Reading

Bookstore, reading café, and delicatessen in one: Buchkantine, located in Moabit on the Spree, combines literature with culinary aspirations across approximately 400 square meters. Browse books, drink cappuccino, taste champagne - all with a view of the water.

The spacious theater bookstore Einar & Bert in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg is the only Berlin bookstore focusing on theater, dance, music, and art.

Berlin's first cat café is located in Neukölln's Körnerkiez and offers perhaps the most relaxed remedy for any gloomy morning after. Organic homemade cakes, strong coffee, and three cats setting the pace - here, Skadi, Ylvi, and Odin call the shots.

The Dorotheenstädtische Buchhandlung, located opposite the Moabit district court, has been delighting its customers for years, not with a chic ambiance or a latte macchiato island, but with genuine care for readers and true expertise.

Novels in all languages, audiobooks, specialist literature e.g. from the fields of computer science and natural sciences, as well as films and music of all genres - Dussmann, the large culture department store on Friedrichstraße, is a true mecca for culture enthusiasts!

In Volkspark Rehberge, in the heart of Berlin's Wedding district, a listed open-air stage from the 1930s transforms every summer into one of the city's most atmospheric open-air cinemas. Here, you sit under the open sky, surrounded by old trees, watching films on an inflatable screen.

Since 2000, one of Berlin's most enduring after-work venues has stood on Lützowplatz in Tiergarten: the Trompete. On Thursday evenings, the elegant cellar lounge transforms into a place where the end of the workday is celebrated exuberantly, with radioeins DJs, soul, house, and cocktails deep into the night.

The TAZ-Kantine on the ground floor of the new taz building on Friedrichstraße in Kreuzberg has been a meeting point for the editorial team and the neighborhood since 2005. At lunchtime, there's a changing menu with many vegan dishes starting from 9.90 euros, and a cappuccino costs 3.60 euros. As a reading café in Berlin, it scores with the current taz newspaper on the table and the taz Talks in the evening.

She said on Kottbusser Damm in Neukölln has been both a bookstore and a specialty coffee shop since 2020. The shelves exclusively feature books by women and queer authors, many from marginalized perspectives. At the counter, freshly baked cinnamon rolls are available daily. Authors read from their new books here one to two times a month.

ocelot on Brunnenstraße in Mitte is an independent bookstore with a café and large windows overlooking Volkspark am Weinberg. The shelves feature literary fiction, poetry, English titles, and many small publishers, while a La-Marzocco machine graces the counter. For this reading café in Berlin-Mitte, it means: come early, as the few tables fill up quickly.

Pro qm deserves the label 'most stylish book dealer' in all of Berlin.

Café Tasso on Frankfurter Allee in Friedrichshain is both an organic café and a second-hand bookshop: over 20,000 used books are available on the terrace, on the ground floor, and in three basement rooms, each costing 2.50 Euros. The reading café is run as an inclusion enterprise. A novel from the shelf costs less here than the cappuccino you drink with it.

Frau Polda in Maxstraße on Leopoldplatz is a bookstore and Italian bistro in one, opened in 2025 by a publishing professional and a restaurateur from Tuscany. Between novels, children's books, and English titles, there's focaccia from 3.40 Euro and Aperol Spritz. In this reading café in Wedding, a chapter is often followed by focaccia under the tree.

The Freilichtbühne Weißensee is located on the shore of Lake Weißensee in Pankow and is run voluntarily by an association. The listed Great Stage seats around 2,000 guests, with an additional courtyard stage and a children's stage. In 2026, the Crucchi Gang and the Moka Efti Orchestra performed here. Open-air concerts and cinema alternate from May to September.

In Wedding, directly at Leopoldplatz, the Schiller Library with its youth media floor offers much more than just bookshelves: Across three levels and 1,800 m², children and young people encounter Berlin's most diverse media offerings, from consoles to mangas and a reading lounge.

The Café Schwartzsche Villa is located in the Steglitz Cultural Centre, home to the Berlin Authors' Forum, where readings regularly take place in the salon. It is operated by an inclusion company, and a slice of cake costs 4 Euros. As a reading café in Berlin-Steglitz, the yellow Wilhelminian villa boasts a summer garden for around 100 guests.

LeseGlück in Ohlauer Straße, Kreuzberg, is a neighborhood bookstore with coffee and a couch, founded in 2007 and awarded the German Bookstore Prize in 2021. The shelves feature German and English titles, many from independent publishers. Tips at this Berlin reading café come from the owners, who also present books on radioeins.

In the backyard of an old factory in Moabit, between brick walls and train tracks, the Kulturfabrik Moabit's Open-Air Cinema shows films every summer that are rarely seen on a screen in Berlin. Admission is free, the atmosphere unique.

Shakespeare & Sons on Warschauer Straße in Friedrichshain is an English-language bookstore with its own bagel bakery: Fine Bagels hand-rolls and New York-boils its bagels. Tables are set between the shelves for browsing. In this reading café in Berlin, the next novel is usually already on the table before the bagel arrives.

Periplaneta's literary café on Bornholmer Straße in Prenzlauer Berg is a café, publishing bookstore, and reading stage of the eponymous indie publisher. During the day, people read and work with coffee and Wi-Fi; in the evenings, TresenLesen, Vision & Wahn, and the open stage Rühmchen take place. Anyone who wants to read their own texts here only needs courage and seven minutes.

The lunch variety of Muse Restaurant is really diverse and a real lunch treat with various gourmet sandwiches, burgers, salads and soups!

At Hennwack Antiquarian Bookshop in Berlin-Steglitz, books are the focus! Hennwack is Berlin's largest antiquarian bookshop and also offers a small café.

Feasting and reading are paramount at Café Bilderbuch in Berlin-Schöneberg.

Muse Restaurant not only entices with gourmet sandwiches, burgers, and salads for lunch but also offers a Merry Christmuse Supperclub on December 15th.