Excursions from Berlin?
 

Any suggestions for excursions/ tours from Berlin?

I originally booked a hop-on, hop-off bus tour but realized that all operators only have it in German.

Preferably, destination is no more than 2-3 hours as I have to commute round trip back to my hotel in Berlin.

Thanks!

I’d try somewhere like Potsdam which is easily reachable and without a 2-3 hour trip to get there (which would really be 4-6 hour round trip)

But to be honest I’m surprised at a tourist bus company only offering a commentary in German as that would severely limit their customer base.

Potsdam is a great place to visit and live but there are also other nice places like Schwielowsee or Spreewald which can be reached easily from Berlin in a short time.

I highly recommend https://www.whitlams-berlin-tours.com/

He can personalize a tour for anything you want to see in Berlin and surrounding areas and for any amount of time.

This one offers it in English. https://www.berlin-city-tour.de/

• Does the service offer any commentary or guide?Yes, we will provide you with free earphones which you can plug into the GPS audio guide and choose between 13 different languages:
  
  • English
  • German
  • French
  • Spanish
  • Italian
  • Portuguese
  • Turkish
  • Arabian
  • Hebrew
  • Russian
  • Polish
  • Chinese
  • Japanese
  You can reuse the earbuds when you hop-on the bus again.
  

Any specific travel company that you guys would recommend?

I'm sorry - I usually took either trains or used our car so I can't give you any personal advice based on experience.

Skip travel companies, I would recommend to do it on your own by train or rental car.

As mentioned in post #4. He also does tours of Potsdam.

Take a look, if you'd like, at a few of his YouTube videos or Twitter videos to see if his style is to your liking.

Take the S or U Bahn and explore yourself!

The fare would be € 4.40 each way.

Agree. Potsdam is easy with regional trains or the S-Bahn. Once in the city, follow the signs to the castles (or take a bus from the station). I you are not afraid of walking a few km, it is so easy and a great experience any tour bus will not delver.

Flying back home tomorrow.

Came here Thursday and just spent the day walking around the KaDeWe area. I am staying at the IC.

Friday: Hop-on, Hop-off bus in the morning. This was not as organized as the one in Vienna. I walked all the way to Checkpoint Charlie in the afternoon in order to burn off all the schnitzels and knodels that I have eaten in Vienna and Berlin.

Saturday: Route B of the above which goes to mostly East Berlin, then did some shopping.

Sunday: Potsdam and Sansouci tour.

I lost two nights on this trip because I had to 'position' for a flight via IAH (otherwise I would have flow direct from SEA). Main aim of this trip was to fly on the 747-400, and Europe was a side trip. LOL

Things I was able to cross out of my bucket list:

Fly the 747-400 in the nose section
See the capital of Germany
Walk around Checkpoint Charlie
See the Brandenburg Gate
Visit Potsdam

As a bonus in terms of anthropological studies, I actually saw naturists in Tiergarden. (This was hilarious as for this reason, my London taxi driver and Kimpton check in agent both could not help commenting how 'the Germans are weird' when I mentioned that Berlin was in my itinerary. The Thames tour guide also asked the whole ferry to stare at the naked people at the sauna underneath the bridge to shame them for 'having no care in the world.'

Berlin will be lower in my priority list of places to visit 'overall', and 'visit again'. There are many things to do, but it does not seem to have as much good food and solid identity as London, or Vienna, which are the other two places I visited this time.

My list of things I need to do next time I am here:

Climb the dome of the Reichstag (reservations are needed online and I could not get one til 2 weeks after my visit guided tours are two months out!!!)
Visit Museum Island

To me, August apparently is not a good time to visit. Weather is too hot, especially compared to the PNW, and there are hordes of tourist everywhere.

Have you had a look at this thread, where many flyertalkes gave advices to another Flyertalker visiting Berlin?

Yes I did, and did it before I even flew to BER.

I wrote the above response to the thread that I started in order to ‘close’ it off.

Checkpoint Charlie was probably the biggest disappointment of my recent trip; however, it was a relatively short walk from my hotel.

I had two outstanding meals in Berlin, one at Cookies Cream and the second at Ernst.

As far as what to see on your next trip, the Berlin Wall Memorial, Gendarmenmarkt, Museum Island and the East Side Gallery are not to be missed.