
There’s only one cure for the post-holiday droop and the skull-rattling chaos of New Year’s Eve: you’ve gotta touch grass. Grunewald is close enough to dissuade last-minute ditching but far enough out to still feel like wilderness, making it an ideal selection for woodsy cold-weather excursion. Pack a towel and a little cash and hop the S7 to Grunewald S-Bahn for this easy, three-hour hike to Teufelsberg.
The first leg will take you from Eichkampstraße up Schildhornweg, half an hour through the forest. Keep an eye out for the stick fortresses along the way, which give off a distinct Blair Witch vibe in the washed-out winter landscape. After a mile or so, you’ll reach the Sandgrube im Jagen 86, an industrial gravel pit turned nature reserve.
While these big piles of sand in the middle of nowhere don’t do much of anything, they are one of those Berlin oddities that are just fun to look at. Climb up the hill for a look out over the ‘dunes’ before heading over to Teufelssee (or, as it’s more commonly known, the lake where that pig stole a laptop one time).

The cold is so shocking that you will momentarily forget every bad thing that happened in 2024.
The devil’s lake has roots in the Ice Age, little inlets for wading into the frigid water, and a contingent of ducks waiting to watch you flounder your way in – if you so choose.
Your bravery will be rewarded, though: the cold is at first so shocking that you will momentarily forget every bad thing that happened in 2024, and then, once back on dry land, so invigorating that you will find yourself making promises to yourself about all the things you will accomplish in 2025, making it the perfect delusional dip to start the year.
After the cold-induced revelations, use Google Maps to navigate up to Teufelsberg. Named after the lake, Teufelsberg is one of the city’s many man-made post-WWII rubble hills and once housed a Cold War listening station for the US National Security Agency.

The dilapidated domes of the listening station look alarmingly alien from afar but offer a nice misty winter view from above. The site, now housing a street art gallery and a museum, used to be fairly open season for visitors, but nowadays you must book a ticket for €10, which you can do via the website in advance or at the kiosk.
Once you’ve taken in the view, art and history, clamber back down and, if the mood strikes, circle back to the little hidden café near the lake, Ökowerk Bistro, for hot coffee and apple cinnamon rolls in the Ökowerk environmental education center.
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After your pick-me-up, continue heading east along Schildhornweg until it connects with Teltower Weg. You’ll make your way down long, quiet forest avenues until you reach the A115 motorway, where you’ll need to pass under the bridge before joining back up with Teltower Weg on the other side.

Google Maps is your best bet for this section as well – it’ll show the quickest path to get you to Krumme Lanke, the first of the twinned lakes in the area. Walk along the edge, rimmed by rustling reeds, until you reach the road. You’ll pass over another road – follow the path until you reach Schlachtensee, the second lake in the set and one of the prettiest and calmest in Berlin.
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Arriving at Schlachtensee, you’ll have two options for an end-of-trail treat. If you don’t mind the cold, you can grab Pommes and a hot chocolate mit Schuss lakeside at Biergarten am Schlachtensee, where you may see cold-water swimmers braving a dip in the shallow end.
You’ll still have another 30 minutes or so left of the hike, however, so if you’d rather push through to the bitter end, opt instead for indoor seating at the Café Nah am Wasser Deli. Located just behind the Schlachtensee station, their bougier menu of vegan cakes, pumpkin spice lattes and antioxidant smoothies makes for a tasty (if slightly expensive) transition back to city-kid life.
At a glance
Getting there:
- Take the S7 towards Potsdam, alighting at Grunewald. Exit in the direction of Eichkampstraße to reach the start of the trail.
Hours & Prices:
- Teufelsberg: Mon-Sun 11:00-18:00, tickets from €10 via the website
- Ökowerk Bistro: Fri-Sun 11:00-16:00
- Biergarten am Schlachtensee: Mon-Sun 09:00-21:00
- Café Nah am Wasser Deli: Mon-Sat 07:00-18:00, Sun 08:00-18:00