Berlin does not really do festivals the way other cities do

Berlin's techno scene lives in its clubs. Berghain, Tresor, RSO, Kater Blau and dozens of smaller rooms run marathon weekends every week of the year, so the city never needed a giant single-site festival. What it has instead is a ring of festivals within a couple of hours of the city, mostly held on lakes, old airfields and open-cast mines in Brandenburg, plus a handful of events inside the city itself. This guide covers both. Every festival below links to its RaveConnects page where you can see the lineup, set times and who is going.

For the weekly club programme, our Berlin events page lists every upcoming techno night in the city.

Festivals inside Berlin

CTM Festival — late January to early February

Berlin's festival for adventurous music runs across Berghain, HAU, Radialsystem and other venues for ten days in the depth of winter. It is where experimental electronic music, noise and club music overlap, and the Berghain nights during CTM are some of the best of the year.

Rave The Planet — usually mid July

The spiritual successor to the Love Parade, founded by Dr. Motte. Dozens of floats carrying sound systems roll down the Straße des 17. Juni through the Tiergarten with hundreds of thousands of people dancing behind them. It is free, it is political and it is the one day a year the whole city is a techno festival.

Berlin Atonal — usually late August or September

Held inside Kraftwerk, the enormous former power station that also houses Tresor, Atonal is the most serious of the Berlin festivals. Audiovisual commissions, drone, industrial techno and live sets staged in a concrete hall with a forty-metre ceiling. It is a festival for listening as much as dancing.

Lollapalooza Berlin — usually September

Not a techno festival, but the Olympiastadion weekend always carries a strong electronic stage alongside the pop and rock headliners, and it is the easiest big festival to reach from the city centre.

Festivals around Berlin

Fusion Festival — usually late June or early July

Four days on a former Soviet military airfield at Lärz, two hours north of Berlin. Fusion is less a festival than a temporary city, with theatre, cinema, political talks and a dozen dance floors running around the clock. Tickets are allocated by lottery and the lineup is never announced in advance. It is the festival most Berliners would name first.

Nation of Gondwana — usually mid July

Run by the Pyonen crew on a lake at Grünefeld, under an hour from the city. Three stages around the water, swimming between sets and a lineup that reads like a Berlin club week. Tickets sell out within minutes of release.

Feel Festival — 22 to 25 July 2027

On the Bergheider See, a flooded open-cast mine south of Berlin, Feel mixes techno and house with indie and live acts and is one of the most relaxed of the lake festivals. Four days, camping on the shore and a beach that doubles as a dance floor.

Whole Festival — usually late July

The queer techno festival at Ferropolis, the open-air museum of giant mining machines near Gräfenhainichen. Whole brings together collectives from Berlin and across Europe and is the most inclusive festival on this list.

Garbicz Festival — usually August

Just across the Polish border on a lake near Garbicz, this festival grew out of the Berlin scene and keeps its spirit: art installations in the forest, floating stages and a lineup of melodic techno, house and live electronic acts. Easy to reach from Berlin by car or train.

Wilde Möhre Festival — 20 to 23 August 2027

On a lake at Drebkau in the Lusatian lake district, Wilde Möhre is the alternative to the big names: workshops, art and a mix of techno, electronica and live music, with a crowd that comes for the whole weekend.

How to pick your Berlin festival

  • First time in Berlin: go to Rave The Planet, then spend the night in the clubs.
  • Serious about techno: Berlin Atonal in the city, Nation of Gondwana outside it.
  • Whole weekend away: Fusion if you win the lottery, Feel or Wilde Möhre if you do not.
  • Queer and collective-run: Whole Festival.

Practical tips

  • Tickets: Fusion and Nation of Gondwana are lotteries or sell out in minutes. Follow them in RaveConnects to get the alert when tickets drop.
  • Transport: most lake festivals run shuttle buses from Berlin, and the Deutschlandticket covers the regional trains.
  • Cash: several of the smaller festivals and many Berlin clubs still prefer cash.
  • Door policy: festival wristbands do not get you into Berghain. The club has its own door and its own rules.
  • Friends: save the festivals you plan to go to and RaveConnects shows which friends and crews are going, so you can share a car or a campsite.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a big techno festival in Berlin itself?

Rave The Planet is the largest, with hundreds of thousands on the street in July. Berlin Atonal is the biggest indoor festival. Most other techno festivals are one to two hours outside the city.

When is the best time to visit Berlin for techno?

July and August for the festivals, but the clubs run all year. CTM in late January is the best winter week.

How do I get Fusion Festival tickets?

Register for the ticket lottery on the Fusion website, usually in January. There is no resale market and the organisers void transferred tickets.