December 12, 2024
“Flying over Berlin” on Europe’s highest swing: the ultimate experience not to be missed!

“Flying over Berlin” on Europe’s highest swing: the ultimate experience not to be missed!

Berlin: Pascal Vent let out a nervous laugh as he looked down at the ground from Berlin’s newest tourist attraction, a swing atop a 40-story tower.

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Billed as Europe’s tallest swing, the contraption located atop a hotel next to Berlin’s famous TV tower is a new way to experience the city – with an added dose of adrenaline.

Once strapped into a harness, guests are propelled forward so that when they reach the highest point of the swing, there is nothing between them and the ground 120 meters (nearly 400 feet) below.

“After the first few swings, you get used to it and feel free,” says Vent, a media worker who wanted to try the swing for his 36th birthday.

“I came here to feel a little younger,” he said.

The swing, which costs about 20 euros ($22) to ride for five minutes, has attracted more than 100 visitors a day since it opened in June.

Victoria Voigt, a 34-year-old nursing assistant, discovered the attraction through social media.

“It’s a bit like flying,” she said.

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Billed as Europe’s tallest swing, the contraption located atop a hotel next to Berlin’s famous TV tower offers an unusual way to see the cityscape – with a bit of adrenaline thrown in.
Photo credit: AFP

Wendy Sorice, a 30-year-old hotel worker, described the experience as an “adrenaline rush” and said she could have happily done it for more than five minutes.

But her boyfriend wasn’t so enthusiastic: feeling dizzy, he stayed on the ground to film her.

“We wanted to create something simple and easy to access,” said Andi Hoefer, managing director of the company that installed the swing, which operates several attractions in Germany.

The company had previously offered base jumping from the top of the building, but it attracted only limited interest.

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The swing is a tourist attraction for those who do not suffer from vertigo.
Photo credit: AFP

The swing competes with the 368-metre TV tower, a famous symbol of the former East Germany, offering breathtaking views of Berlin.

“They have sloping windows, but we have a terrace and fresh air,” Hoefer says.

And the fact that the attraction breaks the record for the highest swing in Europe, previously held by a 100-metre swing in Amsterdam? “Pure coincidence,” he said.

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