Who are we?
Vive Berlin is a cooperative that was founded by individuals with a wide range of backgrounds
(architects, historians, political scientists, artists and people from marketing and tourism) with the
aim to help visitors from around the globe discover the city of Berlin and its surroundings.
We pooled together our talents and knowledge to create the best products for our customers.

The foundation of Vive Berlin is our experience, our knowledge of the city. Not only have we
worked as tour guides in Berlin for years, we are Berliners! All in all we combine over a hundred
years of living in the city, each and everyone of us with his or her individual experiences
discovering this metropolis. It is this experience that enables us to give our customers unique
insights and information on our tours. We don't have any secret contracts with restaurants or
financial agreements with cultural institutions, we only recommend what we know and love
ourselves. At first glance this might seem less lucrative, but we believe, that long-term established
confidence of our customers and an excellent reputation are worth more than short-term profit.

Vive Berlin consists of people from a lot of different countries (Germany, Spain, Latin America,
USA) with diverse interests. Beside the mentioned degrees many of us have worked at different
projects related to history, music (from classical over electronic sound to rock and soul) and art
(writers, dancers, professional cabaret artists and clowns, two draughtswomen, a graphic artist, a
jewelery designer, musicians, cineasts and DJs). This diversity is our biggest capital and guarantees
our customers the typical flair of Berlin with a broad range of perspectives and impressions of this
great city during our tours.

Our history? How was Vive Berlin created?
Vive Berlin was born when a group of friends who worked at different tourist companies in Berlin
all got the bad impression that what was offered to the customers was often bad quality and the
support really inadequate. But inside the old structures there was no room for improvement. So it
was decided to do things differently.

We wanted to show more of the city than the usual spots, the normal tours. We wanted to bring
people to our own favorite areas, accompany them while they discovered the city like we had done
years ago. And we especially wanted to share our fascination and passion for this city which had
been the main reason why we all had become tour guides.
We wanted a Berlin business with people who loved their job and with coworkers who respected
each others individuality. This attitude of cooperation led to smile on our faces that greets our
customers when we they come to our starting point.

We are determined to constantly interact with the wishes and recommendations of our friends and
customers, the adaption to the demands of our clients who invest their time and confidence into our
company, because they know that we take their concerns seriously and make their problems our
own. This is the basic idea that stands behind Vive Berlin.

How does Vive Berlin work?
We have become entrepreneurs, because many customers from a lot of countries have demanded
our services again and again after they first got to know us. When the time had come to found a
company in which we could realize our own ideas we started to discuss about what kind of
company we wanted to create. In the end it was decided to take the legal status of a cooperative.
For our special combination of individuals and their creative freedom it was simply the most
efficient way to create a company. This type of business organization puts the participation and the
responsibility of all its members in the center of the company.

We pooled our capital, our experiences and our hopes and expectations, invested a lot of hard work
and could celebrate the every step on our way together.
A lot of people ask how it is possible that we also do personal tours and individually created walks
just with one or two people. The answer is simple: This is not just a simple job for us, it is our calling.
Out of this motivation we have created a way to pay everyone a fair share for his or her work, that
enables us to pay our guides independently from the number of people on their tour. We want to
avoid a situation in which a customer is denied simply because there are no other customers at the
moment. Of course the system is based on much people actually work and profitability. It regulates
the compensation between times of high demand and times of bad weather as well as between the
summer and the winter season.

And of course everyone who will get an almost private tour with our experienced guides for just a
small amount of money will most definitely recommend us to other people and will help us grow in the future.

So it is safe to say that Vive Berlin just doesn't consist of a couple persons, it is more than the sum
of its parts, a big group that also includes the people who come and discover the city with us.
This conviction was the starting point to actively spread our ideas of a fair company through our
friends, customers as well as the public medias in- and outside of Germany.
It may sound trivial, but a job where there is daily interaction with the customers and always a big
stream of feedback authenticity and a lot of experience leads to one end: happy customers, a lot of
electronic as well as written mail full of warm thanks for a great time spend in Berlin and a lot of
new people who come to our starting point, because they have been told: “If you go to Berlin, do a
tour with Vive Berlin!”

This praise is the highest reward we can get, because it motivates us every day and makes

us proudto be a part of Vive Berlin.