Schoolchildren across Berlin can hardly wait: the summer holidays are finally here ! To ensure that these days off are a complete success, even in hot weather, the events calendar has plenty of highlights in store for families. With open-air music and art exhibitions, there’s plenty on offer for adults too. For example, the Classic Open Air is returning to the Gendarmenmarkt to brighten up your summer evenings with an international programme of music.
Tip 1: Enjoy the Classic Open Air 2026 at the Gendarmenmarkt
At the Classic Open Air 2026, musicians from all over the world will gather at the Gendarmenmarkt to present a varied repertoire under the open sky. The line-up includes, amongst others, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin with principal conductor Joana Mallwitz, David Garrett, Hayato Sumino, Alphaville and HAEVN.
Following the grand opening concert on Thursday, Giovanni Zarrella will lead the audience through his ‘Italian Summer Night – Part II’ on Friday. On Saturday evening, the internationally acclaimed jazz virtuoso Joja Wendt will not only be bringing along numerous musical guests such as Naturally 7, Jodok Cello and the Bundeswehr Big Band, but also his infectious joy in music.
When: Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7.30 pm
Where: Gendarmenmarkt, Mitte
Tickets for the Classic Open Air Festival
Tip 2: Party to some old-school hip-hop at the Old But Gold Festival
At the Spandau Citadel, music fans aged 30 and over can look forward to a lively party all day long at the Old But Gold Ü30 Hip-Hop Festival. International hip-hop icons such as Busta Rhymes and R&B stars such as Ginuwine will be performing on the main stage.
Alongside the eight-hour line-up on the main stage, there’s a dancehall and Afrobeats floor, an old-school R&B floor, and street food stalls to keep you going. An old-school party experience: under the open sky and lasting well into the late evening.
When: Saturday from 1 pm to 11 pm
Where: Spandau Citadel, Am Juliusturm 64, Spandau
Old But Gold Over-30s Hip-Hop Festival
Tip 3: Experience acrobatic summer fun at ‘Zirkus am Meer’ at the FEZ
From Friday onwards, the FEZ is hosting ‘Circus Summer’ by the lake this weekend and every other weekend throughout the summer holidays. Around the natural swimming lake, you can try your hand at juggling, diabolo, hula hooping, the Rhönrad and all sorts of acrobatics. As well as the hands-on circus, there’s a creative workshop in the ‘Circus Grove’, and tropical plants await you in the mini rainforest.
What’s more, younger visitors can bake their own bread in the clay oven, climb onto stilts at Villa Kunterbunt, or take the helm as captains to steer rafts and paddle boats across the FEZ swimming lake. So there are more than enough adventures on offer here – but if you prefer, you can simply lie on the beach and let the sun shine on your face.
When: Saturdays and Sundays from 12 noon to 6 pm; access to the FEZ swimming lake from 10 am
Where: FEZ Berlin, Straße zum FEZ 2, Oberschöneweide
The one-woman science fiction play by Katja Riemann and Paula Romy ventures a thought experiment: Can there be biological equality between men and women? Starting from this question, the play reflects on youth, age, beauty and death with humour and soul.
Tip 4: Get to know Japan’s infamous warriors at the Samurai Museum
With their strict code of honour, impressive armour and heroic tales of war, the samurai continue to fascinate us to this day. And although these Japanese warriors provide plenty of material for fiction, they are a very real part of Japanese history. In Berlin, a museum has even been dedicated to them on Augustenstraße.
At the Samurai Museum, you’ll find yourself in a veritable multimedia samurai paradise: artfully recreated swords, costumes and over 4,000 original artefacts from the Peter Janssen Collection tell the unique story of this legendary martial culture.
When: Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 7 pm
Where: Samurai Museum, Auguststraße 68, Mitte
Tickets for the Samurai Museum
Tip 5: Listen to music from around the world at DURCHLÜFTEN
The Humboldt Forum also offers open-air music – and admission is free. At the DURCHLÜFTEN festival , sound artists from all over the world will be performing in the Schlüterhof at the Humboldt Forum, presenting Mauritanian desert blues, indigenous Andean futurism and Kurdish acid ritual.
This weekend, the stages will feature, amongst others, Muslim Shaggan from Pakistan, the Cuban singer Charlotte Colace and the Zawose Queens from Tanzania. The curatorial concept behind DURCHLÜFTEN is centred on decolonialism and views musicians as living cultural archives who come together here to engage in an interdisciplinary dialogue.
When: Friday and Saturday from 7 pm to midnight
Where: Schlüterhof at the Humboldt Forum, Schlossplatz, Mitte
Tip 6: Experience Pettersson and Findus as a summer family theatre show
The Pettersson and Findus stories by Swedish author and illustrator Sven Nordqvist are among the most popular children’s books in Germany. To mark his 80th birthday, the Kulturhaus Spandau is dedicating this year’s 22nd Summer Family Theatre series to him under the title ‘The Best of Pettersson & Findus ’.
On Sunday afternoons, on the summer open-air stage at Spandau Citadel, the actors from the Berliner Kindertheater will bring the chaos surrounding Findus’s birthday party to life on stage. For Findus’s birthday is not only being disrupted by neighbour Gustavsson, but also by Caruso the rooster – bought to keep foxes at bay – who simply won’t stop crowing…
When: Sunday at 4.30 pm
Where: Open-air stage at Spandau Citadel, Am Juliusturm 62, Spandau
Pettersson and Findus at Spandau Citadel
Tip 7: Enjoy a Roaring 20s aperitif cruise on the River Spree
In the early evening, a rather different cruise on the River Spree awaits you: on the Roaring 20s aperitif cruise, you’ll experience Berlin as it was 100 years ago. The focus is on the atmospheric ambience on board and the special tranquillity of the evening light.
In a small group of around 30 passengers, you’ll enjoy Berlin’s ‘blue hour’ accompanied by a selection of music. You’ll be carried across the water by the FITZGERALD, an elegant, fully electric motor yacht in the style of the 1920s. Relax on the lounging areas at the bow, in the saloon or on the covered aft deck and enjoy a glass of Crémant, included in the ticket price.
When: Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 6.30 pm
Where: Paul-Löbe-Haus / Reichstag jetty, Otto-von-Bismarck-Allee 2, Mitte
Tip 8: Visit ‘escalators to: big bang’ at the RAW site
This year’s final exhibition by the Sculpture and Painting departments at the Weißensee Academy of Art has chosen the Big Bang as its curatorial concept. Under the title ‘escalators to: big bang’, 43 master’s students and final-year undergraduates explore the question of its spatial location and humanity’s longing for origins.
The exhibited works do not conceive of space as a fixed entity, but as a constantly regenerating medium in whose creation art plays a decisive role. By choosing the Alte Radsetzerei on the RAW site, the graduates have selected a fitting backdrop for this spatially-oriented exhibition concept: it is not without reason that it is regarded as one of Berlin’s most impressive historic industrial halls.
When: Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon to 7 pm
Where: Radsetzerei Berlin – Hall 16, Revaler Straße 99, Friedrichshain
Tip 9: Have a stroll around the art and creative market at Potsdamer Platz
With its cobblestones and the few remaining historic buildings, Alte Potsdamer Straße offers a romantic contrast to the neighbouring office blocks. This makes it the ideal setting for the arts and crafts market at Potsdamer Platz.
Until the evening, you can discover works of art and design products by Berlin-based creatives and buy them at fair prices. As well as handmade jewellery, art prints, fashion items and accessories, there are also plenty of street food stalls. Stroll through the car-free pedestrian zone and strike up a conversation with the artists themselves!
When: Saturday from 12 noon to 8 pm
Where: Alte Potsdamer Straße, Mitte
Art and Creative Market at Potsdamer Platz
Tip 10: Welcome the 63rd Berlin Summer of Folk Festivals in Wedding
The annual funfair isn’t just one of the best ways for children to enjoy the summer. After all, where better to spend warm evenings than amongst candyfloss, beer tents and the Ferris wheel? The 63rd Berlin Summer Funfair kicks off with highlights for visitors of all ages.
From go-kart tracks, bumper cars and an XXL chain carousel to quieter fairground classics such as dart and tin can throwing, there’s something for everyone. On Friday, you can also enjoy an impressive fireworks display, followed by a taste of the cocktail bar, spiral-cut chips, gyros, crêpes and roasted almonds . A summer outing with a touch of nostalgia – and free entry.
When: Friday and Saturday from 2 pm to 11 pm, Sunday from 1 pm to 10 pm
Where: Zentraler Festplatz, Kurt-Schumacher-Damm 207, Wedding
Tip 11: Come to the Fontänenfeld at Uber Platz on Family Sunday
Especially on hot summer days, the nearly 1,500-square-metre fountain area at Uber Platz is a welcome refuge. The splashing water fun not only keeps you cool but is also part of the weekly Family Sundays. Here you’ll find water games, craft activities, a hands-on circus, a children’s cocktail-mixing school, outdoor bowling, goal-shooting, yoga, a bouncy castle and many more action-packed activities.
The programme offers children and adults a free and open-access opportunity to enjoy leisure activities together. Pack your sun cream and look forward to carefree summer fun for young and old alike.
When: Sundays from 12 noon to 4 pm
Where: Fontänenfeld at Uber Platz, Friedrichshain
