Which Berlin Walk to Take

Price is close to irrelevant here — everything is cheap. Choose on route.

First Visit: the Overview

$20 — Discover Berlin, 6,530 reviews at 4.9. Mitte, the government quarter, Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, Museum Island. Two to three hours and you leave with the geography, which makes the rest of the trip easier.

This is the shape the free tours also take. If you want it free and do not mind a large group, see free walking tours.

Second Day: Something Specific

• $23 — hidden backyards, 6,193 reviews at 4.8. Mitte’s interconnected Höfe, courtyards leading into courtyards. The best of the offbeat walks and the one that feels least like a tour.
• $24 — Third Reich and Cold War, 9,598 reviews at 4.9. The highest-rated history walk in the city, covering both twentieth-century layers in two hours.
• $29 — the Wall and East Side Gallery, 359 reviews.

Inside a Building

• $19 — Reichstag, dome and government district, 20,846 reviews — the most-reviewed walking product in Berlin.
• $19 — plenary chamber and cupola, 8,983 reviews.

Note the free alternative honestly: the Reichstag dome is free if you register online in advance. Slots go fast and unregistered walk-ups generally do not get in. The guided tours solve that and add the chamber and the politics; if you are organised, register yourself.

Bad Weather

$21 — Berlin Story Bunker, 7,278 reviews. Indoors, and a reasonable substitute when a January tour looks unappealing. The $24 boat tour, 6,972 reviews, is the other way to see the centre without walking.

Our Actual Recommendation

Day one: the overview walk, or a free one if budget matters. Day two: hidden courtyards if you liked Berlin, the history walk if you came for the twentieth century.

Two walks in two days is plenty. Three is too many — the routes overlap more than the descriptions suggest.

Compare Berlin walks →