Germany runs to a timetable. Book the good days first.
Which Berlin walk gets you inside the Reichstag dome. What Neuschwanstein really costs once the train is added. Whether the Rhine reads better from the deck or the castle wall. Reviews of every tour you can book in Germany.
Six German cities, and the day out each one is actually built for.
A capital that walks its own history, a Bavarian beer city under the Alps, a harbour that runs on tides, a cathedral over the Rhine, a rebuilt baroque stage set on the Elbe, and the skyline where the trains all cross.
Most of Germany is explained standing up, in about two hours.
German cities hand you their history at street level: a stretch of wall left standing, a market square rebuilt from rubble, a courtyard chain in Mitte you would never find alone. Four kinds of walk, what each costs and how long it holds your attention.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Discover Berlin Half-Day Walking Tour
The two-hour walking roundLandmarks, distances and the stories between them.
Old town on footMarket square, cathedral, guild houses, a cellar bar.
Third Reich sites in Berlin and MunichThe sites that decide how the rest of the city reads.
After dark, by lanternA night watchman, a lantern, and the old lanes empty.
All 336 guided walks in Germany →
What a day out in Germany actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. A guided walk through Berlin costs less than the airport train that brought you in.
City walks, museum entry, boat hours on the Spree, Elbe and Main.
Full days: Dachau and Sachsenhausen, the Rhine valley, harbour cruises with dinner.
Neuschwanstein by private car, small-group castle days, chartered boats.
The German days out travellers take first.
Every German tour we have reviewed →A dome over a parliament, a boat hour on the Spree, a castle in the Alps, a harbour cruise at dusk. What earns each of them the slot.
1
Reichstag, Dome and Government District Guided Tour
Review of Berlin’s Reichstag and government district tour, with dome views, German political history, practical tips, and honest value advice.
From · $18
Read our review →
2
1-Hour City Tour by Boat with Guaranteed Seating
from $25
3
Sex and Crime in St. Pauli Tour for Ages 18+
from $295
4
1.5-Hour Harbor and Speicherstadt Day Cruise
from $40
5
Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day Trip
6
Semperoper Tickets and Guided Tour
from $18
7
Boat Tour Along the River Spree
from $34
8
Discover Berlin Half-Day Walking Tour
from $24
Berlin: the dome first, then the parts of the wall still standing.
Everything in Berlin →
Book the Reichstag dome before you fly, walk the government quarter around it, then give an afternoon to the Spree, the courtyards off Rosenthaler Strasse and whatever the DDR left behind. These three carry more travellers than anything else in the city.
The Reichstag dome, and the quarter under it
Entry to the glass dome is free but the list closes days ahead, and passports are checked at the door. A guided round of the government quarter gets the paperwork done for you and explains what you are looking at.
The wall, the death strip, the Cold War city
Most of the wall is a line of cobbles now. A guide is the difference between a photograph of a painted slab and understanding where the tunnels ran and why the buildings on one side are newer.
An hour on the Spree, sitting down
The river runs past the museums, the government block and the new station, and the commentary joins them up. It is the cheapest hour in the city and the one people book when their feet give out.
Germany reads differently from a deck: Spree, Elbe, Rhine, Alster.
The Spree carries you past the parliament, the Elbe past the warehouse city, the Rhine past a castle every few kilometres. Boat hours here are cheap, sit-down and, in Hamburg, the only honest way to see the port.
Munich is a beer hall with the Alps parked an hour behind it.
The city itself takes a morning: Marienplatz, the Viktualienmarkt, a cellar with a litre glass in it. Then the coaches leave south, and by lunchtime you are under Neuschwanstein or on the water at Königssee.
Every Munich day out →
Three things Germany does that nowhere else bothers to.
Cathedrals and old towns are all over Europe. A king’s fantasy castle finished by a bankrupt state, a market that turns a whole city square into mulled wine for four weeks, and a beer culture written into law are not.
Neuschwanstein
Ludwig II built a medieval castle in the 1870s with money he did not have, died before it was finished, and left Bavaria the most photographed building in the country. Entry is by timed slot with a guide, the walk up from Hohenschwangau takes half an hour, and the view everyone comes for is from the Marienbrücke behind it. Day trips from Munich usually add Linderhof, which he did finish.
- 1Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 12,494 reviews
- 2Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle-Fairytale Day Tour from Munich★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 7,275 reviews
- 3Neuschwanstein Castle Tour from Munich★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 5,117 reviews
The Christkindlmarkt
For four weeks the main square of nearly every German town fills with wooden huts, and the whole country switches to glühwein and grilled sausage. Nuremberg, Dresden and Cologne run the famous ones; Munich and Berlin run several each. They open in the last week of November and most close on 23 December, which makes the timing tighter than travellers expect.
- 1Original Munich Christmas Market Tour with Festive Wine and Food★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 85 reviews
- 2Munich Christmas Market Food Tour with Tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 54 reviews
- 3Berlin Christmas Markets Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 34 reviews
Beer with rules
Each city defends its own beer: Kölsch poured in thin glasses in Cologne, Alt across the river in Düsseldorf, wheat beer and helles in Munich cellars that seat a thousand. Brewery tours here end in a tasting rather than a gift shop, and the good ones explain why the glass in front of you is that shape.
- 1Brewery Tour with 3 Kölsch Beer Tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 3,108 reviews
- 2Brewery Tour with Alt Beer Tastings★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,523 reviews
- 3Classic Mike’s Bike Tour daily @ 11.30 incl Beer Garden & Surfers★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,246 reviews
Four German bookings that will not wait for you.
Plenty of this country can be sorted over breakfast. These four run on registration lists, timed castle slots and a calendar that closes at Christmas, and they are the ones travellers arrive to find gone.
- 01Reichstag, Dome and Government District Guided TourDome entry runs on a registration list with names checked at the door. The slots go days ahead, and there is no turning up on spec.
- 02Neuschwanstein & Linderhof Castle Full-Day TripThe castle is only enterable on a timed guided slot, and the day trips from Munich sell the good departure times out first in summer.
- 03Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Tour in EnglishMemorial site tours run to fixed departure times and close on Mondays. Groups are capped, and winter timetables are shorter.
- 04Original Munich Christmas Market Tour with Festive Wine and FoodThe markets run from late November to 23 December. Outside those four weeks the squares are simply squares.
What to do when it is dark at four and raining sideways.
Germany is a winter country for half the year and the weather rarely cancels anything outright, it just makes standing outside a poor use of an afternoon. The answer is under a roof: museum floors, a warm cellar, a thermal pool, a locked room with a puzzle in it.
- 1Sex and Crime in St. Pauli Tour for Ages 18+from $295
- 2Jewish Museum Berlin Entrance Ticketfrom $0
- 3DDR Museum Ticketsfrom $15
By city — north coast to the Alps
By kind of day — walk, boat, castle or cellar
Berlin, Dresden, Munich, the castles, the Rhine: the route almost everyone takes first.
The RhineThe newest German tour reviews.
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