Potsdam Royal Grandeur: Palaces & City Wonders Tour

Although this tour is a good value for the money, as the only non-German speakers on the trip, we were only given one headphone at the start of the tour which made it difficult to hear the recorded English version of the tour. The guide dismissed our request for another headphone set, likely accidentally. It wasn’t until 25% of the tour was over before we saw a tub of headsets near the guide and helped ourselves to a second set and were able to then understand the remainder of the tour. Stops were nice but if you want to go inside any of the three palaces, you will need to pay that fee yourself and that will be the end of your tour.

We were based in Berlin but was easy to get too using the very efficient German public train network. It's a huge place, so only got to visit inside one palace as so much to see in the time we had but a great day out. Well worth it, and a contrast to the sites/history of Berlin.

Description said this was a tour in English with a guide. Upon check in the associate informed us that the Guide would be conducting the tour in German but she spoke enough English to give us the basics and it would be supplemented by recorded narration on the bus headsets. The audio system apparently was not fully functional as well as the bus driver had to ask for a couple people in seats if they spoke German and move them so we could sit in those seats where the English language recording was available. As we pulled out, the recording began with a couple of paragraphs of introductory information about Potsdam. The audio then cut out and several blocks down the road restarted and replayed the opening information all over again. The audio started up again describing things that we should be able to see to our right to our left or in front of us and none of the things that were described were visible. The audio then cut out for a good 5 to 7 minutes with no descriptions at all. Meanwhile all the guide continue to speak in German live to the rest of the bus. At the first stop the Cecilia house where the Potsdam conference took place, the guide handed out a folder like we used in high school to put our term papers in. It had English language descriptions about the Cecilia house. She spoke mostly in German and then turned to us who are English speakers and recited some information in English however it was word for word as the script that was in the handout. The Cecilia house was closed for renovations not to reopen for 3 years. That information was not provided the description of the tour. We continue to the San Soucci Palace. The same protocol continued she spoke in German then spoken English word for word the items from the script. None of the souvenir shops were open and there was no time provided to actually go inside the palace. Then proceeded to the Niew Palace, which was also closed for renovations, however even if open we were only there for about 15 minutes. The same process she spoke in German at length and spoke briefly in English word for word taken from the script there was in the handout. I feel I could have taken some euros and just throw them in the river and just read about it in books. It's no way you should be advertising a tour to places that are closed for renovations without mentioning that is the case.

English speakers don’t get a very thorough understanding of the excursion. We had faulty earphones and the parts where we got of the bus had no audio tour guide.

It would have been better if I was not the only English speaking person on a tour bus full of Germans. Did not include any building entries. Deceptive because I was advertised tour in English when it was in German.

The tour was convenient in terms of logistics. However, despite booking an English tour, it was primarily conducted in German, with an English recording provided. While convenient, relying on a recording detracted somewhat from the experience and the guide's insights. I did appreciate that the guide took the time to offer additional explanations in English when we were off the bus. Overall, the tour was convenient but ultimately a bit lackluster due to the language issue.

The tour was good but is best suited for German speakers. There is a recorded audio track in Dutch, English, French Italian and Spanish during the bus parts of the tour. But when you get off the bus and walk around the palaces the guide only provides commentary in German and the other folks are left to read a booklet. It’s got some good information but is definitely less than it could be. Also there isn’t a lot of time at each palace. If you really want to spend time at Sans-souci, you should probably just skip the last stop at New Palace and stay to get the most of the main palace. The tour also gives the option to get off at Sans-souci at the end instead of taking the bus back to the train station

The tour is in a Hop On Hop Off bus (HOHO), which was not mentioned in the description. You need to go register at HOHO bus Information desk. The audio guide is often out of sync. Tour guide was great, but more interested in describing the tour in German. She'd speak may be 30% of time in English and rest in German. Felt a bit rushed at some places. The good point is you can take a break and catch regular HOHO bus to get back to train station. If possible, take the earliest tour as that will allow time to break from tour and visit palaces.

It was a good tour, but the bus left late (30 minutes late) and the tour guide spoke German most of the time. We felt like we missed important information because it is completely different to listen to an audio tour than a guide explaining and telling stories about a city. However, the tour guide was really nice and very friendly. We just she spoke more English in the bus.

This tour was on a hop on hop off bus with English audio. It is a German spoken tour only. We were given a booklet to read and tour on our own. We were refered to as the International guests...only 3. It was a misleading low cost tour. Would have preferred paying more for a better quality experience. It was disappointing as we looked forward to visiting Potsdam.