The Knorrpromenade is a narrow, short street – or better: a little esplanade – in the middle of the quarter Friedrichshain. After you had a walk on the Boxhagener Platz (check the Boxhagener Platz flea market article) and after some creamy cupcakes at Cupcakes you shouldn’t miss to look for this little idyll.

The houses were built in 1911-1913 to attract more wealthy people in this worker’s area. Today it is the last example for a bourgeois housing complex in Friedrichshain. The now listed buildings are all individual because they were planned by different builders.

On the southern entry to the street you will find the rests of an old gate with ornaments. When I walk through this quiet homely allee I always get the same feeling: I want to live here! In this place the world seems still fine.

Since spring 2011 an independent organisation was founded to renovate the destroyed Ornamental gates at the entry near Wühlischstraße. On their website you’ll find many beautiful photos and more about the history of this small allee.

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Knorrpromenade | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Knorrpromenade | Friedrichshain
Daily

Berlin offers flea markets for every taste. One of my favorites is the quite young flea market at the RAW-Tempel, which used to be a garage area for trains until 1994. Since last year everyone is welcome here to sell and buy stuff.

The Raw flea market is the best alternative to the big and crowded markets at Boxhagener Platz and Mauerpark. Here mostly private sellers try to get rid of clothes, books, games, jewellery, art and decoration. Not only used things but also handmade clothes and jewellery is waiting for a new owner. And there is something for every style: girly, punky, chic, grungy, with flowers or without…

Thanks to the warm and intimate atmosphere this flea market is the place to be for me on Sundays – even in winter. The sellers are open for a chat and always willing to bargain. So I definitely make one or more snips! Don’t forget to bring small change.

After heavy shopping and bargaining there are live music, coffee and Waffles waiting for you.

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RAW flea market | Music, Shopping, Snacks | Free
Revaler Straße 99 | Friedrichshain
Sun 09:00 – 17:00

Normally a “Datscha” is a seasonal second home often located in the exurbs of Russian cities. But this Datscha is situated in the middle of Friedrichshain Kiez (neighbourhood) and is a temporal second home for people who want to experience another culture.

Café Datscha represents the house of an old, rich Babushka, with high ceilings, wooden furniture, wide doors of colorful glass and many tiny framed pictures on the wall. On her menu she has everything the Russian/Ukraine/… grandchild can imagine: Borscht, Blintz, Pelmeni, Vareniki and much more.

If you want to try the wide range of snacks, sweets and warm food you have to visit the café on Sunday. Then they offer a big brunch (10:00-16:00) for 9 Euro (children 6 Euro).

So, Приятного аппетита (prijatnogo appetita!)

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Café Datscha | Coffee & tea, Restaurants (Russian/Ukraine) | Blini € 5.50
Gabriel-Max-Straße 1 | Friedrichshain | +493070086735
From 10:00 daily

North to Treptower Park (see the Treptower Park article), between the peninsula Halbinsel Stralau and the district Lichtenberg you can find a place where nature and architecture are closer together than anywhere else in Berlin.

The Rummelsburger Bucht is a bay around the Rummelsburg lake. While walking all around the lake, which is actually a small branch of the river Spree, you will be overwhelmed by the beauty of the Berlin skyline and the new modern and fancy houses. Those were built mostly after 1997. In the 20th century this area used to be an industrial area.

Some of the old houses are under monument protection so they reconstructed most of them completely, for example the two “Knabenhäuser” (boys’ houses) which were part of an orphanage built under the German Emperor.

All around the bank you can find small fenced ecosystems where you can watch animals in spring and summer. 

The closest station is Ostkreuz or Rummelsburg (S-Bahn).

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Rummelsburger Bucht | Art & culture, Relaxing | Free
Rummelsburger See | Friedrichshain
24 hours daily

Not far away from the crowded Simon-Dach-Straße (check the Simon-Dach-Strasse article), in one of the monumental looking buildings of Karl-Marx-Allee you’ll find a small bar called ČSR. 

ČSR is a classy, chic bar that you normally won’t expect in the more trashy, sloppy quarter of Friedrichshain. But don’t worry – there is no dresscode. In a cozy, dimmed atmosphere you will get served perfect quality cocktails, longdrinks and any drink you can imagine. The cocktail menu is quite long! 

Even on Saturdays around 22:00 you’ll find a place to sit and relax. Have a look at the majestic looking table lamps and watch the cars running down the magnificent avenue outside. Cheers!

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ČSR Bar | Bars, Relaxing | Cocktail € 8.00
Karl-Marx-Allee 96 | Friedrichshain | +493029044741
19:00 – open end daily

A restaurant designed completely in white – that was the idea of the two founders of “Schneeweiß” (which means snowwhite) 8 years ago. So Ralf Kern, originally musician and hobby cook and Dennis Ranogajec who organized events created together with a friends architect a space where a straight design comes together with a clear culinary concept.

Started as low budget project this restaurant turned out to be something special: Schneeweiß received the iF Design Award and was also nominated for the German Design Award. While creating the concept for this place the founders asked themselves: What fits to snow-white? The Alpes! So today the menu consists of alpine classics mixed and newly interpreted with modern Central European kitchen. So it seems more than a funny coincidence that the street in which Schneeweiß is situated is named after the Swiss high mountain pass Simplon Pass.

But be aware: This place has nothing in common with a traditional Après Ski cottage, fortunately! While sitting on the white side benches the huge chandelier in the middle of the dining room catches your eyes. In a hidden fireplace room you are invited to smoke your cigars and have some drinks after a frosty day outside.

Schneeweiß now resides for 5 years in a hidden corner of Friedrichshain. Situated between the hotspots Ostkreuz and Simon-Dach-Straße (check the Simon-Dach-Strasse article) one might think that not many people find their way to this beautiful place. But even on weekdays you should reserve your table before visiting.

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Schneeweiß | Bars, Restaurants (Alpine) | Starter € 8
Simplonstrasse 16 | Friedrichshain | +493029049704
Mon – Fri 18:00 – 01:00, Sat – Sun 10:00 – 01:00

Whenever I feel active I go to my favorite park “Friedrichshain” For me it’s simply the best place to relax and retreat from daily life.

This park is the second oldest in Berlin after Tiergarten and was first completed in 1848 but had to go through times of war when the Nazis erected two Flak towers here which were blasted after the war and piled up with rubble. Same two little “mountains” are still there. Over the years flora and fauna grew back on here and now the F’hain is one of the most diverse parks in Berlin.

There’s no time of the day when you don’t see people jogging, going for a walk or letting their children play or being active in sports. Speaking about which, there is plenty to do here: half pipes, a nice little boulder rock, soccer and basketball courts,…

Also, on the site of the former swimming stadium (you can still see the former shape of it in the park ground) people love to go for beach volleyball (in summer) or roller skating on the surrounding 800 meters asphalt track.

Whenever it’s warm, barbecue and picnic are extremely popular, too, next to sitting in Cafe Schoenbrunn, in the adjacent beer garden or having cones of ice cream while wandering about at famous “Märchenbrunnen” (“Fairy Tale Fountain”, see picture) in the very western corner of F’hain.

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Volkspark Friedrichshain | Coffee & tea, Relaxing | Free
Volkspark Friedrichshain | Friedrichshain
24 hours daily

Pizza Dach is located right in the heart of Simon-Dach-Strasse (See the Simon-Dach-Strasse article). It is by far not a high class restaurant but rather a snack bar. They offer normal sized pizzas for as cheap as € 2.50. And you get good taste and quality! That makes Pizza Dach one of the cheapest pizza places in that area.

Beer garden benches outside are the only seats you can take as the shop itself is too narrow inside. I can also recommend their variety of quality pastas which are cheap as well (from € 2.90).

The Pizza Dach has got a brother snack bar on Wuehlischstrasse 32 (only a few meters away). There you can sit inside and feel a slightly more comfy bar-restaurant-atmosphere, though prices are not the same but still relatively cheap.

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Pizza Dach | Snacks | 26 cm pizza € 2.50
Simon-Dach-Strasse 12 | Friedrichshain | +493020078786
24 hours daily

Simon-Dach-Strasse became very famous some 15 years back. It is not at all a secret, hidden road but still more than worth to choose for going out.

Restaurants, cafes, bars, snack bars (such as the “Pizza Dach” (see the Pizza Dach article), ice cream parlors, shops and bakeries – the whole road is lined with them. There is always a bar that offers Happy Hour for cocktails (then €4.00 – €4.50). Beers cost between €2.80 – €3.20 in most places.

Find all styles of bars: rock, retro, old school or modern ones. One bar, the “DK – Dachkammer” even has a very atmospheric lounge on the floor upstairs.On Saturdays and Sundays people gather for “Brunch” when all cafes and restaurants offer quality buffet (all you can eat) for between € 5.00 and € 10.00.

When walking through Simon-Dach-Strasse pay attention to the recently renovated old buildings that are now probably more beautiful than they were in the times when they were built – an extraordinary example is on corner Simon-Dach-Str./Krossener Str. – check it out!

Important to know: Many more restaurants, cafes and bars are located at close by roads “Gabriel-Max-Strasse”, “Grünberger Strasse”, “Wühlischstrasse”, “Boxhagener Strasse” and “Gärtnerstrasse”. Although the most important road of all, “Simon-Dach-Strasse” can be used as a synonym for the whole area (in German called “Kiez”), including famous Boxhagener Platz (see the Boxhagener Platz article).

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Simon-Dach-Strasse | Bars, Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants
Simon-Dach-Strasse | Friedrichshain
Daily

My preferred place when it comes to having lunch: Die Garbe. EVERYTHING I had was cheap but at the same time of the highest quality I could find in the area. How come?

Die Garbe is part of the Berliner drug rehabilitation association. Since 1999 it’s their aim to give former drug addicted people a new chance to get back into working life. And this is how they came up with Die Garbe.

Being a social project, Die Garbe doesn’t aim at a maximum profit but rather at covering all expanses, including salaries. That allows them to offer yummy soups for around €3, daily changing meals for around €5 or the filled pork schnitzel with feta cheese, tomatoes, olives, fries and salad for €7.90 (the top price of the menu!).

You can also order breakfast (€1.90 – €6.00) or salads (€2.50 – €5.80). My other recommendation are their freshly squeezed juices (€2.50/€2.80) and their range of teas (€1.50). They don’t serve alcohol but you’ll get along very well with their Coffees (€1.00 – €2.20).

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Die Garbe | Coffee & tea, Restaurants (Intern.) | Lunch € 5.00
Frankfurter Allee 40 | Friedrichshain | +493029385204
Mon – Fri 09:00 – 17:00