Main Info
- This guided tour is offered exclusively as a Private Tour.
- You choose the day and start time you prefer.
- The duration of the tour is 3,5 hours.
- There is no minimum number of participants, if the group is very numerous there will be a second guide to guarantee the quality of service.
- The meeting point with the guide can be your hotel or another place that you prefer.
- The tour is normally done on foot and by public transport. If you wish to take a tour by bicycle or bus with a private driver, please request this in the corresponding form.
- The cost of the tour depends on your preferences and the size of the group. Request a quote.
THIS TOUR INTERESTS YOU IF…
- Your stay in Berlin is short and you want to see all the most emblematic places and monuments of the city in a single tour in mother-tongue English.
- You are interested in our Berlin tours in English, but you don’t know where to start.
- You want to understand Berlin together with professional experts on a guided tour with a high degree of historical and cultural content.
- You want to have a general idea of the history of Berlin in order to better plan your stay.
WHAT WE WILL SEE
- Brandenburg Gate and Pariser Square
- Potsdamer Square
- Checkpoint Charlie
- Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe
- Berlin Wall
- Berliner Dom
- Tiergarten
- Topography of Terror: former Gestapo and SS headquarters
- Reichstag Building
- Unter den Linden Boulevard
- Bebelplatz – Memorial to the book-burning
- Museum Island
- Humboldt University
DETAILED ROUTE
The English language tour “Essential Berlin” will take you through the most famous and emblematic places and monuments of the German capital: this is the best choice to understand the history of the city in all its historical phases and to find out what you must absolutely visit during your stay in Berlin.
The tour will usually begin at our meeting point in the modern Potsdamer Platz, one of the most famous squares in Berlin and a great starting point to understand its unique history, made of destruction and rebirth. Through the stories recounted by our guides you will immediately fall into the atmosphere of the ancient square of the imperial era, completely destroyed during the Second World War, and you will learn to identify the layout of the Berlin Wall by recognizing the “scar” that crosses the square.
After visiting the Sony Center, the building that most embodies the new Berlin after the fall of the Wall in 1989, we will retrace the most important stages of the city’s history through its most significant monuments: we will admire the Tiergarten, an immense green lung in the center of the city, we will stop in front of the Reichstag building, the seat of the German parliament in the government district, and we will cross the famous Brandenburg Gate, through whose columns Napoleon marched triumphant after conquering the city.
We will walk through the Topography of Terror, the former location of the GESTAPO and SS offices. We will then stop in front of the impressive former Nazi Ministry of Aviation, preserved intact to the present day, where will understand why Hitler defined Nazi architecture as “words sculpted in stone”. From there we will head to one of the most symbolic places of the Cold War, the famous Checkpoint Charlie, where Russians and Americans faced each other for 40 years.
Nothing in Berlin is as it seems. We will understand how elusive the German capital can be and how much history is contained in seemingly insignificant roads. So, don’t be surprised when we arrive in an anonymous parking lot – this is where Hitler’s New Chancellery once stood, almost completely removed in the Fifties, and just a few meters beneath the parked cars, the bunker where the German dictator killed himself with Eva Braun is still there today.
Our tour to discover Essential Berlin wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the splendid Gendarmenmarkt square with its elegant twin churches, a symbol of religious integration, and to the tragically famous Bebelplatz, the square of the 1933 Book Burning, the year Hitler assumed the leadership of Germany.
We will reflect on the enormity of the tragedy of the Holocaust among the stelae of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and we will admire the impressive Berliner Dom, the Protestant cathedral and symbol of the greatness of the imperial family. We will end our visit at Museum Island, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and still under reconstruction since the end of the Second World War.
Together with our expert and professional guides, you will understand the dramatic and exciting history of Berlin on a detailed and moving tour in mother tongue English, through all the main historical phases of the city.
WHERE IS THE MEETING POINT LOCATED?
The guide will pick you up at your hotel or in another place of your choice.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- You can extend the duration of the guided tour, personalize the tour or take a longer break in a restaurant that we will recommend based on your gastronomic preferences.
- We will be happy to suggest activities for your stay in Berlin, where and what to eat, and which museums or neighborhoods to visit. We are available to advise you as best as possible based on your needs.
Please do not hesitate to write in case of doubts or questions – we are here for you!
ViveBerlin Tours, the Tourist Guide Cooperative. Discover the different facets of Berlin with our Private Berlin Tours.