Berlin in 4 days

Check the websites for the different tours. Go to Trip Advisor and read their reviews which are up to date. The reviews for the ho-ho buses are so far down the list of tours, you can tell they aren't very good in comparison. If you want to cover more ground, consider a bike tour. Go green and go local and either do a walking tour or a bike tour.

I have been on 4 tours conducted by Insider Tours, their Famous Walk, 3rd Reich, Sachsenhausen, and Potsdam and can recommend the high quality and professionalism of their guides. For 12 euro for the city tours, you can't beat it. Sachsenhausen and Potsdam were a bit more.
http://www.insidertour.com/

Husband and I tried the bus #100 and thought it was a huge waste of our time that we could have used doing something else. Unless you get that front seat, you are just riding a bus around town. We sat in traffic jams, waited forever on the next bus, and they were hot. We saw more on our 4 hour walking tour than that bus showed us.

I got the Welcome Card the last time I was there, as it matched what I wanted to do the most, and gave me my transportation. Decide which museums you want to see, figure out how much you will save with the various cards, and add in or subtract your transportation costs for the 4 days.

Not sure why you aren't able to register. I got on the website fine. Are you trying to use a mobile phone to do so or a computer and are you typing the dates in correctly? Day, month, year.

I have not done any tour in Berlin, just used public transport and my feet. The walking tours could be quite informative, in comparison to the bus tours, which are not particularly. See updates related to the Pergamon museum at http://www.ricksteves.com/europe/germany/guidebook-updates and http://www.smb.museum/en/home.html. (Is that the site your were using? www.museumsinsel-berlin.de, is the building site, not the ticket site.)

Hi,

For Potsdam take the S-Bahn 7 from Berlin. Outside of Potsdam Hbf you'll see different tour companies for Potsdam, pay them and board. You'll see others doing likewise. No need to make any reservations. If you prefer that, then go to the main floor, (top) of Potsdam Hbf to the Tourist Office.

When my friends and I were in Berlin seven years ago, we had great luck with NEW Europe Tours. They have a free -- that's right, FREE -- walking tour of Berlin, as well as a variety of other paid tours. We started with the free walking tour and loved it. The guide was educational and entertaining! We enjoyed ourselves so much that we decided to do two other tours through the company, including the Sachsenhausen Memorial. The Potsdam Tour also came highly recommended, though we didn't do that one! http://www.newberlintours.com/daily-tours.html

The Jewish Museum Berlin was also well worth the time! Very heart wrenching! http://www.jmberlin.de/main/EN/00-Visitor-Information/00-visitorinformation.php

While there, we used the bus system -- no Hop On, Hop Off -- and our feet. It seemed to work really well and was affordable. Most of the things we wanted to see in Berlin were well within walking distance.

I'm with Laura on using public transit for your tours and combining it with local walking tours. The S and U Bahn will get you around the city very easily and even to Potsdam. I know I didn't get a special pass.

When I went to Potsdam, I took the S-Bahn to Potsdam and then I took a local bus out to Sans Souci and the palace complex. I don't think that you need a tour. I spent the day saw many of the different buildings. Here's a link to a great brochure about the Prussian Palaces near Berlin. The English Website isn't ready yet. You can see on the brochure that Sanssouci Park includes several palaces. On my day visit, I saw the Sanssouci Palace, the Orangery Palace, The New Palace at Sanssouci, the Chinese House, The Roman Baths, and the Windmill. I also so a lot of the gardens.

Pam