Berlin certainly doesn’t suffer from a shortage of unusual attractions. Over the years, I’ve checked out many quirky places in the city, from an abandoned Cold War-era listening post to a museum dedicated exclusively to The Ramones.
Still, the abandoned GDR-era theme park that is gradually being reconquered by nature is by far the most unusual place I’ve come across in Berlin. For many years, the area was the holy grail for urban explorers, but these days, there are plans in motion to transform it into a “space for art and leisure”.
Until construction works are finished, it’s possible to take a tour of the abandoned park to learn about the unusual history of the place and check out the remaining traces of the former rides. I took a tour on my last trip to Berlin. Here’s everything you need to know about visiting the Spreepark.
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History of the Spreepark
To understand the place better, you need to know a little bit about its turbulent history. It was opened in 1969, as the only permanent theme park in the GDR where it attracted over 1.5 million visitors a year.
After the German reunification, it stayed open and new attractions were constantly added, including several roller coasters, a log flume and a western village. As a matter of fact, I can remember visiting the park with my parents in the 90s, although I was too young to still recall which of the rides I tried out.
In 2001, the Spreepark finally had to close because of declining visitor numbers and the area became a haunt for photographers, urban explorers and anyone who always wanted to feel like the next victim in an 80s slasher flick.
After some spates of vandalism and arson (this is why we don’t have nice things), the city of Berlin bought the area and now plans to transform it into an eco-friendly park (minus the theme-part), that’s supposed to incorporate some of the former rides into its design.
The story of the former owners of the park is interesting as well: After unsuccessfully trying to set up a similar theme park in Lima, Peru, they were arrested in 2004 when they were caught trying to smuggle a total of 167kg of Cocaine out of the country in one of the rides. I guess they didn’t want to put all of their eggs in one basket…
My Experience of Touring the Spreepark Ruins
To give you some idea of what to expect, I’ll give you a short description of the tour that I took in the summer of 2022. Construction has been going on since then and while you can still tour the place, it might have changed over the last few years.
Our group consisted of about 20 people and was led by an enthusiastic middle-aged guide who also had a portfolio of photographs, so we could check out how the places we visited looked during the park’s heyday.
Merry Old England Village
The first stop was the remains of the English Village, a couple of faux-half-timbered buildings in Tudor style, which were constructed in 1999, shortly before the park closed. Apparently, they served as an entrance to the “Piccadilly Circus” Event Hall, but also housed a mirror maze and a haunted house ride.
After the park’s decline, most of the objects inside the houses were destroyed or stolen, and in 2014 the majority of the village burned to the ground. All that remains nowadays is a small part of the outer façade of the buildings.
Remains of the Pond and Spinning Cups
The tour continued past the drained pool basin in whose middle the giant Ferris wheel used to stand and past the blue metal skeleton of a former restaurant, before reaching the Spinning Cups Ride.
The attraction was bought from the defunct French theme park “Mirapolis” near Paris and was originally sponsored by Nesquik, which explains the distinct blue-and-yellow appearance of the cups as well as the image of “Groquik”, Nesquik’s former mascot, on the pot and cups.
The plan is to transform the attraction into a café, and to let people sit in the non-rotating-cups, which would make sipping your hot coffee significantly easier and less painful than it would have been before, I guess.
Cinema 2000 and the Remains of the Ferris Wheel
Afterwards, we strolled past the former entrance of the Park, a couple of snack shops and several stops of the Santa-Fe Express train, which used to run once around the park.
The former Western Village is sadly gone completely, except for the remains of the children’s carousel “Brummel“, which still dates to the GDR-era of the park and was moved here after the reunification.
Something else that’s still there is the huge tent of the Cinema 2000, which was a then innovative 180° cinema that showed somewhat immersive films of helicopter flights through the Grand Canyon and rafting tours through the rainforest.
A bit further on, we stumbled upon the remains of the Ferris wheel, which was disassembled after some morons climbed it and needed to be rescued by the fire department, when they were stuck at the top. It was rebuilt in 2025 and people should soon be able to take rides once again.
Log Flume and Spreeblitz Roller Coaster
Our tour continued past the dry channel of the “Grand Canyon” log flume, which once again was bought in the mid-90s from the Mirapolis Theme Park near Paris. You can still see the artificial mountain that was used for the drop.
A little further is the remaining star attraction of the park: the Spreeblitz Roller Coaster with its distinctive dragon’s head (which, to me, looked more like a somewhat angry cat; maybe someone forgot to feed it).
On the way back to the entrance, we walked past the stranded hull of a pirate boat, which was a remaining prop from a mid-90s Stunt Show that used to take place along the shore of the park’s central pool.
Practicalities
How to Get to the Spreepark
The Park is located in the Plänterwald area of eastern Berlin’s Treptow-Köpenick district. The closest train station is Bahnhof Plänterwald, from where it’s a 20-minute walk northeast through a pretty wooded area.
The entrance and starting point of the guided tours is near the info station at the north-eastern end of “Dammweg”.
When to Visit the Spreepark
There used to be hourly tours every weekend, but now the tours only take place about once a month. You can check the current dates here. They are very popular, so make sure to book a ticket for your preferred timeslot here (not an affiliate link).
How Much Does a Tour Cost?
According to the new website, the tours are now free (I paid 5€ back in 2022).
How Long Do the Tours Take?
Our tour took about one hour.
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Visiting Berlin’s Twin Peaks-themed Black Lodge Bar
Exploring Berlin’s Modernism Housing Estates – Which of the 6 UNESCO Sites are Worth Checking Out?