Karlshorst

Karlshorst lies in the south of the Lichtenberg district, between Friedrichsfelde and the Wuhlheide forest. It was first mentioned in 1825 as the estate "Vorwerk Carlshorst" and grew quickly after 1894, when a horse-racing track moved here, followed by the S-Bahn station (1899-1902) and a planned villa colony.

Its 20th-century history is unusual. On 8 May 1945, the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht was signed in the officers' mess of a former military school here, and the next day the Soviet Military Administration in Germany was set up on the same site. Parts of Karlshorst remained a restricted Soviet military area until 1994. The building now houses the Museum Berlin-Karlshorst, where the surrender hall has been preserved.

On 30 June 2026, 31,958 people were registered here (Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg). Karlshorst has many families: about 17% of residents were under 15 (Berlin: 13.3%). About 18% held a non-German citizenship (Berlin: about 25%).

berlin.de calls Karlshorst one of the most attractive residential areas in the east of Berlin, nicknamed the "Dahlem of the East" because of its villas.

• Villa quarters: the Prinzenviertel and the Seenviertel, with streets named after Brandenburg lakes, have villas in many architectural styles.
• Mixed streets: Wilhelminian villas and apartment buildings stand next to estates from the 1920s and 1930s, post-war blocks and detached houses.
• Waldsiedlung Wuhlheide: a listed 1920s estate with colourful two-storey houses and narrow lanes.
• New neighbourhoods: new housing near the racecourse (for example Carlsgarten) and on former government and military sites.
• Trabrennbahn Karlshorst: trotting races have been held here since 1894.
• HTW Berlin: the University of Applied Sciences has its Treskowallee campus here, in a main building opened in 1914.

Shops for daily needs are concentrated on Ehrlichstraße.

• S-Bahn: the S3 stops at Karlshorst and runs towards Ostkreuz and the city centre in one direction and Köpenick and Erkner in the other. The line divides the locality into a northern and a southern part. Regional trains no longer stop at Karlshorst; the nearest regional stops are at Ostkreuz and Lichtenberg.
• Tram: lines M17, 27 and 37 stop at S Karlshorst and along Treskowallee, connecting Karlshorst with Friedrichsfelde, Lichtenberg, Hohenschönhausen, Schöneweide, Adlershof and Köpenick.
• U-Bahn: the U5 at Tierpark is reached by tram along Treskowallee.

• Villas and single-family homes: large parts of the Prinzenviertel, Seenviertel and the areas towards the Wuhlheide.
• Apartment buildings: from the Wilhelminian period, the 1920s and 1930s and the post-war decades, many renovated.
• New builds: new residential areas near the racecourse and on former government and military sites.

In the IBB Housing Market Report 2025, median asking rents in Karlshorst's three planning areas ranged from €12.28 (Karlshorst West) and €13.50 (Karlshorst Nord) to €18.72 per m² (Karlshorst Süd) net cold, compared with €15.78 for Berlin as a whole. Check any offer against the official rent index query (Mietspiegel 2026).

Karlshorst has a high share of young children: about 2,000 children under six lived here on 30 June 2026, about 6% of residents (Berlin: about 5%). The Wuhlheide forest and park to the south, the Tierpark to the north and the quiet villa streets make it attractive for families.

Search daycare places by address in the Kita-Navigator and look up schools in the Senate's school directory; see our guides on childcare and schools.