The Best Golf Courses Around Berlin: A Practical Guide
All Square 9min read •
Today
Berlin isn’t a city golfers think of first when planning a European trip, and that’s partly fair — Brandenburg’s flat, forested terrain doesn’t produce the dramatic coastal holes you’ll find in the Algarve or Costa Brava. But the region around Berlin has more than 20 golf clubs, several of them designed by major-championship winners, and All Square’s own ratings of the 12 courses in and around the city give a reliable picture of which ones are worth building a trip around. This guide works through that full list, plus the logistics, pricing and timing you need to plan a visit properly.
Which golf courses around Berlin are worth playing?
The clear headline act, and All Square’s top-rated course in the region, is the Faldo Course at Golf Club Bad Saarow, about 50km southeast of the city near the Scharmützelsee lake. Designed by Nick Faldo with European Golf Design and opened in 1996, it’s a links-style layout built with 133 pot bunkers, playing to a par of 72 over 6,468 metres from the back tees (course rating 75.2, slope 150). It’s hosted the 2000 Eisenhower Trophy and Espirito Santo Trophy and, more recently, the 2018 European Amateur Team Championship, and it’s been ranked among Germany’s top ten courses by Golf World. It’s one of three full 18-hole layouts at the Bad Saarow resort.
The Palmer Course (Arnold Palmer, 1995, par 72, 6,563m), All Square’s second-highest-rated course in the region, is more forgiving and tree-lined — generally regarded as the easier and more relaxed of the two full-length layouts.
The Stan Eby Course (2001, par 71, 5,950m) is shorter still and better suited to higher handicaps or a lighter second round; it sits lower in All Square’s ratings than its two siblings, largely on the strength of fewer, more mixed reviews rather than any real drop in course quality. Bad Saarow also has a 9-hole McEwan Par-3 course (par 27, 1,221m). The resort itself is a genuine stay-and-play destination, with on-site accommodation split between the Precise Resort (115 rooms) and the aja Bad Saarow (150 rooms), a spa of roughly 4,200 square metres, and a yacht academy on the lake.
Märkischer Golf Club Potsdam (“Der Märkische”), west of the city near Potsdam, ties with Berliner Golf Club Gatow just below Wilkendorf in the ratings. Its 18-hole championship course — the Fontane Course, par 72, designed by Christoph Städler and completed in 1995 — is a narrower, more sportively challenging design with small greens, backed up by a 9-hole Lenné Course and a public 9-hole Family short course, plus one of the region’s larger practice facilities, including a 380-metre circular driving ground.
Berliner Golf Club Gatow, in the Spandau/Kladow district, is the most convenient option if you’re staying centrally — about a 30-minute drive from the Brandenburg Gate. Founded in 1969 as The British Golf Club Gatow by the Royal Air Force, it’s the second-oldest club in the Berlin-Brandenburg area. The 18-hole course plays to a par of 72 over roughly 5,325m (5,825 yards, rating 71.3, slope 126) and mixes the original “old” nine with a “new” nine added in 2001 (Rainer Preissmann) and later reworked greens (David Krause Design, Holger Rengstorf). It’s a parkland layout built around a 13,000 square metre lake, and it also runs a short 6-hole course.
Close behind in the ratings is Schloss Wilkendorf Golf & Spa Resort, roughly 45 minutes east of the city in the Märkische Schweiz. Its Sandy Lyle Course (1995), designed by Sandy Lyle with Ross McMurray, plays 6,517m from the white tees with a slope of 133, and has repeatedly placed among Germany’s top ten courses and Europe’s top 100. The 16th, a par-5 played from terraced tees down to a lake, is generally cited as the course’s best hole. Wilkendorf also has the Westside Course, an easier 18-hole layout that’s the only fully public course (no club affiliation required) in the Berlin-Brandenburg region, plus a 6-hole short course for a quick warm-up or evening round.
Golfpark Berlin Prenden, north of the city near Wandlitz, is a 27-hole facility — an 18-hole championship course (rating 72.3, slope 129) plus a 9-hole Prenden Pines course, both dating to 1990 and associated with the design work of Bernhard Langer’s studio. It’s a links-influenced layout with large, terraced greens, natural rough, water hazards and numerous pot bunkers, and it’s one of the more affordable well-regarded options in the region.
Berliner Golf Club Stolper Heide, also north of the city, offers two contrasting full 18-hole courses on the same site. The West Course, designed by Bernhard Langer and opened in 1997, is a parkland-and-heathland design playing to par 72 across four rated tees, from 5,222m up to 6,507m, and finishes with a genuinely long par-4 measuring up to 453 metres. The East Course, designed by Kurt Rossknecht and opened in 2003, is styled as a links/heathland layout (par 72, white tees 6,367m, slope 136). There’s also a 6-hole Borchert Short Course for beginners or a quick practice session.
Further out, three courses round out the rest of All Square’s Berlin list, each worth knowing about if you’re staying multiple days or want a lower-cost round. Potsdamer Golf Club, in Ketzin west of Potsdam, is an 18-hole parkland course laid out through former orchards and open terrain, with water and sand hazards that make its 9th hole — a par-3 played over a pond — a genuine test.
Golf Club Kallin, near Nauen in the Havelland, is a 27-hole facility (18-hole par-72 course plus a 9-hole par-32 layout) set in a pine forest, built around some 35,000 square metres of water and 53 sand bunkers.
And Golf Club Gross Kienitz, south of the city in the Fläming area near Zossen, is regarded locally as the longest golf course in Berlin-Brandenburg, an 18-hole championship layout backed by a public 9-hole course and a 3-hole practice course, with two 300-metre driving ranges.
Golf Resort Berlin Pankow, inside Berlin’s city limits in the north of the city, is the most accessible course for anyone without a car, reachable by S-Bahn or bus as well as by road. Its 18-hole Sepp Maier Course (opened 2004/2005, par 72, roughly 5,940m) is notable for an unusual par-6 10th hole measuring 634 metres, and the resort also runs a 9-hole course along a stream, a 6-hole short course and a 3-hole practice layout — 36 holes in total, with a no-tee-time, turn-up-and-play policy that’s unusual for the region.
What makes golf around Berlin distinctive?
The honest answer is course density and course pedigree relative to price, not scenery. Brandenburg is flat to gently rolling, glacially formed terrain, heavily wooded with pine and birch, dotted with lakes — attractive in a quiet, northern-European way, but not dramatic. What sets the region apart is that within an hour of the city you can play a Nick Faldo links-style design, an Arnold Palmer parkland course, a Sandy Lyle championship layout and two Bernhard Langer-associated courses, all built in the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s during a wave of investment following German reunification, when Brandenburg’s open land and proximity to a major capital made it attractive to resort developers. That concentration of major-championship-winner designs in one metro area is unusual for continental Europe outside of Spain and Portugal’s established golf coasts. The trade-off is that this is inland, continental golf — expect tree-lined corridors and strategic bunkering rather than wind and sea views, and expect courses that play firm and fast in a dry summer rather than the year-round green of a coastal resort.
How do you get to these courses from the airport?
All international flights land at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), situated south-east of the city centre. That location works in your favour for the southern and eastern courses and against you for the ones north of the city. Bad Saarow is around 50km from BER, roughly a 40-to-45-minute drive by car or private transfer; there’s no direct train, so a rental car or pre-booked transfer is the practical option if you’re headed straight there. Schloss Wilkendorf is a similar distance to the northeast, also roughly 45 minutes by road. Golf Club Gross Kienitz, being south of the city near Zossen, is one of the closer courses to BER given the airport’s own southern location.
Berliner Golf Club Gatow, on the western side of the city, is closer to central Berlin than to the airport — plan on 30 to 40 minutes by car from BER depending on traffic, more at rush hour. Märkischer Golf Club Potsdam, southwest of the city, is a comparable drive, and Potsdamer Golf Club in Ketzin is a little further again to the west. Golf Club Kallin, in the Havelland northwest of the city, is a longer haul across Berlin from BER. The two northern courses, Golfpark Berlin Prenden and Berliner Golf Club Stolper Heide, both sit on the opposite side of the city from the airport; expect an hour or more by car with typical traffic, since the drive effectively crosses Berlin. Golf Resort Berlin Pankow, inside the city in the north, is reachable by S-Bahn or bus in addition to a car, which makes it a sensible choice if you’d rather not rent a vehicle for the whole trip.
Public transport works reasonably well for reaching central Berlin from BER (the airport has direct rail links into the city), but most of the golf clubs are not realistically reachable by train and bus without a long changeover — a car is the sensible choice for anyone planning to play more than one or two courses. If you’re based centrally and playing only Gatow or Pankow, a taxi, rideshare or public transport is workable; for anywhere else on this list, renting a car for the trip or booking a private transfer through your hotel is worth the cost.
When is the best time to play golf near Berlin?
Berlin has a continental climate with a fairly firm playing season. The practical window for golf is April through September, which is also when most clubs run their standard green fee rates and tee sheets fill up. May, June and September tend to offer the most reliable combination of mild temperatures and lower rainfall, while July and August are warmest but can bring occasional thunderstorms typical of central European summers. Winters are cold, with temperatures regularly dropping below freezing from December through February, and most Brandenburg courses either close outright or switch to winter greens and reduced rates during that period — worth checking directly with the club if you’re planning a shoulder-season trip in March or November, since conditions vary year to year. Course conditioning is generally at its best from late spring into early autumn, before the growing season slows. Golf Resort Berlin Pankow is a partial exception: its flat, open layout on former sewage-farm land is playable across more of the calendar than most clubs in the region, though summer remains the more comfortable time to visit.
Who is a Berlin golf trip best suited for?
This is a good fit for golfers who want to combine a genuine city break with a handful of well-designed rounds, rather than golfers looking for a golf-only holiday. Berlin itself is one of the more compelling city destinations in Europe for history, museums and food, and several of the best courses — Gatow and Pankow especially — are close enough to the centre that you can split a long weekend between sightseeing and golf without the trip feeling like a compromise on either side. It also suits golfers who appreciate playing designs by recognisable major champions — Faldo, Palmer, Lyle, Langer — without paying resort-level prices for the privilege, and who don’t mind inland, tree-lined golf over ocean views. The spread of quality across all 12 courses also makes it a reasonable choice for a group with mixed budgets or mixed handicaps, since a single trip can combine a splurge round at Bad Saarow or Wilkendorf with more affordable, easier days at Prenden, Gatow or Pankow. It’s a weaker fit for anyone whose main goal is a dedicated multi-round golf holiday in warm, dependable weather; for that, the climate window is narrower and the scenery less of a draw than Spain, Portugal or the Mediterranean coast. Treat Berlin as a smart addition to a European city trip, not a substitute for a golf-first destination.
