A day trip to Potsdam from Berlin

Morning: the palace slot

The slot decides the day, so book it first. A 10:00 slot means leaving central Berlin by about 08:30 on the S7, or a little later on a regional train; both need a Berlin ABC ticket. At Potsdam Hauptbahnhof take bus 695 or X15 to “Schloss Sanssouci”, drop the bag in the lockers at the Historic Windmill, and walk round to the Ehrenhof. Forty minutes inside, then the grave on the top terrace and the six vineyard terraces down to the Great Fountain. If you have the day ticket and the season allows, the Picture Gallery next door is another dry hour. By midday you are at the Green Gate on Luisenplatz.

Lunch and the old town

Luisenplatz has Potsdam’s own Brandenburg Gate, built in 1770 and older than Berlin’s, and behind it Brandenburger Straße, the pedestrian street where lunch happens. Walk east along it and you reach the Dutch Quarter: 134 red-brick houses built between 1733 and 1740 for Dutch craftsmen, now cafés and small shops. South of there is the Old Market with St. Nicholas Church, Schinkel’s 77 m dome, the rebuilt City Palace with its pink façade, now the state parliament, and the Museum Barberini if it rains. The city is compact; all of this is on foot.

Afternoon: the Cold War end of Potsdam

From the centre, a tram or bus north takes you past the Alexandrowka Russian colony, the wooden houses of 1826 and 1827, to the New Garden and Cecilienhof, the 1917 country house where the Potsdam Conference was held in July and August 1945. From there the Glienicke Bridge, where agents were exchanged in 1962, 1985 and 1986, is a short ride east, and the S7 back to Berlin stops at Wannsee just across the water. This is the half of the day most people leave out and then regret.

DIY or a tour

Doing it yourself is cheaper, flexible, and gives you the whole day. The costs are your time and the slot: if you have not booked one, a July afternoon at the Windmill counter can end without a palace. The tours solve that in different ways.

• The 4-hour coach tour from Kurfürstendamm 216 includes the palace ticket with fast-lane entry and the audio tour, about 1.5 hours of guided bus through Potsdam past the Dutch Quarter and Alexandrowka, about 45 minutes in the palace and 20 in the park, and the return. Live guide in English and German. Reviewers such as Jenna and Jason single out the commentary; see the review.
• The 6-hour walking tour from Generator Berlin Alexanderplatz goes by train with an English-speaking guide and walks the Glienicke Bridge, Cecilienhof from outside, the Marble Palace exterior, the Dutch Quarter and the park and terraces. No palace interior, and not suitable for wheelchair users. Jenny called her guide Miguel “a walking encyclopaedia”. Details on the walking tour review.
• The 3-hour City and Castles tour starts at Potsdam Hauptbahnhof, so you take the train yourself, then bus and walk through the old town, the Dutch Quarter, the Glienicke Bridge, Cecilienhof from outside, the terraces and the New Palace. Palace interior not included, optional on the day. The most-reviewed Potsdam tour on GetYourGuide, with 4,064 reviews.

The two Berlin departures are compared side by side on tours from Berlin. My rule: if the palace interior is the point, take the coach tour or go DIY with a booked slot; if Potsdam the city is the point, the walking tour or City and Castles.

Getting home

Potsdam Hauptbahnhof has the S7 and the regional trains; Wannsee, across the Glienicke Bridge, has the S7 as well. Walking from Sanssouci back to the Hauptbahnhof through the old town is about 2.5 km and 35 minutes, and it is the right walk for the end of the day. The transport options are on how to get there.

The version with the slot already in it

The coach tour from Kurfürstendamm includes the palace ticket, a live guide and the return to Berlin in 4 hours, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

Frequently asked questions