Start your tour in at Gendarmenmarkt, the place to be in downtown Berlin, an area with some of the best luxury hotels, fancy restaurants and bars. On both sides of the square you will see the two 18th century German and French cathedrals, punctuated by a great concert hall, the Konzerthaus.Continue your tour until you will reach the State Opera, commissioned in the 18th century as the royal opera house by Frederick the Great. Next to the Opera House, admire the St. Hedwig's Kathedrale, another building commissioned by Frederick the Great, modeled after the Pantheon in Rome and named after the patron Saint of Silesia.Very close by you will get a chance to see the Humboldt University of Berlin, one of Berlin’s oldest university and with its 40 Nobel Prize winners considered as the one of the best universities in Europe. Located in the former palace of Prince Henry of Prussia, the university was founded in 1811 by the Prussian reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt.On your way to the City Palace pass by the neo-classical building of the New Guardhouse, serving as the “Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Dictatorship”. Originally used as a guardhouse for the troops of the prince of Prussia, the building was transformed into a war memorial since 1931.Next to the New Guardhouse you can see the old Arsenal baroque building. At the end of the 19th century, it was transformed into a military museum and inside, on March 1943, Rudolf von Gersdorff tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler during the opening of an exhibition inside it. Right across the street you can admire the late neoclassical style building, the Crown Prince’s Palace, used by the Hohenzollern house of Prussia until the monarchy was abolished at the end of World War I.Continue your walk over the Schlossbrücke Bridge as you will reach the Pleasure Garden, a park on the Museum Island in central Berlin. This area was used as a parade ground, a place for mass rallies and a public park. Here you can get a nice view of the Berlin Cathedral, one of the main attractions of the Museum Island.
On your way to the final highlight of your tour, cross the Spree River, while you will be passing through Marx-Engels Public Park to reach the Royal Palace, the winter residence of the Kings of Prussia and the German Emperors.
The route will include Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie.
