Meet the People Behind the Tours

• Heavenly at times
• Often abyssal
• Always becoming

• Tempelhofer Feld
• A former monumental airport turned into one of Berlin’s largest public
  spaces.
• A place for kite flyers, skaters, and people relaxing.
• The contrast between Berlin’s housing shortage and this vast open space
  perfectly reflects the city’s contradictions.

• Regularly swam across the Spree to reach the legendary Bar 25 (today
  Holzmarkt)
• At the time, climbing the fence or arriving by boat got you kicked out—
  but arriving by swimming was celebrated.
• A uniquely Berlin experience.

• Carousel
• Candlelight
• Stages

• Schlesisches Tor (“Schlesi”)
• A place where East and West, party tourists, working-class
  neighborhoods, history, and gentrification all collide.
• Within just a few hundred meters, completely different worlds exist side
  by side.

• Met complete strangers in a pub.
• Ended up having one of the wildest nights of his life.
• Finished by watching the sunrise from a rooftop.

• Spacious
• Open
• Boastful

• Kreuzkölln
• A neighborhood that combines virtually everything Berlin has to offer.

• Bought a homeless man a beer at a Späti on Boddinstraße.
• The man immediately smashed it over someone else’s head.
• Then walked away insulting everyone involved.

• Unfiltered
• Rebellious
• Alive

• Humboldt Forum
• A place that illustrates Berlin’s controversial past while connecting it to its
  equally controversial present and future.

• Met a tourist during a night out
• She eventually became the mother of his three children.

• A huge playground

• Berlin’s parks
• Endless new smells, dog friends, and friendly people.
• The parks are where Berlin spends its free time.

• Riding through Berlin in a bicycle basket with their owner.
• The funniest part: nobody thought it was unusual.

• Loosely
• Cobbled
• Together

• East Side Gallery
• A surviving section of the Berlin Wall transformed into the world’s largest
  open-air gallery.
• Across the street, Media Spree represents commercialization and
  corporate development.
• The contrast between both sides perfectly captures Berlin’s ongoing
  tension between freedom and commerce.

• On a Monday morning subway ride, saw a passed-out partygoer.
• A city cleaning worker stormed into the carriage, yelling and chasing him
  with a broom.
• The man woke up smiling, dodged the broom like Bruce Lee, checked his
  phone, smiled even wider, and sat back down.
• For Jake, the encounter perfectly symbolized Berlin: bitterness and joy
  existing side by side.

• Creative
• Passionate
• Free

• The people of Berlin
• Berlin is defined by those who built it, fought for it, and continue to shape
  it.
• The people are Berlin.

• Taking a friend’s Trabant for a joyride.
• Exploring abandoned places like

• Colorful
• Honest
• Stories

• Berlin itself
• No single place can explain the city.open-air gallery.
• Berlin is made up of many neighborhoods, histories, and communities.
• You have to experience the city rather than visit just one landmark.

• Traveled around the world by bicycle with her partner for three years.
• After seeing countless places, they still chose to return to Berlin.
• For her, Berlin is a city that either quickly rejects you—or always
  welcomes you back, allowing you to start over whenever you want.

• Accepting
• Exciting
• Unique

• Sisyphos
• A place where people from all over the world come together.
• Freedom to express yourself without judgment through music, fashion, and community.

• Met his wife on the dance floor.

• Delicious
• Direct
• Colorful

• Mauerpark
• A place where East and West Berlin once met and where people now enjoy a united and free city.
• Tourists and Berliners of every kind come together here.
• On weekends, the park fills with music, dancing, food, and its famous flea market.
• For Silviana, it feels like the heart of Berlin.

• Seeing some of the most creative ways imaginable to get around Berlin by bicycle.
• A woman cycling through the depths of winter in her pajamas, wrapped in a blanket.
• A man balancing an armchair on one shoulder while riding one-handed.
• And another man casually riding a bicycle around two meters tall.
• To this day, Silviana still has no idea how he gets on it.

“Don’t trust the green spaces.”

• Richardplatz or Alt-Pankow
• Places where Berlin’s late but incredibly rapid growth can still be understood.
• They also reflect how that expansion came to an abrupt halt during and after the war.

• Seeing a biker cruising through Berlin on his Easy Rider-style e-bike.
• A small but perfectly Berlin encounter.

• Green
• Hip
• Brutal

Schloßplatz

A place that tells almost the entire history of Berlin.

From medieval disputes over market rights and Berlin’s rise as a royal residence to kings and emperors, the proclamation of a socialist republic, the GDR era, and today’s Humboldt Forum.

Its repeated transformations also reflect Berlin’s political controversies and constant reinvention.

The most Berlin part: many locals know surprisingly little about the place and would rather photograph a kebab shop or Berghain.

For Konstantin, becoming a guide meant discovering more about his own city than most Berliners ever do.

• At around 13 years old, his Rhineland-born father sent him to a bakery to buy “Berliners.”
• When Konstantin asked for them, the woman behind the counter firmly replied:
• The only “Berliners” were the people standing in line. In Berlin, the pastries are called Pfannkuchen.
• That was the day he learned not only what a Pfannkuchen is, but what the famous “Berliner Schnauze” really means.

Full of surprises

Schloßplatz and Humboldt Forum

Places shaped by repeated destruction and reconstruction, reflecting World War II, Germany’s division, and Berlin’s turbulent history.

Tiergarten

A place that represents Berlin through its diversity, green spaces, and numerous monuments.

East Side Gallery

A reminder of Berlin’s atmosphere in the 1980s and 1990s and the enormous transformation the city has experienced since.

• Near Hasenheide, Pierre was once knocked over by two drug dealers escaping from the police on a bicycle.
• Another time, he discovered a tiny Kreuzberg concert venue hidden inside a subway station—and ended up enjoying a concert there.
• For Pierre, both experiences capture Berlin’s ability to surprise you in places where you least expect it.

Always something happening

The view of the Fernsehturm

No matter where she is in the city, catching sight of the Fernsehturm gives Anna a sense of orientation.

It rises above Berlin like a familiar landmark, showing her the way home.

For Anna, that view is one of those small things that instantly feels like Berlin.

• Waiting in line for a club despite being on the guest list—and still not getting in.
• Few things capture Berlin nightlife quite as perfectly.
• Sometimes, even being on the list doesn’t mean you’re getting through the door.

• Open
• Colorful
• Home

Her local pub

A neighborhood pub with an intercom in the basement, so you can order drinks directly from the bar without even going upstairs.

There are still old slot machines that only accept Deutsche Mark.
It’s the kind of place where you might run into the person who works at your local gas station, old school friends, or even the occasional familiar face from somewhere else.

You’re guaranteed a good time and a cold beer—but you might also leave with new friends who could easily be from your grandparents’ generation.

For Nila, that’s Berlin: different generations and people coming together in the most ordinary and unexpected places.

• Taking public transport at 3 a.m. on the weekend and realizing it’s more crowded than during rush hour.
• When the rest of the world is asleep, Berlin sometimes feels like it’s only just getting started.