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My Experiences with Trabi Safari World in Berlin

On the 17^th of May it was finally time. My next adventure would take me back to the 50’s when the former eastern German automaker VEB designed the Trabant. What was supposed to be a symbol for the engineering skills of East Berlin resulted in disaster. The Trabant had the reputation of being old, slow, loud en very uncomfortable! Just the way The Road Trip Guy likes it! For my experiences with Trabi Safari World on video you can also check Vlog 3 – Amsterdam to Berlin.

With a hard plastic body being mounted to a single piece of steel chassis, the 2- stroke Trabi was the perfect car to explore Berlin with.

Location & Introduction

Trabi Safari is located nearby Trabi World. Don’t confuse the two as Trabi World is the museum about the car whilst Trabi Safari (only 200 meters from the museum) is the site where you can make the reservations, do the intake and is also the departure of your Trabi adventure through the city.

After a short briefing by Instructor Marco it was time to select your Trabi. There is a large variety of different Trabi’s available and they would not call me The Road Trip Guy for a reason if I would not take the most obvious “I am a bloody tourist” model out there: The Trabi Zebra edition!

The car

If you are with family and friends it is possible to fit up to 4 people in each Trabi, but basically everybody gets his own car if wanted. That makes it extra cool and I was able to make a great Vlog about my Trabi tour. After a brief instruction on how to use the indicators and gearbox (located next to the steering wheel) it was time to start the engine.

After some shocking and mumbling the 500 cc two cylinder car was sort of ready to go…! It sounded like your best buddy being severely intoxicated on a party and being extremely loud and the next minute being passed out on the sofa. Oh boy, I was in for a wild ride!

The tour

I had booked the Trabi Compact edition and the duration of the tour is 1 hour and 15 minutes. We started in a convoy of 6 cars and headed first to the must-see Berlin Wall and straight after to the Brandenburg Gate. It was here that one of the Trabi broke down and we had to get it replaced but not after pushing it aside of the very busy streets.

Now don’t worry, the management of Trabi Safari are experts and in no time there was a replacement but these sort of unexpected turn of events is one of the things that makes a-safari-in-a-very-old-car- through-downtown-Berlin so exciting!

So much fun!

After about 45 minutes of driving we had to add some extra oil and do a refuel. It was great to see the instructor explain how the engines worked and why the car was so high in maintenance. During the whole tour each car had it’s own connection by Walkie-Talkie so the instructor was also our guide and would explain the history behind each landmark.

Of course it was very difficult to focus on all that information as I think everybody in the tour had such a great time driving these old-timers. Random people on the streets starting the wave shout and take pictures of you and your car is of course also exciting!

Price and final verdict..

For just € 50,- I can truly say that the Trabi Safari was a wonderful experience. As an old timer lover, there is nothing more exciting then driving an old piece of Easter Germany technology through a city where all kinds of people are happy to see you. If there was a small remark it might have been that the Trabi Museum was not included in the price. Maybe make it one ticket in the near future.