Schöneberg
Schöneberg is located halfway between the party neighbourhoods in the east and the more elegant, quieter suburbs in the west of Berlin. With great bars and restaurants, beautiful residential streets and markets, Schöneberg is a mix of romance and fun. Since the 1920s, the area around Nollendorfplatz has been a centre of nightlife for homosexuals in Berlin. The annual Pride parade, Christopher Street Day (CSD), is one of the biggest street festivals in Europe.
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Markets and shopping facilities
In Schöneberg you can shop without end. Berlin's most famous department stores', the Kaufhaus des Westens, is located on Wittenbergplatz, where underground lines 1 and 2 connect. Or KaDeWe for short. There are also many other large shops in the neighbourhood.
Schöneberg also has a number of good markets. A market with fruit and vegetables, flowers, cheese, household goods and clothing is held twice a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays) on Winterfeldtplatz. In front of Schöneberg town hall, there is a lively flea market every Saturday and Sunday. Many of the sellers here are private individuals rather than hard-boiled, professional vendors, so it's easy to pick up a bargain.
Nightlife
Schöneberg is known for its friendly and loud bars, where drinks flow late into the night. The "Green Door", for example, is a pub that can only be entered via an inconspicuous entrance door with a bell - if the doormen let you in. Inside, you will find a quirky interior and a bar with an extensive cocktail list. Another bar in this vein is "Stagger Lee". Cocoktails are also customised here. The "Rote Beete" is a little more dignified. Live music is played here at the weekend.
Cafés and restaurants
Akazienstraße and the surrounding neighbourhood are known for their diverse selection of restaurants and cafés, relaxed surroundings and plenty of outdoor space. For a morning coffee and a croissant, head to "Gasthaus Gottlob", a popular café and lunch spot. For a quick snack, the "Schlaraffenland" serves delicious kumpir, the Turkish version of a jacket potato. The Akazienkiez neighbourhood also has many cafés that are suitable as nightclubs: The "Café Bilderbuch", for example, is a Berlin institution that offers cakes, coffee and savoury dishes. It has a cosy back room with sofas, reading material and a piano and occasionally offers live music.
Art and culture
One of the latest museums to open in Berlin is "Urban Nation", an exhibition of street art, including local graffiti artists. As part of the opening, many of the apartment blocks around the museum in Bülowstraße had psychedelic murals painted on their facades. Admission to the museum is free.
Schöneberg was the famous home of David Bowie, who lived in a flat at 155 Hauptstraße in the 1970s. Bowie fans can visit some of his favourite places, including the "Neue Ufer", a café and wine bar.
Parks and leisure
Schöneberg is green. The "Heinrich-von-Kleist-Park" was the original site of the Botanical Gardens in Berlin (which was moved to Dahlem in 1910), and today the artistic park attracts sun worshippers and joggers. The Schöneberg "Südgelände Park", a former derelict railway site, is quite different: after it was decommissioned in the 1950s, nature took over! It has recently been transformed into a public park, with raised walkways, art installations and the historic railway station buildings are used for cultural events.
Cool off on hot summer days with a trip on the S1 from Schöneberg to Schlachtensee, Nikolassee or Wannsee, the popular bathing lakes where you can relax under the trees and get away from it all.
Transport and location
Schöneberg is centrally located between Kreuzberg and Charlottenburg. The U1, U2 and U7 offer good connections to Neukölln, Kreuzberg, Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg as well as to the west. There are also S-Bahn options via the Ring Bahn and the S1. Cyclists also have many good routes to Mitte and other neighbourhoods.
Did you already know?
The steps of Schöneberg Town Hall were the place where US President John F. Kennedy gave his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.
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