Since the Heart of Gold Hostel is situated in the Environmental Zone of Berlin, your car needs a green environmental badge ( „Umweltplakette“) to drive and park in the immediate surrounding of the Hostel. The environmental badge shows what emission group your car belongs to.
You can buy the environmental badge at an emission examination place such as TÜV, DEKRA, GTÜ, FSP, KÜS and authorized service station, or you can make an online application in advance. It is not the car itself that gets examined, but its papers. If you do the online application you can scan the papers and send by E-mail, or send them by regular mail. It is recommended to apply at least 3 weeks ahead of your trip to Berlin so that the badge arrives in time.
“Umweltplakette” – green environmental badge
The examination place closest to the hostel is the DEKRA KFZ-Prüfstelle in the Prinzessinnenstraße 17-18, 10969 Kreuzberg. You can search for other examination places by DEKRA and TÜV here.
There is no set price for the environmental badge, but normally it costs between 5 – 10€
The registration number of the car has to be written on the white field of the badge, and the badge is to apply to the windshield.
If you park in the environmental zone without the badge you may be charged 80€ fine plus 25€ expenses.
If you do not get the green environmental badge or you are not interested in getting a badge, you can simply park outside of the environmental zone. The option closest to the HEART OF GOLD Hostel would be north of the Berlin Gesundbrunnen train station. From there it takes you three stops with the train (S-Bahn) to Oranienburger Straße.
