Berlin Tiergarten Running Route

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Length 9.3 km (5.8 miles), terrain flat

Images courtesy of Flickr CreativeCommons. Thanks!

Berlin Running Routes:
Best Berlin Running Routes: Overview
Historic Berlin Mitte  
Tiergarten park 
Kurfürstendamm, heart of West Berlin  
Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin's coolest neighborhood  
Grunewald West  
Grunewald East
Potsdam Royal Residences
Ode to Berlin: my long-running love affair with this great city 
For other running routes, see Route List. And if you're interested in an essay on what makes Berlin so special, take a look at this Ode to Berlin, written in the transition days after the Wall came down.

If you're staying in central Berlin, there is a great stretch of green parkland just waiting for your running shoes to hit the ground. The Tiergarten (deer-park), a former royal hunting grounds, forms a varied green parkland in the heart of the city, and touches on scenic buildings on every side: Bellevue Palace (German President's residence), the Congress Hall, the Kanzleramt (Chancellor's Office), Bundestag, Brandenburg Gate, Soviet War Memorial, Potsdamer Platz, the zoo, etc. And standing in the middle of the park is the impressive Siegessäule (victory column), a golden statue of winged-victory atop a column.

Breitscheidplatz and Memorial Church, photo by Stephan Jörgensen

NOTE: see the Destinations Tips page for tips about spending your free time in this great town!
 
This route will start at the west end of the park, at Breitscheidplatz, but you could just as easily start at the other end, at the Brandenburg Gate or at Potsdamer Platz, at the southeast corner.

This is a route that I often took in the years before the reunification of Germany, when Berlin was still divided by a wall. I sometimes worked in West Berlin, and the Tiergarten belonged to the western part of the city. The Berlin Wall ran right along the east edge of the park, separating it from the traditional center of town in East Berlin.

Typical Tiergarten, photo by Dimitri Karagiorgos

This route traces that way that I ran so often back then. The beginning, at Breitscheidplatz, was the heart of West Berlin life. The Europa Center on the east side of the square, with its revolving Mercedes star and disco on the top floor, served as a luring beacon of western desires into the darkened eastern side of the city, beyond the wall. Its amazing 2 water-powered clocks inside are worth taking a look at.

The western side of the square is occupied by the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, left in ruins as a reminder of the war. The creative fountain landscape on the square is fascinating in itself, with bizarre figures populating the granite stones. From this spot, West Berlin's main street, the Kürfürstendamm heads off westwards (see the Kudamm run!), past a lively collection of cafés, cinemas, clubs, shops for kilometers.

The Tiergarten Run
To start the run, turn westwards and run past the memorial church. Then turn right and run north across Budapester Straße towards the Zoo Palast cinema, where you turn left and run to the plaza straight ahead. This is Hardenbergplatz, a busy drop-off spot in front of the Zoo train station.

Turn right at the plaza to run northwards past the side entrance to the city zoo, with its lion gates. Continue running northwards where you leave the square and find yourself on a sidewalk, with the zoo to the right and the train line to the left. The Tiergarten is straight ahead.

When you come to the canal at the back end of the zoo, cross the two footbridges over the island to the other side. There are boat locks here, and houseboats, a great spot to live.

Tiergarten canal, photo by Roland707

Turn right on the other side of the canal and follow the path along the north bank of the canal. The Tiergarten is directly on your left.

When you come to the next bridge, at Lichtensteinallee, turn left and follow this path into the park, with a little lake on the left and the Spanish embassy on the right side.

Keep running straight and you will come out at the traffic circle around the Siegessäule victory monument, with the golden angel on top. The Prussians built the column to celebrate their victories in wars with their neighbors, the Danes, the Austrians and the French. Streets fan out star-shaped from this spot. Various Love Parades have happened out here, Wim Wenders filmed here, and Barrack Obama even held a speech at this spot.

Siegessäule victory column, photo by strawberrycards

We will basically keep running straight through the park, but to do this, turn left to follow the circle around the column. You'll pass a few lonely-looking statues of Prussian generals before you turn left to continue running in the same direction again, along Spreeweg. Cars will be driving next to you, but this won't last long.

You'll soon be running by buildings in the presidential compound along the left side, then by Bellevue Palace, his residence. When you come to the Spree River, turn right to run eastwards along the riverside next to John-Foster-Dulles-Allee, with the park on the right. This is a lightly-traveled street.

Bellevue Palace, photo by silver pearl

Follow the street as it curves to the right, away from the river. It will then pass the Congress Hall on the left (called the "Pregnant Oyster" by locals), with its ponds out front. The building was a gift of the American people to the people of West Berlin back in the darkest cold-war days, but later the roof collapsed, and needed to be rebuilt. You might want to run closer to get a better view of this interesting building.

Continue following Dulles-Allee eastwards and you will come out into the large open square in front of the Bundestag building, the German parliament. The square has an oddly unplanned feeling, and it is indeed still in the same form as it was when the old Reichstag was a dark, unused hulk with the Berlin Wall running right behind it.

Bundestag, photo by margarebela

The Germans don't seem to know what to do with the area out front. Apparently, nobody has a good idea of a politically correct monument to put in this prominent spot, so they've avoided the subject.

Run straight across the square towards the front steps of the building. The Chancellor's office is to the left, behind you.

After you've taken in the front facade, turn right and run around the building to continue running southwards, with the Tiergarten to your right. In just 100 meters, you'll come to the Brandenburg Gate.

In the old days, the Berlin Wall followed this stretch. There was a sign standing here saying "You are now leaving the American Sector", to which some wise-guy added the comment: "and how?", with the gate-less wall blocking off the Brandenburg Gate looming up behind it.

Brandenburg Gate, photo by bildwunsch

It is worth running through the gate to see Unter den Linden, Berlin's most famous boulevard stretching eastwards ahead of you.

Now head straight back westwards into the Tierpark again, with the Brandenburg Gate behind you and the Siegessäule far ahead in the distance. This is the Straße des 17. Juni, named after the date of the East German uprising in 1953.

In just 200 meters, you'll come to a real cold-war leftover. On the right is a monumental statue of a Soviet soldier, flanked by World War II-era tanks and cannons. The Soviets insisted on building themselves a monument right here in West Berlin, and during the whole cold war it was guarded by Soviet soldiers. Now that the Russian army is long gone, the Germans didn't want to get the Russians mad at them, so they never asked them to take their monument with them. There are many other such monuments in about every East German town, including more in Berlin.

Soviet War Memorial, photo by Juan Falque

Cross the street directly in front of the Soviet memorial and run straight south into the southern part of the Tierpark.

At the second crossing path, Ahornsteig, turn right. Continue running on Ahornsteig as it crosses a few other paths, and then goes over a little pond with statues of some of the old Prussian royalty.

Tiergarten pond, photo by nikda

After some time, Ahornsteig will run into Großer Weg, which you follow until you get to the next cross-street, Hofjägerallee. Here, you turn left and run the one block to Stülerstraße, which runs along the south edge of the Tiergarten.

Turn right on Stülerstraße as it curves past a few embassies. At the next street, Rauchstraße, turn right to run into this interesting little neighborhood. There are a lot of creatively-designed modernistic apartment buildings in here, tucked away on the edge of the Tierpark.

Rauchstraße ends soon, where you turn left on Drake-Straße. In 100 meters you hit the canal that we first crossed to get to the Tiergarten. Turn right at the canal to run westwards along the water. At the next bridge, you'll see the zoo beginning on the left. You can now either follow the way home exactly as before, or cross the bridge to run on the path on the other side of the canal.