The Landwehr Canal is one of our favorite places to spend warm Saturday afternoons, just walking along it. But it can also be a pretty exciting place to explore in winter since, from time to time, it freezes completely. A frozen Landwehr Canal happened on the last weekend of February 2018, and we went there to take pictures of everything.
If you don’t know, the Landwehr Canal is an iconic stretch of water that cuts through the heart of Berlin for more than 10 kilometers. It follows from Neukölln to Kreuzberg, joining the Spree River after the Tiergarten. It’s beautiful all across town.
You know what we are discussing if you have been to Berlin before.
In the summer, people are standing by the water. But, in winter, there is ice everywhere. It is not enough for you to walk over, but often, a frozen Landwehr Canal can be seen when temperatures stay below zero for a long time.
According to some friends who have been in Berlin longer than us, it used to happen almost every winter, but since we moved here in 2012, we have seen it only once. This is why we took our cameras there and did the video below.
In the last week of February 2018, the Beast from the East arrived in Berlin, bringing temperatures below -14º at night. This happened for a couple of days, and the Landwehr Canal froze. On a Sunday, we were walking around Neukölln when we saw people walking where the water is. Of course, we had to go down and join them.
Since we come from Brazil and winters are not that cold there, this experience of walking on top of the frozen Landwehr Canal was pretty exceptional. We took way too many pictures and had lots of fun. But it can also be a dangerous experience since you can never know for sure if it is safe to walk over the ice.
Be careful with the Frozen Landwehr Canal!
If you are in Berlin during winter and it’s cold for a long time, check out the Landwehr Canal and see if it’s frozen. If it’s, do an online search and see if the police say walking over the water is okay. Check their advice and avoid areas where you can see cracks, water, and holes. Also, the regions are discolored close to grey or black.
Be careful and have fun as we did!
A Sunday Winter Walk around the Frozen Landwehr Canal in February 2018
Kreuzberg, Tiergarten, Neukölln
Berlin, Germany
