In February 2025, the Berlin-Brandenburg Office for Statistics announced that the cost of living in Berlin has risen nearly 20% since 2020. So it’s not just the price of a döner you can complain about anymore – coffee is 17% more expensive, cigarettes have risen by 31%, Bratwurst nearly 50%, sugar, beer, bread, even mayo, by a whopping 83%. Is it any wonder that leaving the house feels like declaring bankruptcy?
But it doesn’t have to – Berlin has so many things you can still do for free. We’ve pulled together all the cheap deets to save your work-life-bank balance.
Take a ride on Berlin’s cheapest tourbus
Riding the M100 bus isn’t technically free, but it’s still the cheapest way to see many of the city’s main sights in the shortest time possible. Get on the bus near the Fernsehturm, from there, you’ll head toward Museum Island. In a very small radius, you have the Berliner Dom, the Humboldt Forum and many of the city’s major museums, and with a standard AB single-journey ticket, you can feel free to hop off and hop on again for up to two hours. Get back on the bus to carry on down Unter den Linden. You’ll see the Brandenburger Tor from a distance, then take a quick stroll to see the Reichstag before hopping back on the bus. As it continues, look out the window to take in the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Schloss Bellevue and the Siegessäule. – JT
- Tickets and timetable on the BVG website.
Check out a free movie screening
Babylon’s free-feature Fridays happen, according to their website, approximately three times a month. On Saturdays you can go gratis to one of their silent films, accompanied by a live organ, piano and harpsichord. The latter is what Babylon is known for; first opened in 1929, the Kino has a restored Philips cinema organ that is the only such instrument in Germany still in use at its original location. They’re also famous for screening classic Weimar-era films like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, and hosting film festivals throughout the year. – RW
- Babylon, Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 30, Mitte, details.
Six more places to enjoy free cinema
Sputnik Kino: Every third Wednesday of the month, open screenings take place at this popular local Kino.
Køpi 137: This alternative housing project hosts regular screenings in its basement cinema. Enjoy cheap drinks and cinema seats made of old bumper cars.
Lukas Kirche: ‘Lukas-Lichtspiele’ is a monthly movie programme which showcases classics from the silent film era with live organ accompaniment from Babylon Kino organist David Schirmer.
Hermann Schulz Café Collective: Engaging documentaries are shown every other Thursday, and often include a Q&A and a donation-based food offering.
Passionskirche: Every month, this Kreuzberg church opens its doors for ‘Kino Passion’ – a film evening for “anyone who wants to see great films and have a conversation”.
Evangelische Kirchgemeinde Lichtenburg: Church-based free cinema seems to be the new big thing in Berlin, with the Lichtenberg_#Schauen event series taking place in the Old Parish Church of the Eastern district every first Monday of the month.
Browse to your heart’s content at Dussmann
Easily one of the best places to pass a few hours in Berlin, Dussmann is open until midnight (11:30pm on Saturdays) and is full of comfy window seats and appealing nooks. The sprawling bookstore boasts 7,500 square metres of sales floor and claims a stock of over 900,000 cultural titles, including 100,000 books, records from all genres, 5,000 different postcards and prints and 7,500 films. It’s a magical media wonderland. There are the bestsellers, the fiction and nonfiction titles, the Young Adult and children’s books. Also on offer are rows of vinyl, board games, puzzles and sections themed for pop culture phenomena new and old, Harry Potter to brat. – RW
- Dussmann, Friedrichstr. 90, Mitte, details.
Get into a game of table tennis
Berlin has literally hundreds of public parks and Plätze to play ping-pong. All you need is a friend and a set of paddles that you scrounged up zu verschenken, and you, too, can feel the high-stakes elation of chasing that tiny orb through a children’s playground. It’s especially nice on warm summer nights, but going in winter means less competition for the table. – RW
- Check out this map showing all of Berlin’s Tischtennis tables, or our expertly-curated list.
Take part in Berlin’s biggest bicycle rally
It may have started in San Francisco, but Critical Mass couldn’t be more at home in Berlin. Berliners have a well-documented passion for both protesting and cycling, and this monthly event is where the two worlds collide. On the last Friday of every month, thousands of cyclists take to the street en masse to raise awareness of the fact that bikes have an equal right to the road. This might sound serious – and it is – yet it wouldn’t be Berlin if it didn’t also have a party vibe. – JT
- Last Friday of the month, 20:00, meet at Mariannenplatz, details.
Score a bargain at the BVG auction
Every three months, the BVG gathers belongings left behind and unclaimed on its trams, trains and buses – chargers, hats, bags, shoes, cell phones, musical instruments, cameras, tennis rackets, Persian rugs, whole bicycles – and auctions it all off in a warehouse in Tempelhof. The more than 40,000 items lost each year are sold both individually and grouped together; bid on one of the quart-sized plastic bags of assorted jewellery or sunglasses and you win everything therein. Attending can make for an eco-friendly weekday outing; there’s free coffee, and if you spot something special, you can come away with a nice deal. – RW
- Schedule on the auction house website.
Challenge yourself with a game of chess
Rather than slinking straight home from the office and doomscrolling, head to the World Chess Club for their free ‘After Work Chess’ event (every second Wednesday) or sip a chess-themed cocktail at one of their weekly ‘Chess Thursday’ rapid tournaments. Don’t worry if you can’t tell your bishops from your rooks, WCC also offers a free crash course for beginners. But this isn’t the only place in the city where you can try your hand at chess for free: Café En Passant serves up a more old-school dose of the game, and as the weather gets warmer, check out the Chess Clubhouse in Tempelhofer Feld. – LJ
- World Chess Club Berlin, Unter den Linden 26-30, Mitte, details.
- Café En Passant Schachcafe, Schönhauser Allee 58, Prenzlauer Berg, details.
- Schachklubhaus, Tempelhofer Feld, details.
Enjoy free music across the city at Fête de la Musique
On June 21 every year, Fête de la Musique turns the whole of Berlin into a giant open-air party. Stages pop up on the streets, venues throw open their doors, and it feels like there is music literally everywhere. The full gamut of genres is on offer, too: indie rock, choral music, classical, hip-hop, pop, jazz, folk, blues, avantgarde electronica – you name it. Pretty much every district has multiple events happening, so you can either stay and soak up the sounds in your hood or venture further afield – it’s up to you. The wildest thing is that it’s all free, in honour of World Music Day. – JT
- More info on the Fête de la Musique website.
Discover free culture at Kunstraum Bethanien
Since 1973, Kunstraum Bethanienl has been a vibrant cultural centre home to various arts organisations, a popular restaurant and, in the summer months, arguably Berlin’s best Freiluftkino. The real highlight of the centre, though, is Kunstraum Kreuzberg. Around six projects are presented each year, many of which are collaborations with other respected art institutions and curators. The work mainly focuses on issues that address diversity and internationality, often refracting them through a local lens. This free gallery is a real gem. As a bonus, it’s open until 10pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, offering plenty of time for post-work perusal. – JT
- Kunstraum Bethanien, Mariannenpl. 2, details.
Learn to fix your stuff at a repair cafe
Unsurprisingly for a country that loves recycling, this ethos extends to just about anything you need mended or made new: clothes and textiles, dull knives, old electronics. Several of Berlin’s libraries offer the use of sewing machines, and even the BSR-operated warehouse-sized thrift store, NochMall, has a pull-up-and-patch-up café on its second floor. Hitting one of these can make for a satisfying way to spend a few hours, and not only will you not open your wallet, you’ll actually add value to your life. – RW
- Check out our guide to Berlin’s repair cafes.
Explore Berlin’s historic cemeteries
Perhaps the most famous of Berlin’s cemeteries, at least among cultural grave-hunters, is the relatively small Dorotheenstadt cemetery in Mitte. This Friedhof is the final resting place of Weimar-era playwright Bertolt Brecht. You can also spot his wife, the actress Helene Weigel, beside him, as well as the famous philosopher GWF Hegel, the writer Heinrich Mann, and the theatre director and poet Heiner Müller, whose grave is decorated with a birdbath in the shape of an ashtray that visitors sometimes adorn with cigars in honour of the habitual smoker. For those of us who make our own fairy tales, the Brothers Grimm are buried at the Alter St. Matthäus-Kirchhof in Schöneberg. For music fans, the singer Nico is laid to rest alongside her mother in a relatively unassuming spot in Friedhof Grunewald-Forst. And for Berliners longing for some real solemnity, Weißensee’s Jewish cemetery – the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe – has over 100,000 graves, many of them notable. – RW
- See our list of notable Berlin graves here.
Visit one of the city’s free museums
From Cold War relics to cutting-edge science exhibitions, the city is full of fascinating museums that won’t cost you a thing. Whether you’re interested in Berlin’s turbulent past, quirky local gems or just looking for something to do on a rainy afternoon, these free museums will have you seeing the city in a different light. – LJ
Futurium: At the Futurium, you’re gently encouraged to think differently, with interactive exhibitions, open discussions and family-friendly workshops structured around the question: how do we want to live?
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum: This information-packed local history museum chronicles the stories behind Berlin’s (arguably most) iconic Bezirk.
Jewish Museum: This powerful museum houses a detailed history of Jewish lives in Germany from the mediaeval period to the present day.
Spore: This cultural centre focusing on indigenous knowledge is a fascinating insight into the intersection of art, politics and ecology.
Museum in der Kulturbrauerei: Discover the history of the DDR through the stories of people who lived it in this Prenzlauer Berg hidden gem.
Museum der Unerhörten Dinge (Museum of Unheard Things): This small building in Schöneberg houses one man’s esoteric collection of objects, with a letter from Sigmund Freud sharing space with a rubber duck in a jar.
Tränenpalast: This former border crossing-turned-museum recounts the personal and tragic stories of the families pulled apart by the city’s division.
Plattenbau-Museumswohnung: Get out your Walkman and legwarmers and travel back to 1987 in this incredibly well-detailed recreation of a DDR apartment in Hellersdorf.
Willy Brandt Forum: With tales of spies and sex scandals, the compact Mitte exhibition also gives a wider insight into the political history of West Germany.
Get to know Berlin’s street art
Berlin’s an open-air gallery, where murals and political art tell the city’s story. It’s easy to miss these vibrant works in the rush of daily life, but taking a moment to notice them can make you feel more grounded and deepen your connection to the city. There are a handful of free, online self-guided tours to explore, including from Berlin tour guide extraordinaire, Jonny Whitlam. His self-guided Kreuzberg tour highlights iconic art and hidden gems, complete with a custom Google map. Keep your eyes peeled and discover the city’s art scene in a whole new way. – LM
- Visit the Jonny Whitlam tours website to find out more.
Get crafty at a crochet club
On a Saturday in Moabit, a cosy room adorned with pink feather boas buzzes with the energy of strangers meeting for the first time. The click of knitting needles and the rustle of yarn fill the room. As their hands get busy hooking and stitching, they swap stories, share techniques and sip on wine. At the Hook Up events, people from all backgrounds, genders and skill levels can rock up and come together, exchanging tips and stories. Some show up solo, excited to meet new people. Others come with friends, enjoying the experience together. It’s a welcoming space free from expectations (no previous yarn skills required) and pressure. – LM
- Keep up with the collective on Instagram.
Head to the library
Often, you don’t need a membership card or university credentials to visit one of Berlin’s many libraries – just turn up, find a seat and lose yourself in the peaceful familiarity. One of the most iconic libraries in the city is the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, or Stabi, which has two locations. Entering the grand, classic building on Unter den Linden feels like time travel, transporting you to another era. Meanwhile, the Expressionist structure on Potsdamer Straße is a striking 1970s architectural statement. To access both locations you need to register for a (free) library card. The Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin (ZLB) is Germany’s largest public library system, it offers not just books but music, films and an area to work or read.
Today, it has two main locations: the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek (AGB) – which has a great section of English-language books – and the Berliner Stadtbibliothek (BSB). Entry into the library is free, and for just €10 a year you can take books home with you. Culture lovers should make their way to the Kunstbibliothek, Berlin’s art and design library. It’s part of the Berlin State Museums and is a haven for those interested in architecture, photography and visual culture. While you won’t be able to borrow any novels, you will find centuries-old typography manuals, rare books, and exhibitions that make this space a hidden gem for creative minds. – LM
- Stabi, Unter den Linden 8, Mitte, details.
- Stabi, Potsdamer Str. 33, Tiergarten, details.
- Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek, Blücherpl. 1, Kreuzberg, details.
- Berliner Stadtbibliothek, Breite Str. 30-36, Mitte, details.
- Kunstbibliothek, Matthäikirchplatz 6, Tiergaren, details.
Attend a free classical concert at the Berliner Philharmonie
From September to June, world-class musicians play a concert in the foyer of the Berliner Philharmonie, free of charge. Unsurprisingly, seats are filled up fast, so avoid being turned away at the door, the Berliner Phil has another option: They suggest their no-tickets, no-reservations concert series called ‘Carte blanche – Berlin, hör mal!’ (“Berlin, listen!”), where the up-and-coming young musicians of their Karajan Academy perform as soloists or in an ensemble in locations across Berlin. – PM
- Berliner Philharmonie, Herbert-von-Karajan-Str. 1, Mitte, details.
Get active at spOrt365
At the centre of Görlitzer Park, a hand-painted wooden sign welcomes you to ‘spOrt365’, a fenced-off area open (surprise!) 365 days a year. A notice board details the activities available this week: wheelchair basketball, skating, music workshops, screenprinting t-shirts – all completely free. spOrt365 wants its programme to reflect the Kreuzberg locale, and holds a particular interest in accessible sport and FLINTA* inclusion. Its open doors are a contrast to the traditional German sports club system, which is typically segregated by age and gender and requires a financial commitment. – LJ
Join a guided tour
The more you know about its past, the more you understand and feel connected to the city’s present. The tours go far beyond the tourist-level (though perpetually interesting) Cold War and Hitler-bunker sights: there are walking tours about your local Kiez, the underground music scene, queer history, street art and the city’s riotous past. Sometimes it feels like we all love to hate Berlin, but a good walking tour can give you a deeper appreciation for what’s just beyond your doorstep. While most tours are advertised as free, tips are customary. At the end of the tour, show your appreciation with a tip – €10-20 is the norm but not the requirement. – LM
Here are a few free tours you can try out in the city
Be Original Tours: The Original Free Berlin Walking Tour: A general Berlin history tour
Revolutionary Berlin Tours: Anticapitalist history tours
Alternative Berlin Tours: Free Berlin Tour: Street art and alternative culture tours
Rude Bastards Tours: History tours with a comedic twist
Walkative Tours: From Marx to The Wall: Communist & Socialist Tour by Walkative!: DDR era history tours
Extra tips and tricks for balling on a budget
While the best things in life are free, you can’t go wrong with a really good bargain. Here are some money-saving hacks from The Berliner team to help you make the most of this (increasingly expensive) city.
Classic Card
If you’re under 30, take advantage of €15 tickets for opera and ballet and €13 for concerts with the Classic Card app. If you are feeling spontaneous, they offer last-minute tickets (€10 for opera/ballet, €8 for concerts) that you can redeem two hours before the performance. The yearly fee is equivalent to the age you are when you join the programme (so €20 per year if you join when you’re 20).
Staatliche museums Jahreskarte
Enjoy unlimited free access to any of the city’s Staatliche museums during times when there are fewer visitors with the Jahreskarte. For €25 a year you get free entry to venues on weekdays from 3pm and on weekends and public holidays from 11am to 1pm. With standard day tickets to these museums costing around €12-€16, a regular culture vulture can enjoy a massive saving.
Stadtbäder discounted hours
One of the cheapest ways to exercise without committing yourself to a membership is by taking a dip at one of the city’s many Stadtbäder. Enjoy €3.50 tickets on weekdays if you arrive before 2:30pm or after 8pm.
Bargain groceries
Snap up a bargain at open-air food markets – like the one at Maybach Ufer on Tuesday and Thursdays – by arriving 1-2 hours before closing time, when the day’s perishable goods are put on sale. For further grocery savings, the TooGoodToGo app offers heavily discounted surprise bags from associated supermarkets, bakeries and restaurants – and of course make sure you’re signed up to the rewards programme for your local supermarket.
The Berliner freebies
For a chance to get free tickets and goodies, there’s no better place to look than our Instagram and newsletter. We offer regular giveaways for concert tickets, gallery openings, the Freiluftkino and comedy, and you can snap up some great prizes.
