Berlin 23: Top of Berliner Fernsehturm, Berlin’s TV Tower

As with the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag and the wall, Berlin’s TV Tower (Berliner Fernsehturm in German) is definitely one of the city’s most iconic landmarks. If you’re in and around the central Mitte area, it’s pretty hard to avoid. Indeed, we had a running joke during our visit that it was following us.

View of the TV Tower from Alexanderplatz

The TV Tower was built by the government of the German Democratic Republic, otherwise known as East Germany and was completed in 1969. At 368m tall including the antenna, it still remains the tallest structure in Germany and third tallest in Europe.

Around the base of the TV Tower, where you'll various bars, restaurants and other businesses — Around the base of the TV Tower, where you’ll various bars, restaurants and other businesses

The tower is located next to Alexanderplatz in the central Mitte district of Berlin, which was part of East Berlin at the time. As you may have guessed, its original purpose was to boost television signals in the former GDR, which was only allocated two frequency channels, with the country not being officially recognised by many countries at the time.

Inside the base of the TV Tower, certainly of its time

In addition to its original purpose, it has a publicly accessible viewing deck and rotating restaurant. Originally a symbol of the GDR and listed monument, it’s since become a symbol of a reunified Berlin and Germany and a top tourist destination in the city.

As the day after relocating to our Airbnb apartment in Mitte was a bit dully and rainy, a trip up the TV Tower seemed like a good idea. Prior to having kids, we’d been up the tower in 2008 when we visited Berlin during an interrailing trip. But we were happy to go up again with the kids.

View from the ceiling of the lift as we travelled up

It appeared like it wasn’t just us who had that idea that day, as there were quite a few other people visiting the tower, judging by the queue. After waiting a little while to go up, we took one of the lifts on the 40 second ride up to the viewing deck.

As you’ll see from the following photos, the view from the TV Tower is pretty fantastic. If you’ve just arrived in the city, it’s a great place to start, as the view really helps you get to grips with Berlin and understand how the different areas relate to each other.

View from the TV Tower

Ever start something thinking it’s a good idea, then begin to regret it? Well, for some reason I thought why not take a photo out of every single window of the TV Tower’s viewing deck, so I’d have a full panorama of Berlin.

Sounded straightforward enough, but then proved to be a slightly frustrating in a busy TV Tower. I can be pretty stubborn at times though, so I did persevere. So here’s the output of my efforts for you to enjoy!