How much snow do you need for sledding in Berlin?

My rule: 5 cm is a thin run on a short, steep slope and 10 cm is a proper day. The threshold is my judgment, not an official figure. Under 3 cm is a dusting and not worth the trip.

How often is there enough snow for sledding in Berlin?

Not often. At the Dahlem station, 22 of 31 winters had at least one weekend day with 5 cm of snow or more, but only 9 of 31 had one with 10 cm. The typical winter gave 2 weekend days at 5 cm and none at 10 cm.

Which month is best for sledding in Berlin?

January and February. Of the 124 weekend days since 1995/96 with 5 cm or more, 80 fell in January and February, 24 in December, 18 in March and 2 in November.

How long does the snow stay?

Not long. Spells with 5 cm or more had a median length of 3 days, and 46 per cent lasted two days or less. If the forecast gives 5 cm, go the first morning.

Which hill is best for small children?

The flatter run-out in Volkspark Prenzlauer Berg or the small Bunkerberg in Volkspark Friedrichshain. Teufelsberg is long and fast and better for older children and adults.

Is sledding on Teufelsberg allowed?

The old official run is closed and partly fenced off, according to the Wikipedia article on the hill, and people sled and snowboard there anyway. I could not find a district rule either way, so read the signs on the day.

Are there official sledding runs in Berlin?

In Mitte, no. In July 2021 the Bezirksamt wrote that sledding runs are no longer designated in the district's parks and that the places people use are repaired in autumn. Treat every hill as ungroomed.

Sledding in Berlin: Which Hill, and How Often There Is Enough Snow

Yusuf Ucuz

Oct 27

6 min read

Every few winters Berlin wakes up to snow deep enough to sled on, and everyone with a sledge asks the same two questions within the hour: which hill, and is there enough snow to bother. Most advice answers the first one. The second one decides the day.

So this post starts with the snow. I took 31 winters of daily snow-depth readings from the German weather service, counted the Saturdays and Sundays that cleared a sledding threshold, and then matched the numbers to the hills that people in the city really use.

Sledders walking up the long toboggan run on Teufelsberg after light snow, with the old listening station rising behind the trees

The toboggan run on Teufelsberg on 3 January 2021, after light snow. Most people walk up the side and slide down the middle.

Sledding in Berlin: how often there is enough snow

Here is the dataset. The Deutscher Wetterdienst publishes daily snow depth for the Dahlem station in the south-west of the city, and I used every day from 1 November to 31 March for the winters 1995/96 to 2025/26. Dahlem is one station, so the east and north of the city can differ, and sixteen days of the 2024/25 winter have no reading. For a decision about a Saturday it is still the best long series there is.

I set two thresholds, and they are my judgment, not a rule. 5 cm is a thin run on a short, steep slope where the grass starts to show. 10 cm is a proper day. Counting only Saturdays and Sundays:

At 5 cm, 22 of the 31 winters had at least one weekend day, and 17 had two or more. The typical winter, the median, gave you 2 weekend days.
At 10 cm, only 9 of the 31 winters had a weekend day, and the typical winter gave you none.
At 20 cm, only 2 winters got there: 2009/10 and 2010/11. In 2009/10 there were 18 weekend days with 10 cm or more and the snow reached 38 cm. That winter is why people still talk about Berlin snow.
The last five winters gave 0, 0, 2, 3 and 3 weekend days at 5 cm or more. Across all five there was one weekend day at 10 cm, on 4 January 2026, with 11 cm.

Two more numbers explain why the planning has to be quick. Snow of 5 cm or more came as 63 separate spells in those 31 winters, and the median spell lasted 3 days. 46 per cent lasted two days or less. And of the 124 weekend days that cleared 5 cm, 80 fell in January and February, 24 in December, 18 in March and only 2 in November.

A snow-covered slope on the Insulaner with bare trees and a single sledder far up the hill

The slope on the Insulaner on 8 February 2021, with a single sledder near the top.

My advice: do not keep a sledding day free in your head from November. Treat it like a bus that comes a few times a winter. When a forecast gives you 5 cm or more overnight, go the first morning, because the second morning is a coin toss.

You can test your own threshold here. Move the bar and every winter redraws, with the weekend days counted at the right of each row. Tap a winter to read it. The full tool is also on its own page, the Berlin sledding snow odds.

Which hill to pick when the snow comes

Many of Berlin's sledding hills are rubble hills, the Trümmerberge piled up from war debris after 1945, which is why a flat city has so many steep slopes. Here are the ones I would plan around. The heights and the sledding mentions come from the linked pages, and I checked them on 27 October 2026.

Teufelsberg, Grunewald: 120.1 m, the second-highest elevation in the city, between the S-Bahn stations Grunewald and Heerstraße. The article says the old official run is closed and partly fenced off, and that people sled and snowboard on the hill anyway. This is the long, fast, busy one, for older children and adults.
Insulaner, on the border of Schöneberg and Steglitz: about 78 m, the oldest rubble hill in Berlin, with a sledding run on it. The Planetarium sits at its foot on Munsterdamm.
Volkspark Friedrichshain: the Großer Bunkerberg is 78 m and the Kleiner Bunkerberg 68 m. A run was laid out on the east slope of the smaller one, which is the one to start with.
Volkspark Prenzlauer Berg: 90.9 m at the top, and in snow the hill has a slope that runs out flatter. I read that as the gentle option for small children.
Humboldthöhe in Volkspark Humboldthain, Mitte: 84.5 m and wooded. Top10 Berlin lists a steeply dropping sledding slope there.
Volkspark Rehberge, Wedding: a sledding run with a 20 m drop. It is the "big run" in the Mitte council papers below.
Freizeitpark Lübars, Reinickendorf: a 300 m ski and sledding slope with floodlights, according to the park's article. I would ask before I planned an evening around lights.

Snow-covered woods on Teufelsberg in low winter sun, with long shadows across the snow and a sunlit path beyond the trees

Teufelsberg on 31 January 2021, in low sun after a cold night. The hill is as much woods as slope.

My advice: pick the hill by who is sitting on the sledge. Under about six, choose the flatter run-out on the Prenzlauer Berg hill or the small Bunkerberg. Older children and adults can take Teufelsberg, but go early, because it is the hill everyone has heard of.

A broad snowy path on the Insulaner between bare trees, with deep untouched snow on both sides

A broad path on the Insulaner, 8 February 2021. Wide, open ground like this is easier with small children than a narrow lane.

The rules nobody posts on the hill

No hill in this list is groomed like a ski piste, and the paperwork says so. The Bezirksamt Mitte answered a council request about restoring the "big run" in Rehberge in July 2021 with one sentence: sledding runs are no longer designated in the district's parks, and the places people have always used are repaired in the autumn as part of normal maintenance. That is one district and four years old, so read it as a pattern, not a law.

What that means on the day:

Check the run-out before the first slide. You are looking for a path, a tree line or a road at the bottom, and a slope that flattens before them.
Put a helmet on a child who sits on a sledge for the first time on a long slope. A bike helmet does the job.
Look for fences and signs at the top. The Teufelsberg run is the one most likely to carry them.
Take the first run slowly. Compacted, icy lanes are faster than the fresh snow on the sides.

A forest of bare trees covered in snow under a cold blue light on Teufelsberg

The woods on Teufelsberg on 31 January 2021, a cold day with snow on every branch.

School holidays make weekdays count

My weekend count ignores holidays, and in a thin winter the holidays are where you find the extra day. The Berlin Christmas holidays run from 23 December 2026 to 2 January 2027, and the winter holidays in 2027 run 1 to 6 February, according to Kalenderpedia. Check the dates with your school. If the snow falls on a weekday in those weeks, you have an extra day and you will not be sharing the hill with a Saturday crowd.

Children carrying wooden sledges onto a bus at a bus stop in a snowy Berlin street in January 1980

Children with their sledges boarding a bus in Berlin in January 1980, from the Bundesarchiv. The sledge has not changed much.

If you have children and no sledge, the sledge is the cheap part. My posts on Berlin with kids and indoor playgrounds in Berlin cover the days when the snow does not come, and what closes in Berlin in winter lists what has shut for the season. If the snow is on your own pavement first, my guide to Berlin's snow clearing rules says whose job the shovel is.

My move

Put the sledge where you can reach it, watch the forecast from January, and go on the first morning with 5 cm or more. Take Teufelsberg if the children are older, the Prenzlauer Berg hill or the small Bunkerberg if they are not, and leave by midday. For what changes in Berlin each week, from opening hours to the first snow warnings, my weekly newsletter is where I put my short list.

Image credits

Source and licence details for the 6 photographs used in this article.

The toboggan run on Teufelsberg after light snow, 3 January 2021: GPSLeo, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Snowy woods on Teufelsberg, 31 January 2021: GPSLeo, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The slope on the Insulaner in snow, 8 February 2021: GPSLeo, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The broad path on the Insulaner in snow, 8 February 2021: GPSLeo, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Cold, snowy woods on Teufelsberg, 31 January 2021: GPSLeo, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Children with sledges at a bus stop in Berlin, 9 January 1980 (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-W0109-0035): Thomas Uhlemann, Bundesarchiv, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons.