Berlin Overview - Express Tour

We had only a short time in Berlin as we were on a cruise ship into Hamburg and caught the train to Berlin for a personalised tour rather than an official cruise excursion. Thank heavens we did - Jochen's 3 hour tour was superb! It was a rainy and gloomy day but that suited the sombreness of our visit to the Berlin Wall and the 'death strip' where Jochen's explanations really brought home to us the tragedies and personal stories - imagine being bricked inside your house with no way of escape as the wall went up. He took us to more 'hidden' areas, showed us buildings still marked by bullet holes, artists' quarters which keep the spirit of the creatives alive and the more 'traditional' highlights such as the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the Reichstag. Even then, his folder of old photos was invaluable in showing the 'before and after' pictures. Jochen's own family stories of his father coming from East Berlin to marry his mother in West Berlin and leaving his family behind made it all more personal too. Having a separate driver (Gunther) was helpful as we would be dropped off with Jochen to walk through areas and be picked up elsewhere. Highly recommended! Note - there was no time in our tour for shopping/souvenirs, so if you want to do this too, mention in advance or take a longer tour. Thank you Jochen!

Joshen and Alex (driver) were amazing! We really enjoyed the tour and hearing the historical context of the landmarks we saw.

Jochen is extremely knowledgeable about the history and landmarks of Berlin. Jochen did a great job of pointing out the “old” and the “new”, i.e., the markings on the sidewalks and roads where the Wall used to be, the various locations of the “Death Strip”, etc. He was able to discuss the history of the various buildings, not just recite a prepared monologue. He was very patient with our questions. For places that we found extra intriguing, Jochen would take us on short walks to provide additional information and visual understanding. Our driver Marc was equally knowledgeable and engaging and we will forever remember both of them and one of the absolute best private tours we have ever taken! Thank you so very much Jochen and Marc!

Wonder ful tour with Jochen Wiesenberg Jochen has an excellent way of explaining the history. And the pictures and maps he carried made things easier to understand. And if am coming back to explore the rest of city I will for sure call Jochen. Mark who drove us around was excellent too. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

I enjoyed my 3 hour tour of Berlin with Jochen. He was open to revising the tour stops if his suggestions didn't include what I was hoping to see. He had a very efficient system to allow easy drop offs and pick ups at various places, allowing us the full 3 hours to actually see the sights. He was quite informative and thoughtful and I would definitely recommend booking a tour with him.

The tour was exceeded our expectations. Jochen was pleasant, informative and a delight. Recommend highly!