Tours of the City
Walking Tours
Daily walking tours are offered by Insider Tour (tel/fax: (030) 692 3149; website: www.insidertour.com). Walking tours start from the McDonalds opposite Bahnhof Zoo, at 1000 and 1430 (April to October) and at 1000 only (November to March). These take between three and four hours to complete and cost €12 (concessions available). All the major sites, such as the Victory Column, Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz and the Reichstag, are covered. Insider Tour also offers cycling tours with a similar itinerary from May to September for €20.
Bus Tours
A cheap and simple way for visitors to see the sights in Berlin is to first pick up a leaflet at the BVG information centre at Bahnhof Zoo and then board bus 100 (see Getting Around). The leaflet provides information on all the sights along the route, as the bus journeys from the centre of West Berlin to the East, travelling through the Tiergarten and passing the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate. A similar tour is possible on bus 200, which passes through Potsdamer Platz rather than the Tiergarten.
Guided bus tours are available from a number of companies, which are significantly more expensive at approximately €18–26 for a hop-on, hop-off tour – the summertime (April to October) option of including a one-hour boat tour adds around €7.50 to the price. There are a number of pick-up points along the Ku’damm, between the Europa-Center and Uhlandstrasse. In City West, the best departure point is in front of the large department store, Kaufhas des Westens (KaDeWe), while in the City East, buses stop at the Brandenburg Gate (in front of the Café Meyerbeer) and at Alexanderplatz (in front of the Hotel Park Inn). Operators include Berolina (tel: (030) 8856 8030; fax: (030) 882 4128; e-mail: info@berolina-berlin.com; website: www.berolina-berlin.com), Severin + Kühn (tel: (030) 880 4190; fax: (030) 882 5618; e-mail: info@severin-kuehn-berlin.de; website: www.severin-kuehn-berlin.de) and Tempelhofer Reisen (tel: (030) 752 4056; fax: (030) 751 7035; e-mail: info@tempelhofer.de; website: www.tempelhofer.de).
Other Tours
Walking tours of Berlin’s architecture, neighbourhoods and a variety of cultural institutions off the regular tourist trail are available from art:berlin, Oranienburger Strasse 32 (tel: (030) 2809 6390; fax: (030) 2809 6391). A two-hour ‘Jewish Life’ tour costs €8, departing from Kackescher Markt on Sunday at 1300. Kultur Büro Berlin (tel: (030) 444 0936; fax: (030) 444 0939) offers a similar variety of tours, including ones that focus on particular artists such as Max Liebermann or Marlene Dietrich. Tours for both companies are in German but are available in English for group bookings.
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