01 The party at the Brandenburg Gate

The Senate has confirmed the celebration for the turn of the year 2026/2027. As last year, it is run by the state-owned Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH, with DJ sets, food and drink and a big fireworks display planned. Admission is free, but you need a free ticket booked in advance. In October 2026 the booking date had not yet been announced. Plan early, as places are limited.

Around the event site at the Gate, Straße des 17. Juni and the Großer Stern, a zone banning weapons and knives from evening to morning applied last time. What you may bring onto the site is set out in the ticket conditions, so read them first. And dress warmly, you will be standing outside for hours.

02 Watching instead of lighting: Berlin from above

The best thing about New Year's Eve in Berlin is not a single fireworks display but the whole city lighting up at once at midnight. You see that best from above:

• The Kreuzberg in Viktoriapark: 66 meters high, looking across Kreuzberg and Schöneberg towards Mitte and Potsdamer Platz. More about the hill in Skip X, try Y.
• Drachenberg next to the Teufelsberg in the Grunewald: an open, treeless plateau looking over the western city. The way leads through dark woods, so bring a torch.
• Humboldthain: from the platform on the old flak tower you look out over Wedding and Mitte.
• Bridges over the Spree such as the Oberbaumbrücke or the Moltkebrücke offer clear views over the water, but they are crowded and loud.

People set off their own fireworks on the hills too, and it gets packed. Check beforehand whether a park or platform is open at night. Arrive early, bring nothing made of glass, and with children look for a spot at the edge.

03 If you don't like firecrackers

You are not alone. Nowhere in Berlin is truly quiet that night, but some rules help you. Category F2 fireworks, meaning rockets and bangers, may only be sold to adults from 29 to 31 December in Germany and only set off on 31 December and 1 January. Near churches, hospitals, children's and care homes they are banned altogether.

Then there are the police firework ban zones. For 2025/26 they covered Alexanderplatz, the Steinmetzkiez in Schöneberg, part of Sonnenallee and the Admiralbrücke, each from 6 pm on 31 December to 6 am on 1 January. Important: these are not quiet places but places where things got particularly rough in earlier years. The police announce the zones for 2026/27 in December, and we will add them here.

What actually helps: spend the evening indoors with friends and watch from the window at midnight. With a dog, take the last walk in the early evening before it starts. And if you want out completely, head into the countryside, where houses stand further apart.

04 Getting around on New Year's Eve

The U-Bahn and S-Bahn run all night. For 2025/26 the U-Bahn ran every 10 minutes in the evening, the S-Bahn every 20 minutes with extra trains and the Ring line every 10 minutes. Special rules apply around the Brandenburg Gate: the U5 stopped calling there from 4 pm, and around midnight it only ran between Hönow and Alexanderplatz. BVG and S-Bahn publish the plans for 2026/27 in December. A normal ticket is enough; buy tickets for the night in advance, as the machines get busy.

05 Berlin New Year's Eve customs

In Berlin, jam doughnuts are called Pfannkuchen, and on New Year's Eve a whole bag of them often sits on the table. The old joke: one is filled with mustard, and whoever gets it is laughed at. Instead of lead, which is no longer sold, people now pour wax and read the shapes. And at some point in the evening "Dinner for One" comes on TV, an English sketch almost everyone in Germany knows.