One of Berlin's most popular parks, Mauerpark (mauerpark-info.de) was forged from a section of Berlin Wall death strip and is now regularly swarmed by thousands of locals and visitors on Sunday for its genial flea market, outdoor karaoke and overall free-spirited vibe. After a makeover, it's now cleaned up nicely and has also doubled in size. It’s people-watching at its finest.
Up a slope (great for sunset watching), a 300m-long Berlin Wall segment is now an officially sanctioned practice ground for graffiti artists. Behind here loom the floodlights of the badly ageing Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark, the stadium where Stasi chief Erich Mielke used to cheer on his beloved Dynamo Berlin football (soccer) team. Just north of here is the Max-Schmeling-Halle, a venue for concerts, competitions and sports events.
If you want to escape the hubbub, head north to chill in a birch grove, pet the ponies at the Jugendfarm Moritzhof or watch the daredevils scale the Schwedter Nordwand climbing wall.
Weekdays are quieter and draw a more local crowd, especially for sunset-watching on the slope, which is ablaze in purple lupines in late spring. Above it it looms the park’s only Cold War remnant: a 300m stretch of Berlin Wall that is now a legal canvas for budding graffiti artists.
