Numerous streets in Berlin-Mitte and Charlottenburg were closed since early morning for the first marathon events linked to Berlin Marathon 2026. Drivers and cyclists faced barriers before the main race day even began, and the shutdown widened as the day went on.
The closure pattern matters because Sunday is the point when the full marathon route goes dark: from early morning, the streets along the entire course are closed, and the route will only reopen gradually as the 56.000 Läufer pass through. The course is around 42 Kilometern long, so the disruption stretches across a large part of central Berlin instead of staying in one district.
By noon, the inline skaters' race starts at 12.20 Uhr on the stretch between Großer Stern and Otto-Suhr-Allee, while several smaller running competitions are taking place between Potsdamer Platz, Brandenburger Tor and Unter den Linden. That means the pressure on road space begins before the marathon itself and builds around the same central corridor that will carry the main field on Sunday.
There is one clear exception: the Berliner Stadtautobahn and the Tiergartentunnel are not affected and remain open even as many central streets are shut. At the same time, streetcar and bus lines in the area must be temporarily interrupted, rerouted, shortened or split, which leaves the closure map more complicated than a simple ring around the course.
The most disruptive stretch is not the race day itself but what follows after it. The streets along the marathon route will reopen during the day as runners pass through, yet the Straße des 17. Juni will stay closed bis nächste Woche Mittwoch, keeping one of the city’s key central roads off limits long after the first runners have finished.
That makes the weekend’s closures less a single traffic interruption than a staged shutdown tied to the race schedule. For anyone moving through Berlin on Sunday, the practical rule is simple: the marathon route is closed first, the traffic returns only piece by piece, and the central axis around the course remains constrained well beyond the finish line.
