Best Tours of Berlin

I have done multiple tours with Context Travel in Berlin and have never been disappointed. Groups are limited to 6 people and are led by "docents" -- guides with a Master's degree or PhD. Tours are definitely more expensive than others -- generally around $90/person for a three-hour tour, but I personally find the tour quality and small group experience worth the money. Tours usually require 3 participants to go.

Get in touch with Jeremy, the Berlin Expert or with Gablinger Tours.
http://www.theberlinexpert.com/
http://www.jewish-berlin.com/others.php

Original Berlin Walks website also does customized private tours in addition to their public tours. I took two of the public tours and they were both excellent, great guides, good itineraries, so I'm sure the guides for the private tours are good. You need to contact them with what you want to see/how long a tour in order to get a quote.

If you decide on a private tour, I can recommend the guide I had for the Rick Steves GAS tour, Carlos Meissner. He has a PhD in history.

https://guides-berlin.org/guides-bbs/carlos

Thanks to everyone for their great suggestions. I am going to look into all these options and will report back on what I actually end up taking part in!

I'd also suggest Original Berlin Walks, as they have a variety of tours available. In my experience, the guides are excellent and provide an interesting tour.

In addition to seeing WWII sites on a tour, I recommend taking a food tour in the Mitte -- food is wonderful, Bastian talks about more than food giving information about some aspects of WWII in that area, pointing out buildings that still contain bullet holes etc. And he fills you in on current Berlin culture. Check it out! https://www.berlinfoodtour.de/tours/berlin-mitte-food-tour/

Take your RS Berlin travel book and that's the tour I recommend. RS writes books for you to be INDEPENDENT of others telling you how to use your precious time and lets you dive right in. The book unlike a guided tour doesn't put a wall between you and the locals in Berlin.

Berlin has a number of superlative guides. But the issue, unless there are a number in your group, is cost. Though I have not tried to obtain pricing, it does not seem cost-effective for solo travelers or even for a couple to hire for several hours a private guide. Signing up for a group tour with one of the better tour companies seems economically the way to go.

To answer Continental. As much as I admire Rick and the job he does, his walk through Frankfurt is awful. I am not going to trust that his walk through Berlin is better.

When I first read his Germany book about 10 years ago, there were so many mistakes in his section on Frankfurt that I sent the publishers a 2 page list. Thankfully, they corrected most of them the next year. It has taken me 9 years to get one of the mistakes corrected, though I tried to have them fix it every year and that finally happened this past edition. That is just one city. Are other cities the same?

The whole point of having a guide is to get local information. What is happening, what is open or closed, to get a feel for the city and its' history especially when it comes to current events. You cannot get that from carrying around a guide book or listening to an audio guide while walking through a city. You cannot ask questions either. Guide book productions are woefully not current simply because they are books. They have their use, but they have limits.

I am sticking to joining a tour group or hiring a private guide when I visit a new city to get the best experience and knowledge possible.

I agree with Ms. Jo on the aspect of using local guides vs a guide book. Even the best guidebook contains a finite amount of information for practical reasons. No book can cover all the material provided by a good local guide, or else it would be so thick it couldn't be carried. I've found local guides ("subject matter experts") to be exceptional in places like Berlin or Normandy. They often have information that isn't contained in any books (which is why various tour companies often use them) and they can provide a much more interesting, detailed and rewarding look at the history. Using a local guide is also beneficial in that people can ask questions of them to clarify any points they're interested in.

Guidebooks do have value for things like transportation, museum details, hotels, etc., but IMO not as good for other things. If you're just interested in a cursory look at the sights of Berlin to tick off a box on your Itinerary, use a guidebook. Otherwise a local guide is good value.

Hi,

If you are interested in tracking down WW2 sites in Berlin, then be prepared to move a lot by public transport or car.

There are numerous sites, going from Berlin-Wannsee to Karlshorst, all dépends on the level / depth of your interest, Nazi, military, Holocaust related, cemeteries, etc. such as the Resistance Museum, the Flak towers, the RAF cemetery, Invalidenfriedhof on Prussian-German military war history, the Soviet Memorials in Treptow, Pankow, the Karlshorst Museum on the war on the Eastern Front, Seelow on the biggest battle on German soil ie, the beginning of the Battle of Berlin, Mémorial Site at Ploetzensee (meathooks and all), Berlin-Spandau,

Hi all, I appreciated all the replies. I checked with a couple of the smaller tours, but just could not make the scheduling work given the short notice I was giving them. So I can't really comment on a small tour like the Context tours - though I tried in particular to make that one work in my schedule. I ended up doing the Berlin Original Walks WWII walking tour. I thought it was pretty good and met my expectations considering the price and size of our group. I believe there were around 20 of us but the guide said that was larger than normal group. My big (overall) takeaway from by visit to Berlin is that I just needed more time... it's such an amazing and interesting city to visit. We had 4 days for a first visit and I wish I would have reduced Prague by 1 day (we had 3 days there) and spent at least 5 days in Berlin. We could have filled a week easily and not become tired of the city or run out of great things to do or see. It's that good of a destination.

"...I just needed more time." How true in reference to Berlin!

Thanks for the update on the tour you chose. I'm sorry that you couldn't work a Context tour into your itinerary. I agree that Berlin is an amazing and interesting city. I spent a week there in May 2016 and a week in May 2017. I repeated only one activity -- dinner at the Fernsehturm (TV tower). I want to go back to Berlin for another week next year!

Dave, I can see why. I may try and do the Context tour on my next visit. I have been to most of the European capitals/major cities and I would put Berlin near the top. I have always considered London my all around favorite city in Europe but Berlin gave it a big run for the money. I can't wait to go back - I think next time it will be a "Berlin only" trip. Potsdam is a wonderful day trip as well.

Right attitude, Dave, to plan on going back to Berlin next year, so am I, ca end of May/early or mid-June. .

It's great to hear that you enjoyed the Berlin Walks tour. I completely agree with your sentiments that Berlin needs lots of time, as there's so much to see. That's a good reason to start planning a return visit!