I did the Berlin Highlights and Iconic Sites tour with Ru in late September. Ru was a good mix of…read morekeeping things educational but used humor when appropriate. It's clear he loves his adopted hometown and was full of recommendations for things to explore on our own, and kept the tour moving at a good pace. There's so much to learn and Ru was honest that we were just scratching the surface, but I got a lot out of the tour.

It takes a great guide to make a great tour. I took two tours with Insider (Explore Berlin and…read moreThird Reich Berlin), and both were guided by Hannah. She is one of the best tour guides I've yet encountered and I've taken a hell of a lot of tours. She speaks very clearly (we're both native speakers of American English, so that helped as well), projects her voice well, and almost always speaks with clear intention. I never felt she was wasting our time with too much detail or circular talking; the pacing of the route and stops worked very well. She did a great job managing the group, making clear where we were going and where we should stand to see and hear everything while not blocking pedestrian traffic. She encouraged questions and made the experience interactive, which kept us fully engaged the whole time. At no point was I bored or wondering when the tour would end; in fact, I was surprised at the end of both tours that 3 hours had already flown by. Hannah did a great job of demonstrating the modern relevance of history and exploring the conflicting interests and biases of the people involved in historical events. A lot of this history is very heavy, particularly on the Third Reich tour, and she gave it all the gravity and respect it deserves. I highly recommend these tours, especially for history-lovers.