Berlin Philharmonie tour
 

I didn't see this tour mentioned in any of the guides. It's not in the DK Berlin book nor Frommers.com.

They give the tour every day at 13:00 and it's 3 Euros and in English.

If you're interested in classical music and/or architecture, you will probably enjoy it.

Lasts about an hour and they let you photograph inside.

I'm going to Berlin in 2 weeks and extremely interested. Anymore information?

There are no reservations. It's right across the street from the Sony Center at Potsdamerplatz.

So it's just to the West, within the Kulturforum complex, big yellow (or gold) modernist building -- looks like Ghery could have designed the outer contours.

You just show up at a side entrance, not the main one. There are signs, including in English, of where to go.

Just get there like 10 minutes early and buy your ticket.

Guide talks mostly about the architectural features and how radical it was to make a concert hall where the podium was in the center of the audience galleries.

Thanks for the information and sounds pretty good. I'll definitely try to join this tour.
I'll be solo, so it'll be good to have someone to talk me through the things rather than doing all the reading myself all the time!

Another quick question, I'll be in Berlin for 4 days, staying in Kurfurstendamm area. I've only planned to see a couple of 'must sees' that really interest me and spend the rest of the time linger around. Obviously if the weather is good I would spend more time walking, if not more time spent lingering in museums. Is the Welcome Card worth it? It doesn't seem to be very expensive for 3 days but I would feel a little cheated if it's not good for value.

I went with a 7-day pass which covers transport in zones AB, which covers the whole city proper. It's a huge area. It was just under 26 Euros. Otherwise, it appears the next shortest passes are for each day, at 6.10 Euros.

In a week, I've seen them check for tickets only twice on the U-Bahn and S-Bahn. On buses, I just show my pass as I board.

But I'm finding that on the less popular routes, bus schedule isn't always met.

The most popular bus routes are buses 100 and 200, which pass by all the big attractions. But mostly I've walked a lot.

If you do get a pass, be sure to validate first. You can get BVG passes at Tegel airport. You really have to look for the info. desk and there's a window just outside. Or you're suppose to be able to buy passes at most major stations.

I had heard the Welcome Card wasn't good, the discounts really weren't worth it.

So for museums, I got the 3-day Museum Pass for 15 Euros which covers more museums (including most of the big ones) than you can cover in 3 days.

Be aware however that most of the popular museums are closed on Mondays except for the Jewish Museum.

Biggest queues are for the Reichstag and it's impossible during the day unless you get there early. I went around 10 PM, just before they cut people off from entering I believe.