Treptow Park
A park with a harbour
Sunbathing on the lawn or a trip on a pedal boat? Treptower Park means summer in Berlin down by the river.
The wide, four-kilometre-long riverside path starts at Treptower Hafen, where pleasure boats invite you to take a trip along the Spree. The path carries on past lovingly kept houseboats and then the view opens up to the Stralau peninsula, the Insel der Jugend and the people relaxing in pedal boats on the river.
Treptower Park is the perfect place for a day out. In 84 hectares of greenery you can stroll along the riverside path, across sunny lawns, past the rose garden and along the shady avenues of plane trees. When it was opened in 1888, Treptower Park was a novelty for the time, a public park open to all the city’s inhabitants. Gustav Meyer, a pupil of Lenné, designed the park in the English style.
From pleasure boats to seaplanes
Walking, jogging, cycling – whatever pace you like to keep up, Treptower Park has the right routes for you. The riverboat jetty is a good place to start your tour of the green idyll. Slightly further on is the Insel der Jugend, a small island that you can reach by crossing an old bridge called the Abteibrücke, where you can hire a pedal boat, a rowing boat or even a barbecue boat. Just before you get to Plänterwald, you can take a break at the Klipper, a restaurant on a sailing ship where you can enjoy some cake or a smoked fish. This is also where the red seaplane takes off in summer, offering an aerial view of Treptower Park and Berlin. If you’re on a bike, carry on along the riverbank past Plänterwald and the former Spreepark amusement park to the ferry. This takes you to the other side of the Spree, where the cycle path carries on towards Müggelsee.
Things to see in Treptower Park
Image gallery
Sowjet Memorial Treptow
Abteibrücke
Treptower Park
Club der Visionäre
If instead of starting off along the riverside path you cross the street called Alt-Treptow, you first come to a huge grass area for playing and sunbathing. In the middle of the park is the Soviet War Memorial, which was built after the second world and is a cemetery for 5000 Soviet soldiers. Right next to it is the Archenhold Sternwarte, an observatory with the world’s longest refracting telescope, where you can take part in night-time stargazing away from the city’s light pollution.
Not far from the observatory and the war memorial is what used to be the Spreepark amusement park, where you can still see the big Ferris wheel. The former funfair is now being converted for a new cultural use. There are guided tours of the mysterious, closed site at weekends.
Charming old buildings and riverside paths: the Alt-Treptow neighbourhood
Alt-Treptow is changing from an insider tip to a popular residential area – especially for families. Because when you take a walk from the north end to the south, you totally forget that you’re in the middle of a busy city. The route goes from the Spree through Treptower Park to the Landwehrkanal past elegant old buildings, 19th century villas and a newly emerging neighbourhood.
Find out more about the city’s neighbourhoods with our Going Local Berlin app.
