Plänterwald and Spreepark

The Plänterwald is a floodplain forest of roughly 222 acres (90 hectares) right on the Spree in the Treptow-Köpenick district. Shady paths run along the bank under old oaks, elms and ash trees, making it one of the quietest green corridors in southeastern Berlin. It borders Treptower Park to the north, so the two combine easily into one long riverside walk.

In the middle of the forest sits the Spreepark, which opened in 1969 for the 20th anniversary of East Germany as the "Kulturpark Plänterwald" and was for years the only permanent amusement park in the GDR, the communist East German state. In its GDR days it drew about 1.7 million visitors a year. After reunification the Witte family of showmen took over and rebuilt it into a Western-style theme park, but falling attendance and debt led to insolvency in 2001 and final closure in 2002. The grounds then decayed, and with its abandoned Ferris wheel and weathered dinosaur figures the site became one of Berlin's best-known urban ruins.

Since 2016 the state-owned company Grün Berlin has been developing the area into a public art and culture park. The landmarked Ferris wheel is being restored, the old roller coaster tunnel and other relics are being folded into the new landscape design, and a phased opening is planned over the coming years. Walk the Plänterwald today and you can already see the Ferris wheel from the paths. One tip: check current information on guided tours and fenced-off zones before you go, since parts of the site are an active construction area.