Come to Gärten der Welt for a day of changing garden scenes, from a Chinese lakeside to tropical foliage and a hedge maze. The pleasure is in slowing down inside a few gardens, then stepping back onto the open park paths. Start at the main entrance on Blumberger Damm, pick up the park plan and choose two or three places everyone wants to see.
The English Garden is a gentle first stop, with a thatched cottage, flowers, vegetables and an orchard. Continue towards the Orientalisch-Islamischer Garten, where water channels and planted beds divide an enclosed courtyard. Look closely at the tiled patterns before finding the olives, pomegranates and other useful plants. Children can choose a shape and see how often it reappears in the decoration.
Nearby, the Balinese Garden brings a different scale of planting into the Tropenhalle. Ferns and broad leaves surround a Balinese residential courtyard and temple setting; hibiscus adds colour when in flower. This is a cultivated garden with living cultural connections: its temple also serves Berlin’s Balinese community. Stay on the visitor paths and give any religious activity space.
The Chinese Garden opens around a lake, with bridges, pavilions and weathered Taihu stones. Try framing the same water view through two different openings. In the Japanese Garden, a waterfall made from stones represents flowing water without actually carrying it. Its quiet, carefully composed spaces reward a slower visit. Across the park, the Jewish Garden uses food and ornamental plants connected with Jewish writing and everyday life, including figs.
Leave room for play. The yew maze asks you to find both the centre and the way out again, while the separate stone labyrinth lets you follow its pattern towards the middle and back. The giant whale at the Südsee playground and the oversized leaves of Konrad in den Blumenwipfeln make good rewards between garden stops. The cable car, Wolkenhain and bob run belong to a separate decision about extending the day into neighbouring Kienbergpark. Be ready to snap and learn! Get the Snappit app to identify any nature species you find here.
The park opened in East Berlin in 1987 as the Erholungspark Marzahn, part of the city’s 750th-anniversary celebrations. International themed gardens gradually changed its character. The Chinese Garden’s name, Garten des wiedergewonnenen Mondes, connects its design with the reunion of divided Berlin.
The International Garden Exhibition of 2017 brought major additions, including the cable car, a new visitor centre and the expanded Balinese tropical house. The Jewish Garden opened in 2021, adding a contemporary landscape shaped by plants, literature and places to meet.