Kaleidoscopic Kreuzberg: Immigrants, Artists & Hipsters

3-Hour Tour

Birthplace of Berlin’s Counter-Culture

Street Art & Immigrant Markets

Once a 19th-century worker’s district and former part of West Berlin, Kreuzberg has reshaped itself through immigrants, capitalists, anarchists, artists, WWII bombs, and Cold War suppression. Today, the neighborhood is a buzzing hub of counterculture, cafes, art, bars, and a salad bowl of immigrants providing diverse cuisine options and market goods. This 3-hour Kreuzberg tour highlights the neighborhood’s authentic identity, as it continues to push back against gentrification and development.

Start off at the Oberbaumbruecke, Berlin’s most beautiful bridge, passing the main landmarks of SO36, the eastern half of the district named after its former postcode

Ponder what remains of the Berlin Wall before continuing past street art-filled walls, abandoned buildings, and plots of land that have been creatively transformed into art hubs.

Discover the idyllic Viktoriapark (one of Berlin’s most popular green spaces) and the 120-year-old market hall, Markthalle 9, where locals trade in artisanal and trendy food products.

Uncover the Turkish influence in the district, through bustling streets filled with shops and colorful markets full of flowers, spices, and delicious take-away foods.

Tour Details

Price

Private tours – $360 USD (1-10 persons)
*your guide all to yourself

 

Small groups – $115 USD per person
*still intimate with 8 persons or less


Departure time

Private tours daily at 10 AM and 2 PM

 

Small groups

  • Tuesday 2 PM
  • Wednesday 10 AM
  • Thursday 10 AM
  • Sunday 2 PM

Meeting point

Private tours include a pick-up at your central hotel or flat

 

Small groups: Die Fabrik, Schlesische Straße 18, 10997 Berlin


Availability

Year-round


Duration

3 hours


Group size

Private tours: 1-10 persons
Groups of over 10 should contact us at info@insightcities.com in order to get a special rate for their party.

 

Small groups: 2-8 persons


Participation requirements

As this is a walking tour, please contact us if you have any mobility issues or concerns


Not included

Metro fare: You will need to use public transport a few times since the distances between some key sites are too far to walk. If you do not have a multi-day visitor’s transit pass to Berlin already, we suggest that you purchase the day metro pass. If you cannot purchase it in advance, your guide will help you purchase it at the first metro station on the tour.


What to bring

  • Comfortable walking shoes
  • Cash or credit card for the metro fare

About your guide

Read about our Berlin guides


Cancellation policy

For cancellations 48 hours prior to your scheduled tour, Insight Cities offers a full refund. We cannot refund cancellations within 48 hours of a scheduled tour as we need to pay our guide.

Overview of Your Tour

The Oberbaumbruecke lit up, at night.

The lively district of Kreuzberg, just south of Berlin’s city center, is a 19th-century worker’s district and formerly part of West Berlin, that has seen it all over the years. Immigrants, capitalists, anarchists, artists, WWII bombs, the Cold War decades, each—in their turn—have greatly influenced the district. It’s the one Berlin neighborhood that is known, loved, and feared across Germany as the birthplace of the counterculture for which the whole city has become famous in recent decades.

Street art on the side of a building.Starting off at the Oberbaumbruecke, Berlin’s most beautiful bridge, this 3-hour tour with an urban historian takes you past the main landmarks of “SO36,” the eastern half of the district, named after the old postal code. Your guide will offer insight into the area’s rough history and the fast-moving events that are shaping its future. The tour also allows you to take it easy, to experience the Kreuzberg way of life that attracted the likes of rock legends David Bowie and Iggy Pop to haunt these streets during the Cold War 70s.

Tourists look at remains of the Berlin Wall.After pondering the remains of the Berlin Wall, your guide will help you to explore the creative uses of abandoned buildings and plots of land as art hubs, and to grasp the importance of graffiti and street art to Kreuzberg’s look, feel, and identity. Then discover the graceful Viktoriapark (one of Berlin’s most popular green spaces) and the 120-year-old market hall, Markthalle 9, where locals trade in artisanal and trendy food products.

Next, you’ll move through areas brimming with Turkish immigrant culture abounding in shops and in colorful markets full of flowers, spices, and delicious take-away foods, such as deep-fried spinach and cheese gözleme, falafel sandwiches, and freshly pressed pomegranate juice. Having gained a rich sense of Kreuzberg’s kaleidoscopic culture, you conclude by discussing the controversial riverside development plans that today threaten to gentrify a district that prides itself on authenticity.

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