• Private Tour
• Family Friendly
• Instantly Confirmed
• Carbon Neutral

Berlin is brimming with history, so let’s dive in & discover! Learn about Berlin during one of its most unique periods, the Cold War. From checkpoints to ghost stations, visit all the must-see spots with me, a guide, archeologist & history-lover. I can’t wait to share my city’s story with you!

Destination

Berlin, Germany

Category

City Highlight Tours

Duration

4 hours

Transport mode

Public Transport

Available languages

English, Italiano

Included

• Private guide

Excluded

• transport costs

What you can expect

This is the plan

Check out the plan below to see what you'll get up to with your local host. Feel free to personalize this offer with Sara.

1. Meeting point

   Meet at Bernauer Str. - Berlin to start your journey

   View on Maps

2. Itinerary

   This is what our experience could look like, but it’s not set in stone! Once you book, you can chat directly with your host to make small tweaks to suit your preferences.

3. Amazing open-air museum

   Visit the amazing open-air museum of Bernauerstrasse

4. View of the wall from the top

   View from the terrace of the wall museum

5. The wall museum

   Visit the wall museum with interesting photos and objects

6. Ghost station

   Have a view of one of the ghost stations

7. U-Bahn ride

   Take the U-Bahn to the Palace of Tears

8. Checkpoint Charlie

   Take the U-bahn to Checkpoint Charlie and hear all about it from your local insider!

9. Make it yours

   Want to tweak the itinerary? Book directly & chat afterwards with your host to adjust highlights, skip stops, or make small changes to fit your preferences.

   Book risk-free: Cancel within 24 hours for a full refund.

   Need something special? Personalize your experience for more time, alternative locations or a completely tailored plan.

I can personalize this tour for you

• Tell me your preferred date and group size
• Tell me your preferences and wishes so I can customize the tour for you
• Wait for my personal offer in your inbox!

Contact me

Flexible cancellation policy

• Feel confident booking

  Cancel within 24 hours for a full refund. Even up to 7 days before your experience, you’ll receive a refund, minus the service fee.

• Change of plans?

  Reschedule your experience to a date and time that works best for you.

• Loved by travelers worldwide

  Simple and flexible – your plans, your way.

Reviews from guests

Davide🇮🇹 Italy

20 October 2024

Sarà è semplicemente incredibile come guida! Ci siamo trovati in un bar all'ora stabilita e ci ha fatto un introduzione storica di ciò che era successo a Berlino tra la fine della seconda guerra mondiale ed il 1961. Ovvero che cosa ha portato alla costruzione del muro ed i tanti perchè dietro ad una scelta tanto scellerata. Ma Sara non si limita a farti la lezioncina scolastica, lei è un'appasionata divulgatrice che ci ha lasciati incantati con una introduzione fondamentale per capire veramente quello che avremmo visto di li a poco. Poi siamo usciti e sui luoghi più significativi del' ex muro di Berlino ci ha teletrasportato con le sue parole al 1961 ed abbiamo rivissuto quei primi giorni assurdi e poi la consapevolezza di essere prigionieri ed i tanti ingeniosi tentativi di fuga e... Insomma un'immersione totale: collegamenti, aneddoti di personaggi famosi e di persone comuni, tante storie nelle storie, tanti luoghi commoventi, tanto amaro in bocca per le sofferenze dei berlinesi e tanta consapevolezza che la libertà non la si può mai dare per scontata. Grazie Sara, la storia è magister vitae e tu sei stata il nostro "Virgilio".Teletrasportati nel 1961

pdsnvbscnyRietje🇳🇱 Netherlands

18 May 2024

Sara, een leuke vrouw en een geweldige gids. Eerst even met een kopje koffie de geschiedenis ophalen, daarna aan de wandeling beginnen. Ze vertelt beeldend, laat je zien, wijst aan. De geschiedenis wordt levend! Dankjewel Berlijn, de Muur

Julie🇬🇧 United Kingdom

30 August 2023

Sara was a fantastic guide! She was knowledgeable, organised and prepared with pictures , iPad and a a great route around Berlin. Sara kept pace lively and gauged information to be interesting to an age range from 16 to nearly 60. Sara also offered great information on places to eat and museums or out of way places for us to try next . We would recommend Sara and her tour to anyone visiting Berlin!Fantastic tour of Cold War Berlin

Unknown

19 August 2023

Yesterday, we spent a very warm Berlin day with Sara. With both my husband and I having careers in foreign affairs and defense, we expected that our tour would be interesting (given prior reviews) but generally familiar. Sara far exceeded our expectations, providing nuanced geopolitical, cultural, and lifestyle details regarding Cold War Berlin. We enjoyed sitting for a bit at the beginning of our time together, absorbing the interesting history of the times, before setting off on foot for the rest of our tour. She is knowledgeable and patient with questions, answering with interesting contextual or anecdotal details. For us, it was a great balance of connecting big historical events to personal-scale illustrations and examples. I’ll add that her digital aids were very helpful, seeing the faces and events as they existed at the time, even when we were standing in a place that evolved so much from that time. Exceeded all expectations

Adrian

19 August 2023

Having had “tour guides” all over, Sara is hands down the absolute best. Even in the midst of Berlin’s sunny blistering summer, her dedication to sharing deep, contextual, nuanced knowledge about the Cold War and Berlin was inexhaustible. She came prepared with maps, historical photographs, and a lifetime of academia and experience to share. We learned so much and are grateful — Thanks Sara!Sara is a trooper

Dierck🇩🇪 Germany

16 October 2022

Sara war großartig, hat die tour auf unsere Wünsche angepasst und uns auch noch super Tipps für unseren weiteren Aufenthalt in Berlin gegeben

Darina🇬🇧 United Kingdom

16 September 2022

Choosing Sara as a personal tour guide on Cold War Berlin was probably the best part of our family trip to Berlin. Communication beforehand was easy and so was our meeting. I was a little apprehensive about my 11 and 13 yr olds attention span for 4 hours on quite a dark subject but there are cafes to sit down along the way. Sara's knowledge and enthusiasm is immense. We would highly recommend her as your tour guide. Powerful tour with a lovely guide

alex🇮🇱 Israel

31 July 2022

Very nice and interesting. Sara gives you not just a pure guided tour but also a living discussion about the past events. She told us a lot of stories from this period of history and showed many places.Wonderful experience

carol🇬🇧 United Kingdom

13 April 2022

This is simply one of the best tour we have done with 'with locals'. Sara has a special way to transport you back to the cold war with loads of little anedoctes about this specific time in Berlin. With us, she had a diverse crowd (from my mum 76 to my son 11) but she managed to keep us all entertained. Following the end of the tour, my son got back to England and wanted to watch spy movies of that period. For us, this tour was above and beyond what we would were expectig, small, personal, full of factual stories & we felt very safe! Just go and book it, I guarantee for a few hours you will feel like being in an historic 'espionage' book! Transported back into the Cold War Era

Jette 🇩🇰 Denmark

24 October 2021

Carol🇮🇹 Italy

9 October 2021

Going into this tour, I didn't know anything about the Cold War, besides there was a wall in Berlin. Even my parents who did the tour with me were astonished with how much information they didn't know, even though they lived in the time period. We appreciated having a sit-down chat before all the walking, especially since it was raining. It was nice to see the pictures in her binder while having a cup of tea. I learned It is a very long tour, so I don't recommend for small children. She took us to places tourists don't normally go. It was a wonderful experience! We would like to see a timeline visual with specific dates and events to help show the time period and difference between the events. Packed full of information

Geert🇳🇱 Netherlands

23 February 2020

Sara gave us a very interesting tour to some Cold War locations in Berlin. She was well prepared, with a good introduction of the Cold War, pictures to show us and a lot of personal stories. We visited the surroundings of Bernauer Strasse, ghost station Nordbahnhof and Tränenpalast. Also Checkpoint Charlie, which, despite it being very touristy, still was worth visiting because of it's historical significance. Sara is very friendly and relaxed. I can highly recommend taking this tour with her.Learning about Cold War Berlin with Sara

Massimo🇮🇹 Italy

15 February 2020

Abbiamo fatto ieri con Sara il tour Berlino durante la Guerra fredda e il Muro. Che dire... Simpatica, preparatissima, gentile.. Ma la cosa più importante è che ci ha fatto Vivere la storia di Berlino come se fossimo tornati indietro nel tempo!!! Grazie Sara esperienza fantastica. Come conoscere davvero Berlino

Nora🇺🇸 United States

28 August 2019

Met Sara right on time and she gave us a fifteen minute introduction to the Cold War. We spent the next four hours getting an in depth look at Berlin during the Cold War with museums monuments and personal stories. She was just wonderful!!!!Sara is fabulous❤️❤️

Lois🇺🇸 United States

25 July 2019

Loved our tour with Sara!!!! She was very personable and very knowledgeable. I had told her what type of sights we were interested in seeing Ecceptional tour

Tersa🇺🇸 United States

19 July 2019

I booked a Cold War tour for myself, my parents and my nephew, and despite the solemn subject, it was a highlight of our trip to Berlin. Sara even altered the tour to meet us near where we were staying which cut down on some of the travel within the tour. She was incredibly knowledgeable and combined a lecture component with images on her tablet and other photos and diagrams. We learned so much more than we would have it we’d just walked through a museum. She really put everything into a historical context, while also explaining the very human face of the Cold War (how it affected families and friends in Berlin) and explained how it happened in great (but fascinating) detail. If you are a history buff this tour is a must-do event!Sara was fabulous!

Laura🇮🇹 Italy

2 June 2019

Sono andata a Berlino con mio figlio di 11 anni e ho concordato con Sara un tour personalizzato che ci e piaciuto molto. Lei è molto preparata, simpatica ed accogliente. Un grazie enorme a SaraGreat!

Jonathan🇨🇦 Canada

11 August 2018

Sara was a wonderful guide on this tour! She was passionate about the history of the Cold War and so knowledgeable. Our whole family really enjoyed the tour and highly recommend it to people of all ages. There was the perfect amount of walking and talking and sight-seeing. This is a brilliant way to experience the history of this amazing city. Thank you Sara!Wonderful!

Marcel🇳🇱 Netherlands

1 November 2017

We did in October the coldwar tour with Sara, and I definatly can recommend this tour to everybody who is interested in the history of Berlin, and the effects of the daily lives the of the people who lived there. She showed and told us about the history of Belin in away thatrealy engage you from the beginning till the end. Next time we are in Berlin we will take a tour againThe cold war tour

Daniel🇬🇧 United Kingdom

7 October 2017

We wanted a personal guide and couldn’t have asked for better. Sara was amazing. Our first weekend in Berlin and we were looking for a quick introduction to the history and culture of Berlin. Sara met us (early- super prompt!) and started with a history of the city. We talked constantly and her insight was superb. After a short walk along the wall to the Memorial, we took a Ubahn. Then to Checkpoint Charlie. She is both thoroughly engaging, friendly and super knowledgeable. Would recommend highly. Amazing experience

Chris🇬🇧 United Kingdom

31 May 2017

First things first. Sara was punctual - in fact she was waiting and ready to go when we arrived. She is also very personable and spoke good English which meant we understood the whole tour. The tour was relaxed but we still managed to see a lot of things and learnt a great deal. Sara was very knowledgeable about the subject and was continually providing info throughout the tour. She was also happy to answer any questions we had. I would recommend this tour for anyone interested in learning more about the Cold War or even someone who just wants to see parts of the wall which are off the beaten tourist track. A great tour. ThanksGreat Tour!

Brian🇬🇧 United Kingdom

13 February 2017

We had an excellent tour with Sara, she was very knowledgeable and helpful.Cold War Tour

Mhairi

25 November 2024

Sara was lovely and insightful giving us a great small history lesson while showing us delicious food from lots of culturesGreat tour

Theresa🇺🇸 United States

24 October 2024

Sara was wonderful. Very knowledgeable, shared historic sights with us and was completely engaged with us.WW2 Walking Tour of Berlin

Kathy

18 October 2024

We received a perfect history tour from Sara on our first visit to Berlin. She was immensely knowledgeable, answering questions with patience and great insight. We went over our allotted time of four hours and the time went by so quickly! Sara was a wonderful ambassador for Berlin!An amazing tour of Berlin!

jacqui

18 September 2024

Sara was an INCREDIBLE representative for WithLocals. She reached out ahead of time to be sure we were up for walking in the heat and adjusted her pace for us as we recovered from jet lag. She's extremely knowledgeable and so engaging to listen to. She set us up for success for our whole trip, including a crash course on public transit. We absolutely loved our time with her and would come back to Berlin just to go another tour with her.The Absolute Best

Ronan🇮🇪 Ireland

17 August 2024

Sara, is such a lovely guide. Gave us lots of background information about Berlin and Germany. We had seen some of the main attractions so she gave us additional information on them. She changed the tour and got to see lots of off the beaten track areas and interesting information. Our teenage kids throughly enjoyed the tour. Would recommend Sara to people to get an understanding of Berlin and German history.Amazing educational tour

Mélusine🇨🇭 Switzerland

8 August 2024

I lived in Berlin for one year in the early 90's. I've been coming back on a regular basis for 12 years now, to meet my friends and breath Berlin's air and vibes. I booked a tour with Sara for me and my 3 quite grown up daughters, who love Berlin and are interested in history and like to learn new stuff. Sara is a wonderful guide. She explained us in a very easy going way and very pedagogically how Berlin turned into the important and very special city she now is. She told us many vivid things about WWII, the raise of Nazism, how Germany became Germany. She took us to places random tourists never go to. Sara is a professional but in no way a "boring teacher". She brought up a critical view on the German history. Furthermore she's a very nice person. And she suggested us a wonderful restaurant she particularly likes for our lunch. We absolutely recommend Sara as guide and thank her very much. Marvelous fascinating tour and guide!

Dyantha🇳🇱 Netherlands

22 May 2024

Sara adapted the tour to our preferences and she knows a lot about the history and modern life of Berlin! It was really interesting and the food was really good. Sara is enthousiastic and we had a fun time walking through Kreuzberg with her. She also had some good recommendations of bars and clubs we could go afterwards. Great, interesting tour with nice food!

Kevin

5 May 2024

Had a great food tour of Kreuzburg with Sara. She has great information to share about the cultures, history, and vitality of the neighbourhood. Great food tour of Kreuzburg with Sara

Michelle🇦🇺 Australia

2 May 2024

We had a fantastic tour with Sara. Our first time in Berlin, Sarah presented a great overview of the historical context and facts about each of the locations we visited. Sarah was very flexible and designed a tour to our request. A perfect day to start our visit to the city. We would not hesitate doing another tour with Sara and recommending to others. Amazing tour with Sara

Wilco🇳🇱 Netherlands

17 March 2024

Sara is een zeer bedreven en enthousiaste gids. Naast veel over het eten in Berlijn te weten gekomen hebben we veel leuke gesprekken gehad en hebben we veel geleerd over de geschiedenis en het ontstaan van het huidige Berlijn. We hebben veel geleerd en genoten.Zeer leuk en leerzaam. Een echte aanrader!

Caroline🇬🇧 United Kingdom

7 January 2024

My husband and I had a wonderful time with Sara. She was really knowledge about the city and we learnt a lot about the history and current situation of it. We enjoyed sampling a wide variety of food. Sara could not have been more accommodating she ensured that we got a true flavour of Berlin whilst being mindful of our preferences. I would highly recommend this trip as an introduction to Berlin. A great way to spend an afternoon.A wonderful experience

Amy🇺🇸 United States

30 October 2023

What can I say it was a great experience in the Turkish markets and Kreuzberg. Sara has a love of her neighborhood and it wonderful culinary eats. She has a vast knowledge of the history and how it shaped the area. We truly enjoyed our afternoon with herWonderful Experience & Sara is a Gem

Shayne

9 September 2023

Sara was wonderful. Very friendly, very knowledgeable. She knew the area like a true local, and she pointed out details that made the tour so informative and interesting. Thank you for a perfect afternoon!Exceptional guide!

masynmachien🇧🇪 Belgium

6 August 2023

Sara is a warm person and a very professional guide. Sara did a great jobe adapting the tour to an earlier time of the day as we had another appointment soon after. With the opening hours in Kreuzberg that was a challenge well met. Me and my daughter enjoyed the tour very much and learned a lot. Know this comes from 2 experienced food tourers, with now 10 respectively 5 food tours all over Europe done. Thank you Sara! Cheers! YvonBoth warm and professional!

carolina🇸🇪 Sweden

7 July 2023

My family and I had a wonderful day in Kreuzberg with Sara, tasting typical food from Berlin, including food from turkish and other communities of this great city. Sara is an excellent host/guide and through her we also got to know much about both the history of Kreuzberg as well as the history of the whole city of Berlin. Apart from all this Sara is an extremely likable person and I can very much recommend her as a guide for any of the tours she gives. / Carolina from SwedenFantastic guide and tour

kristi🇺🇸 United States

4 July 2023

Ok, maybe 3 words - SIGN UP NOW! We like to do a food tour whenever we visit a new city. This was our first time doing an international tour / Berlin. After researching "Berlin food tours" (probably way more than I needed to) I kept landing on Withlocals. And it did not disappoint. The tour was in Kreuzberg, which gave us the perfect opportunity to explore (and learn about) this amazing area of Berlin. While the tour (and eats) were amazing, our guide Sara was 10x amazing!! She has an incredible wealth of knowledge about the history of Berlin and is one of those people you want to invite to a Holiday Family Dinner 5 minutes after meeting her. She's the real deal. And as others have mentioned, she goes above and beyond with getting to know us - like and dislikes - and caters to that. But she does it in a way you don't realize she's doing it. She also sent us recommendations for things to do later that day - that were close to our hotel and what we had mentioned we were looking to do. Oh, and we were the only group on the tour. Which made it even that more personal. Do not look any further - book this!! And thanks Sara for a fabulous outing. One Word - AMAZING!

Donald 🇺🇸 United States

1 July 2023

Sara was wonderful, every knowledgeable and passionate about Berlin.A taste of Berlin

Lauren🇺🇸 United States

30 June 2023

It was a very rainy day in Berlin so initially we were feeling kind of disappointed to have booked a walking tour...UNTIL we met Sara! She was warm and funny and so informative...she came prepared with an ipad with relevant historical pictures and really just the right amount of context to help us understand the city of Berlin. We visited three cities on this trip (including Amsterdam and Prague) and her tour was truly the highlight of all of the things we did. And we are not generally easy to please :). We traveled with two teenagers and she made it such an engaging experience we didn't even mind being wet. She even followed up with additional suggestions of things to do and restaurants to try outside of the city center. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!Stop looking and just book Sara :)

Daniel 🇦🇺 Australia

15 June 2023

We had a fantastic food tour experience with Sara. Not only did we experience authentic local German food, but some of the other cultures and had a nice history lesson thrown in. Sara provided us with local tips and places to visit afterwards. Would thoroughly recommend Sara’s tour. What a lovely way to enjoy lunch

Margit🇳🇴 Norway

27 May 2023

We where two couples on a weekend visit. Sara was both professional and personal. She showed and teached us both culture and history through walking and tasting different food. Having a personal guide as Sara gave us a closer picture of Berlin. Highly recommended!

Yves🇨🇦 Canada

23 May 2023

We (2 couples) did a 4-hour walking tour with Sara in the centre of Berlin exploring the rise of Nazism and its historical roots, WW2, and the cold war era. We absolutely loved our tour. Sara is extremely knowledgeable and was brilliant in her in-depth descriptions and explanations. She was very good at contextualizing events within a larger context, which helped us better understand those events. We also felt that she was able to adapt to who we are, our interests, and prior knowledge. The following days, she sent us an extensive list of recommendations so we could pursue some of the topics we explored. Our tour with Sara was one of the highlights of our 1-week stay in Berlin. She is fantastic. Historic city centre tour

ugavish🇮🇱 Israel

14 May 2023

From the first moment with had great chemistry with Sara, we felt comfortable to ask for things or change the plan and Sara was with us all the time. We had very deep and interesting conversation and Sara share with us her great knowledge. Sara is very people oriented, she has great sense of humor and she know how to create a connection between the people, the location, the food and the experience. Day after the tour Sara send us many links and suggestion on Berlin. She is amazing!Excellent experiance

Alexander🇩🇰 Denmark

4 April 2023

We had such an amazing time with Sara! We tasted so many great things and learnt so much about German food culture and general history as well. Sara was so nice, knowledgeable and generous. She even ended up spending close to 4 hours with us! Huge recommendation!Hyge recommendation

Suzanne🇺🇸 United States

24 February 2023

We had a wonderful tour with Sara. She was incredibly knowledgeable, kind and charming. She absolutely tailored the tour to our desires and knowledge base and we couldn’t have had a better experience.Best Tour w Sara!

Nikola🇨🇭 Switzerland

7 January 2023

My family and I had a really nice time with Sara. She is very friendly, knows where to go, what to eat and on top of that she knows a lot about history of Germany and Berlin. The amount of time we spent with her (bit more than 3 hours) passed quiet fast. Would definitely recommend to spend some time with her if you are in Berlin and into food:)Eating with Sara :)

Kristin🇺🇸 United States

22 December 2022

Despite gloom and rain and a a dark subject (WWII), Sarah made the morning *delightful*. She is incredibly knowledgeable and gave us all sorts of new facts on WWII, the Cold War and Berlin itself. Can’t recommend this tour enough for anyone that is in Berlin and wants to see the real history and not the cheesy tourist traps that have popped up in the city. Thanks Sarah!Fabulous Morning!

Antoinette 🇺🇸 United States

21 November 2022

Such a fun time with Sara as she guided us through tastings of local cuisine. She created an experience with each bite as she walked us through the history and culture of Berlin. Sara had great energy to keep us engaged and could easily answer any question we had. Loved the area of the city we walked around. Only wish I had more time as there was so many cool things to see. Was a great beginning to our Berlin holiday! Go eat with Sara and I promise your belly and heart will be full.Eat, Drink and Be Merry

Jharna🇺🇸 United States

25 October 2022

Sara is amazing! She brought Berlin to life, explaining its extraordinary history and all the changes it has been through, without overwhelming us. Couldn’t have asked for a more engaging guide. She also gave us great tips for things to see/do on our own. Highly recommend booking a tour with her!Fabtastic tour with Sara