Berlin (Warnemunde), Germany

We are in Warnemunde from 7:30am-10pm on a Sunday. We are trying to decide what we should do. Is it worth taking the train into Berlin, or is it better to see a town closer to the port? We have never been to Germany before so any insight would be very helpful. I see a lot of posts about Rostock so I do know that is an option, however I also wonder if we are just better to go all the way into Berlin. I have heard however that it is a 3 hour train ride into Berlin.

"Worth" is a totally personal, subjective judgement only you can make. We enjoyed it. There are many threads here with people's opinions of making the trip.

That is something you will have to decide. Do you think you will ever return to Germany and can spend a week in Berlin? There is so much to see that it is not a trip I would try to do in a day. However, I have been there before and have spent 2 weeks in the Rostock area as well.

You have a port intensive cruise so would you like to have a chill out day and stay closer to "home" and enjoy the sights or a beach instead of the hectic day you will have if you go all the way to Berlin. Is there a way to do pre or post cruise days in Berlin by extending your vacation? A little research and planning will help you a lot, but you are the only one who can decide if it is worth it. :)

We lived in Berlin for 3 years, so we chose to visit Rostock and Warnemuende when we did our Baltic cruise. You can get a nice taste of Germany in those two towns. (FYI: The Stasi Museum in Rostock is fascinating!)

However, Berlin is such an iconic city that I am tempted to say you should do the day trip even though it will be a long day with a lot of train travel. (But traveling on trains is pretty relaxing in Germany.)

But, it does just come down to what kind of traveler you are and what your expectations are for your cruise.

I'm going to be on the Getaway in about a month and have chosen to do the Berlin tour. With SPB Tours it's $105 per person including the transfer and 6 hour tour. Going so far from the port made this option very attractive and doesn't seem to cost much more than taking the train into Berlin. It also eliminates (most of)the stress of getting lost in Berlin on this short visit. We too will be docked on a Sunday(October 8th) if that matters.

whatever will bewilder me

We are in Warnemunde from 7:30am-10pm on a Sunday. We are trying to decide what we should do. Is it worth taking the train into Berlin, or is it better to see a town closer to the port? We have never been to Germany before so any insight would be very helpful. I see a lot of posts about Rostock so I do know that is an option, however I also wonder if we are just better to go all the way into Berlin. I have heard however that it is a 3 hour train ride into Berlin.

If you have no plans of going back to Germany, I suggest you take the Berlin tour. Make it worth your port visit. The last time, we just stayed in Warnemunde. Walked around the shops and food stores near the port. Hang around for a bit and returned to the ship. Was not like having visited Germany.

Is Berlin worth visiting? Yes, of course.

Do I, personally, think it's worth going to Berlin from Warnemünde? No.

You are in port from 7.30 am to 10 pm.

If you look at the train schedule for the coming Sunday (3 September), there is a train from Warnemünde to Berlin main train station at 8.03 am which requires a change of trains in Rostock with only a 10 minute transfer time. You'd arrive in Berlin at 11.16 am IF your train is on time.

With a 10 pm departure, you would most likely have to be back on board at 9.30 pm. The last train you'd have to catch to get back from Berlin to Warnemünde has a 6.35 pm departure time, 11 minute transfer time in Rostock, and an arrival time in Warnemünde at 9.09 pm.

You get approximately 7 hrs in Berlin plus a 6 hrs train ride.

a) You might not make the 8 am train. The next train goes at 10 am and will get you to Berlin at 1.17 pm. Your 7 hrs in Berlin just became 5.

b) If you miss the train in Rostock on the way back, you will miss your ship. The earlier train back to Warnemünde leaves Berlin main station at 4.42 pm (arrival in Warnemünde at 7.54 pm). Reducing your 7 hrs in Berlin to 5 1/2.

c) In case you missed the 8 am train and wanted to be back in Warnemünde at 8 pm rather than at 9 pm, you'd have a grand total of 3 hrs in Berlin.

Can it be done? Yes. Have people done it? Yes. Would I do it? No.

However, for me visiting Berlin is not a "once in a lifetime" thing, as Berlin is a whooping 4 hr train ride away from where I am. If you want to do it, do a tour. Either through the cruise line or with a private tour agency / guide that picks you up at port, drives you to Berlin, shows you around and drives you back to the ship on time. Or risk it and have a back up plan (what is your next port? Could you easily fly there?). Otherwise stay in Warnemünde or go to Rostock, maybe to Wismar or Stralsund (which at least have hourly trains), you could go to Kühlungsborn. But you will of course not get the "major metropolitan area" experience but rather the "rural, touristy Germany" taste.

Our family of 4 just returned from a Baltic Cruise.

One of the highlights of our trip was the day we spent in Berlin. We booked a private tour with Jeremy Minsberg, the Berlin Expert. He had a driver meet us at the port in Rostock and we were in Berlin in 2 hours. Jeremy met us in the city and we spent more then 6 hours seeing the important sites and learning about pre and post war Berlin. He is personable and very knowledgeable about his adopted city. He will tailor the tour to the groups particular interests. I highly recommend him if you want to maximize your time in Berlin

We did our Baltic Tour in July. We were on Princess and used their train to get to Berlin because we wanted a guarantee if we were late getting back. If possible, I'd avoid that. It was a long hot train ride. Once we got to Berlin we had booked a Fat Tire Bike tour and it was one of the highlights of our trip! We didn't go into any of the buildings but we biked to all of them. Our tour guide was fantastic. We had lunch in a beer garden in the Tiergarten where we had biked through. The fat tire tour was supposed to start at 11 and 9 of us were 20 minutes late for it. They worked with us and were wonderful. If I had to do it again, I'd figure out transportation on my own to go in and do the bike tour. Great way to see things on a Sunday.

Our family of 4 just returned from a Baltic Cruise.

One of the highlights of our trip was the day we spent in Berlin. We booked a private tour with Jeremy Minsberg, the Berlin Expert. He had a driver meet us at the port in Rostock and we were in Berlin in 2 hours. Jeremy met us in the city and we spent more then 6 hours seeing the important sites and learning about pre and post war Berlin. He is personable and very knowledgeable about his adopted city. He will tailor the tour to the groups particular interests. I highly recommend him if you want to maximize your time in Berlin

2 hours....wow. That's fast even for the autobahn. I assume you were in a car. Just so people are warned, the trip by bus is a solid 3 hours, assuming no traffic issues.;)

I can also very highly recommend Jeremey Minsberg. Transport was by private car with 6 of us and the driver. We were in Berlin in 2 1/2 hours on the autobahn and spent an amazing day with Jeremey. He is knowledgeable, personable and was very attentive to all our needs. Yes it is a long day but it was one of the highlights of the Baltic trip. Dont miss it.

We also chose to spend the day in Warnemunde and Rostock, but not because of the long trip and short time in Berlin. I was stationed in German when I was in the AF and have been to Berlin several times. If not, we would have made the trip. In all my years on this board and talking to people who have made the trip to Berlin, I think I can count on one hand the people who said it wasn't worth it. Almost to a man, they all say it was well worth the time and trip.

When we were in London, we did a day trip to Paris. It was long and it was tiring, but we figured if we didn't do it, who knows if we ever will see Paris. And it was one of the highlites of our trip. I have been saying this for years now. If you think you want to see Berlin, and don't, for whatever reason, when you get home, will you be kicking yourself for not going?. If there is any doubt that you might never get back there, then go for it. Believe me, you won't regret it. yes, it will be a very long day and you will only get a little taste of Berlin, but you will have seen it and you will be seriously happy you did. Plus, like another poster said, for $105 with a great company, how can you go wrong.

Cheers

Len

We are in Warnemunde from 7:30am-10pm on a Sunday. We are trying to decide what we should do. Is it worth taking the train into Berlin, or is it better to see a town closer to the port? We have never been to Germany before so any insight would be very helpful. I see a lot of posts about Rostock so I do know that is an option, however I also wonder if we are just better to go all the way into Berlin. I have heard however that it is a 3 hour train ride into Berlin.

We just came back. We were on the Zuiderdam and we used Jeremy Minsberg from "The Berlin Experts". We went all the way to the Berlin. Took 2 hrs with a driver on the autobahn. We had a great time. Left Athens ship at 7 am back by 530

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I love the Autobahn..... lol! Was going to rent a car, and drive into Berlin but didn't think that my Mother would be able to handle our drive into Berlin. Last summer I was in Germany and I was going 140 km in the middle lane. Apparently the buses do have a speed limit, hence the variety in driving times.

Let me share my experience. Yours may differ based on personal preferences.

On a recent Baltic cruise, we were also apprehensive about the 3-hr drive to Berlin, and had planned tours in Warnemunde area. About a week prior to cruise, after reading many of the reviews and posts, we decided to "go for it" and booked the Berlin day.

We absolutely LOVED it.

Yes, long day, but very doable, and very memorable, and we don't regret one minute of it. We are so glad we did this rather than staying in Warnemunde area. Although I am sure that has nice options too.......

We used SPB (they were EXCELLENT!), but most of the major Baltic companies offer the same trip.

So, in my opinion, is Berlin "worth it" from Warnemunde even with a 3-hr travel time?

I vote YES.

Just my opinion.

We have just returned from a 20 day cruise that included a long day stop in Warnemunde. I had already put together a small group (12 people) to use Alla Tours in St Petersburg and they offered a discounted day trip to Berlin at $105/person. It would have been a big bus to Berlin (3 hours) and a smaller bus (up to 16 people) in Berlin for the actual tour.

I located a company "Private Berlin Tours" who offered us a pick up at the port and transfer to Berlin for just the 12 of us, picking up a local guide as we entered Berlin. The quote was for 1000 Euro total with a 50 Euro discount for paying in cash the day of the tour. This came out to approximately $134 USD per person.

We opted for the guarantee of a smaller group all day and we were extremely pleased with the service provided. There was no change of vehicles, no being lumped together with other tourists and no long wait at comfort stations waiting for 40+ people to all use the facilities at once.

Our guide, a native Berliner, was outstanding and the transportation service excellent. We returned to the ship weary after a long day, but very glad we made the effort to see modern day Berlin.

I'm reading that the ship's tours just take you by some of the sites, with photo ops through the bus windows only. Is that true? I'm assuming the photo ops are better with the private companies?

I'm reading that the ship's tours just take you by some of the sites, with photo ops through the bus windows only. Is that true? I'm assuming the photo ops are better with the private companies?

I can't speak to the tours offered by the ships but I can speak to one of the private companies. We booked with Alla Tours when our ship docked in Warnemunde. The tour of Berlin was an excellent driving tour with drive by photo ops and photo stops (as I recall, we stopped and spent about 15 minutes at each of the following: Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin Wall, Topography of Terror). There were a few more stops that I have since forgotten.

Also, I requested to be dropped at museum island while others had their lunch and, during that hour, we visited the fabulous Pergamon Museum.

Regardless of with whom you book, I feel that you will have a much better experience with a private company.

FWIW: Berlin is a destination city - one can easily spend several days there and not visit a tenth of the sights. However, you will get a good taste of Berlin on a Warnemunde port visit - you can return in the future for a longer visit.

Is anyone aware of a company in Warnemunde that does bike tours ? I found bike shops there but I don't believe they offer tours - only bike rentals. The web sites are in German with no option to translate to English so I will need to find a translator via Google but wanted to see if anyone had any experience with any of the bike rentals. Thanks.

Is anyone aware of a company in Warnemunde that does bike tours ? I found bike shops there but I don't believe they offer tours - only bike rentals. The web sites are in German with no option to translate to English so I will need to find a translator via Google but wanted to see if anyone had any experience with any of the bike rentals. Thanks.

not sure if there are guided tours but if you want to diy

https://www.komoot.com/guide/6110/cycling-around-warnemuende

You could email the tourist board & ask if they have any info

Is anyone aware of a company in Warnemunde that does bike tours ? I found bike shops there but I don't believe they offer tours - only bike rentals. The web sites are in German with no option to translate to English so I will need to find a translator via Google but wanted to see if anyone had any experience with any of the bike rentals. Thanks.

Yes, we rented bikes in Warnemuende when we were there a couple years ago. We rented from "Fahrradverleih Warnemuende" (translates as Warnemuende Bike Rentals"). They have two locations: 1) Alexandrinenstr. 117, which is about 2 blocks from the Tourist Information office and 2) Muhlenstr. 35, which is about a 6 minute walk from the Tourist Information office.

A regular touring bike rents for 10 euros per day and includes a helmet. (You may have to ask for a helmet--we did--because Germans aren't used to wearing them like Americans are.) Also, we had to have our passport to rent the bikes, so be sure to take yours. The staff speak English, so you won't have difficulty renting the bike once you get there.

According to the Fahrradverleih Warnemuende website, they also offer guided tours, but these may be in German--I don't know. In any event, I see no reason for a bike tour. You can use a map to get to the bike trail that hugs the coastline and takes you to Kuehlungsborn, a distance of about 15 miles. If you don't want to go that far, stop in Heiligendamm which is about 11 miles away. It's a very scenic ride and we had a FABULOUS few hours riding this trail.

https://www.fahrradverleih-warnemuende.de/

We are planning to do a more local tour with friends of Dave. The idea of a 4-6 round trip didn’t sound appealing, we figure we could go another time and have both been to belin in the past

Thank you very much on the information on the bike rentals. Both comments were very helpful... maybe we will be our own tour guide ! Thank you !!

Our cruise (9/24/18) starts in Warnemunde and will be staying in Berlin 3 days prior to the cruise. The plan is to rent a car in Berlin and drop it off at the cruise terminal. Has anyone else done this and is there anything to see or do on the way to Warnemunde that shouldn't be missed? Hopefully it is an easy drive that is well marked. Thanks

We had a great tour of the port region with Friends of Dave.