These gay, lesbian, and queer city tours are out there in Berlin!

The "Queer Berlin" city tour could be described as the mother of all queer city tours, as it is one of the largest, most popular and most comprehensive of its kind. From the "Golden Twenties" to the lockdown of recent years, the guides shed light on all aspects of Berlin's LGBTQI* scene. Narrative detours into nightlife are just as much a part of the tour as stories about queer pioneers and their trailblazers. The tour also sheds light on the diversity of queer subcultures. It starts at Hackescher Markt, lasts three and a half to four hours and takes place on the first Saturday of every month from April.

Queer Berlin History Walking Tour
Offered by Berlin Walks
Website of Berlin Walk’s Queer Berlin History Walking Tour

BerlinGuide.de offers city tours on Berlin's sexual history, Berlin's queer and trans history, Berlin's club culture and today's kinky Berlin. All tours include a wealth of queer elements. The sociologist, sex educator and queer activist Jeff Mannes not only inspires with his in-depth knowledge, great passion and almost 200 pictures, videos, audios and quotes, but also with a unique feature: with augmented reality from the "ZAUBAR" app, he brings history to life on these city tours. Through the camera of his iPad, Jeff Mannes shows his guests, for example, today's buildings as they looked in the 1920s. Mixies are a particular favourite: Augmented reality photos of the guests, for example with a sad Elon Musk who was turned away at the door to Berghain. The three to four-hour tours usually take place every weekend.

City Tours by BerlinGuide.de
Website of BerlinGuide.de

This tour focuses on the area of Schöneberg which is historically the centre of Berlin’s queer community. With its 2.5 hours, guide Tobias Schwabe goes into the details about the history of the district and includes many aspects of its’ nightlife. This tour can be booked almost daily from 2 participants up.

Out in Schöneberg
Offered by Sonderweg Berlin
Website of Sonderweg Berlin’s Out in Schöneberg Tour

For those of you who would rather take the bike than walk we also have a suitable tour for you in our list. The Gay Culture Tour takes you through the city by bike past some of the major landmarks and tells you stories of Berlin's queer history and LGBTQI* culture of today. The 3-hour tour can be booked almost daily with a minimum of 3 participants.

Berlin Gay Culture Bike Tour
Offered by Doggy Bag Tours
Website of Doggy Bag Tours’ Berlin Gay Culture Bike Tour

Die Gegend rund um den Nollendorfplatz in Schöneberg steckt voller interessanter queerer Geschichten. Was hat es zum Beispiel mit dem roten Winkel am U-Bahnhof Nollendorfplatz auf sich? Warum hatte das Lokal „Eldorado“ einst einen Ruf wie heute nur das „Berghain“, und wo befand es sich überhaupt? Wo treffen sich queere Menschen in Berlin heute auf einen Kaffee oder ein Bier? All diese Geschichten verrät Stadtführer Georg Maier auf seiner Tour „Berlin Highlights“. Die Details der Tour spricht Georg immer individuell mit seinen Gästen ab. Auch die Daten und Zeiten sind flexibel. (red)

Berlin Highlights" city tour
Offered by local gay guide
City tour on the website of local gay guide

Your trip to Berlin is just around the corner, but you already want to learn all about Berlin's queer neighbourhoods and their exciting history? No problem with the interactive Place2be.Berlin city tours! Experienced city guides use their voices to tell you why Berlin's queer city history is so unique and so exciting. Jeff Mannes takes you to Berlin in the 1920s. To wicked clubs where people partied as hard as they do today in Berghain, and where gays, lesbians and trans people met Nazis. And Katja Koblitz shows you why Schöneberg was the lesbian capital of the world. Because here, one lesbian bar followed the next. On all Place2be.Berlin city tours, you can jump freely from one stop to the next, repeat the tour or skip individual elements - whatever interests you personally. In addition to the audio material, you will find historical and current maps to help you find your way around, photos and short written summaries of the tours. Have a listen!

Place2be.Berlin city tours
On the Place2be.Berlin website
Website of the Place2be.Berlin city tours

Discover Berlin on the MS AUDREY, the only ship in the city operated by a drag queen! With Audrey Naline as your hostess, you will experience art, culture and pure queer joie de vivre. Enjoy exciting tours of the Spree with a glass of sparkling wine and a live explanation of the cityscape, comedy nights, floating pub quizzes and more. Whether it's sunny, hot or cold - you're always in good hands on board the MS AUDREY. Immerse yourself in colourful Berlin and experience the city in a very special way!

Ms Audrey: Berlin's drag queen shipping company on the Spree
Website of Ms Audrey

Homolulu Berlin is a queer bicycle city tour with the theme “Berlin invents homosexuality - queer history from 1850-1935”. By bicycle or scooter, tour guides or an app with audio contributions lead to historical places in Berlin and report on homosexual history in the capital. For example, about the world’s first public outing, the first gay activist group, the first gay and lesbian magazine, the first gender reassignment surgery and the world’s first sexology institute. For the audio tour, all you need to do is download the “Smart Guide” from the app store, select “Berlin” as the city, search “Homolulu.” Dates for the guided tour can be found on Instagram or the website. Both tours start at Unter den Linden 4, take about two and a half to three hours, and end in Schöneberg on Motzstrasse.

LGBTIQ* Tour by Homolulu Berlin
Website of Homolulu

And this is how you get there: The Queer City Pass gives you a ticket for public transport - and on top of that a great discount with lots of partner companies!

Subscribe to Place2be.Berlin's Instagram channel for the latest info and impressions from Berlin!

The Place2be.Berlin city map shows you interesting queer locations all over Berlin.

You can find a complete overview of all events for every single da on the event pages of SIEGESSÄULE, Berlin's famous queer city magazine.

Words: Frank Schröder, red