How the Free Reichstag Registration Works

Admission is free — that part is simple and we are not going to pretend otherwise. The Bundestag’s Visitors’ Service says across three separate official pages that participation in its offers is free of charge.

Everything else about it is not simple. What follows is the full procedure, including the two parts most guides get wrong — and it is worth reading to the end before you decide it is the cheaper option, because the currency it actually costs you is certainty.

Step 1: the booking window is shorter than you have been told

Dome requests can be submitted only for the current month and the following month. That is it.

This single rule invalidates a great deal of advice. “Book three months ahead” is not cautious, it is impossible — the form will not accept the date. Guided tours run slightly longer, at the current month plus two, and requests for the following year open around the beginning or middle of November.

So the planning reality is the opposite of what people expect: you cannot secure this early, and you should not build a trip around assuming you will.

Step 2: online, fax or post — never by phone

The Bundestag accepts registrations by online form, by fax, or by post, and states plainly that telephone registration is not possible.

You supply, for every visitor: surname, first name and date of birth. No passport or ID number is collected at this stage.

One fax-number oddity worth knowing if you use that route: the Bundestag’s own pages give two different numbers — 030/227-36436 on the dome page, and 030/227-30027 on two others. Both are live official pages. We are not going to guess which is current.

Step 3: what you submit is a request, not a booking

This is the part that trips people up. In the Bundestag’s own words, you can only submit booking requests; your visit is not booked until a confirmation reaches you by email, fax or post.

There is no published turnaround time. And the service is candid about the odds: because demand is high and places limited, it cannot answer every request positively.

That combination — no stated response time, no guarantee of yes, and a two-month maximum horizon — is why the paid tours exist and why they sell. You are not buying access, which is free. You are buying the certainty that the thing happens on the day you put it in the diary.

If your dates are fixed, do not gamble them

Everything above is doable, and plenty of people do it. But read back over those four steps and notice what you are being asked to accept: a two-month horizon, a request that may be refused, no stated reply time, and a confirmation that can still be withdrawn without anyone telling you.

If you are in Berlin for three days with a list, that is a poor bet on one of them. A guided tour is the same building on a date you actually chose, with someone explaining it.

Step 4: bring the document itself

Everyone 16 and over must carry a valid official photo ID — national identity card or passport. Fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds should carry a photo document such as a school ID.

Two rules with no flexibility in them:

Copies are refused. The wording is explicit: photocopies and photographs of ID documents are not accepted. A picture of your passport on your phone will not get you in.

Passes are personal and non-transferable, and identity is checked twice — once when the pass is issued, and again at the central visitors’ entrance. You cannot pass a slot to a friend, and a name that does not match the document fails at the gate. The Bundestag does not publish a correction procedure, so book with the name exactly as it appears on the ID you will be carrying.

Same day: yes, and the office moved last month

The Visitors’ Service runs a branch office — the Serviceaußenstelle — which issues passes from remaining capacity up to two hours before the slot, and can also book the following two days. It does not take longer-term bookings.

On 14 August 2026 it moved to the centre of Platz der Republik, directly in front of the Reichstag building. Guides describing an older location are wrong, and approach from the north, along Paul-Löbe-Allee from the main station, is restricted by construction work.

Opening hours:

Berlin’s tourism board adds one piece of practical advice worth repeating: weekends are busy, so go midweek if you can choose.

Security: no cloakroom, and no exceptions

Screening is airport-style — bags, coats and belongings through an X-ray, and a metal detector at the entrance.

There is no storage of any kind. Large luggage is not permitted and, in the Bundestag’s own words, keeping it on site is not possible. No cloakroom, no lockers. This is the single most commonly wrong detail in third-party guides, and it is the one most likely to end your visit at the door if you have come straight from a station.

Prohibited items include weapons and dangerous objects — knives, certain tools, whistles, bottles, irritant sprays and laser pointers. There is also a conduct and dress rule: clothing or materials carrying racist, xenophobic, violence-glorifying, discriminatory, antisemitic or extremist content are banned.

What the free visit actually gives you

A self-guided walk. The Bundestag’s phrasing is that the dome visit always happens in Eigenregie — under your own steam — so the audio guide is your only commentary.

It is a good one, and it is free: twenty minutes, in twelve languages — German, English, French, Chinese, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian — collected on the roof terrace. There is an easy-language version, and a children’s version built around two cousins visiting their uncle, an MP for a fictional constituency, which explains how a law gets made as you climb.

Accessibility is taken seriously and documented: a 45-minute German audio guide for blind and severely sight-impaired visitors, with a wearable case of eleven tactile relief models; a video guide for deaf visitors with 24 films presented in sign language, triggered automatically as you pass points on the ramp, announced by the device vibrating. Wheelchairs are lent on request and there is a dedicated accessible entrance.

One honest caveat on the ramps: they are 230 metres each at a constant 8% gradient. That is within the accessible standard, and it is still a long push for anyone self-propelling, or with a pushchair.

Procedures here are from the Bundestag’s own published pages, checked 12 September 2026. The branch office moved in August 2026 and these details do change — confirm before travelling.