The 7 Best Bookshops in Berlin

Bookworms in Berlin will have a brilliant time browsing the shelves of the city’s many bookshops. There are loads of independently-owned, specialist and big chain bookshops. You’ll find everything from small used book businesses to huge culture houses selling all sorts from murder mysteries to medieval manuscripts. If you want to pick up a hardback or two, here are some of the best bookshops in Berlin for book lovers.

The 7 Best Bookshops in Berlin

1. Dussman

Located close to Friedrichstrasse subway station in Berlin Mitte, Dussman bills itself as a culture department store. Filling five floors are German and foreign language books, audiobooks, DVDs, music and bookish and art accessories. It is a one-stop-shop for all your cultural purchases. There is a cosy cafe where you can curl up with your book and soak up the lively atmosphere. Plenty of book signings and reading also take place here, so make sure you check out its events.

2. Ocelot, Not Just Another Book Store

Ocelot is a beautifully designed space filled with lots of light and lots of books. There is plenty of space too meaning you’ll always find a quiet spot to browse and read. Curl up on one of the seating nooks by the window or grab a coffee and head for one of the large desks. The window and interior displays are delightful and there is a terrific range of books on the shelves with a particularly great children’s book section.

3. Hacker und Presting

In the heart of the quiet neighbourhood of Charlottenburg, you’ll find Hacker und Presting. This is a friendly bookshop with a carefully curated selection of English books. Hidden in the shop, under the stuccoed ceilings and between the beautiful red shelves are mementoes from the owners’ lives which tell their story as well as that of the bookshop. Owners, Julia Hacker and Ulrike Presting are on hand to advise and chat and you’ll end up spending more time in here than you planned. But it is time well spent.

4. Shakespeare and Sons

Come for the books, stay for the bagels. Shakespeare and Sons is an independent English bookshop in Warschauer Straße in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district of central Berlin. Shelves here are lined with everything from the classics to new releases and the helpful staff will do their best to located whatever book you need. As for those bagels? Well, the bookshop runs alongside a bagel and coffee bar so you can browse for books and enjoy fresh bagels at the same time. It’s a winning combo.

5. Bibliotheca Culinaria

Located on the lower floor of a beautiful listed building in Mitte on Zehdenicker Street, Bibliotheca Culinaria is a second-hand bookshop specialising in cookbooks. It is one of the coolest bookshops in the city and has over 15,000 books dedicated to the culinary arts. The shelves are laden with German cookbooks from the 18th century to the present. Nestled between those you’ll also find children’s cooking books and foreign language cuisine books. The comfy sofa and coffee machine are perfectly set up for customers to enjoy chats with the owners.

6. Do You Read Me?

This small shop is filled from floor to ceiling with carefully curated books on many subjects. This is the place to come to find books and magazines on fashion, photography and art, architecture, interior and design, illustration, graphic design and typography. You’ll find German-language as well as foreign language books and plenty of big, beautiful coffee table books. There is also a wonderful rare books collection with hard to find signed copies and first editions.

7. Berliner Büchertisch

If you are looking for a second-hand book, Berliner Büchertisch is the place to come for a browse. With thousands and thousands of titles, you are sure to find what you are looking for in its Kreuzberg shop. Well-preserved, used books at reasonable prices fill six rooms and you’ll find all genres of fiction and non-fiction. There are plenty of foreign-language titles, cookbooks, children’s books, records, CDs and DVDs too. Prepare to spend hours perusing all the shelves!