The Berlin Wall: A Self-Guided Audio Tour

Trace part of the city’s Iron Curtain and see where tragedy and triumph unfolded on this self-guided walking tour. Immerse yourself in the magic of GPS-playback as you stroll the border between East and West Germany. 

• Discover why the summer of 1989 was the beginning of the end of East Germany and why the small East German “trabi” car was so popular
• Hear from producer Jo Eckardt, who started her own tour company, A Friend in Berlin, in 2004
• Do it all in an hour or linger at stops along the way with complete control over when you start and finish
• Get unlimited use before your booking date and after it
• Use the virtual tour option at home

There is no stronger symbol for the Cold War than the Berlin Wall. On this walking tour, I’ll transport you back to a time when the Wall divided the city into East and West. It was also a symbol of freedom for those who schemed to overcome it. You’ll trace a small segment of the 155km wall’s foundations and hear how it changed the city for almost 30 years.

Starting in Potsdamer Platz (Potsdam Square), where a few pieces of the Wall remain, you’ll find out how this area was completely rebuilt after German unification. It’s hard to imagine that it was once a no-man’s land, and possibly the largest wasteland that ever existed in the middle of a metropolitan city. From there, I’ll show you the Sony Center, the Hardenberg-Denkmal (the Prussian Parliament building), the Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum, and Topography of Terror, as you wind your way to Checkpoint Charlie. Along the way, you’ll see remains of different historical eras right next to each other and catch glimpses of Prussian glory, Nazi terror, Communist oppression and post-unification revival – all in the small area we’ll cover today. And you’ll hear stories of successful attempts to flee over the Wall into the West, as well as some tragic failures.

On this tour, you’ll have a chance to:

• See the only surviving watch tower of the early ‘60s, the DDR Watch Tower
• Photograph structures with war damage that still haven’t been repaired to this day
• Find out how Berlin’s Historic Traffic Light, the first in Continental Europe, was operated
• Learn why the small East German “trabi” car was so popular
• Walk past the building where Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich and Hermann Göring had their offices
• Discover why the summer of 1989 was the beginning of the end of East Germany
• Hear about the night the Wall finally fell

So have your camera ready, and come on a tour that will take you through the best and the worst of the 20th century.

• Hardenberg-Denkmal, Abgeordnetenhaus Berlin, Niederkirchnerstraße, Berlin, Germany
• DDR Watch Tower, Erna-Berger-Straße, Berlin, Germany
• Peter Fechter - Monument, Zimmerstraße, Berlin, Germany
• Historic Traffic Light, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany
• Topography of Terror, Niederkirchnerstraße, Berlin, Germany
• Martin-Gropius-Bau, Niederkirchnerstraße, Berlin, Germany
• Checkpoint Charlie, Friedrichstraße 43-45, 10117 Berlin, Germany
• Potsdamer Platz, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany

Not wheelchair accessible