Last week, whilst we had family visiting and a rare chance to take my oldest out without his little brother, we decided to take him bowling for the first time. He wasn't sure at first but once he put on his special kids bowling shoes and was given his own, child-weight bowling balls, he loved it! I decided to write a review of our time at Eastside Bowling in Friedrichshain and if you would like to know where your nearest family-friendly bowling alley in Berlin is, check out my list at the bottom of this post.
Located a short walk from Ostbahnhof train station, this bowling alley can be found in the same building as the large Galleria Kaufhof. Follow the signs on the outside of the building and they will take you round to a lift from which you can access the bowling alley. We were there around midday on a weekday (they opened at 10am) and had the place almost to ourselves. The woman behind the counter didn't really understand English, so be prepared with a bit of German bowling-vocabularly if you don't speak the language, but I think you could get by with explaining what you need. The shoe sizes were in both German and UK sizes and they had a range of kids shoes.
You pay by how long you wish to bowl rather than how many games and pay that up front, along with the shoe cost (I think we paid something like €24 for one hour bowling for 5 of us, including shoe rental.) We were then handed all the shoes in a big basket and given a lane number. The machine at the lanes is in English, although the wording on the screen above the lane was in German (but again, relatively easy to interpret for non-German speakers.)
You pay by how long you wish to bowl rather than how many games and pay that up front, along with the shoe cost (I think we paid something like €24 for one hour bowling for 5 of us, including shoe rental.) We were then handed all the shoes in a big basket and given a lane number. The machine at the lanes is in English, although the wording on the screen above the lane was in German (but again, relatively easy to interpret for non-German speakers.)
Food and drink is available (typical, pub-like food as you would expect) and you can order from your lane or wander over to the tills and order there. They asked us if we would like the lane bumper up and we did, which was definitely the right choice for our boy as well as some of the adults, myself included, who were a little rusty!
It was really fun and my boy has already asked to do it again soon, so it definitely offers a good option for indoor active fun during the colder Berlin months.
It was really fun and my boy has already asked to do it again soon, so it definitely offers a good option for indoor active fun during the colder Berlin months.
Beyond bowling, the room is filled with other activities for children big and small. Following our game, our 5 year old spent 20 minutes bouncing on a large trampoline (you pay a €10 deposit for the key to the trampoline and then, the cost is deducted from this dependent on how long your child is on it), whilst my bloke and I played a game of pool (also paid for by length of time). They also have a few arcade machines (racing games and the like), electronic darts boards, full-sized snooker tables and air hockey (€2 for a 4 minute game.)
We will definitely be heading back here again and I reckon it will become a more and more useful place for us as the children get older, especially when our youngest is old enough to join in with the fun.
If you would like to find out where your nearest bowling alley is in Berlin, here is a list of a number of the bowling alleys for families in Berlin.
If you would like to find out where your nearest bowling alley is in Berlin, here is a list of a number of the bowling alleys for families in Berlin.
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