Your Berlin Tour
with Ronen Altman Kaydar
Neighborhoods
One of the things that make Berlin unique is the emphasis that its residents place on the local character, not just of the city as a whole but rather of each borough, neighborhood and Kiez (Berlinish for 'the local couple of blocks'). Multicultural Kreuzberg, uppity Prenzlauer Berg, romantic Spandau and many more all co-exist within this metropolis, making this mega-city sometimes feel like a tiny village. It is possible to combine the tours on this page in various ways, as well as plan personalized tours to other interesting neighborhoods.
Kreuzberg
Berlin’s most multicultural neighborhood has been a center of alternative lifestyles, street art and immigrant culture since the 1960s. Post-1990 gentrification has transformed much of Kreuzberg and made it hip and popular - but its revolutionary spirit lives on.
Duration: 3-5 hours
Note: On Tuesdays and Fridays may include a visit to the Turkish market.
Friedrichshain
Communist working-class suburb turned pub central. From the extravagant apartment buildings along Karl-Marx-Allee to the quaint shops and cafes near Boxhagener Platz, Friedrichshain is where young people in Berlin hang out.
Duration: 3 hours
Prenzlauer Berg
From avant-garde to chick in 20 short years – explore the amazing story of Berlin’s most coveted neighborhood today. A 19th-century brewery turned into a culture center, a threatening symbol becoming luxury apartments - this is Berlin's chameleon-like nature at its best.
Duration: 3 hours
Note: Preferably Mon-Sat; On Sunday it's better to choose the Markets tour
Schöneberg
A Middle-class refuge in the 1890s, a haven for cabaret and gay culture in the 1920s, a counterculture hub in the 1970s and a buzzing suburb today - Schöneberg is a powerful combination of history and culture and the place to meet David Bowie, Billy Wilder, John F. Kennedy, Christopher Isherwood, Albert Einstein and many more.
Duration: 3-4 hours
Spandau
Ancient wood-frame houses, a renaissance fortress, small-town feel and reformation lore abound in a neighborhood which is actually older than Berlin itself. The tour could also include Berlin's Olympic Stadium, bulit by the Nazis, and the architecturally unique Le Corbusier Haus.
Duration: 3-4 hours
Note: Could also include a visit to the Spandau Citadel
The Old West
The neighborhoods of Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf do not enjoy the same hype as Kreuzberg and its ilk - yet they are full of stories and sites, from the old lakeside villages and 19th century villas to the Russian ex-pat colony in the 20s and the fateful summer of protest in 1968. And lately, as rent in the east rises, the west may soon be cool again.
Duration: 3 hours
Note: Geographically similar to the West Berlin tour, but with a different focus.