Berlin for 1 1/2 days - looking for a Tour Guide recommendation

By a simple search in the forum you will find various threads containing reports and recommendations with tour guides.

In your case I would also recommend considering a HoHo bus tour which gives you a quick overview with some background explanations.

Be informed that a stay in parallel with Berlin Marathon is expensive and on Marathon day a car makes really no sense in the center of Berlin.

thank you for your comments - i have looked at some of the threads and they seemed to be more general, and hate to relay on very old information.

To find actual information search results can be filtered by click on "travel forum" and below "6 months and newer" or "1 year and newer".

My (long) answer to your guide question

My understanding is that German law will not allow a guide to drive unless the guide also has a commercial driver's license, which is cost prohibitive for guides to obtain. So, if you want to visit sites by car, I think you will need to hire both a guide and a driver. Issue number two is going to be finding places for stopping/parking/etc. That can be a challenge, too, but I don't think it is insurmountable.

My guide recommendation is always Robert Sommer. He grew up in the former East Germany (DDR) and was the 15-year-old punk rocker son of a high-level East German bureaucrat on Nov 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall opened. He was a member of the first group of DDR students to do a student exchange in the US, and he was a squatter as a young adult. He ultimately got a PhD in history; see the recently released English version of his book here. He is very approachable and happy to tell about growing up in the DDR, what he did the nigth the Berlin Wall fell, the capitalist product he held out on the longest, etc. Other guides get a lot of praise here, but I don't see how they can deliver the experience that Robert can. I've done probably a dozen tours with Robert over the years.

Robert also has a driver he uses from time to time. I went with Robert and his driver to explore underground nuclear bunkers outside Berlin, to explore an abandoned Soviet military base about, and to visit the Seelow Heights battlefield along with the overgrown remains of Küstrin (town destroyed by the Russians during WWII). The driver is not cheap but is an option.

If you are able, walking + public transportation would work far better than a car for visiting sites with a guide, but I obviously don't know your mobility status.

Robert does a lot of travel guiding now for an international tour company, but if you can spend a day with him, you won't regret it.

My answer to your Sunday & hotel questions

I think if staying in a branded hotel you know makes you more comfortable on your trip and reduces anxiety (it would for my parents!), then do it. I think the location is goo. Yes, I think it would be quite easy to visit the Berlin Wall Museum -- this is the one you are talking about, I think. It's the best one, in my opinion, but the Documentation Center is closed right now for renovation. Hopefully, it will be open again my next September. Even if the "inside" museum is closed, the "outside" museum will still be open and let you see a remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall. Uber works in Berlin -- I just used it a month ago. Free Now (now owned by Uber) and Bolt are also app-based option. So that would be an option. Public transport is also excellent in Berlin. You can take the short walk to the Unter den Linden stop, catch the U6 in the direction of Kurt-Schumacher-Platz, ride 3 stops to the Naturkundemuseum stop, and then walk about 10 minutes to the museum.

Berlin is great. Have fun while you are there!

Thanks Dave for info on Robert. He sounds like a very good option, too. Can you confirm best way to reach him may be: [email protected] (and best website)? Many thanks.

Thanks again Dave for good tips. I think we can do fine with good guide, uber and public transportation with right itinerary. Car isn't necessary - we enjoy walking. And we won't be disappointed if we just get to see outside "wall" from the link you provided, which is exactly what we wish to see. We will have enough to see even if museums closed.

We were just there….2 nights…one full day. Stayed at Old Town Hotel. Found on Booking.com. Was very reasonable and pleasant. Good breakfast. We did Hop on/off buses. We find those the way to see the most sites when you have limited time.

Robert's website: http://thetrueberliner.com/

I will send a PM with contact info.

thank you again

You might try "Jeremy, the Berlin Expert" or "Lee Evans". Both are outstanding private guides.

thank you also for the additional information. i will look them up as well.