Berlin 1-Hour Spree City Cruise with Multilingual Audio Guide

Friedrichstraße pier and the Spree in central Berlin

The cruise leaves from the pier on the Reichstagufer embankment next to Friedrichstraße station, one of the busiest transport hubs in Berlin and a two-minute walk from the Unter den Linden boulevard. The Spree is the river that made Berlin: the medieval twin towns of Berlin and Cölln grew on its banks, the royal palaces and museums were built along it, and during the division of the city it formed part of the border between East and West. From the water the city reads differently, because the river threads through the government district, the museum district and the old centre within a few kilometres.

Boarding is open seating, so arrive early if you want a window place or a seat on the open deck. Each passenger receives an audio guide device and headphones with the commentary in the language of their choice, and the Spree river cruise in Berlin then runs for about sixty minutes in a loop that ends back at the same pier.

The Reichstag and the Government Quarter

Minutes after leaving the pier the boat passes the Reichstag, the parliament building completed in 1894, burned in 1933, scarred in 1945 and reopened in 1999 with the glass dome that has become one of the symbols of reunified Berlin. On the river bank beside it rise the buildings of the Government Quarter built after the capital moved back from Bonn: the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus with its great circular window, the Paul-Löbe-Haus with its row of glazed committee halls and, behind them, the white cube of the Federal Chancellery. Together they form the ribbon of federal buildings that crosses the Spree twice, a deliberate symbol of a city stitched back together.

The audio guide explains each building as it passes, and this stretch is the best place on the cruise for photographs of the Reichstag dome, since the river gives the uninterrupted view that is impossible from the crowded square in front. The boat glides slowly here, allowing about ten minutes for the quarter.

Berlin Central Station and the House of World Cultures

Beyond the Government Quarter the river bends under the Moltke Bridge and past Berlin Central Station, the glass-and-steel station opened in 2006 that is the largest crossing station in Europe, with trains on five levels and a facade that fills the north bank. The boat continues west along the edge of the Tiergarten park to the House of World Cultures, the former congress hall of 1957 whose curved roof earned it the nickname of the pregnant oyster; it now hosts exhibitions and festivals, and the lawn in front is a popular riverside meeting place.

At the Luther Bridge the boat turns for the return journey, and this is the moment to look south across the park: the white facade of Bellevue Palace, the residence of the Federal President, stands at the water's edge, and above the trees rises the golden figure on the Victory Column, sixty-seven metres high. The Berlin boat tour from Friedrichstraße gives this view twice, on the way out and back.

Berlin Cathedral and Museum Island

Heading east again past the starting pier, the boat enters the most photographed stretch of the Spree. On the right bank rises Berlin Cathedral, the vast Protestant church completed in 1905 with a copper-green dome ninety-eight metres high and a riverside facade of columns and statues. Immediately behind it lies Museum Island, listed by UNESCO in 1999, where five museums built between 1830 and 1930 stand together: the Old Museum with its row of columns, the New Museum, the Old National Gallery, the Bode Museum on the island's northern tip with its dome over the water, and the Pergamon Museum, which is undergoing long-term renovation. The reconstructed Berlin Palace with its Humboldt Forum faces the cathedral across the Lustgarten.

Museum Island from the river is the view that most visitors remember, especially in the late afternoon when the sun lights the Bode Museum. The audio guide names each building and explains why Berlin built its treasury of art on an island; allow about ten minutes for this section.

Nikolaiviertel, the oldest quarter of Berlin

The eastern end of the loop passes Nikolaiviertel, the quarter around the twin spires of St Nicholas Church, the oldest church in Berlin, founded around 1230. The district was almost completely destroyed in the war and rebuilt in 1987 for the city's 750th anniversary as a compact old town of narrow lanes, gabled houses and riverside restaurants, which is why its medieval look is partly a careful reconstruction. From the water you see the church towers, the small bridges and the terraces where locals sit by the Spree in summer. Nearby stand the Red Town Hall, seat of the Berlin city government, and the television tower, the tallest structure in Germany.

The boat then turns and returns past the cathedral to the Friedrichstraße pier, completing the one-hour circuit. If you choose the alternative departure from Hackescher Markt, the same loop is run from the pier near Museum Island, with the identical commentary and landmarks.