Berlin tour

Not sure if this is what you'd want but we did the 'hop on, hop off' bus tour. We could go at our own pace and catch all the important things. It literally took us all day because we stayed longer at certain places but we enjoyed it.

Have you read the listings in Ricks books for tours? You can also check the listings on Trip Advisor for the best ones. See what the bike tours visit and then see what the walking tours visit. I think anyone who has done either of these and then gone on a Hop-on Hop-off bus tour, will find the bus tour to be lacking. No personal guide to ask questions, whizzing past a hugely historical site with just one sentence to tell you what you are driving past, recordings that may or may not work well, and just the view from one side of the bus. For less money, you can get an excellent comprehensive tour of the city and really learn something about this great city. Most people I have met who have done both in a city, usually regret spending their money on the bus tour. You can also do themed tours in Berlin, like 3rd Reich, Cold War, Underground, etc. "Insider Tours", "Original Walk", "Brewers", "Berlin Underground", "Berlin Fat Tire" or "Gablinger" are the highest recommended tours.

Hedy, I would highly recommend the Original Berlin Walks. They offer a good range of tours and their Guides are outstanding. They meet in the Plaza across from Bahnhof Zoo (in front of McDonald's as I recall). Happy travels!

We did the New Europe Sandeman free walking tour with Leen and it was awesome! We did many tours around Europe this past year and this tour was our favorite.
It was interesting, the tour guide expressed herself very well and gave us a lot of background information.

I agree with Ken. For 12 euros the highly knowledgeable guide on the general tour kept us going for over five hours. It oriented me for the rest of my visit and prompted plenty of interesting discussion.

I agree that a walking tour is best for an overview. But on my last visit of three (my report is here: http://tinyurl.com/9woj9zo), my mother preferred a bus tour, and enjoyed it. The thing missing was the history, which is so important in Berlin. As for the Berlin Wall, do not miss the Bernauer Strasse section near the Nordbahnhof station. The station itself has a fascinating exhibit on "ghost stations" and escapes, and the free films at the visitors center were fascinating. And, it's the only remaining section of the wall that shows the two-wall structure. This was all much more impressive than the East Side Gallery (the other remaining sizable section). If, like me, you're fascinated by Berlin's juxtaposition of many pieces of its 20th Century history in close proximity, there's a small section of the wall right near the Topography of Terror.

Berlin is a big city. To get an overview by foot is going to take a while. We're usually not the bus tour type, but we thought the "hop-on, hop-off" bus tour with a boat ride was very good. The only thing we got off the bus for was the boat portion and I think it was about 2 1/2 - 3 hours. We then went back to some of the locations for a closer look. Recently parts of the wall (what is left of it) at the East Side Gallery have been removed for luxury apartment development. A big issue with many Berliners. Go now, before the only thing left is in a museum!

You can explore Berlin by walking. However, you can't cover all major interestign sites just in one big walk route. They are scattered around.

Ideally walking to see the sites is best as long as what want to see is all in Mitte. It all depends on how esoteric the site is and how much time you're to spend getting around to the sites. If you're crossing districts eg., Charlottenburg to Mitte or Kreuzberg, you need public transportation.