Free things to do in Berlin: the best activities in 2026

The parliament district: Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate and memorial

These three key sights in the centre are less than ten minutes' walk from one another, and none of them requires a paid ticket.

The Reichstag dome, by registration

Visiting the glass dome and the roof terrace of the Reichstag is free, but only with prior registration with the Bundestag visitor service. You can apply online on the Bundestag website, by fax or by post; no registrations are taken by phone. You must give the surname, first name and date of birth of each visitor.

Without a booking, you can try your luck at the visitor service desk on Platz der Republik, in front of the building. Subject to availability, it issues personal access passes for a slot within the next two hours, or for the following two days. It opens from 8am to 8pm from April to October and from 8am to 6pm from November to March, but only from 10am to 6pm at weekends.

Good to know:

• ID: a valid identity card or passport is required from age 16, as an original (copies are refused); it is checked at registration and at the entrance;
• free audio guide lasting 20 minutes, available in twelve languages including English;
• closures: the dome is closed on 24 December and from 4pm on 31 December; in 2026 it is also closed for cleaning and maintenance until 2 October and from 19 to 30 October, while the terrace stays open.

The Brandenburg Gate

You can walk freely through the Brandenburg Gate, day or night, from Pariser Platz on the east side or from the Tiergarten on the west side. Early in the morning, the square is almost empty.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

The Holocaust Memorial, Cora-Berliner-Straße 1, is accessible 24 hours a day. Beneath the field of stelae, the Information Centre is also free: it opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm, with last entry 45 minutes before closing, and is closed on Mondays. The site is a place of remembrance: do not climb on the stelae or picnic there.

In the footsteps of the Wall

The whole history of the Wall can be explored for free, on the very sites where it happened.

• Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Straße: the Berlin Wall Memorial preserves a section of the border strip with its rear wall, patrol path and watchtower. The open-air exhibition is open daily from 8am to 10pm. The Visitor Center (Bernauer Straße 119) and the Documentation Center (Bernauer Straße 111), with its observation tower, open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm. All exhibitions are free; only guided tours are paid, from €5. Access by S-Bahn, Nordbahnhof station.
• East Side Gallery: the East Side Gallery stretches for 1.3 kilometres between Ostbahnhof station and the Oberbaumbrücke, with paintings by 118 artists from 21 countries. It is accessible at all times and free of charge. The Berlin Wall Foundation's information point, Mühlenstraße 73, opens daily from 10am to 5pm.
• Checkpoint Charlie: the Friedrichstraße crossroads, its reconstructed guardhouse and the exhibition panels on the pavements can be seen without paying. The nearby Mauermuseum, a private museum, charges admission.
• Tränenpalast: the former border checkpoint hall at Friedrichstraße station, Reichstagufer 17, tells the story of crossings between East and West. Free entry, Tuesday to Friday from 9am to 6pm, weekends and public holidays from 10am to 6pm; closed on Mondays.

Memorial sites of the Nazi era

The major documentation centres on the Nazi period are all free.

The Topography of Terror, Niederkirchnerstraße 8, stands on the site of the former headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS leadership. The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 8pm; the outdoor areas remain accessible until dusk, 8pm at the latest. A section of the Wall runs along the site.

The House of the Wannsee Conference, Am Großen Wannsee 56–58, is the villa where senior Nazi officials coordinated, in January 1942, the deportation and murder of the Jews of Europe. The exhibition and garden are open daily from 10am to 6pm, with free entry. The site is closed on dates including 3 October and 24 to 31 December. Access: S1 or S7 to Wannsee, then bus 114 to the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz stop, in fare zone AB.

The Sachsenhausen Memorial, Straße der Nationen 22 in Oranienburg, is the former concentration camp north of Berlin. Entry to the site and the museums is free; the audio guide costs €3.50. It opens daily from 8:30am to 6pm in summer and from 8:30am to 4:30pm in winter, from late October. Allow about 45 minutes on the S1 from Friedrichstraße to Oranienburg, then a 20-minute walk or buses 804 and 821. Buy a ticket covering zone ABC: transport is the only cost of the day.

Parks and open spaces

Tempelhofer Feld is the former Tempelhof airport turned into a park: people walk, cycle or skate on the old runways. It is open from sunrise to sunset, with hours that change every month: 7am to 7pm in October, 7am to 6pm in November. The main entrances are on Tempelhofer Damm (S and U Tempelhof), on Columbiadamm and at the corner of Oderstraße and Herrfurthstraße.

The Tiergarten, the large park between the Brandenburg Gate and the zoo, can be crossed for free on foot or by bike. Further south-east, Treptower Park lines the Spree and is home to the Soviet War Memorial, open to all and free.

On Sundays, the Mauerpark flea market, Bernauer Straße 63-64, runs from 10am to 6pm all year round, with free entry: you can stroll around without buying anything, then carry on to the park's lawns.

Lunchtime concerts at the Philharmonie

From September to June, the Berlin Philharmonie holds a free concert in its foyer every Wednesday at 1pm. The programme lasts 40 to 50 minutes: chamber music, piano or percussion, played by members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and its Karajan Academy, or by musicians from other orchestras and Berlin's music conservatories. There is no booking and the number of places is limited for safety reasons: arrive early. Paid catering is available from noon.

Museums: free for under-18s

There is no longer a free day shared by all museums. The most useful rule for families is that of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the state museums (Museum Island, Gemäldegalerie, Neue Nationalgalerie, Hamburger Bahnhof, among others): entry is free for under-18s. Adults, on the other hand, pay for their ticket.

At the Humboldt Forum, several areas remain free for everyone: the presentation on the Humboldt brothers in the staircase hall, the palace cellar, the sculpture hall, the video panorama and the exhibition on water in Berlin. The two main exhibitions are paid, €9 each: the Ethnological Collections and Asian Art (free for under-19s) and BERLIN GLOBAL, on the city's history (free for under-18s). The roof terrace costs €3. The Humboldt Forum is open from 10:30am to 6:30pm and closed on Tuesdays.

What is no longer free

• Museumssonntag: under this scheme, some sixty Berlin museums were free on the first Sunday of the month, with a booked time slot. The last edition took place on Sunday 1 December 2024 and, according to the city's official portal, no new dates are planned.
• The permanent exhibitions of the Humboldt Forum: free for a long time, they have been paid since 3 October 2025.
• Paid viewpoints: the TV Tower, the Panoramapunkt at Potsdamer Platz and the Victory Column all require a ticket. The Reichstag dome, by contrast, offers a free view over the city, provided you book.

Prices observed in October 2026.

Further reading

To plan your whole stay on a small budget, from accommodation to transport, read our guide Berlin on a budget. To link up the free sights of the centre in a single day, including the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate and the memorial, follow our one-day Berlin itinerary. And if the weather turns, the Topography of Terror and the Tränenpalast remain free indoor visits; you will find more ideas in our guide Berlin on a rainy day.