Street parking in Berlin’s paid zones costs €2, €3 or €4 per hour depending on the zone, and almost all zones are free on Sundays. Central car parks cost about €25 for a day, and Park+Ride car parks at outer stations are mostly free. Inside the S-Bahn ring every car, foreign ones included, needs the green low-emission sticker (€5 to €6); without it the fine is €100. This guide covers the zones and hours by district, the Umweltzone rules, car parks with today’s prices and where parking is free in 2026.
Do you need a car? Not for Berlin itself, where public transport reaches everything and a parked car costs €2 to €4 per hour. For Potsdam, the Spreewald, the Baltic coast or a longer tour of eastern Germany, yes: compare prices for car hire at Berlin Brandenburg Airport on DiscoverCars or in the city of Berlin, and collect the car on the day you leave. See also our overview of car rental comparison sites.
Berlin has no single city tariff. Paid street parking is organised in numbered zones (Parkraumbewirtschaftung), and each of the districts decides where the zones are, when they are charged and which of three fee levels applies: €2, €3 or €4 per hour. On top of that, the whole inner city inside the S-Bahn ring is a low-emission zone (Umweltzone) that you may only enter with a green sticker. Outside the ring, most streets are free and there are Park+Ride car parks at S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations.
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| Option | Price | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Street parking in a paid zone | €2, €3 or €4 per hour, depending on the zone | Charged in 15-minute steps of €0.50, €0.75 or €1.00 |
| Kurfürstendamm (Schlüterstraße to Tauentzienstraße) | €4 per hour | Monday to Saturday 09:00–22:00 |
| APCOA Alexa, Alexanderplatz | €2.00 first hour · €2.50 each further hour · €25.00 daily maximum | Open 06:00–00:30; height limit 1.90 m |
| Q-Park DomAquarée, Museum Island side | €25 for 24 hours when booked online | Open 24 hours; height limit 2.00 m |
| APCOA Kant-Center, Charlottenburg | From €2.00 per hour · up to €20.00 per day | Open 24 hours |
| Park+Ride at outer S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations | Free at most sites | Fill up on weekday mornings |
| Green low-emission sticker | €5 at the counter · €6 ordered online | Driving or parking without it: €100 |
The three fee levels have applied since 1 January 2023, when the Berlin Senate raised each of them by one euro. The machine and the sign at the start of the street show which level and which hours apply. These are today’s published figures for the districts visitors use most:
| District | Price per hour | Charging hours |
|---|---|---|
| Mitte (Alexanderplatz, Museum Island, Friedrichstraße, Tiergarten) | Shown on the machine; the district page lists hours only | Most zones Monday to Friday 09:00–20:00 and Saturday 09:00–18:00; ten central zones Monday to Saturday 09:00–22:00; zone 29 every day 09:00–24:00 |
| Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf | €2 in most zones · €3 in zones 7 and 9 · €4 on Kurfürstendamm | Monday to Saturday from 09:00 until 18:00, 20:00 or 22:00, depending on the zone |
| Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (17 zones) | €3 in most zones · €4 in Bergmannkiez, Wrangelkiez, Lausitzer Platz and Ostkreuz-Kiez · €2 in Barnimkiez | Monday to Saturday 09:00–22:00 or 09:00–24:00 |
| Prenzlauer Berg (Pankow, zones 40 to 46) | €2 · €3 at busy spots such as Kollwitzplatz | See the sign; €4 around the Max-Schmeling-Halle during events |
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg added two zones in 2026: zone 54 (Friedenstraße) at €3 per hour until 20:00 and zone 68 (Alexandrinenviertel) at €3 per hour until 22:00. The district says more will follow. Motorcycles and bicycles are exempt from parking fees.
Residents with a permit park in their own zone without paying at the machine. The permit costs €20.40 and is issued only to people registered at an address in the zone, so it is no use to visitors, and permits for guests are now issued only in exceptional cases.
In Mitte and Pankow the districts state that you may then park with a parking disc set to your arrival time, clearly visible behind the windscreen. Faults can be reported to the free hotline 0800 990 990 1 with the number shown on the machine.
The low-emission zone covers the inner city inside the S-Bahn ring, about 88 square kilometres, and is signposted at the roads leading in, mostly at the bridges and underpasses of the S-Bahn. It applies permanently. Every car driving or parking inside needs the green sticker (Umweltplakette) on the windscreen, and that includes cars registered abroad.
The southern section of the city motorway and its slip roads are not part of the zone, so you can pass Berlin without a sticker. How to order one is explained on the Senate’s sticker page.
Underground car park of the Alexa shopping centre at Grunerstraße 20, next to Alexanderplatz station, with 1,595 spaces. Open daily from 06:00 to 00:30, so not for a car you need in the middle of the night. Height limit 1.90 m. The operator’s published tariff is per started hour.
Underground car park at Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 5 with 567 spaces, open 24 hours, height limit 2.00 m. Q-Park does not publish its drive-up tariff online, but sells a daily deal: 24 hours for €25 when booked in advance. The entrance on Spandauer Straße is closed until about March 2027; use the one on Karl-Liebknecht-Straße.
Car park at Alexanderstraße 2 with 650 spaces and 20 charging points, open 24 hours. With a height limit of 2.10 m it takes taller cars than most central car parks. The drive-up tariff is not published online; it is shown at the entrance.
Underground car park at Ludwig-Beck-Straße 2 with 1,995 spaces, open 24 hours, height limit 2.00 m. Useful if you continue by train: Q-Park sells multi-day rail tariffs online, from €31.10 for three days.
Multi-storey car park in Charlottenburg with 288 spaces, open 24 hours. It is one of the cheaper options near the western city centre, where Kurfürstendamm itself costs €4 per hour on the street.
A Senate survey of the city’s Park+Ride sites, published in 2024, lists these among the larger ones. It records a charge or time restriction at only a handful of sites, and none at those below:
| Park+Ride | Spaces | Station | Occupied on a weekday morning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Springpfuhl | 410 | S-Bahn | 85% |
| Pankow-Heinersdorf | 407 + 94 | S-Bahn | 55% and 85% |
| Altglienicke | 271 | S-Bahn | 77% |
| Hönow | 114 + 150 | U-Bahn | 90% and 104% |
| Elsterwerdaer Platz | 208 | U-Bahn | 92% |
| Wuhletal | 144 | S-Bahn and U-Bahn | 80% |
| Alt-Mariendorf | 130 | U-Bahn | 104% |
The figures show the catch: most sites are nearly full by mid-morning, and the survey found several above capacity. Arrive early, or pick Pankow-Heinersdorf, which had the most room. All of these lie outside the Umweltzone, so you can use them without a sticker. The Senate’s Park and Ride page has a map of every site.
You pay at the machine or by phone. The Senate describes mobile payment (Handyparken) by app, text message or call, billed to the minute, through several competing providers that differ in price; the zone code you need is shown on the machine. Register with a provider before you need it, and compare the service charge. The Senate’s parking management page links to the current list of providers and to the zone map.
Parking cost estimator
See Q-Park online deals for Berlin →Pre-filled with €3.00 per hour, the rate in most zones of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. Other zones cost €2 or €4 per hour; APCOA Alexa charges €2.00 for the first hour, €2.50 for each further hour and €25.00 at most per day.
Street parking in a paid zone costs €2, €3 or €4 per hour, depending on the zone; Kurfürstendamm, for example, costs €4. Central car parks charge from about €2.00 to €2.50 per hour, with a daily maximum of €25.00 at APCOA Alexa and a €25 online day deal at Q-Park DomAquarée.
Yes, inside the S-Bahn ring. The Umweltzone rule applies to driving and to parking, and to foreign cars as well. Without a green sticker or an exemption the fine is €100. The sticker costs €5 at the Berlin registration office or €6 ordered online.
In almost all paid zones, yes: they are charged from Monday to Saturday. In the Mitte district the exception is zone 29, which is charged every day from 09:00 to 24:00. Car parks charge their normal tariff on Sundays.
On streets outside the paid zones, which are concentrated in and around the S-Bahn ring, and at Park+Ride car parks at outer stations such as Springpfuhl (410 spaces), Pankow-Heinersdorf (407 + 94), Altglienicke (271) or Elsterwerdaer Platz (208). Most are nearly full on weekday mornings.
It depends on the zone. Most zones in Mitte are charged Monday to Friday 09:00–20:00 and Saturday 09:00–18:00, the central ones until 22:00. In Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg it is 22:00 or midnight, and on Kurfürstendamm 22:00.
Yes, directly with the operators. Q-Park sells online deals such as 24 hours at DomAquarée for €25 and multi-day rail tariffs at Potsdamer Platz from €31.10 for three days. Parclick currently lists only an airport valet service for Berlin.
For the city itself it is not needed: the S-Bahn, U-Bahn, trams and buses cover every district. A car is useful for trips to Potsdam, the Spreewald or the Baltic coast. If you arrive by car, the simplest plan is a Park+Ride outside the ring.
