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Flea Markets in Berlin: Trödel treasure troves

Berliners are known for their love of vintage stores and buying stuff second-hand – we're actually pretty proud of it. Here are some of the best flea markets for all your shopping needs.

Mauerpark

Photo: IMAGO / F. Berger

This pillar of Berlin flea-marketry has become a must-visit Sunday destination for tourists and locals alike. The many food, coffee and juice stalls may have something to do with its popularity. Hundreds of sellers set up their booths here: some of them professionals with brick-and-mortar hustles during the week, others regular Berliners looking to monetise their Marie Kondo-inspired cleaning sprees.

There’s everything here, from handcrafted jewellery to prints and artisanal toiletries, as well as the more typical Flohmarkt selection of furniture, glassware and CDs crammed into labelled cardboard boxes. On a recent visit, one of the most exciting finds was a road sign to Wedding (€90), just crying out to be hung in a WG-Küche.

  • Bernauer Straße 63-64

Arkonaplatz

Flea market on Arkonaplatz. Photo: IMAGO / PEMAX

A mere seven-minute walk from Mauerpark, Arkonaplatz is smaller, cuter and oozes boho Kiez charm. It also offers a higher concentration of quality than its behemoth neighbour from a mix of full-time and occasional sellers.

Here you’ll find retro furniture, 1960-70s upholstered chairs, clocks and design lamps, stylish deco ceramics and collectors’ pieces. Then there’s vinyl, china, and a large selection of vintage sunglasses and frames. There’s even fancy jewellery (and if you’re lucky you might score something like a golden Art Deco brooch for just €10). The food stops at bratwurst and fries, but the square, dating back to 1853, is surrounded by pleasant enough cafés.

  • Arkonaplatz 1

Trabrennbahn Karlshorst

Trabrennbahn Karlshorst

This is Berlin’s largest antique market. On the first weekend of every month, over 700 exhibitors from Germany and beyond gather across the 25,000sqm venue that winds around horse-racing tracks in the city’s deep southeast. There’s something for everyone here: €1 vintage postcards, 1960-80s jewellery, FDJ shirts (€5) and retro kitchenware. (Ceramic coffee drippers are back!)

Spruce up your bland, Ikea-furnished home with the unique retro flair of 1960s sideboards and chairs, design lamps (industrial/surgical/office) and remarkably unblemished couches. There are also older antiques, including some surprisingly affordable 1930s gramophones (€160 for a perfectly conserved HMV phonograph). Don’t miss the corner of the market reserved for aficionados of cigarette boxes and chocolate tins. For €5 onwards, there are some real beauties here.

  • Treskowallee

Fehrbelliner Platz

Fehrbelliner Platz’s flea market in Wilmersdorf. Photo: IMAGO / Stefan Zeitz

For the pretty-square flair but this time in City West, head to Fehrbelliner Platz. The main draw here is small collector’s items and antique curiosities, from West African artworks for up to €30 to a beautiful decades-old Turkish rug for €60. Cinephiles (who still have a DVD player) should look out for the DVD stand, where they’ll find classic and rare films for a few euros. Clothing, selling on average for around €15, is mainly restricted to more traditional women’s dresses and coats. On Sundays, artists sell their own creations on the ‘Art Mile’, from paintings to ceramics, jewellery and furniture. The go-to lunch spot here is the adjacent ‘Thai park’, which recently turned legit, and where you can gorge on authentic curries for under €8.

  • Fehrbelliner Platz 1

Hansamarkt

Antique radio sets on display at a flea market. Photo: IMAGO / ITAR-TASS

Feeling adventurous and ready for the ungentrified Ossi experience? Head to the Fressnapf pet store car park in the far northeast neighbourhood of Weissensee. GDR natives and Poles spend their Sundays here parting with an incommensurable amount of homeware, clothes, accessories, electronics, you name it… always at dirt-cheap prices. If lucky, you may unearth a genuine bargain, like refined lady’s leather gloves for €5, a perfectly working GDR-era radio for €25, or even a beautiful Bergmann racing bike for €275. You can feast on proper proletarian grub – pea soup and bockwurst or smoked fish supplied by a resident Russian – all while listening to semi-live Schlager.

  • Hansastraße 188

Boxhagener Platz

Boxhagener Platz

Friedrichshain is for flea markets. Throngs of buyers spend their Sundays here haggling for the latest addition to their coveted collection of 1990s streetwear, GDR bric-à-brac, retro accessories or home junk. Garments sell for as cheap as a couple of euros – or up to €20 for winter coats, €30 for denim jackets, and €39 for colourful woollies and lumberjack shirts. Buyers and purveyors alike can enjoy a languorous moment away from the crowd over their own picnic or takeaway from any of the cafés and eateries along the streets that wend their way about the square.

  • Boxhagener Platz 1

Kranoldplatz

Markets and shops at Kranoldplatz. Photo: IMAGO / tagesspiegel

This is still kind of a well-kept secret among Neukölln’s 20-something artsy crowd. Hidden away in a small residential square near Hermannstraße, it offers stall after stall after stall of young locals’ spare clothing, necklaces, sunglasses, shoes and more. Get ready to dig through suitcases and piles of clothes, and it’s pretty guaranteed you’ll find something unique for at most €15.

Just a short walk from the S-Bahn, you really have no excuse not to get stuck in. And while you’re at it, get mingling! The market is full of indie entrepreneurs and aspiring types eager to self-promote their manuscripts, handicrafts or catering services. Grab a bao bun or samosa, get your cash ready, and get searching for those steals.

  • Kranoldplatz 1

Strasse des 17. Juni

Sunday flea market. Photo: IMAGO / Panthermedia

Charlottenburg’s Original Berliner Trödelmarkt remains the place for proper antiques and other collectables. Coins? Teacups? Altbau door handles? This place has ‘em! Stretching from Landwehrkanal’s Einsteinufer to the edge of the Tiergarten, the weekend gathering attracts many professional sellers catering to older crowds and lost tourists. Keep your eyes open for porcelain gems (a pair of miniature Afghan hounds for €20) or storied paintings (a stern portrait of Paul von Hindenburg, anyone?).

Trendsetters are scarce to be found here, but savvy fashionistas know this is the place for winter coat-shopping, whether it’s mint-condition Burberry trenches you’re after (steep but still a steal at €200-450), or top-quality fur.

  • Str. des 17. Juni

RAW Gelände

Photo: IMAGO / Jürgen Held

Down in Warschauer Straße’s RAW Gelände, the Sunday fashion market is a prime opportunity for young, skimpy Berliners to empty their wardrobes and raise money for the next style revolution, cup of boba in hand. Some of the more choice items on a recent visit were a vintage silk kimono in mint condition for €70, Thai boxing shorts for €15, or a leather jacket with fleece lining for a steep €100. But at €2 for a skirt or €3 for a leopard-print top, completing the look is affordable enough. You can even buy second-hand lingerie.

If you get overwhelmed, just sit back and soak up the spirit of the Y2K revival. Or have a bite: there’s an international platter of food options, including Colombian, Russian, Mexican and Turkish specialities.

  • Revaler Str. 99

If you’re looking for something unique to complete your look, we’re positive you’ll find something in our vintage shopping guide. Want more Berlin tips? Subscribe to our newsletter.