East Berlin: City of Shadows Private Walking Tour
This 3-hour private guided tour explores the surviving monuments of the East German regime including the infamous Berlin Wall and Stasi headquarters. Your private guide will reveal the dialogue between modern Berlin’s built environment and its dark and often hidden history. You’ll hear about life under Communist rule, the East Germans’ growing discontent and their government’s brutal suppression.
Options
10:00 am
3-hour private walking tour of East Berlin in the company of a historian
What's included in East Berlin: City of Shadows Private Walking Tour
(Subject to Option Inclusions)Itinerary
Brandenburg Gate
A historian will reveal the dialogue between modern Berlin’s built environment and its dark and often hidden history. You’ll hear about life under Communist rule, the East Germans’ growing discontent and their government’s brutal suppression. The tour begins at the Brandenburg Gate where, in June 1987, President Ronald Reagan famously called on Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to, “tear down this wall!” Nearby is the former Soviet Embassy, a grandiose monument built in 1945 amid the rubble of World War II as a bold declaration of Stalin’s ambition to control all of Berlin. We will discuss how the Allies’ postwar division of Germany into four parts led to decades of Cold War tensions.
Friedrichstrasse
Friedrichstrasse train station, a key crossing point between East and West Berlin. When families were torn apart by East Germany’s ironfisted immigration laws, they said their sad goodbyes here in the office known as the Palace of Tears.
At Nordbahnhof, we’ll explore how Berlin’s division created “ghost” stations, unused but heavily guarded stops on West Berlin’s subway lines that lay in East German territory.
Inclusions
- Private walking tour
- Professional art historian guide
- Food and drinks, unless specified
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Gratuities
- Transportation to/from attractions: You will need to use public transport a few times, since the distances between some key sites would be too far to walk. If you will not have a few days visitor's transit pass to Berlin already, we suggest that you purchase the day metro pass. If you cannot purchase it in advance, your guide will help you purchase it at the first metro station on the tour. Berlin Transit One Way Tarif AB Ticket 2.8 Euro, Senior Discount 1,70 EUR Berlin Transit Day Ticket for one Person 7 Euro, Senior Discount 4,70 EUR
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Your tour guides are expert local historians and enthusiastic hosts who love helping travelers discover Berlin.
Meet
Pickup and Dropoff
You will make your own way to the meeting points
Meeting Points
- Please meet your guide outside Cafe Einstein, Unter den Linden 42, 100117 Berlin
