DriverGuides Berlin’s Blog

  • HOW TO SAY GOODBYE TO AN AIRPORT…

    Considering the ever faster changing pace of modern civilization in the 21st century, I would still assume, that most people hardly ever have to face being stripped of a well functioning, over decades embosomed link of infrastructure, connecting them...

  • One of the most romantic sites around Berlin – the Church of the Redeemer in Sacrow

    One of the hidden little gems around Berlin and Potsdam is the Church of the Redeemer in Sacrow. Its design was based on drawings by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, who was called „the Romantic on the Throne“. The scenic location at the ban...

  • DriverGuides Berlin

    Street art ‚Drive-by‘ Tour

    It’s fun to go searching for the newest pieces of mural art in the city on a street art tour by car.  Berlin is a world renowned center of street art with an eclectic collection on its many walls. Today, street art has spread out......

  • A dark place in Potsdam – the former KGB prison in the secret Military Camp No. 7

      If you like to discover more historic spots off-the-beaten-path join me on a private tour of Potsdam, there is much more to discover!   Posted by our guide Andreas Foerster             (click on image for pro...

  • Berlin architecture history: Post-war Modernism in pursuit of modernity

        If you like to learn more about the development of East and West Berlin after the Second World War and see many intriguing examples join me on a private architecture tour of Berlin.   Posted by our guide Matthias Stukenbrok   ...

  • To BER or not to BER. Or TXL instead…

    Flying in for some days of sightseeing and maybe private tours in Berlin in 2020? Well, just a few days ago, the CEO of Berlin’s Airport Authority FBB, Mr Engelbert Lütke-Daldrup proudly announced the new official date for the opening of Berlin’...

  • Berlin – Future – Futurium

    The future has arrived in Berlin! Or so, the exhibition in the „Futurium„, a building with a (of course!) futuristic-looking design, attempts answers to the question: „In what kind of future do we want to live? Naturally, there ar...

  • Private WWII battlefield tour to Seelow Heights

    Not far from Berlin, only about 100 km east of the German capital, is a place that is relatively unknown, but in recent German history has become quite prominent: the so-called Seelow Heights. At the end of the Second World War, the biggest battle ev...

  • BYOF on Rüdesheimer Platz

    The summer holds a very special event in my neighborhood: The Wine Festival – properly known as Weinbrunnen (the wine well) – on Rüdesheimer Platz in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, just south of the city center west. It is a very unique concept for...

  • DriverGuides Berlin

    Five days out of Berlin!

    „I’m coming to Berlin in April and I want five days out of Berlin!“ That’s the gist of what a guest asked me to set up and that was the basis for a five-day travel experience in Eastern Germany in April 2019. A father from......

  • DriverGuides Berlin, Karin Schneider

    Berliner Philharmonie – mastered space as a reflection of humanity

    The famous writer Max Frisch declared the building of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra one of the great creations of the century, incomparable, one of the most beautiful spaces ever created by architecture. Since my childhood I have been to the Berl...

  • DriverGuides Berlin

    Revolution!

    Many are the celebrations in Germany in 2019. Four centenaries and two seventieth birthdays are especially noteworthy. 1919 saw the birth of the Weimar Republic, the first true democracy in Germany. Women were allowed to vote for the first time in th...

  • DriverGuides Berlin

    The citadel of Spandau

    One of Berlin’s oldest buildings is, quite surprisingly, not located in the center or near the center of the city. It is located in the outskirts. I`m referring to an amazing fortress, the citadel in Spandau, one of two fortresses in Berlin. Th...

  • DriverGuides Berlin

    DriverGuides Berlin wins Excellence in Service Award

    This year again the Travel & Hospitality Awards Program awarded their prizes to different companies in the travel industry. DriverGuides Berlin thanks the program for its recognition through the AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN SERVICE FOR THE CITY OF BER...

  • DriverGuides Berlin Andreas Foerster

    A treasure hidden behind a 134 million € cloak room temple

    In December the James-Simon-Gallery was inaugurated on Museum Island after ten years of partly difficult constructions. It is intended to be the central entrance building for all of the five museums on the island, also offering space for temporary ex...

  • Next (unscheduled) stop: Mies van der Rohe Haus Berlin

    „We’re very interested in architecture and would like to see the Bauhaus in Berlin.“  This was the first sentence my guests uttered, right after the introductions when I picked them up from their cruise ship in Warnemünde for a p...

  • The Odds of 9 November or a Fateful Day for Germany

    November, the month when the busy season for guides begins to fade is a month of remembrance, particularly here in Germany. There is All Saints, National Day of Mourning Day, the Day of Repentance and Prayer and „Totensonntag“, the Sunday...

  • DriverGuides Berlin, M_H.de

    Dessau – the city of Bauhaus

    Starting next year DriverGuides Berlin will offer new private tours as excursions from Berlin to special destinations accessible as day trips. One of them brings guests to one of the most renowned sites of the area – the original school of Bauh...

  • To „P“ or not to „P“ in Berlin

    Just recently, the new generation of modular public toilets was officially unveiled right in front of Berlin’s City Hall. Well, there definitely is a growing need indeed for facilities of that kind in a city with growing numbers of visitors and oth...

  • ,Króliki‘ – the ,Rabbits‘ of Ravensbrück concentration camp

    Frequently guests visiting Berlin go to see the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp. On one of these tours I was surprised that my guests wanted to visit Ravensbrück concentration camp instead. My first thought was that family members may once h...

  • DriverGuides Berlin

    20 years of guiding – has the narrative changed?

    I started giving guided tours in Berlin back in 1998. The other day I wondered if the content of the tours, if the stories told have changed over time. In a fast changing city like Berlin, there are new arrivals all the time. Take the......

  • DriverGuides Berlin Oliver Brunner

    A dark spot of Potsdam history

    There are hidden, secret and dark places in locations you would never expect. Especially when they are so close to other, totally wonderful, sites. One of these places is the forbidden city near the Neue Garten park in the city of Potsdam, home to th...

  • The Floating University Berlin – space for ideas

    Not so long ago Berlin was still the place where anything goes: a city bombed in a world war and separated in a Cold War had, after overcoming those, tons of unused space, empty lots and buildings which became the playgrounds and labs of those......

  • DriverGuides Berlin Ulrich Kilian

    PEACOCK ISLAND – or, what makes wild boar go swimming!

    Remember your astonishment, when you first learned about the geographic size of BERLIN  ?!  Berlin, having 9 times the size of Paris ! The cities of Munic, Stuttgart and Frankfurt, fitting within the city limits of Berlin and not even covering all...

  • Foto: NOSHE

    Weired contemporary art installations in a former air-raid shelter – this is Berlin!

    After you’ll have entered the Boros Bunker, it’s heavy door will slam shut behind you and you’ll enter another world. There is no mobile phone connection possible because the walls are just too thick. So you’ll have a lot of ...

  • How the abundance of green kept West Berliners in the city, despite the Wall

      Posted by our guide Tom Förster     Pictures: 1.+3. Tom Förster 2. A. Savin/ Wikimedia Commons...

  • DriverGuides Berlin

    Discover Berlin from the water

    What takes you through Berlin’s old city center, passes Museum Island and Berlin Cathedral, softly curves around the Reichstag, Chancellery and Central Train Station right to the Palace of Bellevue, seat of the German President? Yes, it’s...

  • DriverGuides Berlin, Foto: Günter Wicker

    The Perfect Makeshift – or „The New BERlin airport question“

    When planning your trip to Germany’s capital, make sure you touch down at TXL ! Or „Flughafen Berlin-Tegel – Otto Lilienthal“, that’s the full name of Berlin’s main airport. Nonstop-flights from NYC, Bejing or Qatar, but also from all...

  • Berlinale 2018

    Berlinale 2018

    It is the end of February and the managers of the 68th film festival in Berlin, known as the ‘Berlinale‘, rolled out the red carpet where the stars and filmmakers walked along during the last 10 days. Every year I cannot wait until my Berlinale.....

  • Driverguides Berlin

    Connecting the sights: the new U5 subway in construction

    If you are going through the old center of Berlin, that means especially the area around the famous boulevard Unter den Linden, you will see the whole street in a big mess. It`s looking like the fall of the wall happened yesterday, or the 2nd......

  • DriverGuides Berlin

    Wall down longer than it was up!

    February 5, 2018 marks the day, when the Berlin Wall has been down just as long as it was up, „Zirkeltag“ (Compass Day) as the date is referred to in the German media. I assume this event is especially remarkable if you belong to the......

  • DriverGuides Berlin

    New architecture in Berlin – enjoy it right now

    Berlin‘s skyline is incessantly changing. Nothing stays as it was. Like in a game of jackstraws things keep getting reshuffled and new townscapes emerge. Open spaces are filled creating new urban quarters. The former death strip, meandering through...

  • DriverGuides Berlin is Exclusive Tour Operator of the Year 2018

    For the second year in a row DriverGuides Berlin was awarded a prize for its tours and provided service. This year Luxury Travel Guide (LTG) choose us in the category of Holiday & Tour Specialist as „Exclusive Tour Operator of the Year 2018“ ...

  • DriverGuides Berlin

    BABELSBERG PALACE – OOOPS, YOU MISSED IT !

    Have you ever been on a private tour to POTSDAM ?! This lovely area of grand palaces, vast parks and gardens, right outside the South West of Berlin?! Jokingly called “ Royal Disneyland “, because throughout centuries, the Royalties of the Prussi...

  • A walk through a „ghost machine“

    If I start a tour at Brandenburg Gate my next destination is usually the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, often called Holocaust memorial, which is situated just around the corner. After the classical entrance to the Royal Berlin of 19th cent...

  • Go on a „Landpartie“ – excursions from Berlin

    Will you be in Berlin for a few days? Would you like to get an idea of life outside the big city – far from the maddening tourist crowd and its host of “closely guarded” insider-tips? If you can spare at least five hours here......

  • DriverGuides Berlin news

    The sweetest stroll of Mitte

    What serves well as the most tasty and effective energy supply when traveling? Not just any child will tell you straight away: „It’s chocolate, stupid!“ And as urban adventures consume your energy, it’s just a short stroll to reac...

  • DriverGuides Berlin

    The revival of Berlin’s once favourite snack: The Currywurst

    Whenever my guests on a city tour of Berlin feel less inclined to have lunch in a restaurant, more often than not we end up at a place selling Currywurst. For all those not familiar with this culinary delight: Currywurst is a fried sausage, cut......

  • Signs and Plaques in the streets of Berlin

    Walking is a nice way to travel. Walking aimlessly, without trying to get somewhere quickly can be most delightful. In a kind of slow travel there is time to look and watch. Whenever I take a stroll through the city – which happens less frequen...

  • Overwhelming vintage cars in Berlin

    As every year in June the Kurfürstendamm, the extravagant boulevard in the Western part of Berlin, hosted the Berlin Classic Days, a highlight of vintage cars in the German capital. Quite fitting in fact, as, after all, it was Germany where everyth...

  • Park am Gleisdreieck – an urban park at its best

    Do you know these beautiful images of architectural concepts for buildings or parks: nice and colorful, blue sky, a lot of people around enjoying themselves? The problem: when you eventually come to the built result it looks totally different: the bu...

  • DriverGuides Berlin Cold War tours

    Socialist Art and Architecture in East Berlin

    Berlin has neither the elegance of Paris nor the Mediterranean atmosphere of Barcelona. There are no sites of antiquity like in Rome or Athens. What is so special about Berlin? Berlin captivates through its diversity – for example the contrast of p...

  • Gentrification meets Hufelandstraße @ C/O Berlin

    Hufelandstraße in the East Berlin district Prenzlauer Berg: beautifully restored facades of the „Gründerzeit“ era, free wifi in vegan hipster juice bars. On their way to Himalaya-Yoga the natives proudly present their trendy tattoos and full be...

  • DriverGuide Berlin tours

    Behind the scenes of the Olympic Stadium

    As every year, the German soccer cup final will be held in Berlin. This year it’s on May 27. The teams of Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt will endeavor to bring the season to a triumphant end by winning the much coveted cup. The cup......

  • DriverGuides Berlin Art tours

    Berlin Street Art – created to be destroyed

    Early morning in Berlin. Hundreds of people waiting in a queue for more than four hours to be admitted into a deserted house. What is going on here? Dope, brilliant, fresh and bizarre art concepts from various artists in an abandoned bank building ju...

  • DriverGuides Berlin news

    Life and Times of the famous KaDeWe

    The KaDeWe, an acronym for Kaufhaus des Westens, is a must for all who love shopping. The name is rather trivial: Department store of the West. As you approach the main entrance on Tauentzienstrasse, just off Wittenbergplatz, you cannot help noticing...

  • Read the DriverGuides Berlin News

    „Die Henne“ – a unique culinary Berlin experience

    “ WHAAOH, … YOU´RE FROM BERLIN ??! … EVEN GREW UP THERE ??! I HAPPEN TO VISIT SOON ….. WOULD YOU GIVE ME A RECOMMENDATION FOR A REAL BERLIN-STYLE, ORIGINAL, UNIQUE, NOT TOO EXPENSIVE AND FUN PLACE TO EAT ??! “ Having spent a considerable ...

  • DriverGuides Berlin brings you to this hidden art treasure on the Berlon art tours.

    The Georg Kolbe Museum – a hidden jewel in Berlin

    The Museum dedicated to the Berlin sculptor Georg Kolbe is a picturesque, hidden treasure just outside of Berlin’s Western city center. Kolbe was the most successful German sculptor in the 1920’s. After the tragic death of his wife, Kolbe dec...

  • With a spy on a Teufelsberg Tour

    I have just returned from an extended trip to the Southern Hemisphere, where I enjoyed the warmth and the light. I love to escape from the harsh weather conditions of the Northern Winter. I got back just in time to participate in one of the......

  • Topography of Terror – Where I learned to drive

    On my private guide city tours in Berlin I stop regularly in Niederkirchner Strasse, right by the remnants of the Wall, to show my guests the Topography of Terror. Each time I’m there, I can’t help noticing that the place holds a very special mem...

  • The time I got in trouble over politics

    When I started the business of taking guests around on private tours through Berlin some 18 years ago, one piece of advice I got from colleagues at the time was to avoid two topics: religion and politics....

  • Berlin History in Sand

    Have you ever heard of a sand theater or of sandartists? Never? Then you should visit the only sandtheater we have in Germany: Sandtheater Berlin. It`s laying in the vivacious Friedrichstraße, besides the busy Station Friedrichststraße, in the so c...

  • History of Berlin City Palace in special exhibition

    Okay. It might sound surprising. But even in wintertime, when temperatures are freezing and snow is only the first day really glitzy and shimmering, it’s worth to spend a couple of days in Berlin. On the one hand, of course, you still can spend hou...

  • Luther sites in Germany 2017

    Planning a trip to Berlin next year? Interested in or even coming specifically for the Luther celebrations? Here’s something you don’t want to miss: Three special exhibitions at three distinct locations in Germany. Beginning in April/May and on ...

  • DriverGuides Berlin wins Award for Best Tour Operator

    Due to its innovative concept and high quality of tours DriverGuides Berlin was nominated by the Luxury Travel Guide (LTG) in the category of Holiday Tour Specialist and eventually chosen as „Bespoke Tour Operator of the Year 2017“ for Be...

  • New Potsdam Museum Barberini opens

    On January 23, 2017 Potsdam will get yet another cultural highlight: The re-erected Palais Barberini will open its doors to the public. Situated next to the likewise reconstructed Potsdam City Palace, the original building, erected 1772 with a refere...

  • Berlin classical painting: The Age of Velazquez

    On a city tour of Berlin? Here is a must if you are into classical art: Berlin’s famed Gemäldegalerie (Paintings gallery) has a special treat to offer until the end of October: 150 masterpieces by Diego Velázquez, El Greco, Francisco de Zurba...

  • Berlin gallery tours with DriverGuides Berlin

    Coming to see galleries galore in Berlin this year but haven’t been here before? Why not combine your gallery expedition with a city tour? Have one of our Driverguides take you from location to location and give you a city tour en route. Take one.....

  • Denazification in Germany: exhibition at Allied Museum

    UPDATE: This temporary exhibition ended May 31, 2016. Recently, on a day off, I took the time to go to the Allied Museum to review the current special exhibition. The museum documents in its permanent exhibition the political history and the military...

  • DriverGuides Berlin opens news blog

    Hello there, here is a new feature on our website: a blog! The plan is to present you with a variety of topics, ranging from interesting places we have discovered, like new restaurants, cozy nooks off the beaten track, exhibitions and events, to stor...