What is the Berlin scavenger hunt?
The Berlin scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you walk through historic Berlin-Mitte, solve a riddle at each of 10 landmarks and unlock the stories behind them. It takes about 3 hours, with roughly 65 minutes of actual walking over 5.1 km, and you start whenever you like.
Highlights include Alexanderplatz, the Neptune Fountain, Berlin Cathedral, the Altes Museum on Museum Island, Gendarmenmarkt, the Goethe Monument in the Tiergarten, the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag. Berlin's centre is flat and its sights follow one another along the Spree and Unter den Linden, so seven centuries of history are easy to explore on foot.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 65 min · 5.1 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
How the hunt runs from Alexanderplatz to the Reichstag
One riddle per square
Each of the 10 stops sets a single riddle, and what you need to answer it is on the square itself: a clock face, an inscription, a group of figures on a bridge. The game rewards noticing things, not knowing them.
History once the lock opens
With the answer come the stories: the Dance of Death painted in St Mary's tower hall around 1484, a plague year, the Quadriga that Napoleon carted off to Paris in 1806 and that came back in 1814, the regiment of Gens d'armes whose stables gave Gendarmenmarkt its name. The same text is also spoken, so your eyes can stay on the building.
Flat going, 5.1 km
Google Maps takes you from stop to stop across 65 minutes of walking, east to west along the Spree and Unter den Linden. Mitte is flat the whole way, and no stretch between two stops is long enough to be a march.
Start when you want
There is no departure, so there is nothing to be late for. Break for coffee on Gendarmenmarkt, finish the last stops after dinner or on another day, and reshuffle the order in the app if you are coming in from the west.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who the Berlin hunt works for
A first day in Mitte
Alexanderplatz, Museum Island, Gendarmenmarkt, the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag sit on one 5.1 km line, which saves a day of working out which U-Bahn goes where. You end up with the centre in a single order you can remember.
Kids on the hunt
There is a lot to hunt for: the World Clock on Alexanderplatz, the four rivers around Neptune in his fountain, the eighteen columns across the front of the Altes Museum, and the four horses of the Quadriga above the Brandenburg Gate, with one adult playing alongside them.
A team event in the open
Up to 5 players per team, each with the game on their own phone, lets a department compete without a single meeting room. No venue, no catering slot, no fixed hour: the stops are public squares and pavements from beginning to end.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The route: Alexanderplatz, Museum Island, Gendarmenmarkt, Brandenburg Gate
10 stops · about 65 min walking · start: Alexanderplatz · finish: Reichstag Building
The hunt starts at Alexanderplatz and passes St Mary's Church and the Neptune Fountain before crossing the Spree to the Palace Bridge and Berlin Cathedral. Next door on the Lustgarten stands the Altes Museum, then you head south to Gendarmenmarkt and west to the Goethe Monument in the Tiergarten and the Brandenburg Gate, finishing at the Reichstag Building. Everything the riddles ask about is outdoors, on façades, columns and monuments, so the hunt comes without a single entry ticket, and the app hands you the stops in any order you want, with the first one wherever your hotel happens to be.
Open the route map ↗
1AlexanderplatzStart
The square is named after Tsar Alexander I of Russia, who visited Berlin in 1805, and it gave its title to Alfred Döblin's 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz. Its present look comes from the East German redesign of the 1960s, which added the World Clock in 1969 and the Television Tower nearby.
2St Mary's Church (Marienkirche)
St Mary's was first mentioned in 1292 and is the oldest parish church in Berlin still used for worship. In its tower hall is a Dance of Death mural more than 22 metres long, painted around 1484, the year of a plague, and the pulpit was made by Andreas Schlüter in 1703.
3Neptune Fountain
Reinhold Begas created this fountain in 1891: the sea god Neptune sits in the middle, surrounded by four women who stand for the rivers Rhine, Elbe, Oder and Vistula. It first stood on Schlossplatz in front of the Berlin Palace and was moved here, between St Mary's Church and the Red Town Hall, in 1969.
4Palace Bridge (Schlossbrücke)
Karl Friedrich Schinkel designed this bridge, built in 1821–1824, to link Unter den Linden with the royal palace. Its eight marble groups, added between 1847 and 1857, show Nike and Athena guiding young warriors, and in GDR times it was renamed Marx-Engels-Brücke until 1991.
5Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom)
Emperor Wilhelm II had the old cathedral pulled down in 1893, and Julius Raschdorff's new Protestant cathedral with its great dome was consecrated in 1905. Beneath it lies the Hohenzollern crypt with dozens of coffins of the Prussian royal family, and 270 steps lead up to the walkway around the dome.
Read the full story →
6Altes Museum
Karl Friedrich Schinkel's Old Museum, completed in 1830, was the first museum on Museum Island and one of the first purpose-built museum buildings in Europe. Its front of 18 Ionic columns faces the Lustgarten, and the huge granite bowl at the foot of the steps was commissioned by King Frederick William III in 1826.
7Gendarmenmarkt
The square takes its name from the Gens d'armes, a Prussian cuirassier regiment that kept its stables here until 1773. It is framed by the French and the German Church, both given matching domed towers by Carl von Gontard in 1785, with Schinkel's Konzerthaus of 1821 between them.
8Goethe Monument
This marble monument by the sculptor Fritz Schaper was unveiled in 1880 in the Tiergarten, a short walk from the Brandenburg Gate. Goethe stands on a tall pedestal, and around its base sit three allegorical figures representing lyric poetry, drama and science.
9Brandenburg Gate
Carl Gotthard Langhans built the gate in 1788–1791 for King Frederick William II, modelling it on the Propylaea of the Acropolis in Athens. Napoleon carried Johann Gottfried Schadow's Quadriga off to Paris in 1806, it returned in 1814, and during the division of Berlin the gate stood right by the Wall.
10Reichstag BuildingFinish
Paul Wallot's parliament building was completed in 1894, and the inscription Dem deutschen Volke, To the German People, was added in 1916. Gutted by fire in 1933 and badly damaged in 1945, it was rebuilt by Norman Foster with a glass dome, and the Bundestag has met here since 1999.
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Karin– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
das völlig freie Zeitlimit, hat super Spaß gemacht
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Lady– Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Ondanks dat ik al vaak in Berlijn ben geweest, heb ik me vanmiddag heel goed vermaakt met deze “speurtocht”. Aanrader voor iedereen en je komt ook nog genoeg leuke terrasjes en winkels tegen zodat je er echt een dagje uit van kan maken.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Victoria– United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Excellent way of exploring the cities sights, making it fun for children
Mexico-Jose –
Collected on GetYourGuide
El recorrido es bueno pero falta poner pistas más interesantes. Me pareció que las preguntas son un tanto infantiles , pero la idea es buena. Gracias
United States-Johnny –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Australia –
Collected on GetYourGuide
We found this little app to be a fun way to get a quick taste of Vienna. It is a lot of walking but you can go at your own pace. Good tidbits of information along the way. The riddles were fun and made you look at things carefully that you would normally ignore. A great activity for the price!
United States –
Collected on GetYourGuide
It was great to do at own pace. For the cost a fantastic value which let you tap into some history and a feel for major events that shaped the city.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Andrea– Hungary –
Collected on GetYourGuide
fun. helpful and interesting information in the stories, amusing puzzles.
Ricki– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Bertrand– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
très joli tour dans Porto, nous l’avons fait en arrivant ce qui nous a permis d’identifier ce que nous voulions visiter
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Wir haben eine Stadt näher kennengelernt, in der die Sehenswürdigkeiten nicht alle in unmittelbarer Nähe liegen. In die Fragestellung der Rätsel musste ich mich zunächst hineindenken. Es wäre hilfreich, wenn die Aufgabenstellung präziser beschrieben wäre. Sehr schön war die eigene Zeitgestaltung inkl. der Möglichkeit, früher auszusteigen und trotzdem alle Texte lesen zu können.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Es hat Riesen viel Spaß gemacht. Können wir nur empfehlen 😃
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Spain –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Podría ser con sonido las explicaciones, para niños que leen despacio ó no saben leer.