Berlin Wall

The basics

On Bernauer Strasse, the Berlin Wall Memorial is made up of an original section of the wall and a gun turret. Visit the memorial and various portions of the wall on a small-group tour to learn about the area's history alongside other travelers. For a personalized, in-depth experience, opt for a private historian-led tour. Bike tours, Segway tours, and walking tours are also great ways to see the wall's various remaining sections spread across the city, as well as Checkpoint Charlie, the infamous border-crossing spot between the two sides.

Things to know before you go

• You don’t need Berlin Wall tickets to see sections of the wall throughout the city; however, the best way to learn about the wall is to book a tour or visit the Berlin Wall Memorial.

• The Berlin Wall Memorial features a visitor center, where you can get an overview of Berlin wall sites and watch a historical film, plus the Documentation Center with its exhibits and the Chapel of Reconciliation, where prayers services are held.

• The longest and most interesting remaining stretch of the wall is the open-air East Side Gallery, set on Mühlenstrasse featuring murals painted by international artists in 1990 and again in 2009.

• The Topography of Terror Museum (free) also has a substantial intact section of the wall and is a good place to learn about the Third Reich and Nazi Germany.

• Because Berlin's reunification was so successful, it can be difficult to tell the difference between east and west Berlin in many parts of the city. Look for the double row of cobblestones to guide you along certain sections of the wall’s course.

How to get there

The almost 100-mile-long (160-km) Berliner Mauerweg is a multi-use path that runs along the former wall, with 40 multilingual information stations posted along the way. In other parts of the city, lengths of the wall are covered in psychedelic graffiti, like that at the East Side Gallery on Mühlenstrasse. Sections of the wall also remain near the former site of the Gestapo headquarters. Today, it’s the Topography of Terror Museum.

Both the red and blue hop on hop off buses (tickets from €33.50) stop at the Berlin Wall Memorial. Getting around Berlin via public transportation is also easy, and more affordable (tickets from €2.40) thanks to the extensive train and tram network including the S-Bahn and U-Bahn. S-Bahnhof Nordbahnhof and Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer are the closest stations to the Berlin Wall Memorial. If you want to take public transportation to the East Side Gallery, get off at the stations at Berlin Ostbahnhof or Warschauer Strasse.

When to get there

The Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse is open daily from 8am to 10pm. The visitor center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30am until 6 or 7pm, depending on the season. The East Side Gallery is always available to visit, and the Museum Haus at Checkpoint Charlie is open daily from 9am to 10pm. The Topography of Terror museum, meanwhile, is open daily from 10am to 8pm.

Berlin sights along the Wall

It's ironic that Berlin's most popular attraction, for the most part, no longer exists. Because the Berlin Wall disappears and reappears around the city, you can see several of the German capital's most important landmarks as you visit the wall. Museum Island, Potsdamer Platz, and the Brandenburg Gate can be seen easily on a bicycle tour, weather permitting.