Berlin, Bavaria and the Rhine. One country, three holidays.
Which Reichstag ticket actually gets you up into the dome. What the Neuschwanstein day out of Munich costs once entry is in. Whether the Elbe boat beats the Spree boat. Reviews of every tour you can book in Germany.
Four German days that close their lists before the rest.
A parliament dome, a harbour at dusk, an opera house and a cathedral seen from the water. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The Berlin morningReichstag, Dome and Government District Guided TourThe plenary chamber, the government quarter and the glass dome over the top of it. Registration closes days before the date, not on the day.
02The Hamburg evening90-Minute Evening Lights Harbor CruiseNinety minutes through the Speicherstadt warehouses and out among the container cranes as the lights come on. Take the dusk sailing, never the noon one.
03The Dresden hourSemperoper Tickets and Guided TourAuditorium and backstage at the Semperoper, fitted between rehearsals. The opera house sets the times, so they move from day to day.
04The Cologne loopPanoramic City CruiseA flat hour on the Rhine with the cathedral going past the window twice. Still the cheapest way to work out how the city fits together.
Six German cities, and the day out that defines each one.
A capital built on top of its own century, a beer city with the Alps behind it, a working port, a baroque centre put back stone by stone, a cathedral on the Rhine, and a bank skyline with a river running under it.
German old towns give up almost everything at walking pace.
The centres are small, flat and laid out before anyone owned a car. Three kinds of walk, what it costs to join each one, and the cities each one suits.
Berlin: the government quarter first, the courtyards after.
Everything in Berlin →
Get the Reichstag registered before you fly, walk the Wall line in the afternoon and let the evening happen in the courtyards off Rosenthaler Strasse. These three carry more travellers than anything else in the city.
Two hours on the Wall line
Topography of Terror, the bunker ground under a car park, Checkpoint Charlie and the standing sections at Niederkirchnerstrasse. Flat the whole way, and led in English.
Museum Island, and what to skip
Five collections on one island in the Spree. The Neues Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie repay a full hour each; the Pergamon’s main hall stays shut for years yet, so check before you buy.
The Spree, from water level
Under the bridges from Museum Island to the government quarter and back. The commentary comes and goes; the angle on the Reichstag from a low boat does not.
The German days out more travellers take than any others.
Every tour in Germany →One list for the whole country: the tours travellers end up on whichever German city they land in, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Reichstag, Dome and Government District Guided Tour
Tour Berlin’s Reichstag, plenary chamber, government district, and glass dome with an engaging guide, history, politics, and city views for $18.
From · $18
Read our review →2
1-Hour City Tour by Boat with Guaranteed Seating
from $25
3
1.5-Hour Harbor and Speicherstadt Day Cruise
from $40
4
Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day Trip
5
Semperoper Tickets and Guided Tour
from $18
6
Discover Berlin Half-Day Walking Tour
from $24
7
Government District around the Reichstag Guided Tour
8
Reichstag, Plenary Chamber, Cupola & Government Tour
from $18
Half of Germany is easier to read from a boat.
The Spree runs past the Reichstag, the Elbe through the Speicherstadt warehouses, the Rhine under Cologne cathedral and the Main under the Frankfurt towers. An hour on deck costs less than most museum tickets.
Germany keeps its twentieth century where you can walk into it.
Sachsenhausen is an hour north of Berlin and Dachau twenty minutes out of Munich; both are memorial sites, and the visits are guided, timed and led in English. In the middle of Berlin the Wall survives as a painted mile at the East Side Gallery and a double line of cobbles set across the road.
- 1Third Reich and Cold War 2 Hour Walking Tourfrom $23
- 2Third Reich & WWII Walking Tourfrom $31
- 3Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Tour in Englishfrom $36
What a day out in Germany actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. A fair number of the best German days come in under the price of the train that got you there.
Old-town rounds, museum entry, an hour on the river and the night watchman’s lap of the lanes.
Full days: Neuschwanstein out of Munich, the memorial sites, brewery afternoons and the long harbour cruises.
Private guides, chartered boats and the small-group days that exist to keep the numbers down.
Three things that only happen in Germany.
Old towns and river boats turn up all over Europe. A watchman with a horn, a hall that pours by the litre, and a mile of painted Wall do not.
The Night Watchman’s Round
In Dresden, Nuremberg, Munich and a dozen smaller towns a man in a cloak still walks the lanes at dusk with a halberd and a lantern, because that is how a town was kept until gas light arrived. The round is short, the history is strictly local, and it starts once the day trippers have gone.
- 1The Original Night Watchman Tour in Lantern Light★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 6,653 reviews
- 2Night Watchman’s Tour of St. Pauli in German★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 4,818 reviews
- 31.5-Hour Public Tour with Night Watchman Bremme★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 3,116 reviews
The Beer Hall and the Brewery
Bavarian beer is still brewed to a purity law written in 1516, and Munich’s halls pour it in one-litre mugs at long shared tables. Cologne answers with 200ml glasses of Koelsch carried in a wreath and refilled until you put the mat on top. Both are traditions with rules, and both go better with somebody explaining them.
- 1Brewery Tour with 3 Kölsch Beer Tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 3,108 reviews
- 2Brewery Tour with Alt Beer Tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,523 reviews
- 33-Hour Beck’s Brewery Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 1,091 reviews
The East Side Gallery
The longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall runs beside the Spree at Friedrichshain, and in 1990 artists from twenty-one countries painted its eastern face. The works are restored, tagged and restored again. Guides here talk about what the concrete replaced as much as about the paintings.
- 1City Street Art Guided Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 886 reviews
- 23-Hour Street Art Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 778 reviews
- 3Berlin Street Art Walking Tour – Off The Grid★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 270 reviews
Four German bookings that will not wait until you land.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast. These four run on registration lists, timed entry and a calendar with no interest in when your flight gets in.
- 01Reichstag, Dome and Government District Guided TourThe dome and the plenary chamber are free and run on a registration list that takes names and passport numbers. Slots close days ahead, and nobody is walked in on the day.
- 02Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day TripThe castle is seen on a timed guided tour, and the gate sells nothing for the hour you turn up. Summer slots go weeks out.
- 03Semperoper Tickets and Guided TourTours are fitted between rehearsals and performances, so the opera house sets the times and they change from one day to the next.
- 04Original Munich Christmas Market Tour with Festive Wine and FoodThe markets open at the end of November and shut before Christmas Eve. Outside those four weeks there is nothing standing to visit.
German winter goes dark at four. Plan the indoor half.
From November the light drops early and the rain settles in for the week. That is what the museums, the brewery cellars, the covered arcades and the concert halls are for. Put the outdoor half of the day in the morning and book the rest under a roof.
- 1Jewish Museum Berlin Entrance Ticketfrom $0
- 2DDR Museum Ticketsfrom $15
- 3Natural History Museum Entrance Ticketfrom $12
By city — the north, the Rhine and the south
By kind of day — on foot, on the water, or under a roof
Berlin, Dresden, Munich, the castle: the run most first visits make.
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