---
title: "How many steps up Berliner Fernsehturm? 986"
description: "986 steps up Berliner Fernsehturm in Berlin, Germany. Not climbable by the public. What that count reaches, the height climbed, and how it compares."
url: https://atoneplace.net/how-many-steps/berlin-tv-tower/
site: "At One Place"
---

# How many steps to the top of Berliner Fernsehturm?

**Steps to the top of Berliner Fernsehturm: 986**

Reaching the sphere at 203 m, via the emergency staircase — no public access · not climbable by the public

The 986 steps inside the concrete shaft are an emergency route; the observation sphere and its revolving restaurant are reached by a lift that takes 40 seconds. Staff have occasionally had to use the stairs during lift failures, which is a memorable descent. At 368 m it remains the tallest structure in Germany. The stainless-steel sphere produces a cross-shaped reflection in sunlight, nicknamed the Pope's Revenge in the GDR period.

## The numbers

- **Steps:** 986
- **Reaches:** the sphere at 203 m, via the emergency staircase — no public access
- **Public access:** Not climbable by the public
- **Where:** Berlin, Germany
- **Height climbed:** 203 m — 666 ft
- **Average rise per step:** 206 mm

> This count describes a stairwell the public cannot use. Published step figures for famous structures very often refer to service or emergency stairs — worth knowing before planning a visit around one.

> Published counts for the same structure routinely disagree by five to ten per cent, and nearly always for one of three reasons: whether intermediate landings count as steps, whether the final platform step counts, and where the climb is deemed to start. The figure here says what it reaches.

## How it compares

*Only the ones marked open to climb can actually be walked.*

- Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Suea): 1,237 steps
- Sky Tower: 1,103 steps
- Gateway Arch: 1,076 steps
- Berliner Fernsehturm: 986 steps
- Washington Monument: 897 steps
- Space Needle: 848 steps
- Ulm Minster: 768 steps

*Berliner Fernsehturm ranks 17 of 56 here by step count.*

| Structure | Steps | Reaches | Access |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Suea) | 1,237 | the summit shrine and golden Buddha on the limestone peak | Open to climb |
| Sky Tower | 1,103 | the Sky Deck at 220 m | Restricted — events or permit only |
| Gateway Arch | 1,076 | the observation area at the top of the arch, via the emergency stairs — no public access | Not climbable by the public |
| Berliner Fernsehturm | 986 | the sphere at 203 m, via the emergency staircase — no public access | Not climbable by the public |
| Washington Monument | 897 | the observation level at 152 m — stairs closed to the public | Not climbable by the public |
| Space Needle | 848 | the observation deck at 158 m | Restricted — events or permit only |
| Ulm Minster | 768 | the highest viewing platform at 143 m, in the world's tallest church steeple | Open to climb |

## Common questions

### How many steps to the top of Berliner Fernsehturm?

986, reaching the sphere at 203 m, via the emergency staircase — no public access.

### Can the public climb Berliner Fernsehturm?

Not climbable by the public.

### How high is that climb?

203 m, about 666 ft, which averages 206 mm per step.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]