Potsdam
Quick Overview
Description
Time
Choose your start time.
Duration
6 hours
Meeting Point
The lobby of your hotel
Prices
6 hours
€559
Highlights
- Enjoy the ease of being picked up at your hotel and travelling with your personal guide to Potsdam – a world-famous UNESCO World Heritage City.
- Take in the splendid Sanssouci Palace, Frederick the Great’s favourite residence, which is set in beautiful grounds scattered with temples, churches and follies.
- Walk under the ornate triumphal arch of Potsdam’s Brandenburg Gate on your way to the graceful Friedenskirche (Church of Peace).
- Learn about the rise of Prussian military might under the “Soldier King” and his son Frederick the Great.
- Stroll around the small shops, galleries and cafés of the old Dutch Quarter, an ensemble of two-storey red-brick houses that is unique in Europe.
- Visit the UNESCO-listed Cecilienhof Palace, which hosted the historic Potsdam Conference in 1945.
- Cross Glienicke Bridge, a former border crossing between East and West, dubbed the “Bridge of Spies” for its use in the exchange of prisoners.
- Explore the “Forbidden City”, HQ of Soviet counterintelligence during the Cold War.
Your personal guide for the day will meet you in the lobby of your hotel and escort you to Potsdam, using Germany’s efficient public transport system. The train ride provides an ideal opportunity to discuss the city’s early years and the trials and tribulations of the House of Hohenzollern, a royal German dynasty.
Upon arrival in Potsdam, it quickly becomes clear why its palace complexes and landscape gardens were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1990. But not only is the city incredibly picturesque, with its many magnificent edifices, serene lakes, manicured gardens, statues and water fountains dotted over hundreds of green acres, it is also steeped in fascinating history.
Our unique tour will lead you through the picturesque Old Town, taking in the remarkable Dutch Quarter. Completed in 1742, this “Little Amsterdam” boasts charming cobbled streets and pretty red-brick buildings. Commissioned by the infamous “Soldier King”, Frederick William I (also renowned for the giant men he recruited for his showcase military regiments), these 134 terraced houses were built to accommodate Potsdam’s growing community of Dutch artisans.
During our in-depth tour, you will have the chance to admire Potsdam’s answer to the Brandenburg Gate on your way to Sanssouci Palace, often referred to as the “Versailles of Germany” and a masterpiece of rococo architecture. Built as a summer residence for Frederick the Great, the palace stands in 700-acre grounds that are a masterpiece of landscape design with their blend of man-made features, formal gardens and natural landscapes.
After crossing Glienicke Bridge, the “Bridge of Spies”, you will arrive at Cecilienhof. This palace built in the style of a country manor was originally intended as a residence for the last Crown Prince of the German Empire, but came to host the Potsdam Conference in 1945. Your expert guide will describe the talks held between the leaders of the UK, US and USSR – Churchill (and later Attlee), Truman and Stalin: these negotiations were to seal the fate of Cold War Europe for the subsequent half century. You will also get to walk around the “Forbidden City”, one of the most important Soviet intelligence sites in East Germany during the Cold War.
On the way back to Berlin, your Insider guide will happily point you in the direction of your next destination or advise you on how to maximise your time in Berlin.
Example Itinerary
The following list of sites is intended to give you an idea of what you can expect to see on this tour. Please note that our exact route may vary on the day, depending on circumstances and your hotel pick-up point.
- The Dutch Quarter, with its unique and appealing collection of Dutch-style houses
- Alter Markt and Potsdamer Stadtschloss – a spectacular square and a newly reconstructed city palace
- Friedenskirche – a picturesque church with an eye-catching tower standing in beautiful gardens.
- Sanssouci Palace – Frederick the Great’s opulent summer residence
- Neuer Garten and Marmorpalais (Marble Palace) – gorgeous sprawling gardens and some of the most attractive palaces Potsdam has to offer
- Chinese Teahouse – a delightful garden pavilion in the grounds of Sanssouci
- Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate Potsdam) – its two vastly different sides were designed by two different architects.
- Alexandrowka – a dazzling colony of wooden houses built in 1826 in a typical Russian style
- The “Forbidden City” – former HQ of the KGB and a no-go area for locals
- Schloss Cecilienhof (Cecilienhof Palace) – the last of the royal palaces to be built (1917) and the location of the 1945 Potsdam Conference
- The “Bridge of Spies” – site of spy swaps during the Cold War
Insider Reviews
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