Discover Berlin-Reinickendorf

The White City, Alt-Reinickendorf Village Church and Schäfersee offer different ways to explore Berlin-Reinickendorf: modern housing planning, medieval architecture and waterside landscapes.

Modern housing planning and village history

The White City along Schillerpromenade was built between 1928 and 1931 to designs by Bruno Ahrends, Wilhelm Büning and Otto Rudolf Salvisberg. It is one of the six Berlin Modernism housing estates and has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008. Its architecture was built in the New Objectivity style. Its scale also makes the concept tangible: the estate covers 14 hectares and provides space for more than 1,000 apartments. Kindergartens, shops and doctors’ offices were also planned.

Alt-Reinickendorf Village Church offers an older architectural accent. The late-medieval church has remained unchanged on the outside for more than 500 years. Its semicircular apse is unique in Berlin. The church also houses a winged altarpiece from the 16th century, created by an unknown painter using motifs from Albrecht Dürer’s “Small Woodcut Passion.” This takes the visitor’s eye from the building’s form to a specific example of historical visual art.

Büdnerhof Ribbe, at Alt-Reinickendorf 35, is the oldest surviving residential building in the Angerdorf (green village) and conveys a sense of Reinickendorf’s original rural character. As a counterpoint to the White City’s large-scale housing plan, the house draws attention to a different history of living: that of the historic Angerdorf.

Historic garden and waterside landscape

Kienhorstpark is a historic garden dating from 1931 and 1932. The park contains a pond with a landscaped shoreline. On the east side of the pond, where the Kienhorstgraben flows out of it, there is a viewing platform built of concrete rubble stones. Its position at the stream’s outlet connects the pond, watercourse and platform in the park’s design.

Birds use the reeds along the shore of Schäfersee as a breeding ground. Wide paths invite you to enjoy a relaxing walk or a short bike ride. Walking around the lake takes between 20 and 25 minutes—a clearly stated timeframe for a circuit by the water.

Walk or cycling route

For a longer journey, Cycling Route 5 offers a different scale: it runs 17 kilometres from Heiligensee to the Panke Greenway. Alt-Reinickendorf is among the sights and highlights along the route. The two details help with different kinds of planning: a walking time is given for the circuit around the lake, while the cycling route is specified by distance. This makes it easy to distinguish a short walk by the water from a designated cycling route.

Berlin in its wider urban context

Berlin itself also offers further perspectives on open spaces and urban history. Tiergarten is Berlin’s largest and most visited inner-city park; it is ideal for walks, outdoor activities and picnics. Tempelhofer Feld is a large public park where people picnic, sunbathe and play sports. At Volkspark Friedrichshain, sports grounds, playgrounds and outdoor cafés are among the amenities, along with a barbecue area for summer days.

A distinctive park landscape is formed there by two small artificial hills, Mont Klamott and Kleiner Bunkerberg. They are made from demolished World War II bunkers and rubble from buildings destroyed in the war; they offer views of central Berlin. These places add further, distinct facets of the city of Berlin to Berlin-Reinickendorf’s themes of architecture and landscape.

Discover more destinations: Velten, Friedrichshagen, Zehlendorf, Wannsee, Wilmersdorf, Kladow, Rudow, Altglienicke.

Back to the main travel overview: Berlin.