Over the last 5 years, skate nights have become extremely popular.  In major cities, once a week streets are closed to normal traffic and instead become filled with hundreds of skaters.

It’s an amazing picture when about 5000 skaters cheerfully roll through the streets of Muenster. Germany’s bicycle city in Westphalia hosts a Skate Night on the 1st and 3rd Friday of every month between May and September. In-line skaters and rollerbladers meet up at 8pm on the Hindenburg square in the shadow of the city’s baroque castle.

Local police block all roads on route to give way to a diverse sliding band: from students to children to active seniors and even young parents pushing their pram on eight wheels plus four. With thousands of skaters passing by, motorists may face some delay; but to them the stunning sight of a skating chain that seems nearly never-ending is no reason to be displeased. Always accompanied by rolling stereo equipment skaters are invited to show up in fancy dress on certain dates, e.g. for pajama skate nights. By tradition the last skate of the season is the most impressive one. Unsurprisingly, since it is the “Skate of lights”.

‘Blade Nights’ in Germany’s capital takes place on ten Sundays in May, July and September to October.  The starting and finishing point is the Brandenburg Gate, warm up starts at 19:30, whilst the tour itself starts at 20:00. 

There are 4 different skating routes, which range from 14km to 21km in length.In 2003 nearly 130,000 skaters joined in the ‘Blade Nights’.

The Munich Blade Night is probably the world's biggest inline skating event, the average number of participants is somewhere around 12000 skaters per night .

The skating season in Munich is between April and September and all skate nights are free of charge to join. The meeting point is Wredestrasse near the Hacker bridge and Circus Krone starting at at 19:00.  

‘Tuesday Night Skating’ takes place in Frankfurt every Tuesday evening from April to the end of October.  The event is free of charge and attracts approx. 5000 skaters.  Tuesday Night Skating begins at 20:30 at the ‘Deutschherrenufer’ in Frankfurt Sachsenhausen and lasts for about 2 and a half hours, in which time 35-45 kms would have been covered.  The circuit finishes back at the Deutschherrenufer.

Wednesday Nights are skate nights in Mainz.  From the beginning of April every Wednesday from 20:00 skaters will gather to enjoy the 30km traffic free skating route around the city.  

‘Thursday Night Skating’ in Stuttgart takes place, as its name suggests, every Thursday evening at 20:00.  Meeting point for the weekly event is the Beer Garden at the ‘Schloss Park’ and the route covers approx. 30km.  Competent skaters only – must be able to brake!  Thursday Night Skating recommences after its winter break on April 1st.