2019, 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall: in this anniversary year, Berlin's local government is splashing out on an extensive renovation program. The popular tourist route is to be renewed and made barrier-free.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
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Berlin Wall Trail: 10 must-see locations
Following the path of the former Berlin Wall, which divided the German capital for nearly 30 years, this trail offers a great opportunity for exploring Berlin and its history.
Image: Sabine Lubenow/DUMONTpicture alliance
Berlin Wall Trail
The Berlin Wall divided West and East Berlin for 28 years. Since German reunification in 1990, the city is finally whole again. Still, one of the best ways to explore the last traces of this Cold War past is to cycle or hike along the Berlin Wall Trail. The 160-kilometer tour is well signposted.
Berlin Wall Memorial
The tour can easily be started anywhere you want. An interesting place to begin is the Berlin Wall Memorial. Following the wall's former location on Bernauer Street, it shows how the border fortifications were set up and pays tribute to those who fled or died trying to escape East Berlin.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Gambarini
Cobblestone markings
These cobblestones will help you recognize where the Berlin Wall once stood. However, only certain parts of the former frontier are marked out in this way. When the wall came down on November 9, 1989, East and West Germans were eager to get rid of all traces of it.
Image: DW/E. Grenier
Brandenburg Gate
Following the Berlin Wall Trail toward the center of town, it will lead you to the government district, Spree River and the iconic Brandenburg Gate — which stood in a kind of no man's land when the city was still divided.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Checkpoint Charlie
Checkpoint Charlie remains the most famous former crossing point between East and West Berlin. Tourists now stop there to snap a picture, under a replica sign reading: "You are leaving the American sector."
Image: Britta Pedersen/ZB/dpa/picture alliance
Watchtower near Potsdamer Platz
More than 300 watchtowers used to overlook the Berlin Wall, allowing East German border guards to catch people trying to flee. Only a few were left standing, such as this concrete structure near Potsdamer Platz, now listed as a historical monument.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/W. Steinberg
East Side Gallery
Another classic attraction that can't be missed on the Berlin Wall Trail is the East Side Gallery. International artists painted an array of colorful murals on this 1.3-kilometer (0.8-mile) long stretch of the wall in 1990, making it one of the largest open-air galleries in the world. This depiction of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing is one of its most famous murals.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Glienicke Bridge
The route continues through the city proper until it reaches the suburbs and finally Potsdam's Glienicke Bridge, where spies used to be exchanged in Cold War times. In 1962, a KGB agent and an American pilot were swapped at this very place. The story served as inspiration for Stephen Spielberg's 2015 movie "Bridge of Spies."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Hirschberger
Hennigsdorf Watchtower Museum
Large parts of the route pass through forested areas surrounding the city. Right on the bank of the Havel River, this watchtower in Hennigsdorf, about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) northwest of Berlin, houses a small museum on the history of the frontier. It's free to visit.
Image: DW/M. Fürstenau
Pankow's cherry tree avenue
Returning to the city, you'll be greeted by a cherry tree avenue in Pankow, which is most spectacular toward the end of April, when the trees are in full bloom. The Japanese donated some 10,000 trees "to bring peace in the hearts of the people." They were planted in different sections of the former wall. This avenue is right by Bösebrücke, the first crossing to open on the day the wall came down.
Image: DW/E. Grenier
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If you want to enjoy nature while learning about history, the Berlin Wall Trail is for you. It runs along the route where the Wall used to surround West Berlin, and has developed into a popular tourist attraction. The 162.6-kilometer trail takes you past meadows and woodlands, and sometimes through the urban jungle – past Potsdamer Platz, the East Side Gallery and Checkpoint Charlie, for instance.
Along the way, info markers tell the stories of people who were shot dead by East German border guards while trying to flee communist East Germany between 1961 and 1989, as well as of those who escaped successfully. One of the highlights along the route is the Brandenburg Gate, from which some of the first pictures of the night of November 9, 1989, when the border opened, went around the world.
Tracing the division of Berlin
On November 9, 1989 the border separating East and West Berlin suddenly opened, and the Berlin Wall became history. DW traces the remnants of the wall that divided the city.
Image: Britta Pedersen/ZB/dpa/picture alliance
Brandenburg Gate
The Berlin Wall divided Berlin for 28 years, two months and 27 days, from August 1961 to November 1989. The Brandenburg Gate had long been the symbol of the division of Germany. Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, there was no passage here. That changed on December 22, 1989. Since then, Berliners have been able to walk unhindered through the landmark of their city again.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
East Side Gallery
The East Side Gallery on the River Spree in Friedrichshain is a 1.3-kilometer-long section of the so-called Hinterland Wall, which artists from all over the world painted in 1990. It was located in front of the death strip and a second wall. The area near the Oberbaumbrücke is a tourist attraction, but several wall elements have already been removed in the course of construction projects.
Image: DW/V. Esipov
Berlin Wall Memorial
Nowhere is the former "death strip" as vivid as it is here. An 80-meter-long segment of the Wall, including a guard tower, has been reconstructed. The authentic border fortification complex serves as a central reminder of the division of Germany. It pays homage to the victims who died or were killed at the Berlin Wall.
Image: DW/F. Wiechel-Kramüller
Traces of the route of the Wall
The Berlin Wall has disappeared almost everywhere in the city. East and West have now grown together. A strip of cobblestones in the city center marks where the Wall used to run.
Image: DW/F. Wiechel-Kramüller
Checkpoint Charlie
This border crossing is among the best-known sights in Berlin. Only foreigners and diplomats were allowed to pass through this checkpoint. In October 1961, shortly after the Wall was built, there was a standoff here as armed Soviet and American tanks stood face-to-face. The situation very nearly escalated.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Kastl
The Palace of Tears
It was a place of tearful farewells. Hundreds of people crossed this border post at Friedrichstrasse station when leaving East Germany for West Berlin. The former departure terminal now serves as a reminder of the forced separation of friends and families. Visitors can walk through an original cubicle where passports were checked and relive the border clearance procedure for themselves.
Image: ullstein - Mrotzkowski
Hohenschönhausen Memorial
This former Stasi prison has been a memorial to the victims of communist dictatorship since 1994. Visitors are informed about the detention conditions and interrogation methods in communist East Germany. Former inmates lead the guided tours.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/P. Zinken
The former listening station at Teufelsberg
After World War II, this area was used to deposit debris. Rubble from the war was collected to form the Teufelsberg, the highest elevation in West Berlin. During the Cold War, the US National Security Agency used the hill as a listening station. From here, military radio signals from the Warsaw Pact countries could be intercepted, monitored and jammed.
Image: Ullstein/Getty Images
Glienicke Bridge
You might imagine that the exchange of captured spies only took place on the silver screen, but this bridge between Berlin and Potsdam was actually the scene of three such operations. Steven Spielberg used this historic place as a setting in his feature film "Bridge of Spies."
Image: imago/Camera4
German Spy Museum
This interactive museum right near Potsdamer Platz takes visitors into the world of espionage. Special emphasis is placed on activities in Berlin during the Cold War. Among the more than 300 exhibits is an East German Trabant car with infrared cameras hidden in its doors.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
Berlin Wall Trail
The Berlin Wall Trail follows the path of the former division of the city and covers some 160 kilometers. The Japanese donated some 10,000 cherry trees "to bring peace in the hearts of the people." They were planted in different sections of the former Wall. This avenue is right by Bösebrücke, the first crossing to open on the day the Wall came down.
Image: DW/E. Grenier
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160 kilometres without barriers
Now Berlin's Senate, the body that governs the city-state, has decided to secure the Wall Trail for the future and renew it at a cost of at least 12.4 million euros ($14.3 million).
More than half the trail is in good condition. The Senate administration says several sections covering a total of eight kilometers urgently need to be renewed. In the medium to long term, deficiencies in the remaining 155 kilometers are also to be rectified. In addition, the trail is to be made barrier-free, so that it is accessible to wheelchair users and amateur athletes.
Bike along the Berlin Wall
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The anniversary year 2019
Building is set to begin in 2020 – too late for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Wall on November 9. Despite that, in addition to exhibitions, concerts and plays, there are plans to use the Wall Trail for events. They include an ultramarathon, on August 17 and 18, during which competitors are to run nearly the entire length of the trail within 30 hours.
In addition, the city's official promotional organization, visitBerlin, plans to integrate into its "About Berlin" app a new tour that will guide visitors to important stops along the Wall and its history.