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THE FINAL DAYS IN HITLER’S CAPITAL

The Battle Of Berlin Tour - Berlin Experiences

The BATTLE OF
BERLIN
Tour

6

hour
private van tour
– max 6 person group

1000€

per group

includes 19% VAT, guide fee, booking fee, admin fee, transportation and driver costs, and tourism insurances

Our Battle Of Berlin Tour can start wherever is best for you – at your accommodation or elsewhere

The Reichstag
The Reichstag
Site Of The German Surrender
Site Of The German Surrender
SS Gestapo HQ
SS Gestapo HQ

Retrace the route of the Red Army advance into Berlin’s central districtDefense Sector Zitadelle – from the arrival of the first Soviet troops on the city’s outskirts to the surrender of the city and final Nazi capitulation on May 8th 1945 in the suburb of Karlshorst.

Explore what remains of this urban battlefield and follow in the footsteps of the bloody ‘Race to the Reichstag’. Seventeen decisive days that ensured the defeat of National Socialism and end of WWII in Europe – in the largest confrontation between Allied and Axis forces on German soil.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

…the main sites of Defence Sector Z, the Humboldthain Flak Tower, the site of the German surrender in Karlshorst, Tempelhof Airport, the ‘first liberated house’, the Soviet War Memorials, and much more…

TOUR GUIDES

We also offer private walking tour variations of all our famous private transportation tours

Get in touch for bigger groups tours – we also offer bus tours for companies and schools

English language tours with native English speakers – in other languages on request

Book directly with a local company – 18 years experience offering guided tours of Berlin

Pay online with any major credit card – VISA/Mastercard/Amex or direct bank transfer

Visit what remains of the major and minor locations of this epic battle; from the ‘first liberated house in Berlin’ to the former SS/Gestapo headquarters, site of the Rote Burg police stationTempelhof airport, and the Spittelmarkt that would become chokepoints over the course of the brutal fighting.

Follow the path taken by the remaining members of Hitler’s entourage in escaping through the frontlines, the gauntlet-like frontal assault that Red Army troops carried out while fighting through the current government district and learn about the controversy surrounding the iconic photo of those same Red Army troops raising the Soviet flag over the main Soviet objective – the Reichstag building.

Volkssturm soldiers with Panzerfausts in Berlin/Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J31320 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Brandenburg Gate in 1945/Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-P054320 / Weinrother, Carl / CC-BY-SA 3.0

This tour is an opportunity to discover the story of the Battle of Berlin through the eyes of the defenders, the Soviet personnel tasked with attacking the city, but also the millions of civilians who would share the burden.

Explore the former Nazi government quarter and Defence Sector Zitadelle, the site of Adolf Hitler’s Führerbunker and command centre for the last days of his life. Hear the stories of the reluctant commander of the Berlin Defence Area who narrowly escaped execution for treason, the fanatical resistance from French and Swedish SS fighters, and the tragedy of young boys and old men forced to act as cannon fodder to blunt the Soviet assault.

The result would be a decisive Soviet victory – the death of Adolf Hitler and the coup de grâce to National Socialism. This bitterly contested battle, however, would leave Berlin almost unrecognisable to visitors fortunate enough to have witnessed the German capital in its pre-war splendour. A city that still today bears the scars of the street-by-street, house-by-house, cellar-by-cellar fighting that would become emblematic of the most symbolic battle of the war.

More than 80,000 Soviet soldiers would die before this battle was over and this tour includes access to two huge Soviet memorials – Treptower Park and the Tiergarten – that were established after the war to commemorate these dead. We additionally visit the German Russia Museum in Karlshorst, where less than a week after the end of the Battle of Berlin the instrument of surrender of Nazi Germany was signed.

Red Army victory celebrations on a Berlin street/Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-E0406-0022-018 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

BERLIN HISTORY Tour Sites

Red Army soldiers gather for an announcement on May 1st 1945/Public Domain

The Soviet War Memorial in the Tiergarten

The Brandenburg Gate/Pariser Platz

The Reichstag

The Moltke Brücke

The Siegessaule

Bendlerblock/German Resistance Museum

Last Headquarters Of The Berlin Defensive Area

The Site Of The Führerbunker

The Site Of The New Reich Chancellery

The Former SS-Gestapo Headquarters

The Route Of The Martin Bormann/Artur Axmann Escape

The Route Of The 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division Nordland

Shrapnel Damage On Georgenstrasse

The Former Nazi Parade Ground Of Lustgarten/Museum Island

The Former Hitler Youth Headquarters

The Humboldthain Flak Tower

Frankfurter Allee

The Site Of The German Surrender

The Soviet Memorial In Treptower Park

Tempelhof Airport

The site of the surrender of Berlin

The Site Of The Sergeant Makarov Rescue Story

Anhalter Bahnhof

HISTORY BEYOND THE MYTH

Soviet tanks on a street in Berlin/Public Domain

Beyond visiting the locations where the Battle of Berlin took place we will also discuss the myths and realities of this era-ending engagement, such as: 

What were the key events of the Battle of Berlin?

Why didn’t the British and Americans take Berlin in 1945?

Did Hitler escape to Argentina in 1945?

Did women serve in combat roles in the German army?

Did any leading Nazis escape Berlin in 1945?

Why was there a British WWI tank in Berlin in 1945?

Were there foreign fighters in Berlin in 1945?

What was controversial about the Soviet flag being raised over the Reichstag in 1945?

What remains of Hitler’s Welthauptstadt?

Have Adolf Hitler’s remains been DNA tested?

Did the Nazis develop nuclear weapons?

Did Hugo Boss design the Nazi uniforms?

Are there any Nazi statues left in Berlin?

Why did the Nazis use the swastika?

What are the origins of the Nazi salute?

Who were the last defenders of Hitler’s bunker?

Were the Anglo-American air raids on Berlin war crimes?

How many assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler were there?

How many key Nazis escaped to South America?

What was the relationship between Nazi Germany and the Vatican?

Did Rudolf Hess commit suicide?

What happened to the Nazi gold?

Was Adolf Hitler Jewish?

Was Adolf Hitler gay?

Was Hitler inspired by the conquest of the Americas?

Who really raised the Red Banner on the Reichstag in 1945?

Was Berlin’s first Soviet commandant murdered?

Who were the last Nazis on trial?

FEATURED BERLIN EXPERIENCES

TOUR TESTIMONIALS

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

View From The Siegessäule

Booking a tour via our website is simply a matter of navigating to the tour page and choosing the date you would like to tour and starting time via the calendar panel on the page.

You will then be taken to a booking form, where you enter your personal details and can then choose your payment option.

Once you complete your tour booking it will then enter our system as pending until confirmed on our side (this usually takes less than an hour depending when we see the booking request).

Then within the next 24 hours we will contact your directly via the email you supply during the booking process to say hello and confirm the booking.

If you have any special requests or requirements, please add them to your booking during the checkout process and we can finalise these details via email.

Through our booking platform (Rezdy), we accept all major credit cards – VISA, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, and Diners Club card.

If you would prefer to pay via bank transfer or Paypal, we can also arrange this.

Contact us via email (info@berlinexperiences.com) with any payment questions you might have.

We find that as many of our clients are holidaying in Berlin that starting slowly in the morning for our Full Day Experiences is both recommended and most rewarding.

A relaxing 10am start for our five/six hour tours also means that we can integrate a short coffee/snack break or lunch around 12:30pm.

For the Half Day Experiences, we would also recommend the same – although along with the One Hour Experiences there is more flexibility due to the reduced length of the tours.

When booking your tour, you will find the options for starting times in the booking window.

If you don’t find the time you are looking for – get in touch (info@berlinexperiences.com) and we can work something out! 

For all of our Full Day Experiences, it is possible start and finish the tour at your hotel/accomodation. Depending on the location in the city and its distance from the areas we will be exploring, it may be more advisable to start at a centrally located landmark (within the Mitte district) such as the Brandenburg Gate or Museum Island.

Our One Hour Experiences are designed with specific starting point and end points in mind – for each of these tours there is a train station nearby which is easy to reach for travellers wishing to arrive by public transportation. Check the description on the tour pages for these One Hour Experiences to see exactly where the meeting points are.

For the Half Day Experiences, it may be possible in some cases (such as the Bitesize Berlin 3 Hour Private Van Tour) to start at your accomodation also. The other tours listed have specific starting points – be they the Berlin Brandenburg Airport for the Airport Transfer Tour or the Brandenburg Gate for the Berlin Explorer Tour.

While each of our tours have been designed to approach a certain historical theme or aspect of the city, we can always tailor your time in the city further. Berlin is not laid out chronologically, so when exploring it is only natural that we will pass landmarks and locations that are from different periods or are worth mentioning for certain events that have taken place there.

If there is any aspect of Berlin’s history or theme that you would like to explore further we can always work on integrating relevant parts of the city into a tour you book – or suggest another tour that might be more relevant.

Don’t hestitate to get in touch if there is something you would like to explore that you don’t see as part of our catalogue of tours. Send an email to info@berlinexperiences.com and we can discuss how to best make the most of your time in our extraordinary city. 

As referenced in the Terms & Conditions page, we do not offer refunds on bookings made closer than one month of the tour date.

For example: if you book a tour on January 1st for July 1st, the same booking cancelled after June 1st is by that point non-refundable.

Bookings cancelled up to one month before the tour date will be refunded at 75% of the cost (100% of the booking cost minus a 25% administration fee).

If you would prefer to amend the tour date for another date this can be done at no additional cost.

As we accepted bookings through credit card payment, any cancellations made last minute due to cancelled/delayed flights or emergencies may be covered by your credit card company.

We do advise our clients to consider travel insurance to cover for unforseen circumstances. Our issued invoices can be then used to receive a refund from your insurance company or banking institution.

Cancellations can be made via email to info@berlinexperiences.com

Absolutely.

You can do this either by booking tours individually through the booking platform we used or by adding tours to the shopping card system and booking multiple tours together.

Due to the high number of tours we have booked during the high season (April-December), we have a one week limit on our booking platform. 

This means that you cannot automatically book any tour that would take place within the next 7 days through the platform.

If you would like to book a last minute tour – just because we do not list availability on our booking platform does not mean that one of our guides is not available – do get in touch via email (info@berlinexperiences.com) and we will see what we can do!

I (Matt) endeavour to lead all the tours I offer, but depending on availability may already be booked with other clients. In which case, I have a team of the best professional guides in Berlin, all with years of experience and dedication to their work, that I work with. All are members of the Berlin Guides Association, an organisation known throughout the world for its guiding excellence.

When you book you will receive a confirmation email within 24hrs to follow up on your booking and present which guides might be available and best suited for your tour/s.

The sights listed in the itinerary sections of our tours are a general guide to what may be covered when booking those particular tours and not necessarily what we may be able to cover during that day.

Particular factors such as official state visits, political demonstrations, reconstruction – and even the odd bomb disposal of Second World War ordnance – can shape & reshape our path through the city.

We appreciate that every guest is different and approaches the city with different expectations and interests – and we tailor our tours accordingly. If you find something in particular that interests you then please do refer to this when contacting us so we can arrange your day accordingly. 

Our professional drivers are also available for airport transfers – provided with either Mercedes Benz V-class or Volkswagen Caravelle vans.

This service is for up to 4 people – including a moderate amount of baggage (one large bag and one small bag per person).

You can book directly via the private BER airport transfer item in our booking platform.

If you are looking for a private airport transfer and require a larger vehicle for a bigger group – get in touch via email (info@berlinexperiences.com).

If you are having issues booking through our booking platform – please get in touch via email ASAP (info@berlinexperiences.com) so we can see what we can do to fix the problem.

If you receive a particular error message that might be due to our booking system please do take screenshots (photos of your screen with the error) if possible.

We also accept alternative forms of payment through bank transfer/Paypal or cash on the day for clients who would prefer these methods.

As we are based in Germany, we charge the official 19% VAT (sales tax) – already calculated as part of the cost of our tours and the price that you see when you pay.

Additionally, we include the booking fee, guide fee, admin fee, driver and transportation costs (where applicable), and the mandatory German tourism insurances as part of the costs we present.

We aim to be 100% transparent with our services – offering a fair price for a fantastic day’s exploration!

CONTACT FORM

Get in touch and book a tour

Matt Robinson - Berlin Experiences Owner

If you have any questions about our tours – or Berlin in general – we are here to help. 

You can either use the contact form provided or send an email (info@berlinexperiences.com) directly. 

For last minute booking and priority requests, we are also available on Whatsapp (+4917624162526).