10 Best Souvenirs and Gifts from Berlin

I've been writing about this city for what feels like 20 Berlin winters, and if there's one question that comes up every year, it's this:

“What can you bring back from Berlin besides an Ampelmännchen (traffic light man from East Berlin)?”

Here's my answer: 10 beautiful, creative, and unusual souvenirs and gift ideas from Berlin that don't smell like airport souvenirs, but like real neighborhood, honest love, and a little bit of big city dust.

1. A beautiful Berlin poster or city map (not kitschy!)

Forget graffiti-style silhouettes of the TV tower.
Berlin can also be minimalist, lovingly illustrated, or typographically clever. There are great prints featuring subway lines, neighborhoods, or Berlin vocabulary. Works especially well for exiled Berliners. It's also a nice birthday gift for friends.

👉 Poster

Here are some more cool posters: Print with lines - Babylon Berlin Poster - Illustration of Berlin

US readers: If you want to be delivered in the US, check out this poster and this one with a cool typo.

2. Berlin City Chocolate from Edelmond Chocolatiers

The “Berlin City Chocolate” range from Edelmond is the ideal gift from Berlin: each bar bears the name of a Berlin neighborhood and its own charming illustration. Geschmack trifft Lokalkolorit – perfekt für alle, die Berlin lieben oder gerade erst kennenlernen.

Gift idea: Put together a mini neighborhood quartet—for example, Prenzlauer Berg, Neukölln, Kreuzberg, and Mitte—and write down where you most like to sit, laugh, or just take a walk in each neighborhood. This makes it not only cute, but personal too.

👉 Berlin City Chocolate

3. A book about Berlin (but not a travel guide)

Berlin in essays, photos, comics, drawings, or short stories. There are great books about Berlin neighborhoods, subcultures, architecture, or simply that special feeling of living here.

My favorites:

• "Berlin Wonderland: Wild Years Revisited, 1990-1996"
  Photos that smell of dust, freedom, and long, crazy nights. A visual document of the wild years after reunification, when everything seemed possible and no one had a business plan.
• "In Search of Berlin: The Story of a Reinvented City" by John Kampfner
  Clever, accessible, and surprisingly personal. A book for anyone who wants to know why Berlin is the way it is: politically, culturally, and emotionally.
• "Berlin 1: Steinerne Stadt“ by Werner Hegemann
  Architectural history with attitude. A comic that shows how much Berlin is shaped by stone, power, and planning, and why you sometimes read the city rather than look at it.
• "Herr Lehmann" by Sven Regener
  West Berlin, Kreuzberg, late 1980s. A novel about hanging out, growing up, and that special Berlin melancholy that always smells a little like the bar.

4. Berlin spirits (more than just herbal liqueur)

Yes, it exists. The one herbal liqueur.
But Berlin can do more: gin from small distilleries, vermouth, liqueurs with wild herbs, or even schnapps with attitude. Ideal for people who say, “I don't really drink,” and then do.

My three favorites:

• Berliner Luft
  The classic. Peppermint liqueur with cult status. Ice-cold, bright green, and a little silly, but that's exactly why it's emptier faster than you can say “another one?” at every party. And available as a gift set.
• Berliner Brandstifter Gin
  Juniper, woodruff, a little bit of Berlin in a glass. Elegant, unobtrusive, and just right for evenings that spontaneously turn into late nights.
• Mampe Halb & Halb
  A true Berlin classic with history. Slightly bitter, slightly sweet, very distinctive—like an old bar buddy who has been through a lot and still tells good stories.

Or this non-alcoholic alternative: Laori No 05 Vermouth

5. Crime Mysteries: Berlin 1922 – Crime, pleasure, and historical atmosphere

Berlin in the 1920s: dance halls, silent films, dark backyards, and even darker secrets. Crime Mysteries Berlin 1922 is a puzzle game in book form and perfect for fans of Babylon Berlin. You accompany the gruff detective Gunther Hartmann and his ambitious assistant Rosalie Menzel through murder cases set in glamorous villas and the disreputable Scheunenviertel district.

Eleven short, richly illustrated crime stories in which you have to think, combine clues, and look closely. At the end of each chapter, the crucial question awaits. A game is always a good gift for couples as well as friends, whether men or women.

👉 Crime Mysteries: Berlin 1922

6. Beer from Berlin (between Späti classics and craft beer)

Berlin drinks beer, and all kinds of it. From honest everyday beer to sophisticated craft varieties with lots of hops and even more character. Perfect as a gift for people who say, “I don't need anything big,” but are always happy to receive a good beer. An ideal gift idea for men and women, and especially good friends ;).

👉 Gift box with 24 craft beers from Berlin breweries

7. Coffee from a Berlin roastery

Berlin and coffee: it's been a long-standing relationship.

Whether it's The Barn, Five Elephant, Berliner Kaffeerösterei, or a small neighborhood roastery around the corner: a good bean is always a good gift. Bonus point: the person will think of you every morning when they drink their cup of coffee ;).

👉 Coffee from the Berlin roastery

And if you want to add a mug as a gift: this one (classic) or this one in Bauhaus style.

8. Berlin curry powder (for currywurst fans and nostalgics)

You can't pack Berlin, but you can spice it up. Berlin curry powder is the ideal souvenir for anyone who misses their currywurst or wants to reinvent it at home. Sweet, spicy, slightly hot, and instantly evocative: snack bar, paper plate, wooden skewer.

This Berlin specialty is perfect for exiled Berliners!

👉 Berlin curry powder

9. „Da kiekste, wa?!“ – The Berlin Dialect Quiz

Berlin can do many things, but standard German is rather optional. “Da kiekste, wa?!” is a small, fun quiz card game based on typical Berlin terms and expressions. 50 cards, 50 words, 50 times of frowning, laughing, or triumphantly saying “Na siehste!”

A fun gift idea from Berlin for old, new, and not-yet Berliners. It's also a great souvenir or welcome gift for new Berliners. Combined with a cloth bag or Berliner Luft, it makes for a very well-rounded Berlin moment.

👉 Berlin Dialect Quiz

10. The Berlin cloth bag (everyday use, but with feeling)

Not iconic like the TV tower, not loud like a club, but absolutely Berlin. The tote bag is for everyone who has lived here, shopped here, lugged things around here, and spontaneously bought three more things than planned. Organic market, late-night shop, bookstore, flea market: the bag was always there.

Gift tip: Add something extra: chocolate, a book, curry powder, or beer. The cloth bag isn't a gift, it's packaging with sentimental value.

👉 Berlin cloth bag

Other beautiful fabric bags or Fabric bags with slogans

My personal souvenir tip to finish with

Combine two things, such as:

• Coffee and 2-3 bars of chocolate
• A poster and a Berlin gin
• Curry powder and a craft beer gift set

Berlin is a rather wild and alternative city, so the ideal gift from Berlin should be creative, original, and unusual, rather than just a typical German product. 💛