Across the Iron Curtain

A Road Trip from Berlin to Bratislava

Over the course of 12 days, we will travel through some of the most interesting cities and landscapes of Central Europe. Places where mediaeval streets and Modernist high rises stand shoulder to shoulder – where the indelible marks of radical 20th century reforms appear as just another stratum in a thousand years of visible history.

We travel from checkpoint to checkpoint, along what was once referred to as the Iron Curtain. From the infamous Checkpoint Charlie, guarding the wall that bisected the divided city of Berlin, we eventually reach our destination of Bratislava – to tour the remains of the militarised border between former Czechoslovakia and the West.

In between, we will experience an abundance of Modernist architecture and monuments, historic cities like Gdansk and Krakow, and towering gothic castles; we will explore abandoned military bases, sample fine local cuisines, roam the deep pine forests, and get to know many of the people who call this region home.

Travelling through Germany, Poland and Slovakia, our route is as follows:

Berlin – Borne Sulinowo – Gdansk – Warsaw – Kraków – Banska Bystrica – Bratislava

Read on for more details, and a day-by-day breakdown of the itinerary.

Next Departure

3–15 October 2025

Price

£4000 (+ £400 single room supplement)

What We Will See

Day 1: Berlin
Arrival in Berlin. We will meet at our hotel near historic Alexanderplatz. We set out in the afternoon for warm-up drinks, and our first group meal.

 

 

Day 2: Berlin
In the morning, we will deep dive into the city’s history at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, an infamous crossing between East and West Berlin. Next, we will visit the Holocaust Memorial, a sombre but significant fixture of the city’s urban landscape.

In the afternoon, we will walk down East Berlin’s main promenade, Karl Marx Allee, taking in its Soviet-era architecture. We will visit the Computer Games Museum, an exhibition dedicated to early personal computers, electronics, and video games, with a distinct retro feel. Then we head to Treptower Park – to visit its impressive Soviet War Memorial.

 

 

Day 3: Berlin
In the morning, we will continue our exploration of Berlin, joined by a local expert.

In the afternoon, we will depart from Berlin towards the Polish border. After crossing, we head towards Borne Sulinowo, a former Soviet ‘secret city’ which was censored from maps, and served as a forward base for Soviet military forces.

 

 

Day 4: Borne Sulinowo
We will visit the town’s tank museum, and experience their unique collection of rusty Soviet war machines up close. Later in the day, we will drive deep into the forest, looking for the mysterious ‘Object 3002’ – the codename for a hidden Soviet missile base. Dug into a slope, hidden in the trees, we will explore the abandoned base and its multilevel underground complex.

In the evening, we will set off for Gdansk on the Baltic coast.

Day 5: Gdansk
Formerly known as Danzig, the city played a pivotal role at the outbreak of World War 2, as the pretext for the Nazi invasion of Poland. In the 1980s, its shipyards gave rise to the ‘Solidarity Movement.’ Led by Lech Walesa, this social/workers’ movement played an important role fostering social change in socialist Poland, paving the way for the country’s post-Soviet reform.

We will depart for Warsaw in the evening.

 

 

Day 6: Warsaw
We explore Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Heading out to explore on foot, we will familiarize with the city’s history and architecture. We will visit the location of the former Warsaw Ghetto, and learn about the events of the Warsaw Uprising during World War 2. Then we visit some of the capital’s most important Soviet-era monuments: including the Palace of Science and Culture, as well as its impressive Socialist Modernist train stations.

In the afternoon, we will depart for Krakow, with a stopover in Kielce to see the fabulous space-age bus station.

 

 

Day 7: Krakow
In Poland’s impressive mediaeval capital, we’ll explore the city centre, before heading out to Nowa Huta, Krakow’s model Stalinist neighbourhood. Here we’ll take an expert tour of the historic Lenin Steel Works administrative complex.

 

 

Day 8: Katowice
Today we will visit Katowice, one of Europe’s largest conurbations and home to Upper Silesia’s coal mining industry. We will explore the city centre’s monumental Socialist Modernist complex, including Spodek – once among the largest indoor sports arenas in Europe. We will also visit the Superjednostka, a huge high-rise apartment block, complemented by the impressive Silesian Uprising Monument and Katowice’s Brutalist train station.

A visit to nearby Auschwitz can also be accommodated in the itinerary. This sombre and educational experience is recommended if you haven’t been, though absolutely optional.

 

 

Day 9: Krakow
In the morning, we will visit Krakow’s Wieliczka Salt Mines, a 13th century underground complex of tunnels and chambers where the Kings of Poland extracted mineral salt. In the afternoon, we visit the Krakow Ghetto, as well as the Liban Quarry near the former site of Plaszow Concentration Camp – infamous locations you might recognise from Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List.

We will cross the border to Slovakia in the late afternoon.

 

 

Day 10: Banska Bystrica
This morning, we will be at the fairytale castle of Orava: the filming location for F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu. Later on, we arrive in Banska Bystrica, to visit its architecturally impressive Museum of the Slovak Uprising (complete with a collection of WW2 tanks, artillery pieces, and armoured railway cars), before settling down for an evening feast.

 

 

Day 11: Čachtice
In the morning, we will explore the curious Kupelny Dom, an Art Deco-tinged thermal spa complex. Then we will be on our way to Čachtice Castle, once home to the notorious Erszebet Bathory, the Hungarian countess sometimes described as history’s “most prolific serial killer”… though as we’ll discover, the truth may be somewhat more complicated.

 

 

Day 12: Bratislava
In the morning, we will embark on a tour of socialist Bratislava, driven in Cold War-era vehicles. We will make stops at the fabulous farmer’s market, various impressive socialist monuments, and many works of Socialist Modernist architecture. Finally we will make our way to the former Iron Curtain border between Czechoslovakia and Austria, located on the outskirts of Bratislava, where elements of the former boundary can still be seen.

 

 

Day 13: Departures
After our final group breakfast you can fly out from Bratislava – or if nearby Vienna is more convenient, we will help you to arrange the 1-hour train journey.

Where Will We Stay?

Accommodation varies from historic Socialist Modernist hotels, to rustic village inns, to well-appointed contemporary guest houses.

Where Will We Eat?

We will sample three closely related – but also very distinctive – Central to Eastern European cuisines: German, Polish and Slovak. From sauerkraut and dumplings, to bigosz and roasted meats, to potato pancakes and sheep cheese… With hearty beers on tap throughout.

All meals are included (breakfast, lunch and dinner) at venues that range from traditional national restaurants, to quirky pop-ups, to dive bars. There are couple of free evenings, where you will be invited to make your own meal arrangements.

Activity Level

The tour is somewhat demanding in terms of activity, and requires a certain level of fitness. Guests must be able to do 15.000 steps daily on average.

It will be chilly, and it may be rainy too. We will be exposed to the elements for certain portions of the tour. Please bring comfortable hiking shoes and raincoats or umbrellas.

Pricing

The price of the tour is £4000 / €4800 / $5000 per person, if sharing a twin room.

There is a supplement of £400 / €500 / $500 for single occupancy.

This price is based on a shared twin room throughout. For a single room, there is an additional supplemental charge as shown below.

This price includes:

• 12 nights of accommodation (including any city taxes)
• All transport – public or private – that we utilise as a group
• All entrance fees & tickets to places that we visit as a group
• All meals except two free evenings where you will be invited to make your own meal arrangements

This price does not include:

• Flights to Berlin, and homeward flights out of Bratislava or Vienna
• Airport transfers (though these can be arranged for a fee)
• Personal expenses such as snacks, drinks, transport, additional services, shopping, gifts, souvenirs, bail payments, etc.

Introducing Explorabilia

This tour is a collaboration between myself and Evan Panagopoulos of Explorabilia.

Evan has been in this business for longer than I have, and he offers his own similarly-minded trips in his native Greece, as well as Finland, and also leads Brutalist walking tours in London. He offers these tour experiences independently, as well as through the likes of Atlas Obscura, AirBnB, and others. There are few tour operators I’ve met who share such a similar approach to travel as myself.

After a highly successful departure of this new collaborative route in 2024, it has now been refined and improved for 2025.

Booking

All bookings for this trip are being handled by my co-host, Evan, at Explorabilia. You can read the Booking Terms and Conditions here, or reserve your place now using the buttons below.