Berlin is flat, so to see it you have to go up. Kids can spot the Brandenburg Gate from the TV tower, walk a spiral ramp inside a glass dome, or climb a hill built from wartime rubble to a Cold War spy station. Out in the forests, lookout towers and a treetop walk make them earn the view. Here's what we checked, from the Fernsehturm to the Müggelturm.
The Fernsehturm is the 368-meter TV tower opposite Alexanderplatz station, and its observation deck at 203 meters is the highest viewpoint in the city. Kids can pick out the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the Spree from the 360-degree windows, then try Berlin's Odyssee, a virtual reality trip through nine centuries of city history. The Sphere restaurant up top revolves while you eat.
The glass dome on the roof of the Reichstag Building, home of the German parliament, has a spiral ramp that winds up around a mirrored cone to an open top. Kids can look down through the glass into the plenary chamber, then walk the roof terrace for views over the government district and city landmarks.
Audioguides on the terrace come in twelve languages, with a children's version in German.
Teufelsberg is a hill built from World War II rubble in the Grunewald, and on top sit the ruins of a Cold War listening station run by US and British intelligence. Its radar domes and walls now hold one of Europe's largest street art galleries, and a 360-degree viewing platform looks over the city.
Kids can follow a spy puzzle trail across the site, with a prize at the end.
The Müggelturm is a 30-meter observation tower on the Kleiner Müggelberg, in the forested Müggelberge hills. Kids climb 126 steps to a viewing platform where, on a clear day, the view runs about 60 kilometers, from the Müggelsee to Alexanderplatz and BER Airport.
A restaurant with a sun terrace sits at the base, and hiking trails, cycle routes, a downhill trail and a nature trail loop through the forest.
The Grunewaldturm is a 55-meter red-brick tower from 1899, built on the Karlsberg hill in the Grunewald forest as a memorial to Emperor Wilhelm I. Kids climb about 200 steps to a platform 36 meters up, with views over the treetops and the Havel, as far as Potsdam on a clear day.
The emperor's marble statue stands in the hall, and a restaurant terrace sits at the foot.
A large park of themed gardens from around the world: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Balinese, Oriental, Italian Renaissance, English and Jewish gardens, plus a hedge maze and a labyrinth to run through.
A cable car glides up to 35 meters above the Wuhletal valley to the Kienberg hill. The playgrounds follow Erich Kästner's book "The 35th of May", with a climbing whale, a water forest and giant wooden ants.
A steel treetop walkway over 700 meters long winds through the park of the former Beelitz-Heilstätten sanatorium, with a 40-meter lookout tower at one end. The path crosses the war-ruined Alpenhaus, where a forest has grown on the roof since 1945.
A newer loop adds the Sky-Boa and a giant hammock for kids to try. An elevator reaches every level, tower top included.
Berlin is flat, so to see it you have to go up. Kids can spot the Brandenburg Gate from the TV tower, walk a spiral ramp inside a glass dome, or climb a hill built from wartime rubble to a Cold War spy station. Out in the forests, lookout towers and a treetop walk make them earn the view. Here's what we checked, from the Fernsehturm to the Müggelturm.
The Fernsehturm is the 368-meter TV tower opposite Alexanderplatz station, and its observation deck at 203 meters is the highest viewpoint in the city. Kids can pick out the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the Spree from the 360-degree windows, then try Berlin's Odyssee, a virtual reality trip through nine centuries of city history. The Sphere restaurant up top revolves while you eat.
The glass dome on the roof of the Reichstag Building, home of the German parliament, has a spiral ramp that winds up around a mirrored cone to an open top. Kids can look down through the glass into the plenary chamber, then walk the roof terrace for views over the government district and city landmarks.
Audioguides on the terrace come in twelve languages, with a children's version in German.
Teufelsberg is a hill built from World War II rubble in the Grunewald, and on top sit the ruins of a Cold War listening station run by US and British intelligence. Its radar domes and walls now hold one of Europe's largest street art galleries, and a 360-degree viewing platform looks over the city.
Kids can follow a spy puzzle trail across the site, with a prize at the end.
The Müggelturm is a 30-meter observation tower on the Kleiner Müggelberg, in the forested Müggelberge hills. Kids climb 126 steps to a viewing platform where, on a clear day, the view runs about 60 kilometers, from the Müggelsee to Alexanderplatz and BER Airport.
A restaurant with a sun terrace sits at the base, and hiking trails, cycle routes, a downhill trail and a nature trail loop through the forest.
The Grunewaldturm is a 55-meter red-brick tower from 1899, built on the Karlsberg hill in the Grunewald forest as a memorial to Emperor Wilhelm I. Kids climb about 200 steps to a platform 36 meters up, with views over the treetops and the Havel, as far as Potsdam on a clear day.
The emperor's marble statue stands in the hall, and a restaurant terrace sits at the foot.
A large park of themed gardens from around the world: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Balinese, Oriental, Italian Renaissance, English and Jewish gardens, plus a hedge maze and a labyrinth to run through.
A cable car glides up to 35 meters above the Wuhletal valley to the Kienberg hill. The playgrounds follow Erich Kästner's book "The 35th of May", with a climbing whale, a water forest and giant wooden ants.
A steel treetop walkway over 700 meters long winds through the park of the former Beelitz-Heilstätten sanatorium, with a 40-meter lookout tower at one end. The path crosses the war-ruined Alpenhaus, where a forest has grown on the roof since 1945.
A newer loop adds the Sky-Boa and a giant hammock for kids to try. An elevator reaches every level, tower top included.
