Berlin walking tour question
 

I will definitely be taking a walking tour in Berlin when I visit in 2 weeks. I've hear great things about Brewers and was considering their free 1/2 day tour or the full one. Can anyone comment on their experiences with either of these tours?

Also, what about rival companies?

Thanks.

I am afraid I don't have experience with Brewers, but enjoyed a walking tour with Insider couple years ago. For details, please check: www.insidertour.com.

When we were in Berlin the tour I was going to do was the "Trips with Terry" offered by Brewer: http://www.brewersberlintours.com/#
I like that it is more in depth about a particular area, although sort of pot-luck what the topic will be.

We ended up going to Potsdam (on our own) on the Tuesday that we were there, so didn't end up taking the tour after all.

We considered the half day tour, either with Brewer or with New Berlin (www.newberlintours.com) but it is pretty spread out and we easily made it on our own to all the destinations over the course of our visit anyway.

Thanks. Even though I have 5 1/2 days, I still think it's going to be madness, as there are zillions of museums I want to see. But part of me wants to go to get the history but as well, so I think a tour would really help with that. I think I'll at least day the 1/2 day, but I'm not sure if I should spring for the full Brewers or another company?

For history, I'd consider one of the specialized history tours, such as Brewer's Third Reich tour.

The half day tour will take you to Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Wall, Museum Island, Potsdamer Platz, and Gendarmenmarkt. With the museums you will visit, you'll be at most of those places (I assume you'll go to East Side Gallery to get the wall/murals). For example, if you want to walk the Reichstag dome, that will bring you right to the Brandenburg Gate; visiting the museums of Kulturforum will take you to Postdamer Platz, etc.

You will love Berlin, and will be able to pack a lot into 5.5 days. If you're there on a Monday be aware that a lot of museums and sights in Berlin and Potsdam are closed. That would be a great day for a tour.

We had 6.5 days in Berlin and have just booked tickets for a return visit in September.

I hadn't really considered the Third Reich one. Good point.

I intentionally planned not to be in Berlin on Monday, so I won't have to worry about closures.

I know this sounds a little strange maybe, but last summer we saw a ton of bike tours. They looked fun and seemed to enable you to cover more of the city. (As you probably know, Berlin is huge, I think they say its 5x the size of Paris?)

Anyway, just an idea. I never would have thought of it unless I had seen it myself.

Thanks. I'm maybe the only person at school who doesn't have a bike ... I'm just not into them so much so I think a bike tour could be very problematic.

I think I've decided to do the New Berlin Cold War tour. Sounds interesting and I think I'd like Cold War stuff more than Hitler stuff.

I took that Cold War tour in August. It was fine. Because I took two tours with Terry Brewer himself in 2004 (the 10-hour all-day one and the Potsdam one which was about 9 hours), the Cold War tour paled in comparison. However, Terry Brewer seems to have reduced his activity (understandably because by now he would be in his mid to late 60s), so those might not be an option anyway.

If you haven't seen it already, I suggest seeing the movie, "The Lives of Others", to gain more insight into East Berlin.

Thanks, Will. I know how much you like the Brewers Tours and I feel bad for not planning to take one. I think Terry just does tours a couple of days a week and it is based on what everyone that day wants to see, so I'd prefer to know what I am getting.

Would love to see The Lives of Others, but my friends haven't expressed an interest and I may not have time before I leave. Maybe I can see it in Berlin in English? Any ideas for major English-language cinemas in Berlin?

As someone else said, Berlin is big, and the sights are quite spread out so I'm not sure how much a walking tour could cover. We recently went for our 2nd visit (1st visit 5 days, 2nd visit 4 days) & never took a walking tour, but the first time we did do an open top bus tour which is maybe good for initial orientation. Here's my trip report from our first visit, in case it's of use - http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34614269

Haven't yet updated it with extras from our second trip, but I will say we were very disappointed with the East Side Gallery & wished we'd left it as something we'd just seen from the bus.

We took an year ago two walking tours with New Berlin tours, http://www.newberlintours.com
Red Berlin and The third Reich.
We received a lot of info and so many places that, if we were alone, we could pass by without knowing what was once there. The guides were students (Americans that study in Berlin). These tours that we took were not free, but they also had a free tour about Berlin. I am not sure that this is so interesting, as you will see the major sightseeings, that you can visit on your own without problem.

I'm planning on the Red Berlin tour with them. Did you like it?

We took the New Berlin free 3-1/2 hour tour in November. It was excellent.

First, a restaurant suggestion if you want a quick meal without the hassle of understanding the menu - try the Movenpick Marche on Kurfuerstendamm not far from the Kaiser Wilhelm church. It's a cafeteria, it's inexpensive, and the selection is good. Next, I second the recommendation about seeing the Pergamon Museum. It's amazing. Finally, as you walk around Berlin you'll see brass insets in the sidewalk. Read them. They commemorate Jewish families who live at that address and who didn't survive the Nazi regime. To me they improved my already high opinion of Germany and of the German people.

I also took the New Berlin free tour in 2004, which was very good, although obviously a lot will depend on the tour guide. I think with the New Berlin Cold War tour, which as I mentioned I took in 2006, I felt that the tour guide's knowledge was not extremely comprehensive. And to be fair, the tour guide was younger than I am, so he probably doesn't have the same visceral feeling about the Cold War.