Hidden Beauty: Nature Park in Schöneberg

My last blog mentioned a nature park in the Schöneberg district, and I promised to tell you why it is one of Berlin's hidden gems. The Natur-Park Schöneberger Südgelände will not show up in a Lonely Planet guide or a travel site's Top Ten Berlin attractions, but this woodland area in an uncompromisingly urban landscape -- a former railway switchyard -- is pure magic.

Nothing prepares you for the 18-hectare expanse of wilderness at the southern end of the Priesterweg S-Bahn station. Neither "preserved" nor landscaped, the park evolved when nature stepped in and took the upper hand.

Steel Rails
Native flora and fauna were wiped out when construction of the Tempelhof railway switchyard began in the 1890s. Over the next decades, this became one of Berlin's busiest rail hubs and, by the time of the Second World War,  a crucial center for transporting war materials. By the late 1940s, the outcome of the war (and later, the Berlin blockade) made the switchyard obsolete. Rail operations finally ground to a halt in 1952. The area became a ghost installation, steel tracks cutting through the land, going nowhere.

Berlin Biotope
Then, silently, Nature reasserted itself. A natural forest grew up, undisturbed by men and machines. Native birch and lime trees, common oaks and Norway maples put down roots between the tracks. Fruit trees marched across the desolate space, and wild roses sprawled across rusting rails. Dry meadows burst into bloom with evening primrose, white wild carrots and sickleweed. Nightingales, robins and blackcaps moved back into their terrain, as did wild bees, crickets and blue-winged grasshoppers. A perfect, miniature biotope flourished in what was once the busiest railway site in Berlin.

photo: Holger Koppatsch

photo: Holger Koppatsch

Railway Tracks through the Wilderness

A steam engine, now surrounded by birch trees, stands witness to the park's history as does the original 1927 water tower. The longest route through the park is 2.7 kms., and when I take it, I feel like a child exploring a secret garden. Don't miss out on walking along a 600 m. long steel-mesh platform raised above the original track bed. Nature lovers find themselves following a path through the wilderness once taken by the steam railways that supplanted it. The experience is unique.

The Nature Park Schönegerger Südgelände was first opened to the public in 2000, generously funded by the Allianz Environmental Foundation, and was declared a Global Project of EXPO 2000. The main entrance to the park is at the southern exit of the Priesterweg S-Bahn station, which you can reach on lines S2 and S25. Opening hours are from 9 a.m. till nightfall. Admission is 1 EUR. Open all year round, and beautiful in any season. Highly recommended: a visit in Fall.