Berlin Wall Map: 5 Stops Along the Line

Here is the route at a glance. Read the table first, then pick the stops you care about.

Step 1: Read the Berlin Wall map on the ground

The Berlin Wall map you need is already in the street, as a double row of cobblestones with iron plaques that read "Berliner Mauer 1961–1989". visitBerlin says the markers follow the Wall's course over 5.7 km in the city centre. They run from the East Side Gallery to Bernauer Strasse. Look down and you can follow the line. The line starts in the north at Bernauer Strasse, then runs south past the Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz and Checkpoint Charlie before it reaches the East Side Gallery in the east. It has gaps where houses were built over it.

The Wall is easiest to understand when you walk the line it left in the street.

The Wall started on 13 August 1961. In spring that year, thousands of people were leaving East Germany. Its leaders closed the border with concrete blocks and barbed wire. According to visitBerlin's Wall facts, the Wall around West Berlin was 156.4 km long. Only 43.7 km of that split the city itself. At least 136 people lost their lives at the Wall. It fell on 9 November 1989. That evening an East German official said at a press conference that a new travel rule applied "immediately, without delay". Crowds gathered at the crossings, and the guards at Bornholmer Strasse stopped checking papers under the pressure, according to visitBerlin.

Prefer to hear the story from a guide? A Berlin Wall tour follows the same line. Every stop below except the Mauermuseum is free to see on your own.

Step 2: Start at Bernauer Strasse for the full story

Bernauer Strasse is the best first stop, because the Berlin Wall Memorial sits here. The open-air exhibition is open every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., says the Berlin Wall Foundation. The Visitor Center and the Documentation Center open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Both are closed on Mondays. Admission is free, but guided tours and workshops have separate fees.

Take the S1, S2, S25 or S26 to Nordbahnhof, or the M10 tram to the same stop. The U8 stops at Bernauer Straße, and the U6 stops at Naturkundemuseum. From the Documentation Center you can go up the observation tower. The last ascent is at 5:45 p.m.

Escape methods are not listed here, because no official page we use gives a checked account of how people got out. What the sources do state is the toll: at least 136 people died at the Wall, most of them while trying to flee from East to West, says visitBerlin.

Pro Tip Start at Bernauer Strasse in the morning and end at the East Side Gallery, which never closes. If you run late, you still finish the line.

Step 3: See the Wall's arc at the Brandenburg Gate

The Wall ran in a half circle in front of the Brandenburg Gate. The Berlin Wall Foundation says a double row of cobblestones marks that arc on Platz des 18. März. An information post across from Hotel Adlon shows the memorial sites on a map, which is handy if you did not bring one.

After August 1961 the Gate stood in the border zone, and nobody could walk through it. The City of Berlin reports that it reopened on 22 December 1989 to the cheers of more than 100,000 people. Entry to the square is free. The nearest station is S+U Brandenburger Tor, with the S1, S2, S25, S26 and U5. For more on the Gate and the nearby Reichstag, read about Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag visits.

Step 4: Keep Potsdamer Platz short

Potsdamer Platz shows very little of the Wall today. visitBerlin lists two plaques of the Berlin Wall History Mile and an East German watchtower. New buildings currently hide the tower. The cobblestone line still crosses the area, so look for it in the pavement.

For a long piece of original Wall, go elsewhere. visitBerlin calls the East Side Gallery the longest preserved section of the Wall in the city centre, at 1.3 km. It also lists about 200 metres of original Wall at the Topography of Terror near Zimmerstrasse. A long section with the border strip is kept at Bernauer Strasse, but no source we use gives its length.

Use this stop to check the map, not to spend time. If you are short on hours, skip ahead to Checkpoint Charlie.

Key Takeaway The line is 5.7 km long, so choose your stops. Bernauer Strasse tells the story best, and the East Side Gallery gives you 1.3 km of painted Wall.

Step 5: Know what is real at Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie is a famous spot, but the buildings are replicas. The City of Berlin says the barracks, watchtower and barrier were rebuilt, and the site itself is free. It stands at the corner of Friedrichstrasse and Zimmerstrasse. The nearest station is U Kochstraße on the U6, about 200 metres away.

The crossing opened ten weeks after the GDR (East Germany) closed the border. Only Western Allied soldiers, diplomats and foreign visitors could use it, according to the Berlin Wall Foundation. Read more in the guide to Checkpoint Charlie and Cold War tours.

The Mauermuseum nearby is open every day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. An adult ticket costs €18.50, according to the museum's price list. Children up to 6 enter free. No other stop on this line charges admission.

Step 6: End at the East Side Gallery

The East Side Gallery is the world's longest open-air gallery, set on a piece of the original Wall. After the Wall fell, 118 artists from 21 countries painted 1.3 km of it, says the Berlin Wall Foundation. The gallery is free and open around the clock. It runs along Mühlenstrasse between Ostbahnhof and the Oberbaum Bridge.

The visitor information centre at Mühlenstraße 73 is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. From November the centre is closed on Fridays. It also closes from 24 December 2026 to 2 January 2027.

To get here from the Brandenburg Gate, bus 300 runs from the Philharmonie via Potsdamer Platz and the Gate to the East Side Gallery, according to BVG. Use it to skip the long stretch in the middle.

To cover the east end fast, the East Side Gallery and Cold War Segway tour takes 2.5 hours and costs from €85 per person. Firewheels Tour GmbH runs it, and it meets at Claire-Waldoff-Straße 6. It is not for children under 14, pregnant women, or people under 40 kg or over 120 kg.

Step 7: Decide whether to walk the Berlin Wall map alone or with a guide

You can do the whole Berlin Wall map on your own for free, and a guide is worth it only if you want the stories. A guide adds what the markers cannot say, such as who stood at each crossing and why. The walk itself is simple.

Your own cost is the transport. A single AB ticket costs €4 and lasts two hours, and a 24-hour AB ticket costs €11.20, per the City of Berlin. For more on tickets, see getting around Berlin. Tips-based walks also exist. The Sandemans free tour starts at the Starbucks by the Brandenburg Gate, ends at Checkpoint Charlie and lasts about two hours, according to Sandemans. You pay what you think it is worth.

The Best Travel Destinations' count of GetYourGuide listings for Berlin on 27 October 2026 found that 20 of 352 experiences name the Wall or the East Side Gallery in their title. All 20 offer free cancellation, and per-person prices run from €1.20 to €145, with a median of €27.50.

For a paid guide, three picks fit the Wall line, besides the Segway tour in Step 6:

• The Berlin Wall and Cold War walking tour from Original Berlin Walks takes 2 hours and costs from €20 per person. Reviewers rate it 4.8 from 15 reviews. The tour runs in English and German, and the guide confirms the meeting spot after you book.
• The Communist Berlin and Wall Memorial small group tour from Sandemans Tours is in English and takes 2 hours, with up to 25 people. It meets at the Starbucks at Pariser Platz 4A. It is listed from €1.20 per person and rated 4.7 from 132 reviews.
• The Berlin Wall open-top bus tour with a memorial stop from Big Bus Tours Berlin lasts 2 hours and costs from €28 per person. It starts at Alexanderstraße 3–5 and is rated 4.7 from 11 reviews. It does not include hop-on hop-off rides.

Before you book, check three things on the booking page. First, the meeting point: the Original Berlin Walks page does not list one, and the guide confirms it after you book. Second, group size: the walking tour takes up to 20 people, the small group up to 25 and the bus up to 50. Third, what is left out: tips on the two walks, plus food and drinks on the small group tour, and hotel pickup on the small group and bus tours. The small group tour includes a public transport ticket for short rides. The ratings come from the booking pages and rest on 11 to 132 reviews, so read the newest reviews yourself.

Walking the line is the wrong choice if you have under two hours or cannot walk far. In that case take the bus tour, or pick two stops and stay there. For a fuller list of options, see the guide to Berlin Wall tours.