This 6-hour day trip to the stunning city of Potsdam is a must for anyone visiting Berlin. Once the home of the German emperors, before being trapped behind the Berlin Wall during the Cold War, Potsdam is a photo-perfect town filled with palaces, lakes and exquisite gardens.
Your Potsdam, City of Emperors Tour meets in front of the Starbucks at the Brandenburg Gate (S/U-Bahn Brandenburger Tor).
One of Germany's most beautiful towns
This day trip from Berlin is the perfect way to see Potsdam, one of Germany’s most beautiful towns. Starting at the iconic Brandenburg Gate, your expert local guide will take you on the train to Potsdam, about 45 minutes away from Berlin. From there, you will stroll over to the Alten Markt (Old Market), where the Potsdam City Palace has now been rebuilt following its destruction in WWII.
Palaces, lakes and gardens
After that, you’ll take a tram out to the beautiful Havel river, where you’ll look across the water to take in sites like the Babelsberg Palace (now home to the famous Babelsberg film studios), and the infamous Bridge of Spies, where spy swaps took place during the Cold War. Then, you’ll stroll through the stunning Neuer Garten (New Garden), finding yourself at the beautiful Cecilienhof Palace (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), where your guide will tell you how the German Crown Prince lived there before the royal family abdicated at the end of WWI, and how in 1945, Stalin, Truman and Churchill (later Atlee) decided the fate of post-war Europe at the famous Potsdam Conference.
Take in the picture-perfect Sanssouci palace and park
After you've seen the English-style Neuer Garten and Cecilienhof, you’ll take a short bus ride into the Potsdam town center, where you will visit Germany’s largest UNESCO World Heritage site, the French-style Park Sanssouci, complete with the picture-perfect Sanssouci Palace.
The Potsdam, City of Emperors Tour starts in front of the Starbucks at the Brandenburg Gate (S/U-Bahn Brandenburger Tor)
Marvel at the stunning Sanssouci Palace
Discover the intrigue of the infamous Bridge of Spies
Take perfect photographs of the gorgeous Babelsberg Palace
See various palaces of the German royal family and learn about their abdication at the end of the WWI
Hear about the decline of Potsdam during it’s time in Communist East Germany
Stroll through the perfectly manicured gardens and along the glistening lakes
Learn about the famous Potsdam Conference that took place at the end of WWII
TOUR SCHEDULES
Today
This tour doesn‘t run today
PHOTOS
Inclusions & exclusions
What’s included
Expert local guide
Break for lunch
What’s not included
Train ticket (ABC day pass required)
Lunch
Entrance to palaces
Additional Information
You will need to purchase an ABC day transport ticket for this tour and validate it before joining the trip
You can stay and explore Potsdam further on your own, or return with your guide on the train to central Berlin
Children up to 13 years old are welcome to join this tour for free
This tour doesn't include entrance/visit to any museums nor Cecilienhof Palace or Sanssouci Palace
Wheelchair accessible
Our business is connecting great guides and smart travelers, and we're proud that so many local guides employ us to welcome travelers like you on their journey through some of the world's best cities. No two tours are alike, and the sites, stories, and length of the tour will vary depending on what your freelance guide decides is best. That's why the tours we promote never get stale or feel scripted, and why both independent guides and savvy travelers prefer SANDEMANs
MAP
The tour to Potsdam starts in front of the Starbucks at the Brandenburg GateOpen in Google Maps
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Customer reviews
Potsdam is gorgeous!
After arriving in Berlin and participating in a Sandemans tour for the first time, we were so impressed with our guide, Lucy, that we just jumped right in on the Potsdam tour. Of course, Lucy was just as enthusiastic and knowledgeable and her love for Berlin and its history shines through. Seeing all these castles and parks etc just outside of Berlin really added another level of understanding to our picture. And Potsdam is just gorgeous! IMO - an inexpensive and excellent day trip and Sandemans (Lucy) deserve the 5 *****s!
We had an amazing day on our tour of Potsdam with Alice. Alice was amazing, she really knew her stuff and was so friendly and personable - I’d give her more than 5 stars if I could. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this tour.
Highly recommend both of these tours to anyone visiting this fantastic city. I would also recommend that you do the walking tour on day one if you have time, about 3 hours and gives you a good grasp of your bearings about the city in that time. Our guide for both tours (Potsdam is a full day) was Stephen, who was knowledgable, funny and the time flew by. The information was delivered in a friendly way with just enough details and with suggestions of where you may want to explore later on your own. He was also great at entertaining the kids from a family on our Potsdam tour and patient with questions. If you get a chance to get on one of his tours do it!
I had the most amazing experience with the Potsdam tour! The place is absolutely beautiful and so full of history! Susan is awesome, it was like spending an afternoon with a super-brainy-and-funny-indiana-jonesy new friend. Definitely recommend this tour!
We did both the general tour of Berlin and the Potsdam tour of Berlin and luckily enough, we had Lewis as a tour guide for both. He was the perfect guide - friendly, engaging, thoughtful and knew his history back to front - plus, at the end of each tour, he was kind enough to offer recommendations of where to go next and how to get there. If we had more time in Berlin, we would have absolutely signed up for more tours with him - we owe most of what we learned and saw in Berlin to him! The general Berlin tour was a great introduction to the city and what to see and do there, and the Potsdam tour was a gorgeous little adventure outside of Berlin. We'd strongly recommend both - and thank you Lewis!
My husband and I just took the 6 hour walking tour in Potsdam. The tour was very good mainly because our guide Rochelle (Vancouver native) was an excellent guide who was really knowledgeable about the history of all the sites we visited, she was energetic and made the tour entertaining and interesting for even non-history buffs. It was a real treat for history buffs as her passion and knowledge shone through. We highly recommend this tour especially with Rochelle.
Select Tours focus on a particular area or district of a city, a certain aspect of its history or culture, or take you outside the city on a day trip. Select Tours are perfect for those who have enjoyed an introduction to the city and wish to delve deeper into the stories the city has to offer. These tours often venture further afield and make use of local public transport.
As with the Free Tour, Select Tours are provided by local freelance guides in partnership with SANDEMANs NEW Europe, who bring their personal flair and expert knowledge to these specifically themed tours. Select tours have a fixed ticket price - we recommend purchasing your ticket in advance, either during a Free Tour or online.
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Participation in tours promoted by SANDEMANs NEW Europe is strictly on a voluntary basis. Neither SANDEMANs NEW Europe, nor the self-employed freelance guides who are the providers of the tours promoted by SANDEMANs NEW Europe, will be held responsible in any way for injuries to body or property incurred during tours. The tour guides reserve the right to deny participation in any tour, to any person, for any reason. Thank you for your understanding.
We are gradually reopening cities across our network, and running most of our tours with limited availability.For more information about our tours running in English, and for an overview of the safety, health and wellbeing measures we're taking for our staff, guide partners and valued guests, visit the link below
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