We had to be quite patient this year, but the last couple of weeks the sun is shining and the spring has started. It is always great to see how a city like Berlin changes when the sun starts shining: You can see more happy people, barbeques in the park, terraces full of tourists and colourful clothes. Besides all of that, the open-airs in Berlin might be the best thing about the summer in the capital of Germany.
Club or open air ?
If there is one message this blog supports it is the fact that Berlin has an awesome nightlife. In the monthly party-agenda you can find great parties in unique clubs and you have not been to Berlin if you did not visit a few of its famous clubs. But still there are a few obvious benefits for visiting an open-air instead of a club. One of these benefits is the price of the open-airs in Berlin: Most open-airs are very cheap (5€) and some of them are for free and sometimes you can even bring your own drinks. Besides that the open-airs in Berlin have quite cool locations, many locations are only used once and are located at the water or close to the nature.
The best locations for an open-air in Berlin
All in all it might not be easy to decide between the clubs and the open-airs in Berlin but furtunately you might be able to visit both. Many open-airs are only organized one time at a spontaneous location but there are also Berliner open-airs which are open almost every weekend. This last group of open-airs is exactly what we want to focus on in this article. In this article you can find the best open-airs in Berlin which are organized frequently and throughout the whole summer. Enjoy the selection and suggestions are always welcome!
1. ELSE
The ELSE club is the little outdoor-sister of the famous Berliner club the Wilde Renate. This open-air in Berlin was first organized in the summer of 2013 and the location is just a few hundred-meters away from the main entrance of the Club Wilde Renate. Directly accross the street you can find the Elsenbrücke and under this bridge you can find the ELSE club. As you can see on the images below, this open-air has a great setting with cool decorations and graffiti.
The Berliner Open-air ELSE (© www.theclubmap.com/house-electro-techno-clubs/else/)
The ELSE is easiest to reach if you travel to station Treptower Park but you can also decide to travel to Ostkreuz and walk for 10 minutes.The location is great because many nice clubs like About:Blank and Rosi’s are also a walk away (and off course the Wilde Renate).
The different open-airs in this list are all worth a visit but we expect most of the ELSE club in the summer of 2014. The mix of an awesome location, a great sound-installation and a cheerful setting should be the recipe for some great open-airs in Berlin this summer. When you want to follow this location and find out which events will be organized, you should like the facebook-site of the ELSE.
Name: ELSE
Address: An den Treptowers 1
Public Transport: Ostkreuz of Treptower Park
Website: www.facebook.com/elseklub
2. Lichtpark
Lichtpark is one of the most popular open-air-locations in Berlin. The first events start in April and during the warm summer months you can find an event in Lichtpark more than once a week. Lichtpark is located in the same “garden” as the old Kater Holzig (R.I.P.) and is located directly at the spree. You can visit Lichtpark when you want to dance but it is also a perfect location to chillout in the soft sand (see image).
An impression of Lichtpark at the Spree (© www.facebook.com/LichtParkBerlin)
When you visited the Kater Holzig before, you know that its very easy to reach. You can either get out at Ostbahnhof or Jannowitzbrucke and walk to this open-air within 10 minutes. With a direct view at the Spree and very reasonable prices (max 5 euro) Lichtpark is a place which will not often dissapoint you. For more information you can also check the Facebook-site of Lichtpark.
Name: Lichtpark
Address: Michaelkirchstrasse 22
Public Transport: Ostbahnhof of Jannowitzbrucke
Website: www.lichtpark.org
3. Badeschiff & Arena Club
The photo already says more than many words: Badeschiff is one of the best party-locations for open-airs in Berlin. The swimming pool, which is literally located inside the Spree, is open every day from 08.00 for people who want to go for a swim. But lucky enough this location is also used for open-airs. During the summer of 2014 we expect many open-airs at this location.
Badeschiff: A great location for an open-air in Berlin (© www.arena-berlin.de)
Badeschiff is part of the Arena Club so when it gets dark and cold outside, you are always able to enjoy an afterparty in the Arena Club until early in the morning. When you are looking for a open-air in Berlin, you might want to consider visiting one of the open-air festivals at Badeschiff. The price for the entrance differs, but is mostly not higher than 10 euro and this includes entrance for the Arena Club as well. The first open-air at this location in Berlin will be organized on the 17th of April, here you can find more information about that event and for other open-airs you can check out the website of the Arena-Berlin.
If you want to reach the Badeschiff with public transport, you should travel to station Ostkreuz (S-Bahn) and have a walk for about 15 minutes to reach this open-air/club.
Name: Badeschiff/ Arena Club
Address: Eichenstraße 4
Public Transport: Schlesisches Tor
Website: www.arena-berlin.de
4. Jannowitzbrucke
Compared to Rummelsburg, the open-airs at station Jannowitzbrucke are located very central. Directly under the station in Berlin-Mitte you will be able to visit many open-airs in the summer of 2013. When we are very strict, Jannowitzbrucke is not totally “open” because this venue still has a roof. But because there are no walls and the open-airs takes place all around the station, this location could not be leftout in this list of open-airs.
An open-air at station Jannowitzbrucke (© www.virtualnights.com)
When you want to enjoy one of the open-airs at Jannowitzbrucke, you should keep like the facebook-page Open-Air in Berlin (see end of this article for mor information). Here you can find the latest updates about parties at this location.
Name: Jannowitzbrucke
Address: Holzmarktstraße 6
Public Transport: station Jannowitzbrucke
Website: www.facebook.com/OpenAirBerlin
5. Rummelsburg
The open-air festivals in Rummelsburg are legendary in Berlin. It is a pity that they are not organized that often but when an open-air in Rummelsburg is organized it is normally a great success. Rummelsburg is located in the west of Berlin and therefore located a little bit less central compared to places like Lichtpark, Badeschiff or ELSE. But the positive thing is that you are surrounded by trees and nature. And because Berlin has a great public-transport-system you still do not have to worry that much to reach Rummelsburg: Take the tram to station Köpenicker Chaussee or Blockdammweg and you can follow the partycrowd and reach this open-air in Berlin.
One of the great Berlin Open-Airs in Rummelsburg (© www.woodyphotografix.com)
On the website of Rummelsburg you can see that the open-air is a partner of the label Stil vor Talent. In the monthly party calender you can often find great parties from this label, their DJs are simply of great quality (e.g. Oliver Koletzki, Niconé, Sascha Braemer, Channel X). On Sunday the 15th of June you can find a Stil vor Talent-event at Rummelsburg. All in all Rummelsburg is defenitely one of the open-airs in Berlin with a great line-up and an awesome location. Take a look at the Facebook-page if you want to know more about this location and the events.
Name: Rummelsburg
Address: Rummelsburger Landstraße 2-12
Public Transport: Station Ostkreuz
Website: www.rummelsburg-berlin.de
(6. Holzmarkt25)
The fifth location on this list of open-airs in Berlin is Holzmarkt25, but this location is written within brackets for a reason. Last year in May there has been an awesome open-air at Holzmarkt25 and many people expected this to be one of the better open-airs in Berlin in the summer of 2013. Unfortunately not much happened in 2013 and so we cannot guarentee anything for 2014 either. I hope to update this article as soon as more information is available on this location.
Open-Air at Holzmarkt25 on the 1st of May 2013 (© www.facebook.com/Holzmarkt25 (Stephan Brenn))
Holzmarkt25 is located directly opposite from Lichtpark and therefore also has the benefits of the Spree. The venue should be used for a large real-estate project (as shown on the website) but so far nothing has been build in almost one year time. So if we are lucky we can expect some open-airs in the summer of 2014 but hopefully more information is available soon.
Name: Holzmarkt25
Address: Holzmarktstrasse 25
Public Transport: Ostbahnhof
Website: www.facebook.com/Holzmarkt25
Bonus: Gardens of Clubs in Berlin
Besides the many open-airs in Berlin, there are also many clubs which offer outdoor-parties. A large amount of the clubs in Berlin have a large garden which is used for parties. When you cannot find a “real” open-air in Berlin, you can always decide to visit clubs like Sisyphos, About Blank or M.I.K.Z. You can either party inside or outside and some of the parties go on the whole weekend as well.
The garden of the Sisyphos
Tip: Helpful pages for Open-Air in Berlin
The five open-airs in Berlin in thislist will hopefully offer you a lot of enjoyment in the summer of 2014. However, Berlin also offers many spontaneously open-airs which are announced a few days before. This is why every open-air-lover should defenitly “like” the facebook sites Open-Air in Berlin and Open Airs Berlin. The fact that both pages have more than 100.000 likes tells you something about the quality of the open-airs in Berlin they offer. Besides the many open-air suggestions they also share funny pictures and give you the chance to win free tickets once in a while.
Facebook-Site Open Airs in Berlin (© image: Carolin Saage)