Skip to main content

Private Berlin WWII and Cold War History Tour with Local Expert Guide

Recommended by 92% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Berlin, Germany
Great choice
10+ bookings last month.
  • 4 hours (approx.)
  • Group discounts
  • Mobile ticket
  • Offered in: English

Why travelers loved this

4.7
·
· Celia_W ·
Jul 2026
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!
· Jessica_W ·
Jul 2026
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!

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

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)
Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)
Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)
Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)
Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

4.7
based on 65 reviews
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor
Sort by: Most insightful

Would Go Again

Jen_G, Sep 2026
The experience was fantastic. The walking route was mapped well, the stories were engaging, and the guide was able to improvise well.

Great Tour of WWII Berlin History

Steven_P, Sep 2026
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...

Sheri_A, Sep 2026
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...

Doris_C, Sep 2026
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.

Highlights of ww2

Vic_H, Sep 2026
It's a lot of walking, but very interesting and certainly informative. Till kept a good pace going too

Berlin Sept 2026

Linda_B, Sep 2026
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...

Louise_S, Aug 2026
Great insight into the history of Berlin. Guide was wonderful and very knowledgeable. Added bonus that it was tailored to our preferences.

Berlin tour

Janet_R, Aug 2026
Walking tour, cobblestones. Enjoyed the conversation with Elani. Very knowledgeable and friendly. Small group.

The most fun learning

Celia_W, Jul 2026
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...

William_D, Jul 2026
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.

Terrible tour guide

Val_G, Jul 2026
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,

Book this private tour. Excellent for whole family.

Julie_S, Jul 2026
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...

Jessica_W, Jul 2026
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!

What a great experience!

Melinda_B, Jul 2026
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...

Jane_K, Jun 2026
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....

Anthony_J, Jun 2026
Simon was a great guide. Very knowledgeable and friendly! We got to see and learned about lots of the historical spots in Berlin Mitte.

Great history tour of Berlin

William_G, Jun 2026
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 !

Knowledgeable Tour Guide.

Debra_S, Jun 2026
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...

Morgan_D, Jun 2026
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!

Horrible Guide - Itinerary Fiasco

Dan_H, Jun 2026
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,

Great Value for an Individualized Tour

Edwin_S, Jun 2026
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.

Outstanding and thoughtful

Larry_M, May 2026
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 a great tour guide

Leann_J, May 2026
Simon was great. Fun and very knowledgeable. We loved our tour. Would recommend this tour. Was a great day/

Elena was great - very...

Cathal_M, May 2026
Elena was great - very knowledgeable and great language skills - highly recommend her to friends and family

A great overview of the...

Karen_D, May 2026
A great overview of the sights and history of Berlin. Simon our guide was very knowledgeable about Berlin, his English was great and the tour was very relaxed. We saw and learned so much but never felt rushed.

10/10 recommend! Best was to see Berlin

Sophia_B, May 2026
Our guide Dimitri was absolutely wonderful. We’ve been on many tours across Europe and he was by far the most knowledgeable guide we’ve had. We were able to see so much in the 4 hours and he answered all the questions we had plus gave amazing recommendations. He was also fabulous photographer!

Berlin

Ed_G, May 2026
Very great experience! People should really e it’s 4 hours of walking. We did 12,000 steps. Wouldn’t have missed though!

Historic tour of Berlin

Laurette_G, May 2026
Private tour guide very knowledgeable and considerate to give us a couple breaks on our 4 hour tour.

Berlin Walking Tour

Mark_D, May 2026
A lot of walking but really enjoyable. Eleni's knowledge was fantastic. Berlin is a fascinating place

Would highly recommend...

Margaret_H, Mar 2026
Would highly recommend this tour. Our tour guide Eleni was very knowledgeable on both wars. We had a great day with her. Such a lovely person. She also recommend restaurants and other things for us to do while in Berlin
Member Pricing
From

$141.55

per person
Was $149.00(-5%)

up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)

Book ahead!
On average, this is booked 60 days in advance.

Compare Similar Experiences

1 / 3
Current
Member Pricing
Private Berlin WWII and Cold War History Tour with Local Expert Guide


4 hours
Free Cancellation
From
$149.00
$141.55
5% savings
The History of Berlin: WWII PRIVATE Walking Tour With Locals


4 hours
Free Cancellation
From
$138.20
$131.29
5% savings
Private Walking Tour: World War 2 and Cold War Sites in Berlin


3 to 4 hours
Free Cancellation
From
$191.04
$181.48
5% savings
East Berlin History Tour: Private & Custom with a Local Guide


3 hours
Free Cancellation
From
$126.66
$120.33
5% savings