Whether you want to discover the classic sights in Berlin or rather the unusual sides of the city: With audio walks you explore Berlin corona-conform, individually and with the right offer for you. There are fantastic audio stories for children, tours for architecture connoisseurs and history buffs high-quality produced, thematic audio plays on the current zeitgeist and also poetry slam performances suitable for the location. We have compiled the top audio walks through Berlin for you here. Have fun!
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Tip 1: RAUM + ZEIT: Literary audio walks
Rendezvouz is already the third audio walk by the artists' collective RAUM + ZEIT. And this time it really gets down to business. In this interactive action-love story, you accompany two time travellers from the future. Their mission is to find patient zero, the person who carries the virus of the next pandemic. The story takes place between the Lustgarten, the palace and the Berlin Cathedral.
In the first part of the audiowalk trilogy, RAUM + ZEIT takes you back to the time of Bertolt Brecht. The starting point for this journey in Brecht's footsteps is the Dorotheenstädtische Friedhof.
The audio walk "Death in Venice" is also literary. You will travel back in time with Auerbach, the protagonist of the Thomas Mann novella of the same name, to the here and now and immerse yourself in his feverish imagination. Not for the faint-hearted.
Download von Der Tod in Venedig, Brecht stirbt und Rendezvouz von RAUM + ZEIT
Tip 2: Audio walks - Get out into the city!
With the audio walks accompanying the exhibition "Anything Goes? Berlin Architecture of the 1980s," the Berlinische Galerie invites you to discover Berlin's architecture on a walk through the neighborhoods. The question is explored what shaped Berlin's architecture in the 1980s and how the cityscape differs in East and West Berlin. There are currently three routes to choose from. The walks last between 60 and 90 minutes and lead around the Berlinische Galerie, along Friedrichstraße or starting from the Admiralbrücke through Kreuzberg.
Download from the website of the Berlinische Galerie
Cost: free
Tip: The free Gropius to go app from the Landesdenkmalamt will guide you to the most important buildings and objects by Walter Gropius in Berlin. In addition to pictures, addresses, and brief expert descriptions, you'll find prepared tours of major projects and UNESCO World Heritage sites of Berlin's modernist era.
If you like walking in the countryside, we recommend the Lenné app. Follow in the footsteps of Peter Joseph Lenné, one of the most important German landscape designers, and discover his most beautiful gardens and parks, such as the park at Glienicke Palace.
Tip 3: Audio walks in Berlin's Kieze (neighbourhoods)
Some of you may already know the Kiezpoeten. Normally they organize poetry slams. Now they have produced corona-compliant slam audio tours for you. On the family tour you will hear the story of Ferya, Tia and the flying board. In addition, there is historical information and a few tips for parents on how they can bring the story closer to the little ones - for example, with chocolate on parachutes. The comedy slam audio tour takes you through the city with humor and comedy. And on the classic audio walk of the Kiezpoeten you follow the slam guide from Robert-Koch-Platz to the synagogue in Oranienburger Straße and listen to interesting and poetic slam texts, for example about the Charité or Humboldt University. Simply download tour maps and audio files to your cell phone. And off you go!
Download from the website of the Kiezpoeten
More audio guide tips from the districts
- Udo Lindenberg himself will take you through Pankow on his #sonderzugnachpankow: On this free audio tour through Pankow, Prenzlauer Berg and Weissensee, you will meet Paul Landers from Rammstein, Alec Völkel from The BossHoss, Wolfgang Niedecken from BAP, Philipp Grütering from Deichkind, Kiki Sauer from the 17 Hippies, Sybil Franke and Judith Engelhardt from Velomax, BestialeBeatz, Dr. Klaus Koch from Buschfunkverlag, the Swinging Hermlins and many more.
- The DahlemTour takes you on a time travel through the "German Oxford" to the beginnings of the Max Planck Society. The tour takes you around the historic campus in Berlin-Dahlem and tells stories about the former research institute and the people who made pioneering discoveries there.
- In Schöneweide, journalist Michaela Gericke and art historian Martin Schönfeld will take you along the Kunstpfad (art trail) and give you new insights into the works and sculptures that you can discover there in public space.
- The free Lauschtour app guides you through the old town in 60 minutes with entertaining and informative stories about Spandau's history.
- (Ton-)Spuren der Gewalt [(Sound) Traces of Violence] is the title of the audio walk on the "Köpenicker Blood Week" in 1933. On the tour through the Elsengrund estate and the Dammvorstadt, relatives of those arrested and murder victims share their memories with you.
- Starting from the former synagogue in Moabit, which was misused as a collection camp during the National Socialist era, the audio walk "Ihr letzter Weg" ("Their Last Path") takes you along the deportation route to the freight station from where tens of thousands were deported to concentration camps and ghettos.
Tip 4: Audio walks on architecture and Berlin history
Audio tour on architectural details of the Zeughaus
While the oldest building on Unter den Linden is undergoing structural and technical modernisation on the inside, the exterior façade of the baroque Zeughaus is already shining in new splendour. Learn more about the history of the building, the architectural design and the various trophy and sculpture groups on this free audio walk by the German Historical Museum. The tour is accompanied by an outdoor exhibition that conveys the exciting history of the building in a series of posters.
Around Villa Oppenheim I - Housing Question
The audio walk around the Villa Oppenheim through Charlottenburg shows the changes in living conditions over the past 100 years. Go on a ramble through the social changes in the neighborhood, from the beginnings of the Prussian residential city to the fornication in the West of the 1930s described by Erich Kästner to the here and now. Find out why new forms of housing are also always a response to social issues and societal challenges - and how these have been solved over time.
Download at Echoes
Cost: free
Tip 5: Querstadtein: "Stimmen vom Bahnhof Zoo" (Voices from Zoo Station)
In this audio walk, homeless people take you into their everyday lives. It's about life on the street, sometimes also about survival. Immerse yourself in the world of Jenny, Blümchen, Erhard and Anton and learn more about their thoughts, worries and dreams. The audio walk takes you from Bahnhof Zoo to Fasanenstraße.
Download the audio walk: Voices from Bahnhof Zoo
Tip 6: Audio walk Hörenschönhausen
During the one-hour audio walk around the Obersee and Orankesee lakes, you will not only learn more about the history, but also about the legends surrounding the two lakes in Hohenschönhausen. Do you know the legend of the mysterious Oranke princess or the elegy of Evgenia Usimova? You will learn more about contemporary history and art in public space, but there are also several audio pieces about the darker sides of history. Learn more about the Soviet restricted area, the residential area of the Ministry of State Security and get to know the Soviet secret service chief Alexj Sidnejw.
Download from the website Hörenschönhausen or via QR code directly on site.
Tip 7: Stadt im Ohr - Urban Sounds to Go
With its audio walks, "Stadt im Ohr" (Urban Sounds to Go) takes you through space and time. Experience history and stories, learn about surprising and unusual things from Berlin's neighborhoods and scene. On the tour through Wedding you will be on the trail of the artist scene in sound and text. On the walk through Mitte you will learn interesting and interesting facts from 800 years of Berlin history. Discover backyards and architectural monuments. There are also activities for children in which they can discover the city in playful audio games.
Tip 8: Berlin's public libraries on ActionBound
ActionBound is a free app that lets you create and, of course, find digital treasure hunts. Meanwhile, there is a whole series of thematic routes crisscrossing Berlin. The tours take you through the zoo, Gropiusstadt, political Berlin or individual districts. It's about history, the colonial theme, but you can also go on the trail of children's book authors. The offer works solo or in a group. Some of the bounds are created by private individuals, but public libraries and the FEZ Berlin are also represented with great offers.
Download via Google Play Store and Apple App Store
Tip: Take a look at our bike tours through Berlin
Tip 9: Viator and Soundwalkrs
Soundwalkrs: The Fall of the Wall
There are now also special apps for audio tours, although many of them have to be paid for. One of them is Soundwalkrs, which currently offers a one-hour tour on the fall of the Berlin Wall for Berlin fans.
Download via soundwalkrs.com
Viator:
Tripadvisor now also offers a selection of audio tours on Viator. In Berlin, the audio walks lead you through the city center, along the Berlin Wall and to Wedding, title: "Witches, Riots and the Cold War".
Download from the website viator.com
Tip 10: Foxtrail
In addition to classic audio walks, you can of course also discover Berlin individually as part of a city rally. With Foxtrail Berlin you are on the trail of a fictitious fox and get to know Berlin from a completely new perspective with this mixture of scavenger hunt, sightseeing tour and Escape Game. Perfect for a Corona-compliant family outing in the fresh air.
By the way: With the Berlin WelcomeCard you get discounts for the city rally with Foxtrail and travel for free with public transport in Berlin.
Other scavenger hunts, rallies and escape games
Other providers of scavenger hunts through the city are Berlin Rallye, Stadtrallye, Mission Accepted, My City Hunt and House of Tales. On different tours you can discover Berlin's historic center or individual neighborhoods. There are also various themes to choose from, such as "Queer Berlin," "Agents," "Karl Friedrich Schinkel," or "Marlene Dietrich and the Golden Twenties.
Tip: Why not discover Berlin on a virtual sightseeing tour?
Tip 11: ABOUT BERLIN App
Using the map function of our ABOUT BERLIN App, you can discover which special places and sights are close to you. Learn the stories behind the scenes and immerse yourself in exciting, historical and contemporary snapshots. There are also audio books, videos. Of course, we have also put together some exciting tours for you, for example along the Wall or around Moritzplatz. Discover the city of tomorrow, street art or Berlin's monuments of industrial heritage.
ABOUT BERLIN App
Find more powerful stories from Berlin on our app ABOUT BERLIN App. You can download it for free for iPhone and Android.
There are many stories to tell. ABOUT BERLIN.
