals spend time on the weekend! The park is beautiful! Definitely worth exploring - and I found relaxing and reading my book to be the perfect break from touristing around the city! I highly recommend exploring the park if you're looking for a relaxing break from being a tourist!!

A true getaway from the hustle and bustle of city life. Spend the day hiking around the park,…read moreadmiring the monument of 1821 dedicated by King Frederick William III of Prussia to the liberation wars, and losing yourself by the waterfall. This park has it all. Don't forget to sit back and enjoy a couple of drinks at the cafe and beer garden while wandering around. I love this place!

We mainly ended up here because I wanted to see the Soviet War Memorial. The park is along the…read moreriver. There wasn't many people around. If you want to find some solitude, this would be the place to go.

Treptower Park is admittedly not a place I frequent so often, especially considering how close I…read morelive to it. However, it is a place that I am fond of and enjoy every time I am there. In particular, its location on the water is a major positive. There is almost always a cool breeze and plenty of things to see, such as people on boat cruises. The wide expanse of green lawns means that there are plenty of people picnicking, studying, or playing frisbee, but it never tends to be overcrowded - another plus point in my book. The park is also home to a beer garden (Das Zenner), a former amusement park (Spreepark), the Soviet War Memorial, rose gardens and fountains, and it leads over to the Insel der Jugend, another interesting place to check out. All in all, a great place to relax and take it easy without worrying about the crowds.

A true hidden gem in the middle of Neukoelln, this architecturally rich park has a beautiful…read morefountain (though unfortunately dry to lack of funding), and a wonderful space to get coffee in cake in front of the 1890's Orangerie, which now serves as an art gallery (free admission). Being sunken below street level cuts down on noise and creates of tranquil space. The neighborhood organizes concerts and other events there: check the web site. I really recommend swinging by if you're in the neighborhood, just for the fun of seeing this urban oasis appear in the midst of one of the less polished areas of Berlin.

I love love love Körnerpark. This is my neighborhood park, a…read morethree-block walk from where I live, and the perfect place to hang out when I want to get away, if only (and especially) for a short while. The park itself takes up an entire block, and is landscaped beautifully: fountains, trees, benches, and green green grass. Along one end of the park there is also the gravel area outside the Cafe and Gallery, which has tables with umbrellas, and plenty of seating for cafe patrons. While the cafe is a nice place to meet friends, I personally enjoy grabbing a beer or two and some snacks and spending time outside on the grass with friends. Beware of the area where sitting is forbidden of course, most of the time it's not enforced, so sit away. But during rare instances you will be approached and reprimanded, and then promptly kicked off. But don't let it discourage you there are plenty of other places in the park to sit. And regardless, time at Körnerpark is always time well spent.

This is one of my favorite parks in Berlin. Every time my friends came to visit, I will always…read morebrought them here and they love it. Myself, I come here really often, especially when the weather is good. It's really a great place. The Park itself is really for the public. there are no charging or anything. and it offer a lot. there are children playground, pingpong, swings, skateboard/bike/basketball playground and so on. you can hang out with friends or small walk with family. Of course you can also come here alone for training and jogging. you may also find some cool street graffiti, you can see the the train going around, kinda remind me a bit New York, very urban and modern. The location is also really nice, very close to Potsdamer Platz. Not difficult to find. So when you feel like it, just pay a visit.

One of the best places to enjoy walking, biking, or simply lying in the green under the sun…read more This is going to be my second favorite park in the city after Treptower Park

Admittedly I don't make it to Hasenheide too often, since I live close to a handful of other parks,…read morebut it's truly a great spot. The park itself is huge, so you can easily find sunny, grassy areas for picnics and lounging, spots for playing sports or slack-lining, shaded areas to cool off, and more. There's even a relatively elaborate petting zoo, and a cafe in the middle where you can buy drinks and snacks. And while there are some drug dealers, they are not anywhere near as aggressive or annoying as the ones at Görli.

Neighbourhood park with a skate park on the Columbiadamm side. We went looking for the café in the…read moremiddle of the park that was recommended to us locally but we didn't really know where we were going and ended up out the other side of the park. Apparently there's also an open air cinema. As others have mentioned, there are dealers at every turn on the paths and hanging around in the bushes.

Berlin-Flughafen Tempelhof (THF) is long gone. But coming here, you can almost feel the…read moreTempelhofer Feld history. Berlin Hauptstadt is trying to converted into something incredibly useful for the locals. But mind you, it's still a work in progress. We just enjoyed seeing it and walking around.

What do you do with a decommissioned airport? Make it into a huge park and nature preserve for…read moreeveryone to enjoy. So much history here, but folks from the western world may recall that during the height of the cold war, West Berlin was essentially cut off. This airport was the scene of many airlifted supply runs. There's also a pretty interesting monument in the front of the complex celebrating this.