Weekend Events for the Whole Family in Berlin, February 2-4

Magic Castle in the FEZ

Harry Potter fans have now a better way to get to Hogwarts: no need to look up for Platform 9 3/4 in Alexanderplatz: you can just take the regular train to Wuhlheide, which will become - for a week - a Magic Castle. With magic workshops, activities and a lot of fun for fans

FEZ Magic Castle
FEZ, on Straße zum FEZ 2, 12459 Berlin 

Public Transport: take the S3 to Wuhlheide or trams 27, 63 or 67 to Freizeit- und Erholungszentrum. Admission fees apply 

Furthermore... 

• Sport: 

• Museums and Casltes

• Every Saturday: workshops for children in the Bauhaus Archive (from 11:00) 

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

• Guided tour for the whole family at the Marmorpalais in Potsdam, Sunday, 2:30 

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

• Food and Markets: 

• Early at the weekend (Thu through Saturday) the Deutsche Oper will sell costumes from its cache in the Wilmersdorfer Str Arkaden 

• Anime Market in the Kreativhaus in Fischerinsel, Saturday; 

• And after getting your Japanese cultural dose, get ready for the Sake Festival, in Urban Spree, on Saturday

• A wine festival in the Späth’sche Nursery, Sat + Sun 

• Markthalle IX will offer a festival of Wurst und Bier (sausages and beer), on Sunday 

• And the regular street food market in the Kulturbrauerei 

Jewish Traditions - Tu Bischwat 

There are numerous events for Tu Bischwat (New Year of the Trees) at the weekend

• Hashomer Hatzair will have a Peula dedicated to the holiday on Sunday

• Sukkat Schalom Synagogue will have a walk in the forest with its members on Sunday 

Thank you trees, happy new year! 

Later in the week...

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. 

About the Blog

I try to upload it regularly and aim for publishing on Wednesday evening, If you want me to include something (or think that I have forgotten), contact me; if you want to follow and plan to weekend, visit the blog on Wednesday nights or Thursday mornings... And finally, if you want to support me and the blog, you can do it in three ways: ordering tours in Berlin from me; Paypaling me or just removing the adblock and clicking one of the ads. 

Weekend Events for the Whole Family in Berlin, January 26th - 28th

The Green Week

The Green Week, which has begun last week, is a huge agricultural and food fair.  There is even a suggested route for families, but if you're foodies, I would also suggest to find the time to be there on your own . It is huge and a bit overwhelming, just saying :-) 

The last three days (that is, this weekend) also feature a horse fair. 

International Green Week, 

Messe 

from Friday, January 19th through Sunday, January 28th

The Green Week

Japan Festival

If you want to concentrate on just one culture, the Urania celebrates the Japan Festival, wtih everything you can think of: music theatre, dance, sport demonstrations and of course - a market with many Japan-related stands

Urania

Sat + Sun 

Furthermore... 

• Nature: 
• Animals in the winter, a tour for the whole family, in the Naturstation Malchow, Sunday 2-4  

• Museums and Casltes

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

• Workshop for the whole family in the Bauhaus Archiv, Saturday, 11:00 

• Guided tour with the maid sophie, for the whole family, in the Charlottenburg Castle, Sunday 3pm 

• Music and Theatre: 

• Children theatre by children, for children, a festival at the FEZ, Sat + Sun

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

• Snow-White with crafts before, Maerkisches Museum, Sat 4 pm 

• How does an organ work? Demonstration for kids at the Konzerthaus, Sunday 11:00 and 3:30 

• Viva Vivaldi, a concert for the whole family at the Philharmonie, Sun 3:30 pm

Theatre for children, by children in the FEZ

• Food and Markets: 
• Rockabilly and punk market in Tiki (near Goerlizer Park), Sunday from 2pm 

• And as usual, a street food market in the Kulturbrauerei 

Jewish Traditions

• Tu Bischwat in the Fraenkelufer Synagogue , Friday, 4:30 

• Hashomer Hatzair will meet on Sunday at 11:30 in Mitte (near Alexanderplatz). The peula, for children aged 7 and up, is coordinated by dikla@hashomer.de  . Suitable also for children without much German 

Later in the week...

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. 

About the Blog

I try to upload it regularly and aim for publishing on Wednesday evening, If you want me to include something (or think that I have forgotten), contact me; if you want to follow and plan to weekend, visit the blog on Wednesday nights or Thursday mornings... And finally, if you want to support me and the blog, you can do it in three ways: ordering tours in Berlin from me; Paypaling me or just removing the adblock and clicking one of the ads. 

Weekend Events for the Whole Family in Berlin, January 19th - 21st

International Green Week

One of the largest agricultural fairs is not just a trade fair, but actually a huge foodie mecca, with many offers for both adults and families. There is even a suggested route for families, but if you're foodies, I would also suggest to find the time to be there on your own . It is huge and a bit overwhelming, just saying :-) 

International Green Week, 

Messe 

from Friday, January 19th through Sunday, January 28th

Such a big fair also attracts critique : against industrial agriculture that puts profit above the consumers' health, above the environment or sustainability. On Saturday, a mass demonstration will remind us of the challenges ahead: "Wir haben es satt!" ("We've had enough!") , from Hauptbahnhof, at 11:00 

A second demonstration will be on Sunday (11:00) , in Brandenburg Gate, for gender equality

Furthermore... 

• "I can do this on my own!", an event for toddlers in FEZ on Saturday and Sunday 

• Sport: 
• The Sprungraum Trampoline Hall in Marienfelde is running a Kinderdisko on Saturday, 8-10pm

• Museums and Casltes

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

• Guided tour for families at the Museum of Natural History. on Saturday, 11:00 

• Workshops at the Bauhaus Museum for children and families on Saturday and Sunday, both at 11:00

• A guided tour for children and by kids in the Charlottenburg Castle, Sunday, 3pm 

• Shows and Music: 

• Russian Circus on Ice, Friday, 7pm in the Tempodrom 

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

• Concert for children aged 5 and up in HDK, on Sat and Sun, 10:30 

• Nature: 

• Learn more about animal tracking, on Saturday, 2:30, in Britz 

• Learn about trees in Hellersdorf, on Sunday, 2:30 

• Food and Markets: 

• If the Green Week events were not enough, there is also a Breakfast Market in Markthalle IX 

• An Israeli-Palestinian Breakfast at Knaan, on Sat + Sun 

• The regular flea markets at the weekend and the street-food market in the Kulturbrauerei 

Jewish Traditions

See about the Masorti School; below

Open Days in Education

• The Phorms English-speaking school in Zehlendorf is running an open day on Saturday

• The Berlin Bilingual Secondary School, a private EN/DE school (located in Weißensee) is holding an open day on Tuesday, from 2 to 4:30 (details)

• Another potential school, is the Masorti Bilingual Primary School, to open next year in West Berlin (Charlottenburg / Wilmersdorf and the area) . On Thursday you can get more info about it: 
• Parents' evening about the Masorti Primary School
  We are planning to open a primary school in fall 2018 and would like to invite you to an informational meeting on Thursday, 25 January at 7.30 pm. Please indicate your interest in attending the meeting by sending an email to schule@masorti.de - with the name of your child/children and which grade(s) they will enter. We will then let you know the place of the meeting (in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf).
  
  The Masorti Primary School will have several defining characteristics: 
  • Its progressive approach to pedagogy and education, including open class rooms
  • Double bi-lingualism: German-Hebrew and German-English (as a continuation of the Masorti kindergartens),
  • Consideration of Jewish pluralism as an enrichment
  • Welcoming multiple family forms 
  • Gender equality, especially in Jewish religious practice

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. 

About the Blog

I try to upload it regularly and aim for publishing on Wednesday evening, If you want me to include something (or think that I have forgotten), contact me; if you want to follow and plan to weekend, visit the blog on Wednesday nights or Thursday mornings... And finally, if you want to support me and the blog, you can do it in three ways: ordering tours in Berlin from me; Paypaling me or just removing the adblock and clicking one of the ads. 

Weekend Events for the Whole Family in Berlin, January 26th - 28th

Furthermore... 

• Sport: 

• Museums and Casltes

• Every 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

• Food and Markets: 

Jewish Traditions

Later in the week...

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. 

About the Blog

I try to upload it regularly and aim for publishing on Wednesday evening, If you want me to include something (or think that I have forgotten), contact me; if you want to follow and plan to weekend, visit the blog on Wednesday nights or Thursday mornings... And finally, if you want to support me and the blog, you can do it in three ways: ordering tours in Berlin from me; Paypaling me or just removing the adblock and clicking one of the ads. 

Weekend Events for the Whole Family in Berlin, January 12th - 14th

Events

• Museums and Casltes

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

• Family tour in the Market Gate of Miletus in the Pergamon Museum on Sunday, 11:30 (in German)

• And one in the German Historical Museum, about caricatures, at 2 pm 

• At the same time: another tour in the Gemaeldegalerie

• Music: 
• If you are big horse fans, it might be worth mentioning: the Appassionata is a horse show in Mercedes Benz Arena, on Sat and Sun 

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

• There is also a "Peter and the Wolf" concert at the Urania, on Sunday , 3pm 

• Markets and food: 

• The market in the Kulturbrauerei is back! On Sudnday

• There is a new fancy food market in town ! How exciting! The Kantini in the Bikini Haus features all kinds of regular food vendors on a daily basis and food pop-ups, true to the Bikini concept. Opening this Friday! 

Kantini's Ad is appetising ... 

Jewish Education

If you're interested in Jewish education for your child, the Moses Mendelssohn Gymnasium (equivalent roughly of a grammar school), will offer an Open Day on Sunday. Feel free to ask me questions about the school (in the comments section or privately on FB) 

And there is a peula with Hashomer Hatzair on Sunday for the youngest group (7 - 12 y/olds) , mail dikla@hashomer.de for details. 

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

Weekend Events for the Whole Family in Berlin, January 5th - 7th

No Pants Subway Ride

No trousers will be needed on Sunday to ride the BVG (but remember to put your BVG-ticket in your coat). The annual event is a flash mob, starting on Sunday at 2pm , usually (but not necessarily) in Friedrichshain. 

details

If you don't have nice panties, perhaps it's time for Open Shops Sunday Open Shops at Mall of Berlin! The excuse might be Novi God. Important correction by our alert reader Irit: the open shops are only at Mall of Berlin (and elsewhere, in shops that are usually open on Sundays). Not an Open Shops Sunday. Sorry for the confusion. 

Furthermore... 

• FEZ are opening the year with a big party, both at this party and the next one, including children entertainment and activities. 

• Sport: 
• Well, not what you might consider as sports, but all three Ikea shops are running a "Christmas Tree throwing" competition on Saturday. You can BYO tree or just watch

• And back to more conventional sports: a "jelly donut fun-run" in Pankow on Saturday

• Friday and Saturday will also see the international Synchronised Skating competition, the Berlin Cup. Teams from all over the world will compete, who does figure skating, but as a group and at once. At the Wellblechenpalast in Hohenschoenhausen (info/tickets)

• Museums and Casltes

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

• Also: a guided tour in the Museum of Natural History on Saturday

• Build Your Own Exhibition, activity for children at the Maerkisches Museum, Saturday, 2pm 

• Music and shows: 

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

• Alphorn Concert on Saturday at the Philharmonie, and also an instrument try-out at the Klingendes Museum afterwards

• Figure skating fans will also have the opportunity to enjoy the Moscow Circus on Ice, at the Tempodrom, in two shows on Saturday

Moscow Circus on Ice

• Food and Markets: 

• Designer market in Griessmühle (Neukölln) on Friday (details) 

• And also a Christmas present swap market at the Museum of European Ethnology in Dahlem, on Saturday

• Israeli-Palestinian Breakfast at Knaan, Sat + Sun (details)

Jewish / Hebrew Activities

The Hashomer Hatzair Youth Movement is back with new activities and a much more central location: straight in Nikolaiviertel! The activities will take place on Sundays afternoon, starting with this Sunday . Register with dikla@hashomer.de 

Later in the week...

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

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