Berlin parents have an answer for long, warm afternoons: the beer garden. Adults get shady tables under old chestnut and linden trees, and kids get a sandbox, a playground nearby or boats to watch. Most gardens open in good weather from spring into October, and smaller groups just walk in. Here's what we checked, from the lakeside Café am Neuen See to Zenner on the Spree.
A country-house-style café and traditional beer garden under tall trees on the shore of the Neuer See, a lake inside the Tiergarten. The beer garden serves stone-oven pizza, homemade pretzels and Leberkäse, plus house-made lemonades with a third of the usual sugar.
A sandbox gives kids room to dig while adults eat, and rowboats rent from the dock for a paddle around the lake.
This beer garden has stood inside Viktoriapark since 1977, with tables shaded by trees and parasols, a big sun terrace, and a charcoal grill turning out sausages, skewers, fish and homemade salads.
Parents get coffee or a cold drink while kids roam the park paths, with a playground a short walk away. Evenings bring a bar crowd and indoor dancing, so it suits families best by day.
Zollpackhof is a Bavarian beer garden and restaurant on the Spree, run with Munich's Augustiner brewery. Long tables sit under old chestnut trees, one of them more than 150 years old, facing the tour boats and the Chancellery across the river.
Groups under 20 can walk in and sit down. It suits a shady family lunch near Hauptbahnhof more than a day built around the kids.
Schleusenkrug is a self-service beer garden built on top of the lock house at the Tiergarten lock, on the edge of the Tiergarten park. Tables for about 700 people sit under tall trees, with around 70 seats indoors.
Boats on the Landwehrkanal pass through the lock just below, so kids can watch the gates open and the water level change while the grown-ups eat.
Zenner is a beer garden on the bank of the Spree inside Treptower Park, serving guests since 1822. Its 1,500 outdoor seats sit under old linden trees or out in the sun. An organic ice cream counter in the tower house arcades scoops 24 flavors from Rosa Canina, and a sandbox beside its terrace keeps younger kids digging while adults eat.
Berlin parents have an answer for long, warm afternoons: the beer garden. Adults get shady tables under old chestnut and linden trees, and kids get a sandbox, a playground nearby or boats to watch. Most gardens open in good weather from spring into October, and smaller groups just walk in. Here's what we checked, from the lakeside Café am Neuen See to Zenner on the Spree.
A country-house-style café and traditional beer garden under tall trees on the shore of the Neuer See, a lake inside the Tiergarten. The beer garden serves stone-oven pizza, homemade pretzels and Leberkäse, plus house-made lemonades with a third of the usual sugar.
A sandbox gives kids room to dig while adults eat, and rowboats rent from the dock for a paddle around the lake.
This beer garden has stood inside Viktoriapark since 1977, with tables shaded by trees and parasols, a big sun terrace, and a charcoal grill turning out sausages, skewers, fish and homemade salads.
Parents get coffee or a cold drink while kids roam the park paths, with a playground a short walk away. Evenings bring a bar crowd and indoor dancing, so it suits families best by day.
Zollpackhof is a Bavarian beer garden and restaurant on the Spree, run with Munich's Augustiner brewery. Long tables sit under old chestnut trees, one of them more than 150 years old, facing the tour boats and the Chancellery across the river.
Groups under 20 can walk in and sit down. It suits a shady family lunch near Hauptbahnhof more than a day built around the kids.
Schleusenkrug is a self-service beer garden built on top of the lock house at the Tiergarten lock, on the edge of the Tiergarten park. Tables for about 700 people sit under tall trees, with around 70 seats indoors.
Boats on the Landwehrkanal pass through the lock just below, so kids can watch the gates open and the water level change while the grown-ups eat.
Zenner is a beer garden on the bank of the Spree inside Treptower Park, serving guests since 1822. Its 1,500 outdoor seats sit under old linden trees or out in the sun. An organic ice cream counter in the tower house arcades scoops 24 flavors from Rosa Canina, and a sandbox beside its terrace keeps younger kids digging while adults eat.
