Isherwood’s
Neighbourhood

Discover the origins of the Oscar-winning film on this walking tour exploring author Christopher Isherwood’s life in decadent 1920s Berlin.

Brendan gives a fantastic and vivid tour through Schöneberg and paints a vivid picture of the district using Isherwood’s beautiful prose. I’m a long time Berlin resident and learned quite a few things on the tour about Berlin in the 20s/30s. I highly recommend this for anyone interested in the Roaring/Golden 20s, lovers of Cabaret, first time visitors and long time residents alike.

About the tour

A circular walk through the Schöneberg of the late 1920s as seen by Christopher Isherwood. Visit the places he lived, socialised and documented in his Berlin Diaries of 1929 to 1933, the vibrance and edge of the Weimar Era. Accompanied by short readings from his works, see where Cabaret was born, genders were blurred and films caused riots.

The tour starts and finishes at Nollendorfplatz ubahn station (U1, U2, U3, U4). It lasts around eighty minutes. Expect to walk around one kilometre. The tour is in English. Price is 20€ per person with discounts for larger groups.

Tours are on Saturday mornings and other days by arrangement – please book.

You can pay with all major debit and credit cards, or in cash.

Yesterday history relented (not for long) as I returned to the glorious 1920s and took a walking tour about the cabaret scene of the Weimar Republic. Our guide, Brendan, was a fount of knowledge about bygone stars, full of expert stories of Christopher Isherwood, Stephen Spender and WH Auden, Marlene Dietrich and long-gone revue dancers – the Amy Winehouses of their day. If you’re coming to Berlin I’d definitely book the tour. It brought the streets alive!

How to book

An absolutely fascinating tour, which was thought provoking, moving and hilarious all at the same time. Brendan was a so passionate and knowledgeable about the subject, he just took you back and evoked the atmosphere brilliantly. No visit to Berlin would be complete without this, highlight of our weekend and we will be doing it again when we’re next over.

Want to know more about the period?

Visit CABARET BERLIN, which explores extraordinary world of Weimar-Era Berlin. Ever wondered what went on in the bars, clubs, cabarets, theatres and dancehalls of the German capital between 1919 and 1933? On CABARET BERLIN you can explore the amazing people, venues, places and songs that made this one of the most vibrant cities on earth.