The BMW Berlin Marathon is the fastest big-city marathon in the world, and the numbers back that up. Thirteen world records have been set on its streets, more than at any other marathon. The men’s course record is Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:01:09 from 2022, and the women’s is Tigst Assefa’s 2:11:53 from 2023.
For everyone else, “fast” means something simpler. The course is one big loop, almost dead flat, with long straight avenues and very few tight corners. It’s a good place to run a personal best, as long as you don’t spend your fitness in the first 10 km.
The 52nd edition is on Sunday, 27 September 2026. Here’s what the route looks like, where you’ll get water, and how to use the course to your advantage.
Race weekend at a glance
| What | When and where |
|---|---|
| Expo and bib pick-up | Tempelhof Airport (Platz der Luftbrücke 5). Thu 24 Sep 15:00–20:00, Fri 25 Sep 10:00–20:00, Sat 26 Sep 09:00–19:00. Free entry, no parking |
| Saturday races | GENERALI 5K at 10:00 from Potsdamer Platz over the last 5 km of the marathon course. mini-MARATHON for schoolchildren at 12:00. Inline skating marathon from 12:20 |
| Wheelchair and handbike starts | Sunday from 08:20 |
| Runners’ start | Sunday from 08:45, in six waves |
| Start and finish | Straße des 17. Juni in the Tiergarten. The finish line is just past the Brandenburg Gate |
| Time limit | 6 hours 15 minutes from the moment you cross the start line. The finish closes at 17:00 |
Your start pen opens well before your wave: 7:00 for blocks A–C, 7:30 for D–E, 8:00 for F–G, 8:30 for H–J and 9:00 for K. Only runners who booked a bag drop can leave a bag. Everyone else can choose a poncho at the finish.
Try to collect your bib on Thursday or Friday. A Saturday at the expo is a lot of standing the day before a marathon.
The course in one line
The route is a single loop through the city. You start and finish in the Tiergarten, and you follow a painted blue line for the whole way. Use the official course map for the exact turns. The kilometres below are approximate, so treat them as a guide to how the race feels.
Km 0–10: Tiergarten and Mitte. You start heading towards the Victory Column, run around it, and leave the park towards Moabit and the government quarter. By about km 8 you’re at Oranienburger Tor, and the next couple of kilometres pass Rosenthaler Platz and Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz. The crowd is thick, the road is wide, and everyone around you is fresh. This is where most runners lose their race without noticing.
Km 10–21: Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Neukölln. The course swings east and then south. Around km 15–16 you reach Kottbusser Tor, Kottbusser Damm and Hermannplatz, one of the loudest stretches of the day, with bands and DJs. Halfway comes soon after. If you’re on your planned pace here and it feels easy, that’s exactly right.
Km 21–30: Schöneberg, Friedenau and Steglitz. The second half starts in quieter, leafier neighbourhoods in the south-west. At about km 28 you’ll hear the Wilder Eber, one of the most famous cheering spots on the course. The kilometres between 25 and 30 are where you find out whether the first half was patient enough.
Km 30–38: Wilmersdorf, Kurfürstendamm and Schöneberg again. At km 33 you’re on the Kurfürstendamm at Olivaer Platz, then the course heads east past the big department stores towards Potsdamer Platz, which you reach at about km 38. It has an official cheering point. From here, the Saturday 5K runners have seen exactly what you’re about to run.
Km 38–42.2: Mitte and the Gate. The last few kilometres run through the historic centre. Unter den Linden comes at about km 41, then you run through the Brandenburg Gate, which runners have done since 1990. The finish line is a few hundred metres further on, with free grandstands along the final stretch.
Drink stations
Berlin has a lot of them, and they come at fixed points:
| What’s handed out | Kilometres |
|---|---|
| Water | 5, 12, 17.5, 22.5, 27.5, 32.5, 34.5, 38, 40 |
| Fruit, tea and water | 9, 15, 20, 25, 30, 36 |
| Maurten Drink Mix 160 | 9, 15, 20, 25, 30, 36 |
| Maurten Gel 100 | 27.5 |
So six of the stations are the full ones: fruit, tea, water and Maurten Drink Mix 160, the carbohydrate drink. The other nine hand out water only. At km 33 there’s also VILSA mineral water, and there are BRITA refill points for your own bottle or hydration pack. You can drop off your own drinks until 7:45 on race morning.
There’s only one gel station, at km 27.5, and it’s Maurten Gel 100. If you haven’t trained with it, carry the gels you have trained with. A new gel at km 27.5 is a gamble you don’t need.
Race rules worth knowing: only open-ear headphones are allowed. Hydration packs up to 3 litres are fine, backpacks are not.
How flat is flat?
Very. Berlin sits at about 34 m above sea level, and the whole course only moves a few dozen metres up or down. You’ll see different total-climb figures for it, from under 30 m to about 70 m, depending on the watch that recorded it. Either way, the course has no hills to speak of.
That flatness changes how you should pace:
- There’s nowhere to hide a mistake. On a hilly course, a too-fast start can pass for “banking time” on the climbs. In Berlin it’s just a too-fast start.
- Even effort means even pace. Your pace per kilometre should barely move, apart from the drink stations and the first crowded kilometre.
- The wind matters more than the terrain. On the long, open avenues, tuck in behind a group.
The weather
Late September in Berlin is usually 9–19 °C, which is ideal for a marathon. But it isn’t guaranteed: the 2025 race ran at about 24 °C with humid air, and even the elite times slowed down.
Check the forecast on Thursday and decide your plan then:
- Cool (under 15 °C): race your goal pace.
- Warm (18–22 °C): start 5–10 seconds per kilometre slower and drink at every station.
- Hot (above 22 °C): forget the time goal and run on effort. Pour water on your head as well as drinking it.
Pacing Berlin with iRunning
The official pacers carry flags in every start block, from 3:00 at the front to 6:00 in block K. They’re a good anchor, but their group is crowded around the drink stations. Your own pace cues are easier to follow.
- Hear your pace every kilometre. In Settings › Customise › Run screen › What to announce, set By distance to every 1 km and pick Avg pace, Distance and Total time. You’ll get a calm check-in without looking at your wrist.
- Build your race as a workout. A custom workout can have distance steps with a pace band, so you can split the marathon into a slightly slower first half and a slightly faster second half. You’ll hear “Pick up the pace” or “Slow down” when you drift out of the band. Our negative split guide has the numbers.
- Run phone-free. Send the workout to Apple’s Workout app with Add to Apple Watch, or run it in the iRunning Watch app. Both give you haptic alerts when you leave the band.
- Don’t trust GPS distance. In a big race, your watch almost always measures more than 42.2 km, because nobody runs the perfect line. Our test file of the course came out at 42.4 km. Pace by the kilometre markers, not by the watch’s lap alerts.
If you’re not running
The Berlin Marathon is great to watch. The official race app tracks up to 25 runners live, and the course map in it shows the cheering points. Good places to stand are Kottbusser Damm and Hermannplatz (km 15–16), the Wilder Eber (about km 28), the Kurfürstendamm (km 33), and Potsdamer Platz (about km 38). You can use public transport to see your runner more than once.
If you’re watching from home, German TV (RTL) shows the race live from 8:30.
After Sunday
Whatever the clock says, take the first week gently. In the meantime, our guide to sharing your finish shows how to turn the run from your watch into a card or a route video.
Good luck in Berlin. See you at the Gate.
Race details are from the official BMW Berlin Marathon website as of 15 September 2026. Check it for any last-minute changes.