Experience Berlin’s Winter Culture Double-Bill in Just One Week
Berlin, Germany
Music & Digital Art at CTM Festival & transmediale 2026
This is an unmissable opportunity. Imagine landing in Berlin in late January and stepping into a city that’s pulsing with creativity from day to night. That’s exactly what happens when two incredible events, CTM Festival and transmediale, overlap.
You get to mix experimental soundscapes, immersive visuals, cutting-edge nightlife, thought-provoking talks, and digital art – across two of Europe’s most daring festivals – in a single trip. It’s a rare cultural one-two punch only possible in Berlin in winter, and you control how deep you go: from free gallery strolls and talks to unforgettable club nights.
All it takes is one flight to Berlin from London Southend Airport.
What is CTM Festival? (23 Jan – 1 Feb 2026)
CTM Festival, Berlin’s Festival for Adventurous Music & Art, returns for its 27th edition from 23 January to 1 February 2026.
Its venues spans Berlin’s underground and cultural hotspots – from Berghain, radialsystem, Volksbühne, and RSO.Berlin, to Morphine Raum – creating a potent mix of immersive performance and nightlife.
CTM invites you into sound worlds beyond anything you’ve heard before. Experience live shows built from field recordings, real-time audiovisual environments, experimental electronic concerts, and warehouse raves powered by next-gen sound technology (think ambient drones colliding with industrial percussion). It’s not just performance – it’s an invitation to inhabit sound, texture, and resonance in physical spaces.
But CTM isn’t only about music. Its daytime programme opens up with talks, workshops, film screenings, and sound art installations – sometimes free or low-cost – giving insight into how experimental sound and digital art survive, evolve, and question the status quo. Whether you’re looking to dance, think, or feel, CTM connects all three in unexpected ways.
What is transmediale? (28 Jan – 1 Feb 2026)
Just as CTM is hitting its stride, transmediale begins.
Running 28 January to 1 February 2026, it’s one of Europe’s leading festivals for art, culture, and technology. Think of it as a city-wide laboratory for ideas: installations that respond to your movements, films exploring how AI is changing creativity, debates on digital ethics, and live performances that mix theatre, coding, and sound.
Its home base is the silent green Kulturquartier in Wedding – a former crematorium turned into one of Berlin’s most unique arts spaces – but its programme spreads across partner galleries, cinemas, and public spaces. You might encounter a biofeedback light exhibit reacting to your heartbeat, a film screening that reinterprets social media feeds, or a debate on AI ethics led by artists and researchers.
It’s exciting because it’s not just art about technology – it’s art made with and inside technology. You leave with your mind buzzing, your phone full of photos, and a fresh sense of how the digital world is shaping the physical one.
How to make the most of it
Circle Wednesday 28 January to Sunday 1 February 2026 in your calendar.
That’s the prime window when both festivals are live, letting you spend your daylight hours in the exhibition halls of transmediale, and your evenings in CTM’s cutting-edge sound environments – or vice versa, depending on your mood. It’s all conveniently mapped inside Berlin’s fantastic public transport system, making this cultural marathon fully accessible.
Where to stay for maximum access
- Mitte / Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz corridor – Excellent walkability to Volksbühne and quick U- or S-Bahn connections to most CTM and transmediale sites.
- Friedrichshain (near Ostbahnhof) – Ideal for CTM’s flagship venues like Berghain and radialsystem. Great S-Bahn access to reach transmediale’s spaces.
- Wedding (Leopoldplatz/Wedding) – Closest to silent green Kulturquartier, transmediale’s main hub, while still connected to CTM venues via U6/U8 and the Ringbahn.
Read more:
Getting around
Berlin’s public transport AB zone reliably connects festival venues. A 7-day AB ticket (about €44.60) is your best value for hopping between daytime events and nighttime performances. If you’re in town only for the overlapping festival days, shorter-duration tickets or 24-hour passes are smart – and metro/tram service runs late enough to avoid taxis after club nights.
So pack your sense of curiosity and a Berlin Welcome Card – because from mid-afternoon digital wonder to night-time sonic adventure, your winter 2026 getaway just turned into a triple-threat culture fest.
Just fly to Berlin from London Southend Airport, and you’ll land right in the creative heart of the city’s coolest week of the year.
Inspired to book your break?
#FlyLondonSouthend