BERLIN WALL BIKE TOUR

Guided bike tour along the former Berlin Wall in the city center of Berlin between the Wall open-air documentation center and Checkpoint Charlie.

Tour information

The Berlin Wall divided Berlin for 28 years and drew a random line through graveyards and residential quarters, rivers, streets and even underground stations. The best way to understand where the Wall was, why it was built and how people tried to flee is a bike tour along the former death strip. You will see locations like the famous Checkpoint Charlie, remaining strips of the Wall, the place where Ronald Reagan spoke the words “Mr. Gorbachev open this gate” and the Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse. The tour starts directly at the Television Tower at Alexanderplatz in the eastern city center. If you are travelling with your own bikes, the tour may start at any other place in downtown Berlin.

Tour description

The tour begins at the bike rental station, which is located in the center of former East Berlin, beneath the Television Tower at Alexanderplatz. This is where you will receive your bikes and meet the guide. After a short introduction, the guide will take you to the former border zone and explain to you why the Wall was built and what the consequences for the Berliners have been. From then on you will follow the line of cobblestones on the ground marking the course of the Wall. You will ride on the riverbanks of the Spree, formerly site of many escape attempts and nowadays home to the German government and parliament. See remnants of the Wall, sites of escape tunnels and original watchtowers. At the Wall Memorial, a death strip has been reconstructed to give visitors a visual impression of what Eastern German officials called “the world’s most secure border system.” You will learn the dramatic and often tragic stories of those who risked their lives to overcome all obstacles and make it to the West. Our guide will also give you an idea of the differences between life in the East and in the West and an overview of the events that finally led to the fall of the Wall.

During this tour you will see:

Television Tower, symbol of power for the East German political party officials
Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin’s most famous border crossing
original watchtowers
original parts of the Wall and sites of spectacular escape attempts
Brandenburg Gate, site of Ronald Reagan’s legendary speech
the American embassy rebuilt in the former death strip
former checkpoint at train station Friedrichstrasse, nicknamed “Palace of Tears”
graveyards that became part of the death strip
Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse
ruins of residential houses that were torn down to build the Wall
sites of escape tunnels