Gardens of the World

The park opened in 1987 as a garden show, gained its Chinese garden in 2000 and grew into a collection of gardens each built to the conventions of its tradition, generally with designers and craftspeople from the country involved: a Chinese scholar's garden with a lake and pavilions, the largest of its kind in Europe, a Japanese stroll garden, a Korean garden, a Balinese garden under glass, an Oriental garden with a courtyard, an English cottage garden and a Renaissance maze. A cable car built for the 2017 garden show crosses the park to the Kienberg hill and a treetop path. The site sits among the prefabricated housing blocks of Marzahn.

History

The park opened on 9 May 1987 as the Berliner Gartenschau and was renamed Erholungspark Marzahn in 1991; in October 2000 its Chinese garden opened as the first of the Gardens of the World, and it took its present name in 2017. Visitor numbers rose from 132,000 in 1995 to 650,000 by 2007 (Wikipedia, Gärten der Welt).

Highlights

• The Chinese garden - the largest scholar's garden in Europe.
• The tradition-built gardens - each made with specialists from its country.
• The cable car - a 2017 lift crossing the park to the Kienberg hill.
• The setting - gardens among Marzahn's prefabricated housing blocks.

When to go

April to October; closing times shift with daylight and some gardens close in winter. The cable car runs year-round in fair weather.

Before you go

The site is large with a lot of walking. Some gardens close in winter. The cable car is a separate or combined ticket.

Nearby

Central Berlin lies west; Köpenick is south.

Key facts