Final-year school trip to Berlin and Hamburg: the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall, the Elbphilharmonie and the port of Hamburg (6 days)

Day 1: Departure from your school and arrival in Berlin

• Departure from your school early in the morning, at the agreed time, and daytime drive to Berlin (about 650 to 800 km, i.e. 7.5 to 9 hours excluding stops depending on the departure point).
• Our drivers drive for a maximum of 3 hours, then take a 30-minute break, day and night.
• Two drivers take turns at the wheel; lunch at your own expense at a motorway service area.
• Arrival in Berlin in the late afternoon and a first look at the Brandenburg Gate.
• Check-in at the accommodation for three nights, dinner and a quiet evening.

Day 2: Berlin of institutions and remembrance

• Visit to the glass dome of the Reichstag, seat of the Bundestag (free, on prior registration made by us).
• The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and its information centre (free admission).
• Lunch at your own expense, then a walk along Unter den Linden to Bebelplatz, site of the 1933 book burning, and Museum Island.
• Visit to the Topography of Terror, on the site of the former Gestapo headquarters (free admission).
• Dinner and supervised evening.

Day 3: The Wall and East Berlin

• The Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Straße, with its observation tower and a complete section of the border system (free admission).
• Checkpoint Charlie and visit to the Wall Museum (Mauermuseum – Haus am Checkpoint Charlie) (on request).
• Lunch at your own expense, then visit to the DDR Museum, devoted to everyday life in East Germany (on request).
• Walk along the East Side Gallery, the longest surviving stretch of the Wall, covered in murals.
• Dinner and last supervised evening in Berlin.

Day 4: From Berlin to Hamburg

• Rooms vacated after breakfast and drive to Hamburg (about 290 km, 3.5 hours).
• Lunch at your own expense on arrival, then a walk through the Speicherstadt, the UNESCO-listed district of red-brick warehouses on wooden piles, and HafenCity.
• Trip up to the Elbphilharmonie Plaza, a panoramic terrace 37 m above the port (free access with a ticket issued on site).
• A look at the City Hall and the banks of the Alster.
• Check-in at the accommodation for two nights, dinner and supervised evening.

Day 5: The port of Hamburg and Miniatur Wunderland

• One-hour harbour cruise from the Landungsbrücken, among container ships and shipyards (on request).
• Walk through the Old Elbe Tunnel, opened in 1911 (free for pedestrians), and a view of the port from the other bank.
• Lunch at your own expense near the Landungsbrücken.
• Visit to Miniatur Wunderland, the largest model railway in the world (on request).
• Dinner and last supervised evening.

Day 6: Return to Belgium

• Rooms vacated after breakfast and departure around 8 am.
• Daytime drive back to Belgium (about 500 to 650 km, 6.5 to 8 hours excluding stops), with regular stops.
• Lunch at your own expense on the way.
• Arrival at your school in the late afternoon or evening.