Explore Berlin by bus 100

A hop on/hop off bus tour doesn’t always have to cost a lot of money. A really simple way to make your own sightseeing tour is to combine a tip on the number 100 bus with a day ticket or the Berlin Welcome Card. This way, you can get out whenever you like for the most important attractions, or just stay in the bus and enjoy looking at them in passing. The number 100 bus route was created after the reunification of Germany as the first bus route connecting East and West Berlin thus linking so many of the sightseeing attractions that Berlin has to offer.

From Alexanderplatz to the Reichstag

So let’s begin at Alexanderplatz with the Television Tower as one of the city’s landmarks. Travelling along Karl-Liebknecht-Straße towards the Brandenburg Gate, you pass the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral), Schloßplatz and Museum Island . We recommend that you get out at the “Unter den Linden” bus stop to get a better view of the imposing Brandenburg Gate. And it’s hardly more than a stone’s throw to walk from there to the Reichstag. Take the time and enjoy the view from the glass dome down into the German Parliament assembly room. Please note, however, that touring the dome itself requires prior registration.

• Alexanderplatz
• Television Tower
• Museum Island
• Lustgarten
• Deutsches Historisches Museum
• Brandenburg Gate
• Reichstag

Through the Tiergarten

You can then join up with the bus at the “Reichstag/Bundestag” bus stop, and travel past the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and Bellevue Palace towards the Siegessäule (Victory Column) located on the “Großer Stern” (Greater Star) roundabout. The Victory Column was built between 1864 and 1873 on the occasion of the Prussian victory over Denmark in 1864 and is now a listed building. From the top it offers a magnificent view of Tiergarten and the rest of Berlin, but a small word of warning: you first have to climb a total of 285 stairs before you can enjoy the view!

• Haus der Kulturen der Welt
• Schloss Bellevue
• Siegessäule

The City West

You then continue the bus tour, which next takes you to Breitscheidplatz and Kurfürstendamm, where the Kaiser Wilhelm Church stands. The original church was built at the end of the 19th century, but was badly damaged in bombing raids in the Second World War. The current ruins probably represent the most well-known monument in Germany against war. In the middle of the 20th century, a new church was built next to the ruins of the old one. The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church buildings are currently undergoing renovation. Kurfürstendamm is enticing you to go on an extensive shopping tour. KaDeWe, in particular, is well worth visiting. It originally opened in 1907 and is the biggest department store on the European mainland.

• Kurfürstendamm
• Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
• KaDeWe

Terminus at the Zoo Station

The bus trip comes to an end at the Zoo Station (Berlin Zoologischer Garten), which in 1882 was initially opened for local traffic, and two years later for long-distance trains. The station takes its name from the adjacent Zoologischer Garten (Zoological Garden), which is itself one of the most visited attractions in the city and is home to the most comprehensive collection of species in the world, with over 1,500 animal species and a total of over 17,500 animals in 2011. Of course, you can decide to do the trip in the opposite direction. Start your sightseeing tour at the Zoo Station and finish up at Alexanderplatz.

• Zoologischer Garten (Zoological Garden)

Do you already know the 200 and 300 lines?

Do you already know the journey with the 100 bus? Then why not try the 200 bus? It also connects the City West with Alexanderplatz and then continues to Prenzlauer Berg. The 200 bus takes you past places of interest such as the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the Philharmonie, Potsdamer Platz, Checkpoint Charlie, Fischerinsel, Nikolaiviertel and the Red Town Hall to Alexanderplatz, where the television tower is enthroned. Along the Volkspark Friedrichshain the line 200 continues from Alexanderplatz to the trendy district Prenzlauer Berg.

You can now take the 300 bus from the Philharmonie to Warschauer Straße in Friedrichshain. The 300 bus is also ideal for an inexpensive sightseeing tour. Via Potsdamer Platz and Leipziger Platz the bus passes the Mall of Berlin and the Bundesrat and then turns onto Unter den Linden via Wilhelmstraße and Behrenstraße. On the splendid boulevard you pass the Humboldt University, the Neue Wache Memorial, the State Opera and the Museum Island up to Alexanderplatz. There the 300 bus turns into Alexanderstraße and passes the Jannowitzbrücke, the Ostbahnhof and the East Side Gallery up to the S-Bahnhof Warschauer Straße. The special feature of the 300 bus: electric buses are increasingly being used on this bus line.