Weekend Events for the Whole Family in Berlin, December 29th - January 1st (including NYE in Berlin)

New Year's Eve in Berlin

New Year's Eve, or Silvester / Sylvester, as it is called in Germany, is the craziest night of this already quite bubbly city. Parties are literally everywhere - even your local Späti or Döner place is likely to put on some music etc. and fireworks are accessible for purchase from Thursday (December 28th) in the morning. 

For some, especially if you have some post-trauma or plainly dislike loud noises, it is unbearable. If it is not too late while reading these lines, seek a place as far as possible from city centre and other people, try to find refuge in a farm in Brandenburg, etc. 

For others, it is an experience of a lifetime. The main public party, is in Brandenburg Gate, attracting something like 1-million guests. The police usually stops people from coming at some point, so if you want to be there, make sure to come early (and I mean early, like 7pm) and stay in the compound the whole night. 

However, any public square will be filled with celebration and fireworks, some more organised (Gendarmenmarkt), some spontaneous. Literally any bridge in the city will provide nice view of the fireworks. This is also time to find those friends with the nice penthouse. 

For those of you who want to go to sleep early (or have kids who have to), the fireworks in Breitscheidplatz will not only be at midnight, but also earlier - 6pm, 8pm and 10pm. Of course, also at midnight. 

The clubs and the bars are humming, of course. There is a long listing of parties on Resident Advisor, but if you don't know the club well, choose one that would actually fit you, as many will probably first of all use their guestlists and presold tickets. If there are any tickets/places left, parties on high places are really great for a view of the fireworks: Weekend in Alexanderplatz, Monkey Bar in Bikini25, Puro in Europa Centre, Solar near Anhalter Bahnhof, etc. 

A few other events : 

Furthermore... 

• One of the other German traditions during NYE is to have objects that are linked with good luck for the upcoming year: four-leaf clovers, horseshoes or chimney sweeps. On Saturday, December 30th, chimney sweeps will spread the luck by giving children chocolates in the Schönhauser Allee Arkaden (from 12:00)  

• Sport: The Silvesterlauf is a funrun on NYE in Grunewald, with costumes and a lot of hillarity. There is a children course as well. 

Silvesterlauf (source: the organisers)

• And a day later: the New Year's charity run, from the Brandenburg Gate

And the New Year's Run

• Museums and Casltes

• Every Saturday: guided tour for families (in German) in the Museum of Natural History

• And also event Saturday: workshops for children (from 2:30 onwards) at the Museum of Technology

• Music: 
• Every Saturday , 12:00, the "Mighty Wurlitzer" in the Musical Instruments Museum

About Me

I offer tours in Berlin as well as write about the city as well as published several books and articles in general. I am always free for writing gigs - travel writing or any other types of writing and research - or of course to show you the wonderful city I live in