Private Berlin WWII and Cold War History Tour with Local Expert Guide
Recommended by 92% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Berlin, Germany
- 4 hours (approx.)
- Group discounts
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
History buffs are sure to love this tour that dives into Berlin’s checkered past. Join a private guide on a tour around the city that highlights World War II and Cold War history, with all of its dark secrets. See top landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate and the Holocaust Memorial, and discover other hidden gems that relate to the time period.
- Discover Berlin’s war history on a walking tour
- Sample a classic Berlin currywurst while you explore
- See Checkpoint Charlie, Museum Island, and more
- A private tour means a personalized experience
What's Included
- All Fees and Taxes
- Private local guide
- Private walking tour
- German traditional snack - Currywurst
- Customizable itinerary
- Multiple start times available
- Must see and off the beaten path
- Iconic places for photoshoot
- Expert advice where to go and what to do after the tour
- Extra food and drinks
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Oranienburger Str. 28-30, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Meet your guide at Oranienburger Strasse 28-30, in front of "The New Synagogue" (There's massive iron gate in front)
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
1
Berlin
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Berlin
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Oranienburgerstrasse
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
5
Palace of Tears
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
6
Reichstag Building
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
7
Brandenburg Gate
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
8
The Holocaust Memorial - Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
9
Fuhrerbunker
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
10
Wilhelmstrasse
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
11
Checkpoint Charlie
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
12
Bebelplatz
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
13
Museum Island
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.7
based on 73 reviews
Sort by: Most recent
This is our 1st time to the city. Our tour with Tille was fun, informative, educational and enjoyable.
Bastian is the best guide! We could have spent the entire day with him. I highly recommend this tour to anyone interested in discovering Berlin and its history
Bastion our tour guide was knowledgeable and friendly . It’s a walking tour but did not feel tired while touring Berlin .
I wasn't going to write a review because we did not enjoy this tour, and are not trying to impact someones livelyhood. However, I use Viator often to book trips when traveling and heavily rely on the reviews when booking and thought it would be a disservice to not review this tour.
We booked a private tour as we wanted to have a small group of just the four of us to be sure we could ask questions, hear and truly absorb the history of Berlin. None of us speak German, so having a private English speaking guide was the route we absolutely wanted to take.
Our guide could not answer our questions as English was his third learned language. Although impressive, not helpful during a private tour.
Our guide spent his time our our tour taking his personal photos. He told his his boss needed photos for the website. This tour felt like he was on assignment from the tour company and we were an afterthought.
About 1/2 way through the tour, the other couple we were with simply didn't want to be there anymore. The tour was unengaging and flat, so they left. My partner and I decided to stick it out, and almost wished we didn't. We got to the next site, and we let Demitiris know we've already been to this attraction. He kept asking us if we wanted to go inside, several times. We said no, we have done this exibit and muesum. I think he wanted us to oblige so he could take pictures of that exibit.
After that we ran into one of his coworkers who also speaks Greek, and my partner and I were just standing on the side of the road while they caught up.
Overall, for the money we spent to have a private tour, this was was an absolute miss. This was the first thing we did on our trip and booked 3 subsequent tours after this, and were genuinely fearful of repeat disappointment.
I would recommend booking a selfguided walking audio tour and using google maps. If I could get a refund, I'd want one.
Response from Host, Oct 2026
Dear Maureen,
Thank you for taking the time to share such detailed feedback. We are truly sorry to hear that your tour did not meet your expectations, especially as you had chosen a private experience to enjoy a more personal and informative introduction to the city's history.
Our guide has shared his perspective with us, and we understand that he made an effort to answer your questions, accommodate your interests, and provide an enjoyable experience. However, we recognize that the level of historical commentary and engagement did not meet your expectations, and we sincerely regret that.
Regarding the photographs, our guide occasionally takes pictures to help us showcase our tours and destinations. However, this should never interfere with the experience or make our guests feel that they are receiving anything less than our full attention. We apologize if this was the impression you were left with.
We also appreciate your comments regarding communication and the overall flow of the tour. We will review these points with our guide to ensure that our private tours remain engaging, informative, and focused on our guests' interests.
Thank you again for your feedback. We genuinely appreciate it and will use it to continue improving our service. We hope to have the opportunity to welcome you on another tour in the future and provide the experience you originally expected.
Kind regards,
We had a wonderful tour with Manfred. He was very knowledgeable and showed us a lot of cool Cold War and WWII sights.
Jonathan was our fabulous guide. Very personable and extremely knowledgeable. The tour covered all the important sites and more. Jonathan’s insights really brought the history of Berlin to life. We learned so much. We can’t recommend him enough. If you’re taking this tour, make sure to ask for him as your guide. Finally, ask him for sightseeing recommendations.
The experience was fantastic. The walking route was mapped well, the stories were engaging, and the guide was able to improvise well.
Bastian was our tour guide. Very knowledgeable, toured at our pace and showed us a lot of interesting sites, shared his knowledge of history as well as politics in today's Germany.
I wonderful few hours to see and hear some of the highlights of Berlin. Our guide (Eleni) had such positive energy, good pace and such interesting background. We really enjoyed our day and would highly recommend!
It was very informative with fun quips and interactions with others we met along the way. We enjoyed the one-to-one time with Bastian. He provided enough background and highlights to introduce us to the rich history of the city.
It's a lot of walking, but very interesting and certainly informative. Till kept a good pace going too
Bastian was very knowledgeable about Berlin and its history. He handled matters with political sensitivity and was quite funny. I would highly recommend a tour with him!
Great insight into the history of Berlin. Guide was wonderful and very knowledgeable. Added bonus that it was tailored to our preferences.
Walking tour, cobblestones. Enjoyed the conversation with Elani. Very knowledgeable and friendly. Small group.
It was a lot of fun! Bastian was extremely friendly, knowledgeable, and had a great route to show us great sites. He was also very funny, personable, and saved us from pick pockets. He made a lot of jokes that lightened the mood and was a blast to hang out with. Highly recommended!
Incredibly entertaining and educational. Our tour guide Eleni was terrific, very knowledgeable, entertaining and enthusiastic about making sure all the guest had a wonderful experience.
Our guide was the worst we ever experienced with Viator. He walked ahead of us, told us nothing, didn’t even go in museum with us. We met in front of a synagogue. When we asked about it he just said it’s a synagogue. He didn’t even know about Sachsenhausen. He definitely is not prepared to give tours. In fact, after an hour we said we were done. He does not represent Viator well at all. Fortunately, my previous experiences with Viator were positive or I would not use or recommend your company. I hope you post this.
Response from Host, Jul 2026
Dear Val,
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We are genuinely sorry to learn that your experience did not meet your expectations.
We understand that you were hoping for a different style of tour, and we regret that the experience fell short for you. Our guide recalls making every effort to answer your questions, adapt the tour to your preferences, and continue the experience after modifying the itinerary to accommodate your request to avoid further walking by taking a taxi between locations.
Historical tours often involve detailed discussions and, at times, questions that require clarification or verification. While our guides strive to provide accurate information throughout the tour, we understand that our guide's approach did not match your expectations on this occasion.
We value all guest feedback and will use your comments to continue improving our experiences. We appreciate you giving us the opportunity to host you and are sorry that we were unable to provide the experience you were looking for.
Kind regards,
Bastian was our guide. Knowledgeable, highlighting main tourist attractions and background information. Very friendly, great sense of humour, and made everyone in our group feel a part of the experience. There were 5 of us. Even our late teens loved it, learning the history and seeing the sites they studied in school. Definitely a highlight for us. We always book these tours early in our trip to get the lay of the land and food recommendations etc. well
Worth it.
We had a private tour with Eleni and I highly recommend it. Berlin has so much history. It’s like a museum, and this tour puts everything into context plus takes you to places you wouldn’t otherwise know about. If you want to not only see the sites, but also understand the sites take this tour!
Bastian was such an amazing tour guide and so informative! If you sign up for this tour, ask for him by name.
We loved that it was just my husband and me with Bastian so that we had the one on one experience with Bastian. We went to tons of historical sites and it was all so interesting.
I highly recommend this tour, it was fantastic!
We loved our private tour with Bastion! He was so knowledgeable and kind and patient. Highly recommend a walking tour with him! Even in 35 degree heat !
Simon was a great guide. Very knowledgeable and friendly! We got to see and learned about lots of the historical spots in Berlin Mitte.
Really enjoyed the tour, Seth was a knowledgeable guide, did not rush and took his time to share not only the history and culture , but his personal thoughts of the city .. highly recommended !
Traveling from the United States. First time in Berlin. We had many questions about the WWII and , Cold WAR history as well as different historical sites and museums. Our guid was Simon.
He was great. Very knowledgeable, and answered our many
I would recommend him.
This walking tour is a great overview of the complex history of Berlin! You see all the important sights and get your own personalized private tour. We saw all the highlights plus some! Our guide was great! Very knowledgeable and gave us lots of great recommendations!
We took a 4-hour private tour of Berlin with a guide named Manfred. It was not only a complete disappointment, it did not track with the itinerary we paid for.
Manfred was a block away from our meeting point, having a coffee, and texted me upon arrival to ask us to come down to where he was. On tour, we meandered around only the eastern portion of the area that our itinerary was scheduled to cover, doing a few of the things that were promised, but he did not seem to have the energy to keep up with us and paused many times for rest and conversation. This was a private tour, only my wife and me, age 64.
He was a "character", but did not seem to have the knowledge necessary for tour guiding. I asked many questions along the way, only 50% could be answered. We have done over 40 tours using other private guides. Thus, I have a large database of guides to compare him to.
However, our primary issue is that he did not cover the places that we were expected to go based on the itinerary.
Here is a quick list of the things on the itinerary that we did NOT do:
Palace of tears, Brandenburg gate, holocaust memorial, a tasting of the currywurst, the Reichstag building, the Fuhrerbunker, and we never even made it to Wilhelmstrasse.
We used 4 hours of our limited time in Berlin and we are very disappointed that we were misled in the offerings of this tour, and the poor quality of the guide.
We worked with the tour provider, and received a mere 20% refund.
Since you cannot specify which guide you want to use, don't book this or you might end up with Manfred.
Response from Host, Jun 2026
Dear Dan,
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We are sorry to hear that the tour did not meet your expectations.
We understand your disappointment regarding the locations covered during the tour. While our guides aim to adapt the experience to the pace, interests, and circumstances of each private group, we recognize that some of the sites listed in the itinerary were not visited, and we regret that this left you feeling that the experience was incomplete.
Regarding Manfred, we would like to note that he has guided many guests over the years and is appreciated by many for his personable style and local perspective. However, we understand that guiding styles can be subjective, and what appeals to one guest may not be the right fit for another.
We also appreciate your comments regarding the depth of information provided during the tour. We continuously review guest feedback with our guides to ensure that our tours deliver both engaging commentary and the level of historical context our guests expect.
As a gesture of goodwill, we worked with you after the tour and provided a partial refund. While we understand this did not fully resolve your disappointment, it reflected our sincere effort to acknowledge your concerns.
Thank you again for your feedback. We take all guest comments seriously and use them to improve our tours and overall guest experience.
Kind regards,
Eleni was a marvelous guide who gave me a thorough introduction to Berlin. I felt she perfectly balanced education and sightseeing. I picked this tour in hopes that I could avoid a one size fits all tour, and it exceeded my hopes. I asked the questions I wanted answered and Eleni kindly and patiently answered them.
Basti gave a wonderful tour. He paced the sometimes difficult to process information at an appropriate rate. While the tour was four hours in length, there were plenty of opportunities for breaks. Very patient with our numerous questions. We wish him all the best!
Simon was great. Fun and very knowledgeable. We loved our tour. Would recommend this tour. Was a great day/
Elena was great - very knowledgeable and great language skills - highly recommend her to friends and family
Member Pricing
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per personWas $149.00(-5%)
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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