It is a nice day and you want to feel like a real Berliner ? We found an amazing place and since then it is one of our favorite places in Berlin ! When you get out of the S-bahn (Heerstraße station) you can first think you are lost as your phone tells you you still have a 30-minute walk, but do not worry : it is part of the game and the adventure starts here !

 

Enjoy a nice and bucolic walk in the woods… until arriving on a hill where people like to organise pic-niques or just to chill’. Here you discover a quite bizarre building in the distance that seems to come from nowhere, lost in the woods, maybe dilapidated but still attractive. Go and discover Grunewald forest, walk along the fence, a man will greet you and ask you to pay 8€ cash / pers (okay it is expensive for a disused place but you won’t regret it), and then enter this strange and charming place.

 

But what is this place? A former listening station (for espionage, intercepting communications and radio signals from the Eastern Bloc) which was used by NSA during Cold War and built on top of a hill made out of debris of World War II. The government sold this place in 1999 but since then nobody found a new use for it except being a surprising place to visit.

 

Actually I decided not to spoil you everything, it is always better to discover a place like this one without knowing really what you are going to experience. Still, a feeling of wonder will come over you, street arts everywhere (even famous ones), you could stay there all day long ! You will be amazed by the unique and beautiful view you have of Berlin (but also of the forest and the lakes). You can still feel the spirit of the Cold War through the morbid (but also artistic) charm of Teufelsberg.

 

One last thing : do not forget to sing (opera or commercial music, that is your choice) when you are on top of the building, it will be a strange but amazing experience !