Berlin Festival of Lights: info & how to take photos

I’ve been following the Berlin Festival of Lights ever since I moved to Berlin. Every October, historical landmarks and spots of interest are illuminated by moving images. Local and international artists create impressive light projections that attract loads of visitors. The facades resemble canvases, and every evening after 19:00, people stop in front of Berlin’s most legendary buildings to enjoy cinematic moments.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Festival of Lights in Berlin is one of the most extraordinary outdoor experiences you can have in the German capital.

In this article, you’ll find plenty of information about the iconic light festival, and you’ll see some of my photos. Moreover, since many people want to shoot pictures of illuminated buildings, I’ll also share photography tips. Finally, at the bottom of this post, you’ll find selected guided tours and facts about the impressive open-air light festival.

Let’s start.

*Some of the links are affiliate links. If you buy something, I might earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Which landmarks are part of the Berlin Festival of Lights

Well, almost all of them. More than one hundred buildings participate in the Festival of Lights, and the usual suspects are there: Brandenburg Gate, the TV Tower at Alexanderplatz, the Humboldt University, and the Opera. The list is really long, but if you find yourself walking in the center of Berlin, it’s impossible not to stumble upon a light installation.

Every year, the festival’s website offers a program as a pdf file. You’ll find all relevant links at the bottom of this article.

How to photograph the Berlin Festival of Lights

You will definitely need a good camera to make the most of your Berlin Festival of Lights experience. A smartphone is always an option, but even the finest of them might not give you the desirable images.

Apart from that, remember that you are taking photos at night. That said, you have to bump up your ISO. Now, shooting in extremely high ISO (6400 and beyond) might result in unusable images. Why’s that? Well, the images will have lots of noise you won’t probably remove easily in the post-process. The illumination of the buildings is exceptional, but it’s hard to take photos with an ISO lower than 1250.

On top of all that, you will have to shoot at slow shutter speeds. Hence, I recommend having a tripod with you. A tripod will give you steady shots, and you can also be creative with longer exposures.

How I took the photos

I regret that I didn’t have a small tripod with me. As you know, I’m shooting with the Ricoh GR ii, which has a sharp lens but not a super-fast one (f/2,8). For most of the photos here, I used ISO 1600 -beyond that, there is too much noise. For the handheld shots, I tried not to go slower than 1/15 in shutter speed; unfortunately, many images turned out blurry. Whenever I could find a proper spot to place the camera (a bench, a car, etc.) I’d use much slower shutter speeds, sometimes up to 2 seconds.

Try to avoid my mistake: bring a tripod to get the best results. Octobers in Berlin can be rainy, and maybe you have only one night to get some decent photos.

How to photograph the Festival of Lights: the ideal camera settings

So, here’s how to take photos at the Berlin Festival of Lights:

• Use a wide-angle lens.
• Set an ISO between 1250 and 1600.
• Keep your aperture as wide as possible (f/2,8, f/2, f/1,8, etc.).
• Avoid shooting with a Shutter Speed slower than 1/25.
• If possible, have a tripod; if not, place the camera on a sturdy surface (ex. bench)

Berlin Festival of Lights: Guided Tours

The Berlin Festival of Lights attracts loads of visitors, and if you’d like to see most of the areas, you might consider a guided tour. Local experts offer a bunch of organized tours, and here you’ll find the best of them.

Light installations walking tour. This walking tour is an excellent option to discover the city’s landmarks during the festival. Your tour guide will share many facts about Berlin’s most famous sights, like the Brandenburg Gate and the Gendarmenmarkt. The spectacle created by LED installations and laser lights is genuinely fascinating. The walking tour lasts two hours and costs 20 euros per person. You can reserve a place on the walking tour here.

A Play of lights. That’s a two-hour guided tour around the illuminated city. An open-top bus will take you to every illuminated landmark, and you’ll see the city from a different perspective. Moreover, the bus stops at several locations so you can take photos of the landmarks. Check out the Play of Lights here.

Lightseeing Bike Taxi Tour. This rickshaw tour will take you through Berlin’s city center, where most festival locations are. You’ll start either from Alexanderplatz or Potsdamer Platz, and you’ll see loads of illuminated monuments. Your guide will share interesting facts about the buildings, and you can stop for photos in several locations. This guided tour is slightly pricier, but it’s definitely a memorable experience. Check the Lightseeing Bike Taxi Tour here.

Photos from the Berlin Festival of Lights

I started walking from Alexanderplatz. It was a rainy day, but late in the afternoon, the clouds began, finally, to disappear. I arrived at Alexanderplatz shortly past 7 pm and searched for a spot close to the TV Tower.

As I already wrote, the projections are usually moving, and photographing them is hard. Only once in a while, a projection will remain still -and then you have a couple of seconds to take a photo. Here is another image from the so-called Fernsehturm.

I also thought of including some people in the photos, but it was way too dark around Alexanderplatz. The only way to do it was to add a silhouette instead.

After a while, I crossed the street and ended up in front of the Illuseum. The Illuseum is a fairly new museum in Berlin -its topic is illusions. Outside of it, there was a small light projection, which proved to be interactive. Depending on the spot you were standing, you could see an abstract image of yourself.

After leaving the Illuseum behind, I walked towards the Berliner Dom. From my experience, the Berlin Cathedral always gets the most impressive projections during the Berlin Festival of Lights. It’s also the spot most people gather -the other one is the Brandenburg Gate. Indeed, there were loads of people in front of the Dom, and the spectacle was unique.

I thought of taking a couple of distant photos, but it proved to be challenging due to the crowds. So I decided to shoot a couple of details instead.

And another one.

Then, I walked down the famous Unter den Linden, where one can find lots of landmarks. The area around the Bebelplatz is a very historic one and the place where the Nazi book burning took place. Just across the street is Humboldt University, which was also participating in the Festival of Lights.

Now, crossing the Unter der Linden will bring you straight to the Bebelplatz. The Staatsoper (The Opera of Berlin), the Hotel de Rome, and St Hedwig’s Cathedral were also illuminated. This year, the Hotel de Rome looked really impressive.

The Bebelplatz is always a must during the Berlin Festival of Lights. This open square has a long, sad history, so make sure to read more about it here.

It was a chilly evening in Berlin, and I was wearing (once again) the wrong clothes. I tried to walk as fast as possible, and I ended up at the Brandenburger Tor, Berlin’s most famous landmark. As always, there were loads of people at the Brandenburg Gate. No surprise: that’s probably the prime spot of the whole festival. The illuminated gate hosts some of the best moving images, and everybody wants to photograph it.

The Festival of Lights was all about Freedom in 2019. Therefore, a few people also raised their voices for Julian Assange. Berlin is a city with political sensitivities, and the messages are always strong at every festival.

Freedom, apparently, was everywhere at the Brandenburg Gate. Soon, the landmark got dressed in the word “freedom” in several different languages.

Then, I crossed the Brandenburg Gate and turned to the left towards the Potsdamer Platz. Once a no-man’s-land, the Potsdamer Platz hosts skyscrapers and offices and has primarily become a playground of consumerism. There were several installations at the square, but my small Ricoh struggled a bit due to the amount of light in the area. I took only one photo at Potsdamer Platz (and some bad ones), but I plan to return for some extra ones.

Useful info about the Berlin Festival of Lights

On the festival’s official website, you can find up-to-date info about the upcoming events and participating buildings. Moreover, there’s also a map available in PDF so you can make your own route. Visit the festival’s official website here.

When will the Berlin Festival of Lights take place in 2022?

The 2022 Berlin Festival of Lights will take place between the 7th and the 16th of October, 2022.

Is the Berlin Festival of Lights free?

The Berlin Festival of Lights is free. However, admission fees might apply if you’d like to enter the buildings.

When it’s the best time to visit the Festival of Lights locations?

The weekends in Berlin are busy; therefore, it’s better to visit the festival’s location on weekdays. The illuminations take place between 7 pm and 11 pm.

What countries have Festivals of Light?

Apart from Berlin, several other countries celebrate festivals of light. Among them, you’ll find Lyon in France, Las Fallas in Spain, Aomori in Japan, and plenty of others.

And that’s it with the article about the light festival in Berlin. Have you already visited it? Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments.

More Berlin: Berlinale guide, Berlin travel guide + itineraries, 10 Berlin facts, Bleibstreustrasse

You can read all my posts about Berlin here

Pin it for later

Sharing is caring. Please share this article about the Berlin Festival of Lights with your friends.

Last Updated on August 6, 2022 by George Pavlopoulos