Some of the best ways to experience a city is to pretend to be a local, and a great way to shop like a local is to visit the city’s markets. From fleas to food halls, these markets are organic and genuine, having a certain charm to them that shopping in the bigger and more well-known districts with all the other tourists just don’t have.
Mauerpark Flea Market
The Mauerpark Flea Market is the biggest flea market in Berlin, sprawled all over Mauerpark. Packed with artists, both crafters and performers, booths bursting with furniture and vintage clothes, food stalls that will make you forget that you can only eat so much at a time, and more, this weekly Sunday market is a great place to walk through. Mauerpark also means “Wall Park”, as the linear park was once part of the Berlin Wall and the Death Strip, so it’s a nice way to repurpose the space to become a place where people come together rather than being divided.
Nowkoelln Market
The Nowkoelln Market, also known as the Neukölln Market, runs the length of a canal on the Maybach shore of the River Spree, and as far as the eye can see, there are tons of fantastic statement pieces just waiting to be added to your wardrobe. Popular with expats and the younger crowd, Nowkoelln Market places a special emphasis on quality vintage clothing, artwork, music, and handmade items. It’s the perfect place to pick up your new favourite jacket or necklace, a beautiful painting for your mantle, and a couple other things you didn’t know you needed, while taking in the idyllic scenery and sipping your coffee.
Bode-Museum Market
After visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Site that is Berlin’s Museum Island, make a stop at the Bode-Museum Market, open year-round on the weekends from 11am to 5pm. While you take in the breathtaking backdrop of the River Spree and enjoy the occasional breeze, wander around this market where more than 60 vendors set out their wares. You’ll find tons of antiques here, from vintage postcards and military paraphernalia, records and pottery, and even some old-school comic books and literary gems. It’s a lovely mish-mash of hidden delights.
Markthalle Neun
The focus at Markthalle Neun is the food. This is where you can satisfy all your food cravings, at the same time as you discover cravings you never even knew you had or thought were possible. Markthalle Neun has been around for more than a century, since 1891, though it’s current home has only been open since 2011. Here you’ll find vendors who have been passing down the mantel for generations, refining and perfecting recipes all the while, as well as newer hands experimenting with classics. From shops selling quality raw ingredients, to restaurants and cafés serving up a good meal, the whole world in food can be found within Markthalle Neun, so it’s definitely worth a stop any day of the week, though they are closed almost every Sunday. For an enhanced experience, try going on Thursday evenings when they have their Street Food Market, or on the third Sunday of the month, when they have their Sunday Brunch Market.
Bonus: Christmas Markets
If you find yourself in Berlin when the weather starts turning cold and Christmas is ‘round the corner, you’re in for a treat. Different places celebrate Christmas in different ways, from elaborate storefronts like Macy’s in Manhattan, to barbeques in Australia, but in Europe, Christmastime means Christmas Markets. As a majority Christian country, Christmas is a particularly special time of the year in Germany, and as its capital, Berlin has some of the best Christmas markets around, from markets that run from November to the end of the 12 days of Christmas, to markets that are held only through Advent, and even a few that last no more than a day or two.
Aside from the usual knick knacks and baubles and trinkets you’ll find, Christmas markets are where you can get some of the best Christmas treats. Be sure to get yourself a steaming mug of glühwein, a particular type of mulled wine made from red wine with a variety of spices and oranges, or kinderpunsch, a non-alcoholic version made from punch if you’d rather, to keep yourself warm while you wander through the market. When you start to feel peckish, there’s always lebkuchen, a type of German gingerbread, and spekulatius, speculoos cookies, for you to nibble on too.
