Berlin Neighborhoods: All 12 Districts Explained
Every Berlin neighborhood reads differently, and the 12 official districts are the map locals actually use. Here is what each one feels like, who it suits and what a room costs, from landmark-lined Mitte to the lakes of Treptow-Köpenick.
District or neighborhood? In Berlin it is both
Berlin is split into 12 Bezirke, the administrative districts you see on every city map and in every hotel address. Each one is bigger than what an American would call a neighborhood: Pankow alone runs from the cafés of Prenzlauer Berg to farmland in the north.
The names most visitors arrive knowing are not districts at all. Prenzlauer Berg is a quarter inside Pankow. Kreuzberg is one half of the district Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain the other. Berliners call these smaller pockets Kieze, and that is the level at which the city actually changes character, sometimes from one subway stop to the next.
So book by district to get the location and the price right, then read the district page to find the right corner of it. All 12 are below, grouped by where they sit in the city.
Center (Mitte)
· 1 districts
West Berlin
· 2 districts
Fridolin freudenfett · CC BY-SA 3.0Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
Polished, grown-up, calm. Shopping on the Ku'damm, coffee under the trees at Savignyplatz, classical concerts at the Philharmonie.
A.Savin · CC BY-SA 3.0Spandau
Small-town, historic, on the water. Old-town charm, summer festivals at the citadel, ferries across the Havel.
East Berlin
· 4 districts
Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Alternative, creative, wide awake. Nightlife that runs past sunrise, street art on every corner, cafés that never seem to close.
UnknownUnknown · CC BY-SA 3.0 deTreptow-Köpenick
Water, woods, downtime. Boat trips, lake beaches, rental boats and the ruins of the old Spreepark amusement park.
Matti Blume · CC BY-SA 4.0Lichtenberg
Down-to-earth, well connected, affordable. Walks through the Tierpark, East German architecture, everyday Berlin without the tour groups.
A.Savin · CC BY-SA 3.0Marzahn-Hellersdorf
Big-city functional, with green pockets. A skyline of prefab towers, themed gardens from four continents, playgrounds with room to run.
North Berlin
· 2 districts
nikey · CC BY-SA 4.0Pankow
Family-friendly, green, unhurried. Cafés with a play corner, Sunday afternoons at the Mauerpark, stucco ceilings in prewar apartment buildings.
Flocci Nivis · CC BY 4.0Reinickendorf
Quiet, green, lakeside. Walks around the Tegeler See, the Tegel woods, Schloss Tegel.
South Berlin
· 3 districts
Reinhold Möller Ermell · CC BY-SA 4.0Neukölln
Young, diverse, restless. Long brunches, Spätis (corner stores that sell beer late into the night), cheap markets, gallery openings.
Dirk Ingo Franke · CC BY-SA 4.0Tempelhof-Schöneberg
Urban, comfortable, easy to get around. Saturday market at Winterfeldtplatz, kites over the old runways, cafés with sidewalk tables.
Nightflyer · CC BY-SA 4.0Steglitz-Zehlendorf
Quiet, green, well-heeled. Long walks in the Grunewald, swimming at the Wannsee public beach, villa streets in Dahlem.