Climbing and bouldering are not only about strength and skill, but also about solving a kind of movement puzzle. To do this, you shimmy along the walls on colourful holds, with different colours marking routes of varying difficulty. It's a fun leisure sport that also offers a healthy whole-body workout for all ages. You don't need much equipment. Climbing shoes and chalk can usually be rented on site. Just give it a try!
Here is our selection of the top 11 bouldering and climbing gyms in Berlin.
Tip 1: Bouldering with Kilterboard at Südbloc in Mariendorf
Housed in a large industrial hall with a brick tower, the Südbloc offers 1600 square metres of light-flooded hall space and a large outdoor area. During the day, there are separate areas for children and young people as well as for adults, with kids letting off steam under supervision. There are also numerous courses for adults. There is also a dedicated yoga room, an extra workout area and large showers. You can recharge your batteries in the bistro - in summer also outside on the terrace.
Since 2023, there is also a Kilterboard. With this standardised training board, you can climb on the same boulder anywhere in the world. Via an app on your smartphone, you can access a database of over 50,000 boulders and the corresponding holds will light up.
Where: Großbeerenstraße 2-10, building 4, Tempelhof
When: daily 9 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Tip 2: Train your strength and technique with workshops at Berta Block
This large hall in Pankow offers lots of space for bouldering. Here you will find an area for children as well as some difficult overhangs for bouldering professionals. Competitions such as the BertaBlockMasters are held here time and again. But absolute beginners also get their money's worth with the numerous courses on offer. This ranges from yoga to strength training to technique courses. Two children from the age of six are allowed to climb with a supervisor.
Where: Mühlenstraße 62, Pankow
When: weekdays 9 am - 11 pm, Saturday & Sunday 10 am - 10 pm
Tip 3: Learn to fall on soft mats at Ostbloc Boulderhalle
Bouldering has been going on in the Ostbloc since 2010. Thick mats cushion your jump - or fall - off the climbing walls. How to fall properly is also an element of the taster course, which you can book online like all the other courses. The bistro serves delicious chai and coffee as well as snacks. Children under 12 are only allowed to boulder under supervision.
Where: Hauptstraße 13, Friedrichshain
When: Monday to Friday 10 a.m. - 11 p.m., Saturday & Sunday 9 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Tip 4: Climbing in a former wine cellar
Housed in a former Bohemian wine cellar, this new gym from urban apes offers plenty of climbing fun in an unusual setting. In addition to the bouldering hall and a cosy restaurant, there is also a fitness and training area with modern kilter and tension boards in the old vault and, in future, an area for children and families.
Tip: There is another urban apes hall very close to Potsdamer Platz (Stresemannstraße 72). The basement offers 1,800 m² of bouldering and fitness. In the training area you will find a campus board, moonboard, tension board and much more.
When: Monday to Sunday 9 am - 10 pm
Where: Friedenstraße 91 B, Friedrichshain
Tip 4: Find what you need for your boulder livestyle at Bouldergarten
For the operators of the bouldering garden, bouldering is almost something like their own philosophy. In the Neukölln bouldering garden, you will therefore not only find beautifully aesthetically designed climbing walls and routes, but also a great range of services related to the bouldering lifestyle. In the garden studio you can book massages, yoga and physiotherapy sessions. The bistro offers homemade juices and musts as well as snacks and coffee from local cafés and producers - all sustainable and healthy, of course. Children climb in the climbing forest.
Where: Thiemannstr. 1, Neukölln
When: Monday to Friday 10 a.m. - 11 p.m., Saturday, Sunday & public holidays 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Tip 6: Kids love the climbing ship at Boulderklub Kreuzberg
In a backyard in Kreuzberg, you'll find the Boulderklub somewhat hidden away. There is a large wooden climbing ship for children. Only kids between the ages of four and 13 are allowed to let off steam on the yellow mats around it. The rest of the 1300 square metres are open to teenagers and adults. By the way: beginners can also buy taster lessons with instruction at the counter at short notice.There are also various other course offerings, including yoga and a FLINTA+ training group.
Where: Ohlauer Str. 38, Kreuzberg
When: Monday to Friday 7 a.m. - 10 p.m., Saturday, Sunday & public holidays 9 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Tip 7: At urban apes bright site you can boulder inside and outdoors
The urban apes bright site doesn't bear its name for nothing. Here you can boulder in bright daylight thanks to the large glass windows of the former industrial hall. In addition, the large outdoor area between the beginning of April and the end of September invites you to have fun climbing under the open sky (minimum age for the garden is nine years). Of course, you can also enjoy the sun in the garden with coffee and cake from the bistro. You can certainly put that energy to good use, because there are always new challenging routes in eight difficulty levels. There is also a wide range of courses on offer.There is also a large range of courses and a children's hall for everyone from the age of three.
Where: Wilhelm-Kabus-Straße 40, Schöneberg
When: daily 9am-2pm
Tip 8: Kegel offers toprope and flinta workshops
Without further ado, the high bunker on the RAW site in Friedrichshain was converted into a climbing tower. You can climb up to a height of 18 metres on a rope - and as a reward not only enjoy a great view, but even sign the summit book at the top. There is plenty of space indoors and outdoors for bouldering, climbing and training. A small roof terrace invites you to linger. The course programme also includes top-rope courses, Flinta*nights with Flinta* courses and offers in English. On the RAW site itself, originally the Reichsbahn repair works, you will find numerous clubs, bars and cultural venues today.
Where: Revaler Straße 99, Friedrichshain
When: daily 9 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Tip 9: Measure your own strength with the digital boards at Magic Mountain
Magic Mountain brings bouldering and climbing fun under one roof. The difference is that when bouldering, you are a maximum of three to four metres above the ground. The actual climbing is really high up. That's why you have to rope up, with the ropes attached to the top of the climbing tower - which is where the name Toprope comes from. There are over 130 climbing routes in the indoor and outdoor areas of Magic Mountain. Climbing - and of course bouldering - has been going on here not far from Gesundbrunnen station on 2200 square metres since 2002.
In the meantime, digitalisation has also arrived. Using two hangboards (for experts: they are Beastmaker 1000 and 2000) attached to so-called motherboards, you can create individualised workouts and measure a whole range of parameters, such as how strong your left side is compared to your right.
Where: Böttgerstraße 20, Wedding
When: Monday to Wednesday 10 a.m. - 11.30 p.m., Thursday & Friday 9 a.m. - 11.30 p.m., Saturday & Sunday 9 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Tip 10: In Berlin you can also climb outdoors
There are no high mountains in Berlin - and if there are, they are rubble mountains; although the Arkenberge on the northern outskirts of the city, the Teufelsberg and the Ahrensfelder Berge in Marzahn are always in contention for the title of "highest mountain in Berlin". The Müggelberge are also in the running, but they were actually formed in the Ice Age and are thus naturally the highest natural elevation in Berlin without competition. Climbing enthusiasts should nevertheless head for Teufelsberg, because here you will find the oldest artificial climbing facility in Germany, the Teufelsberg climbing tower, built in 1970. The flak bunker in the Humboldthain, built in 1941, is even older, but has only been used for climbing since 1989. Note: To climb these towers you must be a member of the Alpine Club.
- Teufelsberg climbing tower: Take the M49 to Mohrunger Alle, then walk 15 to 20 minutes.
- Bunkerwand Humboldthain: Take the S2, S25, S26 to Humboldthain, S41 to Berlin Gesundbrunnen or U6 to Schwartzkopfstraße.
Tip 11: South Rock in Area 85 offers you sauna after bouldering
In Area 85 you'll not only find Berlin's highest climbing hall, South Rock, but also a spacious hall with many beach volleyball courts. South Rock is the place for real climbing, i.e. roping up and climbing to dizzying heights. Climbing fans will also get their money's worth at the outdoor rock wall, which is designed close to nature and has a roof. Afterwards, you can relax in the sauna.
Where: Trachenbergring 85, Tempelhof
When: Monday to Thursday 10am - 11pm, Friday 10am - 10pm Saturday & Sunday 10am - 11pm
