Berlin Tourist Trap Tips by Kakapo2 Top 5 Page for this destination

Get your Photo taken at Checkpoint Charlie

I do not remember how much you had to pay for a photo with the Russian and American soldier at the booth at Checkpoint Charlie. Sure, I photographed them from the footpath when they were not looking at me and could not complain that I did not pay.

It seemed too strange to me to pose with those actors who were as real as the checkpoint booth which is a replica. I doubt that they would even speak the languages of the soldiers they are representing. It is just a big moneymaking machine.

Update October 2012 - More of this kind...

Who would have thought that these uniformed guys would multiply and become a nuisance? On my recent visit they ran around in front of Brandenburger Tor and posed with tourists like rockstars, holding the US American and German flags, and not even trying to stand as stiff as the original soldiers at Checkpoint Charlie. A man in bear outfit also tried to find customers to be photographed with. Up and down the promenade Unter den Linden pedalled drinking and screaming tourists on the new kind of hospitality bikes. It felt like a cheap amusement park which locals are starting to avoid. Me too.

Unique Suggestions: Photograph them as long as you want and do not pay. As long as they stand around on a public place on a public road they cannot force you to pay for taking a photo of the street, and if they stand in the middle of your photo it is not your mistake.

Fun Alternatives: You could rather ask them to hide behind the booth, so they do not disturb the composition of your photo LOL

The Stamp Man of Checkpoint Charlie

He is of the same kind of rip-off as the wannabe soldiers at Checkpoint Charlie. And nobody would care if he was not there.

In the ten minutes we spent in this area and checked the souvenirs in the surrounding shops nobody bothered to get his passport or whatever stamped by this stamp man in his American uniform, sitting behind a desk wrapped in the American flag.

Who would want a stamp that states that you were entering or leaving the American sector in 2007 or 2008, and even pay for it?

Unique Suggestions: You just do not need this!