Observation deck at Berlin Brandenburg Airport

As of October 2026 – At the capital’s airport there are many spots along the fence where spotters stand, but only one place the operator itself has set up for visitors: the observation deck on the roof of Terminal 1. It is outside the security area, open daily into the evening and reachable directly by train. All you need is a ticket for a fixed time slot.

This page shows you what you can realistically see from up there, how to make good use of the 90-minute window, why older spotter guides can mislead you here – and when you are better off moving on to the fence after your visit.

One airport, two runways, one terminal in the middle

BER began operations on October 31, 2020, and took over the role of Tegel and the old Schönefeld. It lies directly on Berlin’s southern city limits in the municipality of Schönefeld. For spotters the geometry matters most: two parallel runways run east-west, the north runway at 3,600 meters and the south runway at 4,000 meters long. About 1,900 meters lie between them – and exactly in that gap stands Terminal 1 with its main pier as well as the north and south piers.

That explains the character of the deck. You are not standing at the edge of a runway but in the middle of the ground handling operation. What happens right in front of you is docking, ground handling, pushback and taxiing. Takeoffs and landings happen to your left and right at a clear distance.

One detail many people stumble over: since October 3, 2024 the runways have had different names. Because the Earth’s magnetic field has shifted, 07L/25R became today’s 06L/24R in the north and 07R/25L became 06R/24L in the south. The flight paths themselves have stayed the same. If you plan with older guides, maps or simulator data, you have to translate the designations in your head.

What you actually get to see from the roof

BER is an airport for European traffic. In 2025 it counted well over 26 million passengers and about 193,000 aircraft movements. The largest share of passenger volume most recently went to the low-cost airlines: Ryanair and easyJet were in front in 2023, followed by Lufthansa, Eurowings, Turkish Airlines, Swiss, British Airways, KLM, Austrian Airlines and SunExpress.

For your type list that means: narrowbody aircraft make up most of your sightings. The Airbus A320neo and its family members as well as the Boeing 737-800 dominate the apron. For beginners especially that is no disadvantage, quite the opposite: here you learn to tell the A320 family from the 737, to recognize winglets and sharklets and to read registrations – at a calm pace and from up close.

With long-haul you should calibrate your expectations. Some airlines connect Berlin with destinations outside Europe, but on a normal day a widebody on the apron remains the exception. If you are specifically looking for widebodies, you are better off at the hubs, for example at the visitors’ hill in Munich.

Access, ticket and time slot

The way up is quickly explained but easy to miss. You go into the check-in hall of Terminal 1 and ride up to Level 2, the gallery. There you keep left past the Starbucks branch toward the southern access area. Only here are the revolving door and the elevators to the deck.

According to the airport, the ticket costs 3 euros per person and is valid for a fixed 90-minute window. You book it on the airport’s website, in the BER app or on site at the ticket machines at the entrances. At the machine you pay cashless by debit card (Girocard), credit card or contactless with your smartphone. Every guest needs their own ticket, children too; the operator does not offer discounted tickets.

Important for planning: the window begins at the booked time and ends 90 minutes later – regardless of when you actually arrive. If you arrive late, you waste spotting time. If you want to stay longer, book the following window right away.

Item	What applies	What that means for you
Opening hours	daily 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.	evening traffic and dusk also possible
Ticket	€3 per person, 90-minute slot	book beforehand, be there on time
Security area	not part of it	no check, but ticket required
Luggage	only small bags and backpacks	keep your gear compact
Animals and smoking	not permitted	the dog stays home
Closure	possible due to weather or technical problems	check online briefly on the day of your visit

Runway direction in use: why it counts differently here

At runway spots, the runway direction in use decides whether you see anything at all. On the deck this is more relaxed, because the apron is busy in every direction. Still, a look at the wind is worthwhile. Aircraft take off and land into the wind – in west wind that means toward 24, in east wind toward 06. Because westerly weather patterns dominate in Germany, west operations are usually more frequent at German airports – at BER that means direction 24.

A second rule of thumb is practical for the deck: according to the German air navigation service (Deutsche Flugsicherung), as reproduced in spotter guides, the landing runway for arrivals depends on the later parking position. Aircraft for positions north of gate B05 usually land on the north runway, aircraft for positions farther south on the south runway – deviations for operational reasons are possible. If you know at which position an expected flight is handled, you can roughly estimate on which side it touches down. How to follow that live is described in the guide Flight tracking with ADS-B for spotters; the basics on wind direction are in Understanding runway configuration at an airport.

Also keep the operating hours in mind. Flights operate at BER from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.; there are no regular takeoffs and landings between midnight and 5 a.m. For you, only the deck’s window from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. counts anyway – you will not catch the early departure waves before eight from here.

Light and photography on the deck

The light question is quickly settled on a deck above the apron: spotters report that the sun is favorable on the gates from the morning until about 4 p.m., while taxiing traffic is better lit in the early morning hours. Since the deck only opens at 8 a.m., the morning is your best window. In the late afternoon and evening you slide increasingly into backlight – then silhouettes and mood shots are the better choice than type documentation. You calculate the sun position for your day of visit beforehand with the guide Planning the sun position at a photo spot.

On technique: field reports from the spotter scene mention glass panes on at least part of the deck. Against reflections it helps to hold the lens as close to and as straight against the pane as possible, to use a rubber lens hood and to wear dark clothing. Cleanly wiped spots are worth gold – so walk the deck once before you commit.

On focal length: for aircraft at the gates, a telephoto zoom up to about 300 millimeters is enough. For the runways you need considerably more – and even then distance and heat haze over the asphalt on warm days limit sharpness. So plan the deck as an apron spot and not as a runway spot.

How to use your 90-minute window

Getting there without a car

Getting there is the big strength of this spot. The Flughafen BER station lies directly beneath Terminal 1 – you ride the escalator from the lower level into the check-in hall and are on the gallery within a few minutes. The Flughafen-Express FEX connects BER with Berlin Central Station, and regional trains and S-Bahn services stop there too. In fare terms the airport is in zone C of the Berlin-Brandenburg transit association; if you only have a ticket for zones A and B, you need an add-on ticket. The Deutschlandticket (Germany’s nationwide monthly transit pass) is valid on the regional trains.

By car, the airport recommends the car parks P3, P7 and P8 near the terminal, which can be booked online in advance. For a 90-minute visit, though, the train is almost always the more relaxed choice.

Alternatives around the airport

The deck is the official and most convenient spot, but not the only one. Around the grounds, spotters use hills, farm tracks and roadsides at the runway ends, for example near Selchow and Waßmannsdorf, as well as the top deck of the connection between car parks P7 and P8. From there you are much closer to takeoffs and landings. The catch: you can practically only reach many of these points by car or bicycle, they offer no infrastructure, and which one works at a given time depends heavily on the runway direction in use.

If you go to such places, the same applies as everywhere: stay on public paths, do not block access roads, do not climb on or over fences and follow instructions from airport staff and police. What is legally permitted and what is not is summarized in the article Is plane spotting allowed?. If you are new to the hobby, it is best to start with the guide Plane spotting for beginners and get to know the airport from the deck first.

For comparison with other German observation decks, take a look at the observation deck at Düsseldorf Airport, which offers a similar concept with a different traffic mix.

On-site rules and consideration

The deck is a public place subject to the airport operator’s house rules. The operator allows only small bags and backpacks, animals stay outside, and there is no smoking. According to reports from the spotter scene, ladders are not permitted – you do not need one for a deck railing anyway. Photographing from the deck is the whole point; still, staff who speak to you about something have the final say.

Conclusion

The observation deck on Terminal 1 is not a runway spot but an apron spot – and as such it does its job. You get there without a car, need no security check and learn more about the A320 family and the 737 in 90 minutes than at some other places in a whole day. The limits are just as clear: distant runways, little long-haul, a fixed time slot and, according to spotter reports, glass in front of the lens.

If you know that, you plan accordingly: book a morning slot, work through the apron and – if you have a car or bicycle with you – move on to one of the points at the fence in the afternoon.