Best Dog-Friendly Hotels in Berlin

Before you go

What happens when you get there

Leads, muzzles and transport

Berlin's Hundegesetz puts every dog on a lead across the whole city, except in marked Hundeauslaufgebiete and fenced dog runs, and visitors get no exemption. BVG and S-Bahn Berlin take dogs on every U-Bahn, S-Bahn, tram and bus. A dog small enough for a closed carrier travels free. A bigger dog needs a reduced-fare ticket, the same one a child pays, and must be leashed and muzzled, so pack a muzzle even if your dog has never worn one. One dog rides free with a day ticket or small-group day ticket. Dogs aren't allowed on the seats, and guide and assistance dogs are exempt from all of it.

Sights

The Brandenburg Gate, Pariser Platz, Gendarmenmarkt and the East Side Gallery are all open air, so a dog on a lead is fine. The TV Tower refuses dogs for safety reasons, the Bundestag bans animals from the Reichstag and its dome, and the Staatliche Museen keep dogs out of every exhibition room on Museum Island. The Schlossgarten Charlottenburg takes dogs on a short lead. The palace itself publishes no dog rule, so assume the dog waits outside.

Parks

The Tiergarten is 210 hectares in the middle of the city and dogs walk it on a lead, like every Berlin park, and stay off playgrounds and sunbathing lawns. For running free, the Grunewald is the big one, around 800 hectares of forest off-lead area in the south-west with S7 to Grunewald station, and Tempelhofer Feld has three fenced dog runs at the Columbiadamm, Oderstrasse and Tempelhofer Damm entrances with no shade at all. Volkspark Friedrichshain, Hasenheide, Rehberge and Jungfernheide have marked off-lead areas too.

Lakes and swimming

Berlin's supervised beaches are closed to dogs. Strandbad Wannsee has a dog ban, and the same applies at the other lidos. The dog swimming is at the Grunewaldsee, where the shoreline sits inside the off-lead area and dogs go in year-round. Schlachtensee allows dogs on the north shore only. The Pichelswerder dog beach has been closed since 2022. From July most Berlin lakes get blue-green algae blooms, which have killed dogs at the Tegeler See, so look at the water before you let a dog drink or swim.

Restaurants and cafes

Germany has no law keeping dogs out of restaurant interiors, it's the owner's call, and in Berlin a lot of neighbourhood cafes and bars in Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg and Charlottenburg say yes inside as well as on the terrace, so ask at the door rather than assuming a no. The exceptions are self-service counters, bakeries and anywhere food is displayed open, where the hygiene rules keep dogs out. Hotel restaurants are where it gets strict, so use the list above.

Dogs at breakfast

Nobody on the list publishes a plain yes for the breakfast room. Hotel Zoo Berlin lets dogs into GRACE outside dinner hours, the InterContinental allows them in L.A. Cafe away from the buffet, and Orania welcomes them throughout. The JW Marriott has had dogs at breakfast according to guests but prints no rule. Hotel De Rome, Roomers Steinplatz and The Hoxton are a clear no for the restaurant, and Wilmina is a no for the breakfast area.

Getting there

Berlin Brandenburg (BER) is the only airport. No UK airline carries a pet in the cabin and no dog can fly into the UK in a cabin at all, so from London or Dublin the practical routes are a continental carrier with a connection, or the ferry and a long drive. Aer Lingus has stopped taking pets in the cabin. The flights app has the current airline-by-airline detail. Within Germany, Deutsche Bahn takes a dog in a carrier free and a bigger dog at half fare, leashed and muzzled.

Vets

The Klein- und Heimtierklinik of the Freie Universität at Oertzenweg 19b in Düppel runs a 24-hour emergency service, phone +49 30 838 624 22. Tierarztpraxis Bärenwiese at Uhlandstrasse 151 in Wilmersdorf is the central 24-hour option, phone 030 23 36 26 27. Vet-zentrum Berlin in Marzahn, Märkische Allee 258, is open around the clock every day. Expect a wait, Berlin's emergency clinics are stretched.

Best walks

The Tiergarten end to end from the Brandenburg Gate to the Zoo, with the Landwehrkanal towpath from Kreuzberg through to Charlottenburg for a longer flat loop, the Spree riverside from Museum Island past Monbijou Park to the East Side Gallery, the Schlossgarten Charlottenburg on a short lead, Tempelhofer Feld for sheer space and the three fenced runs, and the Grunewald for a real forest walk that ends with a swim in the Grunewaldsee.

When to go

May, June and September are the months. Warm enough for the terraces and the lakes, before the algae, and before or after the school-holiday crowds. July and August are hotter than most people expect for a northern city, Tempelhofer Feld has no shade and most lakes carry a blue-green algae warning from July, so keep swims to early morning and check the water. October and November are grey but empty and good for a walking dog. December means Christmas markets on Gendarmenmarkt, at Charlottenburg and everywhere else, which are crowded, loud and not much fun for a dog, so go early in the day and walk the Tiergarten instead in the evening.