Berlin Wall Trail (Berliner Mauerweg)

The Berlin Wall Trail (Berliner Mauerweg) is a cycling and walking route in Berlin and Brandenburg that largely follows the former course of the Berlin Wall around West Berlin. It is a loop, so you can join it at any point. For most of its length it runs on the former patrol road (Postenweg) of the GDR border troops or on the customs road (Zollweg) that ran along the border with the surrounding countryside on the West Berlin side.

The route links two very different parts. In the city centre it uses city streets and passes Checkpoint Charlie, the East Side Gallery, the Berlin Wall Memorial and the Brandenburg Gate. On the outskirts it crosses the former border strip, which is wooded on many sections and barely built up on the Brandenburg side. Steles and information boards along the entire trail commemorate the people who died at the Wall and events at the border.

Berlin Wall Trail at a glance

• Route type: loop around the former West Berlin, can be joined at any point
• Federal states: Berlin and Brandenburg
• Surface: mostly asphalt. Short passages are unpaved, and a few mostly shorter sections are cobbled.
• Condition: alongside sections newly built after 2000, some stretches still have the original, correspondingly worn surface.
• Routing: on the outskirts mostly the former patrol road and customs road in the border strip, in the city centre mostly city streets
• Signposting: continuous
• Sections: the Berlin Senate Department divides the trail into 14 sections that start and end near railway or U-Bahn stations.
• With children: no single verdict for the whole loop. In the city centre the trail mostly runs on city streets, between Treptow and Neukölln for example along Kiefholzstraße. At Griebnitzsee, in Groß Glienicke and in Glienicke/Nordbahn it also uses local streets. On the outskirts it mostly follows the former patrol road or customs road in the border strip.
• Connecting routes: Europaradweg R1 (European Cycle Route R1), Berlin–Copenhagen Cycle Route, Berlin–Usedom Cycle Route, Havelradweg (Havel Cycle Route), Spreeradweg (Spree Cycle Route), Berlin–Leipzig Cycle Route

How is the Berlin Wall Trail signposted?

The Berlin Wall Trail is signposted throughout. The signs carry the German name “Berliner Mauerweg”. At various points, orientation and information boards show the routing and explain what happened at that location. Where the inner-city border ran across streets, a double row of cobblestones set into the road surface marks the former border line. Occasionally a sign may be missing.

You need to pay the most attention where the trail leaves the historical course of the border: at the closed lakeshore sections at Griebnitzsee and Groß Glienicker See, near Schönefeld and at the Dresden railway line near Lichtenrade. Details are in the practical considerations below. You can download the GPX track of the Berlin Wall Trail directly in VeloPlanner.

When is the best time to ride the Berlin Wall Trail?

As a loop, the Berlin Wall Trail has no fixed start or end point. The description in this guide runs clockwise from Potsdamer Platz. By season:

• April–June and September–October: mild temperatures and fewer people on the trail
• Summer: the open sections offer little shade and can get very hot.
• Winter: the trail remains usable but is slippery in places in wet, snowy or icy conditions. Some information points are not accessible then.
• Public holidays: the trail is popular with Berliners. If you want quiet, choose another day.

What route does the Berlin Wall Trail follow?

There are no fixed stages for cyclists. The route divides naturally into four parts, described here clockwise from Potsdamer Platz.

Potsdamer Platz – Schönefeld
From Potsdamer Platz the trail mostly uses city streets, passing the Topography of Terror, Checkpoint Charlie, the former Heinrich-Heine-Straße border crossing and the Engelbecken. From the Schillingbrücke near Ostbahnhof it follows the north bank of the Spree along the East Side Gallery and crosses to Kreuzberg at the Oberbaumbrücke. At Schlesischer Busch in Treptow stands a preserved watchtower from the border fortifications. Roughly level with Plänterwald S-Bahn station the route leaves Kiefholzstraße and follows a well-built cycle path through the Heidekampgraben green corridor. It then runs along the Britzer Verbindungskanal and the Teltow Canal, parallel to the A 113 motorway as far as Adlershof, and continues between Rudow and Altglienicke.

Schönefeld – Glienicke Bridge
Between the Dörferblick hill and Lichtenrade the trail follows a deep northward indentation of the border around the village of Großziethen. From Lichtenrade via Marienfelde to Lichterfelde and Teltow it mostly runs in the border strip, which is partly overgrown like woodland. The Berlin side here is built up right to the city boundary, while many sections of the Brandenburg side have almost no buildings. The route passes the former village of Osdorf and the cherry tree avenue at Japaneck. Via Teltow, the south of Zehlendorf and Kleinmachnow it reaches the Königsweg, which runs through forest for a longer stretch. Beyond Kohlhasenbrück it passes Griebnitzsee station into Potsdam, crosses the Teltow Canal in Klein Glienicke and continues to the Glienicke Bridge (Glienicker Brücke).

Glienicke Bridge – Frohnau
As far as the Wannsee–Kladow ferry, the next opportunity to cross the Havel, the trail runs on Berlin territory along the Wannsee, past Pfaueninsel and Nikolskoe. From Kladow it leads to the border near Potsdam and to Groß Glienicker See in the formerly divided village of Groß Glienicke. Between the Alter Hahneberg and Neuer Hahneberg hills it reaches Staaken, then mostly follows the customs road to Eiskeller. At Bürgerablage the route meets the Havel and follows it via Nieder Neuendorf to Hennigsdorf, where it crosses the river. Beyond Stolpe-Süd it heads east on the patrol road across the former transit motorway to Hamburg. Near the Invalidensiedlung, on the boundary between Frohnau and Hohen Neuendorf, lies the northernmost point of the Berlin Wall Trail.

Frohnau – Potsdamer Platz
Between Frohnau and Glienicke/Nordbahn the patrol road heads south, and at the Entenschnabel the route switches to Berlin territory. From Schildow it runs on the former patrol road through the near-natural landscape of the Tegeler Fließ, then follows the Heidekrautbahn railway to Wilhelmsruh. In Rosenthal, on the boundary with the Märkisches Viertel, a piece of the West Berlin customs road survives in its original condition. From Wittenau the trail follows the Berlin Northern Railway (Berliner Nordbahn), past Wollankstraße S-Bahn station to the former Bornholmer Straße border crossing. Through the Mauerpark and along Bernauer Straße it reaches Nordbahnhof, then runs along the Berlin-Spandau Ship Canal across the Invalidenfriedhof and past the historic Charité campus. At Luisenstraße the route crosses the Spree and returns to Potsdamer Platz via the Reichstag building, the Brandenburg Gate and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

Sights along the Berlin Wall Trail

The Berlin Wall Trail passes the best-known sites of remembrance of the Berlin Wall. Added to these are relics of the border fortifications on the outskirts and several places that were only created after 1990.

Memorial sites and remains of the Wall

• Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Straße: border strip with a section of Wall and a watchtower
• Chapel of Reconciliation, Bernauer Straße: rammed-earth building on the foundations of a church that was blown up during the division of the city
• East Side Gallery, Friedrichshain: the longest surviving section of the Wall, painted by artists
• Günter Litfin memorial tower on the Berlin-Spandau Ship Canal
• White Crosses memorial at the Reichstag building, for the people who died at the Wall
• Stele for Chris Gueffroy on Chris-Gueffroy-Allee at the Britzer Verbindungskanal. He was shot there by GDR border guards in 1989.
• Watchtower at Schlesischer Busch in Treptow
• Nieder Neuendorf border tower: former guard tower with a small exhibition on the border
• Invalidenfriedhof: part of the cemetery was levelled in 1961 for the border fortifications.

City centre

• Topography of Terror
• Checkpoint Charlie
• Oberbaumbrücke, former border crossing between Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg
• former Bornholmer Straße border crossing and Mauerpark
• Reichstag building, Brandenburg Gate and Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Outskirts, Havel and Potsdam

• Glienicke Bridge: site of prisoner exchanges between East and West during the division
• Jagdschloss Glienicke and Babelsberg Park
• Pfaueninsel and Nikolskoe on the Wannsee
• Japaneck between Teltow and Lichterfelde: a 1.5-kilometre avenue of Japanese ornamental cherry trees, planted soon after the fall of the Wall. A cherry blossom festival takes place here every spring. More ornamental cherries stand near Bornholmer Straße and at the Lohmühlenbrücke in Treptow.
• Osdorf: former village whose residents were resettled in 1968 because it lay so close to the border
• Fort Hahneberg near Staaken
• Tegeler Fließ and Alt-Lübars in the north
• Dörferblick near Schönefeld, with original lamps from the border fortifications along the trail

How did the Berlin Wall Trail come about?

From 13 August 1961 the GDR fortified the border with West Berlin with the Berlin Wall. On most sections this included a patrol road on which the border troops made their inspection runs. After the border opened on 9 November 1989, the barriers were dismantled along almost their entire length, while the patrol road initially remained accessible almost everywhere.

As early as 1990, members of the German Cyclists' Federation (ADFC) marked the route with painted bicycle and pedestrian pictograms. In 1991 the environmental organisation Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) proposed a continuous walking and cycling route around the city. In the years that followed, parts of the Wall strip were built on and the patrol road was interrupted in several places. In 2001 the Berlin House of Representatives resolved, on the initiative of Michael Cramer, to signpost the route and upgrade it for cycling. The work ran from 2002 to 2006. Replacement routings were created for stretches that no longer existed.

Where to stay along the Berlin Wall Trail

If you spread the loop over several days, you will find accommodation in Berlin-Mitte, Teltow and Wannsee, among other places. In the quieter outlying areas it pays to book early. Staying close to a station is practical, because it lets you start and end each day's ride flexibly.

• Hotels, guesthouses and private accommodation
• Campsites in the countryside around Berlin
• Wild camping is prohibited in Berlin.

Getting there and back by S-Bahn and U-Bahn

Getting there

Because the Berlin Wall Trail is a loop, you start wherever suits you best. Stations directly on or near the route include Potsdamer Platz, Nordbahnhof, Wollankstraße, Ostbahnhof, Plänterwald, Griebnitzsee and Hennigsdorf. Other common entry points are Hermsdorf, Warschauer Straße, Schöneweide, Schönefeld, Lichtenrade, Lichterfelde Süd, Wannsee, Staaken and Hohen Neuendorf.

Getting back

The Senate Department's 14 sections start and end near railway or U-Bahn stations. That means you can cut a day ride short almost anywhere and return by S-Bahn or U-Bahn.

Practical considerations

In several places the Berlin Wall Trail departs from the historical course of the border or has not been fully built. In the late 2010s several sections were considered in need of repair. In January 2019 the Berlin Senate decided to renovate and maintain the trail as a whole. Expect a worn surface on older stretches.

• Britzer Verbindungskanal: on a short stretch the cycle path is missing and there is only a narrow beaten track.
• Schönefeld: a short section on Schönefeld territory has been closed by the private owner since 2013. Provisional routes bypass it.
• Großziethen: the trail partly runs on Berlin city streets away from the border. The border strip itself is accessible, but the paths there are not asphalted.
• Dresden railway line near Lichtenrade: planning approval for an underpass was granted on 30 September 2021. Until it is completed, a longer detour leads over partly cobbled streets.
• Griebnitzsee, Potsdam: the lakeshore path has been closed by property owners since April 2009. The trail runs along Karl-Marx-Straße instead.
• Groß Glienicker See: the lakeshore path has been closed since summer 2009, and the route uses local streets.
• Havel: a ferry between Wannsee and Kladow is part of the route.

Services differ sharply between the centre and the outskirts:

• The inner-city sections, for example in Mitte, Kreuzberg and Prenzlauer Berg, have many cafés, bakeries and supermarkets.
• South of Schönefeld and west of Staaken there are longer sections with nowhere to buy supplies.
• Drinking water fountains are few and far between along the trail. Fill your bottles whenever you get the chance.

The Berlin Wall Trail is also used by walkers and joggers, so ride considerately. This applies especially at the memorial sites. Respect private property along the trail.

Tips for your Berlin Wall Trail ride

Allow more time than the riding distance alone suggests. Information boards with historical photos and explanations stand along the entire route, and the inconspicuous places on the outskirts in particular have a lot to tell: a stretch of patrol road in the forest, a watchtower on the Havel, a stele at a canal bridge. Carry enough water and food for the outer sections.

If you want to spread the Berlin Wall Trail over several days or weekends, open the route in the VeloPlanner planner and split it into your own stages at your own pace, ideally with a station as each day's finish. If you want to keep riding, the trail connects directly to the Europaradweg R1, the Berlin–Copenhagen Cycle Route, the Berlin–Usedom Cycle Route, the Havelradweg, the Spreeradweg and the Berlin–Leipzig Cycle Route.