Berlin East Side 2.5-Hour Spree Cruise with Live Commentary

Mühlendamm Lock and the birthplace of Berlin

After passing Berlin Cathedral and the Humboldt Forum, the boat enters the Mühlendamm Lock, which raises or lowers it between the two levels of the Spree. This is where Berlin began: in the thirteenth century a mill dam here joined the twin trading towns of Berlin and Cölln on either bank, and the lock, rebuilt in its present form in 1942, still regulates the river. The passage through the lock chamber takes about ten minutes and is a highlight for children, who watch the water rise against the walls.

The commentary covers the medieval origins of the city, the old harbour that once stood here and the Nikolaiviertel on the bank with the twin spires of the oldest church in Berlin. For many travellers who ask what an Oberbaum Bridge cruise includes, the lock is the surprise, because it turns a sightseeing trip into a small piece of river engineering.

Ostbahnhof, Radialsystem and the river quarter of Friedrichshain

East of the lock the Spree widens and the banks change from palaces to the industrial riverfront of Friedrichshain. You pass Radialsystem V, a red-brick pumping station of 1881 that has been a centre for dance and music since 2006, then Ostbahnhof, the main station of East Berlin in the divided years, and the arena and media buildings that have risen on the former border strip since the 1990s. The commentary explains how this stretch of riverbank was part of the death strip and lay empty for decades.

This part of the route, about twenty minutes of cruising, shows the new Berlin as clearly as the old: offices, concert venues and apartment blocks along the water where watchtowers once stood. The sundeck gives the best view here, as the buildings are set back from the banks and the river is at its widest before the Oberbaum Bridge.

Oberbaum Bridge

The Oberbaum Bridge, completed in 1896, is the most photographed bridge in Berlin: a double-deck crossing in red brick with two towers like a medieval city gate, carrying the elevated U-Bahn above and road traffic below. From 1961 to 1989 it was a border crossing between Kreuzberg in the West and Friedrichshain in the East, open only to pedestrians, and it was restored after reunification with a new steel middle section. The boat passes beneath it, which is the view the postcards never show.

The East Side Gallery boat tour slows here so everyone can photograph the towers and the trains crossing above; allow a few minutes with the camera ready on both sides. Just beyond the bridge the river opens into the east harbour, and the painted stretch of the Wall begins on the northern bank.

East Side Gallery

The East Side Gallery is a 1.3-kilometre stretch of the Berlin Wall on Mühlenstraße that was painted in 1990, just after the border opened, by artists from around the world; it is the longest surviving section of the Wall and a protected monument. From the river you see the back of the Wall, the side that faced the death strip and the water, which was the East German border; the famous paintings are on the street side. The commentary explains how the gallery was created, restored in 2009 and partly cut for riverside building.

Seeing the Wall from the Spree makes clear why the river itself was the frontier: the water belonged to East Berlin right up to the Kreuzberg bank. Many visitors who have walked the gallery say this view from the boat completes it. The boat passes slowly along the whole length, about five minutes, before turning in the east harbour.

The east harbour, the floating pool and the Molecule Man

The east harbour was built in 1913 as the commercial port of Berlin, and its brick warehouses now hold music and media companies. The boat turns at Treptow, where a floating pool moored on the river is used for swimming in summer and covered in winter, and where the Molecule Man rises from the water: a 30-metre aluminium sculpture of three figures installed in 1999 at the point where the three districts of Treptow, Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain meet.

This is the furthest point of the cruise, about an hour from the pier, and the turning gives a wide view back towards the Oberbaum Bridge and the TV Tower on the skyline. From here the boat heads west along the same stretch, through the lock a second time and back into the historic centre.

The Government District and Bellevue Palace

On the return the boat passes Museum Island and Berlin Cathedral, slips under the Weidendammer Bridge with its iron Prussian eagles, and reaches Friedrichstraße with the Tränenpalast, the former border hall of the divided city. Then comes the Government District: the Reichstag with its glass dome, the ribbon of federal buildings that crosses the river to the Federal Chancellery and Berlin Central Station on the opposite bank. The boat continues through the Tiergarten park as far as Bellevue Palace, built in 1786 and since 1994 the official residence of the Federal President, before turning for the pier.

This is the stretch most people picture when they search for a Berlin river cruise with commentary, and the live guide fills it with stories of the parliament, the Chancellery and the park. The afternoon departure means the sun is behind you for the final photographs of the Reichstag and the cathedral.