Making friends and building a social life in Berlin

• Choose one or two regular commitments rather than many one-off events. A weekly training session, choir rehearsal or volunteering shift creates the repeated contact that friendships need.
• Go local. Activities in your Kiez (neighbourhood) make it easy to keep going and to bump into people outside the activity.
• Accept a slow start. Being invited home or to private events often takes longer than meeting for an activity. Suggest a coffee or a walk after a session yourself - many people are glad someone asks.
• Mix languages. International groups help at the start; German-speaking groups help you settle for the long term and improve your German at the same time.
• Keep an eye on yourself. If loneliness starts to affect your sleep, mood or health, talk to someone (see the last section).

Germany's club system (Verein, registered association) is one of the most reliable ways to meet people. Clubs are run by members, meet at fixed times, and many hold social events beyond the activity itself. You usually pay a membership fee; ask whether you can try a session first (Probetraining, or Schnupperstunde for choirs) before you sign up.

Sports clubs. The Landessportbund Berlin (Berlin's umbrella sports federation) has an online club search (Vereinssuche) where you can filter by district and by sport - from volleyball, table tennis and swimming to hiking, dance, tai chi and triathlon. Through the federal programme "Integration durch Sport" (Integration through Sport), the Landessportbund supports clubs that make a particular effort to welcome people with a migration background; there is a map of these Stützpunktvereine (partner clubs) on its website.

Choirs. According to the Chorverband Berlin (the Berlin choir association), around 75,000 people sing in more than 2,500 choirs and ensembles in Berlin - classical, pop, gospel, jazz, folk and more. Its "Find your choir" list can be filtered by district, genre and rehearsal day, and its noticeboard lists choirs looking for new singers, including beginners. All its member choirs are amateur ensembles.

Other associations exist for almost every interest - hiking, chess, cycling, photography, allotments, local history, parents' groups, diaspora and cultural associations. Ask at your neighbourhood centre or library what is active nearby.

Volunteering (Ehrenamt, freiwilliges Engagement) gives you a role, a team and a reason to come back every week - and often a lot of German practice.

• Where to search: Berlin's former city volunteering portal (bürgeraktiv) has been switched off. The Senate now points to the Berliner Engagementplattform of LAGFA Berlin, the umbrella organisation of Berlin's volunteer agencies (Freiwilligenagenturen), which collects opportunities from all of them. Most districts also have their own volunteer agency where you can get personal advice.
• Typical roles: helping at a neighbourhood centre, homework help, language cafés, food rescue, sports coaching, garden projects, visiting older people, events and festivals.
• Recognition: if you volunteer for at least 200 hours a year for at least a year in Berlin or Brandenburg, without pay beyond expenses, you can apply for the Ehrenamtskarte Berlin-Brandenburg (volunteer card) via an app. It gives discounts with more than 500 partners and, for example, a 50% reduction on many Berlin Volkshochschule courses.

If your residence permit restricts the work you may do, ask the immigration office before accepting any role that comes with payment beyond expenses.

Every Berlin district has neighbourhood centres (Stadtteilzentren or Nachbarschaftshäuser), funded by the Land Berlin. They are open to everyone, independent of political parties and religions, and are designed as "living rooms of the Kiez": places where people of different generations and backgrounds meet.

Typical offers include creative courses, sports groups, self-help groups (many centres work with self-help contact points), language and learning groups, social and family advice, family activities and street festivals. Many welcome volunteers and new ideas from residents - if you want to start a group, this is a good place to ask.

Find a centre near you on the Senate's interactive map or on the district lists of the association of neighbourhood centres. Each year the Woche der Nachbarschaft (Neighbourhood Week) brings festivals at more than a hundred neighbourhood locations - a low-threshold way to meet people where you live.

Berlin has more than 200 community gardens (Gemeinschaftsgärten), where neighbours grow vegetables, herbs and flowers together and often cook and share the harvest. Many are intercultural gardens that bring together people from different countries. Some, especially in the inner city, have waiting lists; others are actively looking for help - it is worth asking.

The city's Berlin gärtnert portal has a garden map showing hundreds of gardens, a calendar of workshops and hands-on events, and advice on joining or starting a garden. Allotments (Kleingärten) are a different model: you lease your own plot from a club through the district association, and waiting lists can be long.

Volkshochschulen. The 12 public adult education centres run courses in cooking, dance, painting, photography, theatre, music, history, politics, IT, fitness, languages and much more. A course meets weekly for several weeks, which is ideal for getting to know people. Since 1 August 2026 the base fee is €3.20 per 45-minute lesson, and many groups (for example people on low incomes, students and volunteer-card holders) pay half on most courses.

Public libraries. Berlin's 80-plus public libraries held more than 38,000 events in 2025. Many are free: reading clubs, games evenings, digital help cafés and conversation groups such as the regular Sprachsalon German practice group at the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek. The ZLB also opens the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek on Sundays from 11:00 to 17:00 with a programme of events. In November 2026 libraries across Germany are invited to take part in a themed month against loneliness, "Gemeinsam in der Bibliothek" (Together in the library), with low-threshold events such as reading circles and story cafés. See the guide to libraries in Berlin.

Language groups and tandems. In a language tandem two people teach each other their native languages - for example half an hour in German and half an hour in your language. Universities organise tandems for their own members (for example TU Berlin's language centre for TU students and staff); outside university, people find partners through library and neighbourhood-centre noticeboards, conversation groups and personal contacts. Agree on a rhythm, split the time fairly, and meet in a public place at first.

• Be a regular. Going to the same weekly market, café, park or swimming pool makes faces familiar - small talk often starts there.
• Street and district festivals (Kiezfeste), flea markets and open days are listed in the city's official events calendar on berlin.de and on district and neighbourhood-centre websites.
• Parents often build networks through the Kita and school, parents' cafés and family centres. The Berlin family portal (Familienportal) lists support and neighbourhood offers for families.
• Your building. Introducing yourself to neighbours and joining a house or courtyard initiative can turn a building into a community.
• Work. Colleagues can become friends; joining after-work activities or company sports groups helps, but it is wise not to rely on work alone.
• Online groups and apps can be a good bridge, especially for interest groups and newcomer meet-ups. Meet people you only know online in a public place first.

Chronic loneliness can raise the risk of mental and physical illness. If you feel isolated for a long time, low or anxious, please do not wait it out alone:

• TelefonSeelsorge (telephone counselling): free and available around the clock on 0800 111 0 111, 0800 111 0 222 or 116 123, and also by chat and email.
• Your GP (Hausarzt) can talk with you about how you feel and refer you to further help.
• Self-help groups at neighbourhood centres bring together people in similar situations.

For psychotherapy, crisis services and support in other languages, see the guide on mental health support in Berlin. In an emergency, call 112.