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Barrier-free river cruise tour in Berlin
Barrier-free river cruise tour © visitBerlin, Foto: Andi Weiland/Gesellschaftsbilder.de

Accessible city tours through Berlin

Accessible sightseeing in Berlin

Imposing buildings and local neighbourhoods. Experienced guides and accessibility-tested cruise boats. And attractive accessible tours from our visitBerlin partners – from travelling by bus urban-style to an old-fashioned steamer out on the water or the cutting-edge Segway.

Berlin is accessible – and so it is also wheelchair friendly and offers many tours for people who are hard of hearing or deaf or partially sighted or blind. There are, for example, a range of city tours on offer for visitors with disabilities. These include comfortable bus or coach tours, as well as tours for people in wheelchairs to explore individual neighbourhoods. For a different perspective on the city, take a boat tour with our partner tour boat companies. The boats have been checked for accessibility and are suitable for disabled visitors. Tours with cycle taxis are especially suitable for people with limited mobility or who are partially sighted or blind. The cycle taxi drivers not only provide the pedal power, but also recount stories about the city – offering a different take on Berlin. For an overall picture of the city, visit one of the scale touch models – or enjoy a birds-eye view from an accessible viewing platform high above the rooftops. So many good reasons to take a closer look at Berlin’s wealth of attractions!

What can you find on this page?

  • Accessible boat tours
  • City tours for all
  • Wheelchair-friendly tours – on water and land
  • Exploring the city for people who are partially sighted or blind
  • Segway tours for people with limited mobility
  • Berlin from above
  • Time out in Berlin’s green spaces

 

1. Accessible boat tours

Take a different perspective on the city – with an accessible boat tour. The cruise boats and steamers of our partner tour boat companies offer tours every day in many different languages. Not only do the boats travel Berlin’s many waterways and lakes through the inner city, but also visit the surrounding countryside. All boat tours listed here by visitBerlin have been checked for accessibility under the Tourism for All scheme.

Boat trips in Berlin

Stern und Kreisschiffahrt boat tours

The MS Moby Dick tour boat can take up to 12 guests in wheelchairs at the same time – including six in motorised wheelchairs. And what’s more, the service staff on all the tour boats in the Stern und Kreisschiffahrt fleet have considerable experience in looking after guests with disabilities.

Stern und Kreisschifffahrt

2. City tours for all

Let others take the strain – and enjoy a relaxing tour or see the city through different eyes. That’s so easy on a city tour by bus or coach, or by velotaxi or cycle rickshaw.

In particular, for visitors with limited mobility the classic city tour by coach or bus offers a great way of exploring Berlin’s attractions in comfort. People who are hard of hearing benefit especially from bus and coach tours with audio guides, since they can adjust the volume to suit their individual needs.

Bus tours through Berlin

The Berlin Treptow-Köpenick Tourism Association offers tours of local neighbourhoods for wheelchair users, people who are blind or visually impaired, and for visitors who are hard of hearing. An audio guide available on hire from the Tourist Info Centre at Schlossplatz in Köpenick takes you through the old town of Alt-Köpenick.

Explore Berlin with the Velotaxi cycle taxis – not just a great way to see the main sights, but perfect to discover neighbourhoods and quiet corners. On a Velotaxi tour, you’ll find drivers who love the city and can tell local stories and anecdotes about Berlin and the Berliners. Above all, though, for their guests who are blind or visually impaired, the drivers can vividly describe the city.

Climb aboard, lean back and listen ... Berlin Rikscha Tour is a visitBerlin partner and, among other services, offers the following themed city tours: The top sights from the TV Tower to the Reichstag parliament building, Through the government quarter to Potsdamer Platz, Where the Berlin Wall once stood, The green Tiergarten park, The bustling Hackesche Höfe courtyards, Kreuzberg – always worth a visit, City Lights, Berlin to the west, Charlottenburg Palace and Old Town.

Berlin Rikscha Tour offers a range of cycling tours and services for guests with disabilities able to join a regular guided city tour around Berlin or explore the city on their own on a hire bike.

Bike tours through Berlin

3. Wheelchair-friendly tours – on water and land

The free accessBerlin app – currently including six tours to over 59 attractions and sights – is highly recommended for wheelchair users. Here, we are presenting two other tips specifically for people in wheelchairs.

Wheelchair holidays – Exploring the waterways around Berlin

The Rolly Tours catamarans are specially designed for wheelchairs users, ensuring you can enjoy a truly accessible holiday. Rolly Tours offers accompanied boat tours through Berlin’s waterways and lakes, as well as trips to the surrounding countryside. But whether you are interested in a short tour or chartering a boat for a week, you can look forward to the same comfort – wheelchair-friendly door widths, free access to the outside deck and the steering station as well as a wheelchair accessible toilet and shower.

Exploring Berlin’s neighbourhoods by wheelchair

Upstairs and downstairs? Not on this tour! Together with the non-profit organisation SOZIALHELDEN (Social Heroes), visitBerlin has used the online Wheelmap tool to compile a local tour of Kreuzberg, Neukölln and Mitte for wheelchair users. You can look forward to fresh air, delicious food, great views, art and culture and a colourful night life – making your wheelchair tour a top accessible neighbourhood experience!

4. Exploring the city for people who are partially sighted or blind

The Berlin Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ABSV) can help you explore the city and give you a range of helpful tips for your visit.

  • On request, if you are planning a visit to a cultural event, the ABSV can provide contact to accompanying individuals interested in culture.
  • Berlin visitors who are blind or visually impaired can also use the ABSV’s range of cultural and leisure services, including tours. You can find a list of the upcoming events here (website in German).
  • “Experience Berlin” is the first acoustic guide for Berlin visitors who are blind or partially sighted. It offers detailed descriptions of routes to various sights, enabling its users to explore the city independently. At www.berlinfuerblinde.de, you can download the audio files for free or listen to them.
Museumsinsel with river Spree

Touch tours for Berlin and its surroundings

  • Berlin’s renowned Botanic Garden offers blind and visually impaired visitors a chance to discover the diversity of the world of plants in a Fragrance and Touch Garden.
  • The Berlin-Brandenburg Model Park presents around 80 models of the top city sights lovingly constructed on a scale of 1:25 – and many of them can also be touched.
  • Blind and visually impaired visitors to Berlin’s Reichstag parliament building will find a touch model on a scale of 1:100 on the same floor as the Plenary Chamber. Together with the audio guide, the model offers a comprehensive insight into the German Parliament building.
  • At the Luisenhain opposite the Köpenick Town Hall, you can find a bronze tactile model of the Old Town on a scale of 1:1500.
  • The Lustgarten square in the city centre has a bronze tactile model of Berlin’s Museum Island on a scale of 1:450.
  • The entrance of the Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing at Am Köllnischen Park 3 has a speaking tactile model of Berlin’s inner city on a scale of 1:2000. Using RFID technology, the model provides information on 140 sights and attractions. (Monday – Saturday, 10am – 6pm)
  • A bronze tactile model of Sanssouci Park on a scale of 1:1000 can be found at the Visitors Centre near the Historic Windmill in Potsdam.
  • In Kleisthaus at Mauerstraße 53, home to the offices of the Federal Government Commissioner for Matters relating to Persons with Disabilities, you can find a touch model of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS).


5. Segway tours for people with limited mobility

Berlin visitors with limited mobility can enjoy a Segway tour in a Segway Freee F2, an innovative and highly intuitive electric wheelchair. The tours, arranged by tour operator “Betreute Erholung und mehr Meer Leben GmbH”, take either groups or individuals on a sightseeing tour through Germany’s capital city.

6. Berlin from above

For breathtaking views of Berlin, you can choose between a number of viewing points high above the city. Fans of panoramic views will enjoy browsing the following tips:

  • The Panoramapunkt at Potsdamer Platz offers the speediest route to a birds-eye view. Europe’s fastest elevator takes wheelchair users and all other visitors quickly and conveniently to the viewing platform and café on the 24th floor. There, you can enjoy the stunning views over a drink and a snack.
  • The Olympic Stadium’s Bell Tower (Glockenturm) also offers fantastic views out across the city. Inside the Bell Tower, you can also find an exhibition on the history of Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. The route to the entrance as well as some sections of the exhibition are partially accessible. You have step-free access to the viewing platform as well as the exhibition area in the Langemark Hall.
  • Please note! For safety reasons, the Berlin TV Tower at Alexanderplatz is not accessible for wheelchair users and people requiring assistance or walking aids. This is because the emergency escape route is down a staircase with a thousand steps. The TV Tower is accessible for visually impaired guests with guide dogs.

7. Time out in Berlin’s green spaces

Gardens of the world Berlin

The Gardens of the World in Marzahn are ideal for a special taste of countryside in the city. The spreading gardens here have been awarded the Accessible Berlin icon. The complex provides step-free access to the individual gardens as well as wheelchair accessible toilets. Wheelchair users even have free admission.

Any questions?

Then just drop by one of the Berlin Tourist Info Centres! visitBerlin promotes accessible tourism and is happy to advise you.

All Berlin Tourist Info Centres are Tourism for All certified

 

You can find the respective opening hours here.

 

Even more tips on how you can experience Berlin accessible: