1 A pain au chocolat on Olivaer Platz ♥

The walk begins where the Ku'damm ends. At Olivaer Platz 2, Aux Merveilleux de Fred, a patisserie from Lille, bakes a pain au chocolat that alone is worth the trip to Wilmersdorf. Add a coffee and, if you are feeling brave, a merveilleux, meringue and cream rolled in chocolate shavings. Check opening hours before you go.

Pastry in hand, cross the square: where lawns and playgrounds are today, cars parked until 2019, and at the corner of Lietzenburger Straße people once sat on the terrace of the New York to be seen. The full story is in Olivaer Platz: the story of a corner at the end of the Ku'damm.

about 13 minutes on foot, south along Konstanzer Straße

2 Preußenpark: papaya salad at the weekend

On weekdays Preußenpark looks like many Berlin parks, a big lawn with old trees. At weekends, Thai families have been selling food here since the 90s. Since 2024 the market has no longer been on the grass but runs as a street market right next to it, and the papaya salad and mango sticky rice are still there. The market is seasonal, so in autumn and winter check beforehand whether it is on. More in our 12 places off the path.

about 25 minutes south on foot, or two stops on the U3 from Fehrbelliner Platz

3 Rüdesheimer Platz: a piece of the Rheingau in Wilmersdorf ♥

The neighbors call it "Rüdi", and anyone who grew up here never calls it anything else. In 1907 the then independent town of Wilmersdorf approved a new quarter whose streets were named after places in the Rheingau wine region, and two years later the square at its center got its name. The developer Georg Haberland planned a "garden terrace town" here, and between 1910 and 1914 the houses around the square were built to uniform designs by Paul Jatzow: in the style of English country houses, with high roofs, bay windows and deep front gardens, but as continuous terraces. That is why the square still looks as if it were made in one piece.

The U-Bahn arrived in 1913, and Rüdesheimer Platz station on today's U3 is a listed monument. At the western end of the square stands the neo-baroque Siegfried Fountain by Emil Cauer the Younger from 1911: Siegfried taming a horse, flanked by Father Rhine and a wine queen who stands for the Moselle. And if you need one: the green kiosk on the square looks like a Berlin urinal from around 1900, a so-called Café Achteck, but it is a 2006 replica with a modern toilet inside.

Since 1967, winemakers from the Rheingau have poured their wine here in summer, and since 1972 the district has been linked with the Rheingau-Taunus district, first as a sponsorship and since 1991 as a partnership. On warm evenings hundreds of neighbors sit on benches under the trees at the Rheingauer Weinbrunnen. Not everyone likes it: since a court ruling in 2019 there have been conditions to limit noise, and in 2025 the district argued again about how much wine festival a residential square can take. Check the season and times ahead.

Palermo on the Rüdi: La Vucciria ♥

At the corner of Rüdesheimer Straße and Eberbacher Straße, La Vucciria cooks Sicilian food and is named after Palermo's best-known market. Many of the ingredients come from Sicily, and you can taste it. Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 12 noon to 11 pm, weekends and public holidays from 4 pm to 10 pm, closed Thursdays. Best to book for the evening.

The Rüdi is my home turf, and for me the Vucciria is Palermo in the city, so damn good and delicious. Great products, excellent quality, a lot of it comes straight from their home region, which gives it that authentic taste. It is especially lovely in summer, because the sun does not blaze down on the terrace, and in the afternoon there are parasols.
Daniel

Two endings for this walk: if you want to stay on the Rüdi, have dinner here and take the U3 home afterwards. On Sundays that is the better choice anyway, because Cicchetti da Rosa on Ludwigkirchplatz is closed. On every other day except Thursday you can do both: a glass and antipasti on the terrace here, dinner there.

U3 from Rüdesheimer Platz three stops to Hohenzollernplatz, then about 7 minutes on foot. If you would rather walk: a good 35 minutes.

4 Ludwigkirchplatz: a church as an investment

In the middle of the square stands St. Ludwig, a red-brick Catholic church in Gothic Revival style, designed by August Menken and consecrated in 1897. The building plot was donated by the land company that owned the marshy ground all around, in the hope that a church would raise property values. The push to build came from the Centre Party politician Ludwig Windthorst, and the church is dedicated to the French king Saint Louis. Unusual for a Catholic church of the imperial era, it stands on its own square.

Around the church, the square is the neighborhood's second living room, with cafés, benches and children playing. One lap around St. Ludwig, and it is time for dinner.

across the square, one minute

5 Dinner at Cicchetti da Rosa ♥

At Ludwigkirchplatz 12, Rosa Panzera and Duc Anh Tran cook Italian food with Vietnamese flavors, in small portions for sharing, like cicchetti in Venice. It suits the end of a walk: you order a little at a time until nobody can eat any more. Evenings from 5 pm, closed Sundays, best to book.

Good to know

• In winter: the Thai market and the wine fountain are off, but the squares are quiet. Then take the U3 straight from Fehrbelliner Platz to Hohenzollernplatz and spend more time at the table.
• With kids: there are playgrounds on Olivaer Platz, in Preußenpark and on Ludwigkirchplatz, and the route is flat.
• More about the area in the Kiez atlas under Ludwigkirchplatz and Rheingau quarter.