Getting around!
If you enter Berlin through Zoo Bahnhof (Zoologischer Garten Bahnhof) brace yourself for a let down – it’s not exactly beautiful and you may wonder why you travelled all the way over the northern flat plans (i.e. rear end) of Europe to get here. Just think 30 years ago it looked great (!) having served as the gateway to the glamour and freedom of west Berlin. Don’t despair, you can put your gear in the luggage lockers (1€ to 2 € a day) then either: orientate yourself over breakfast by the real Zoo at the pleasant Schleusenkrug Café on the canal (from 10 am); wander up to the Tourist Office for general information; or jump right into it and join our Famous Insider Walking Tour opposite the Station for a complete introduction straight off the bat – ("Berlin in a nutshell" Lonely Planet). Read more »COLD WAR BERLIN
TICKETS
GUEST COMMENTS
May 1, 2007
A great choice for a day in Berlin. Nigel was a very informed and enthusiatic tour guide, who presented the information in a succinct and enthusiastic manner.... read on
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Cold War Berlin
Soviet secrets, CIA spies & more
The Berlin Wall along with the Great Wall of China was one of the longest structures ever built to keep people separate from one another Yet hardly anything exists of it today. We trace its ghost like remnants and more...
Insider Tours helped compile the History Channel documentary on the Berlin Wall as seen by millions
"It is our duty to retain proof of this madness to guard against any possibility of its return."
The Senator for Urban Development concerned that the Wall had been almost completely erased from the face of Berlin.
This tour follows the often ghost like trail of the Death-strip and Wall, retracing some of the more intriguing fortifications of its border from Guard Towers to tank traps.
It is designed to serve as a reminder of the Cold War which kept the world in terror for forty years and came to an end not that long ago.
Starting at the infamous Checkpoint Charlie, where the Cold War powers formerly faced off just yards apart, we describe the routines and duties of Border Guards, the Soviet and Allied forces, Stasi and CIA.
Get an extraordinary insight into: what it meant to live in the eastern bloc's most Stalinistic State – the former GDR; successful and failed escapes where Border Command sooner followed the orders of 'shoot to kill' than allow the heinous crime of 'flight from the Republic'; how MI6 and the CIA tunneled under the Wall and Soviet Zone and tapped into the Red Army's secret communications; the methods used by the Stasi to guarantee control of east Germany's population, from 'radiation tags' to "Day X" preparations.
Find out who were and what happened to the GDR's leadership – the key figures and where they are today.
For a proper historical perspective we look at the plight of former east Germans in present society: from former Stasi agents and every day citizenry through to the remarkable scenario of Germany's, not only first female, but "ossie" Chancellor - what do they miss about the GDR, are things better? From shopping to daily work, before, after and what the future holds.
Features include the monumental Soviet Embassy, "Ghost Stations", former Guard Towers, hidden areas of the Death Strip and espionage points of the CIA and KGB, Stasi surveillance techniques and equipment, locations of both succesful and failed escape attempts, a complete reassembled area of inner and outer fotifications of the state border and more.
Lonely Planet
Meeting Points / Prices / Times
Year round:
- 10 am Monday, Thursday & Saturday from McDonald's opposite the main entrance to Zoo Station
How Much?
- €12
- € 10 (under 26 yr. olds, Pensioners)
- € 9 Welcome Cards or ISIC cards
- Note: advanced booking is not required however you can buy your ticket online now (click on any day below the map to skip to this option), or alternatively from your guide directly at the meeting point and time.
- 4 hours
PHOTO GALLERY
You'll get to stand over the exact location of Hitler's Bunker, touch the Berlin Wall, pass through the intersection of Checkpoint Charlie and more!
An exciting and in-depth account of life in the GDR - from secret files, Stasi surveillance, State propaganda, daily work and life onto the collapse of the Stalinistic regime and fate of its key figures...
Sachsenhausen served as the administrative core of the entire holocaust, visit this harrowing place which served to execute the radical plans of racial extermination and genocide of large swathes of society the Nazis deemed unfit for life.