8th October 2018 update: I now have the official pictures of the bunker from Berliner Unterwelten e.V. and have added these at the end of this review.
Our Dark Worlds Bunker Tour in Berlin was part of our German Road trip (that page has links to all the hotels, restaurants and places visited).
The Berliner Unterwelten e.V. (Berlin Underworlds Association) was founded in 1997 – they research, discover and open forgotten underground spaces in Berlin. They run several tours of underground spaces – Tour 1 is called ‘Dark Worlds’.
None of the tours are bookable unless you are a group and send a request via the contact form on the website https://www.berliner-unterwelten.de/en/ – you need to arrive ahead of the tour and queue at the shop next to the south entrance of the Gesundbrunnen U-Bahn station.
The queue was quite long when we arrived and there were plenty of wasps around. We were lucky as I’d previously arranged with Berliner Unterwelten to collect tickets as I was planning to write this review. I really think they should set up an online booking system.
The tour group were led back into Gesundbrunnen station and down one flight of stairs to a green door. I was surprised that the entrance wasn’t deeper.
The tour guide spoke good English and advised that photography wasn’t allowed due to some copyright restrictions – there are dozens of artefacts in the bunker that are on loan on condition that they can’t be photographed. I’m going to contact Berliner Unterwelten and ask for some images that I can add to this review.
We entered through the door and down some stairs, still not that deep underground. Our guide explained that the bunker was used as a wartime bomb shelter, but a direct hit would have caused the roof to cave in.
We visited various rooms that had previously lain empty – Berliner Unterwelten had filled the rooms with various artifacts and display cabinets typical of the wartime period. It was really interesting, but I was also aware that the items had been assembled rather than be original contents of the bunker.
Everyone enjoyed the room painted with luminous paint – used to provide some light when the electricity failed. Our guide took a flash photo of a person on the tour then turned out the lights to show their outline in the luminous paint.
Another room had a mock up of the now defunct pneumatic post system, used from as early as 1870 to deliver post across Berlin. Our guide was able to send an illuminated tube whizzing around the pipes in the room and back.
90 minutes passed quickly and we soon outside again. We enjoyed this tour and next time I’m in Berlin, I’d like to try their other tours.
Dark Worlds Bunker Tour, Berliner Unterwelten
Brunnenstraße 105
13355 Berlin
Tours run all year (except Dec 22nd–26th, 2018 & Jan 1st, 2019): Wed – Sun at 11.00
April – October: additional tours Mon 3 p.m., Wed – Sun 1 p.m. + 3 p.m.
The tour schedule is subject to change.
Additional tours around national holidays are displayed in the calendar.
Duration: 90 min.
Admission: €12 (reduced €10)
https://www.berliner-unterwelten.de/en/guided-tours/public-tours/dark-worlds.html
BugAdvisor.com 