Berlin Transportation

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In Berlin you have the U-Bahn & S-Bahn (metro), this is the metro system. The U-Bahn is the underground system and with a day ticket you can go everywhere, also valid for the city busses. The S-Bahn is an above ground train system for Berlin and suburbs.

Bus 100 will bring you to all main touristic and historical places. It is much cheaper than the tourist tour busses and brings you to the seem sights. It starts at Axelander Platz and ends at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche.

It rides the circle round all day long. You can get on the bus with you metro (U-bahn ticket).

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Berlin's public system is in fact very comfortable and frequent. Under regular circumstances there's no need for using vehicle. Pls check out or download BVG's map with all their routes and mobility helper indications (showing wheelchair-accessible lifts and ramps) provided. Also among
alancollins' Berlin page are great transportation tips, detailled & helpful all of'em!

The U.S. Embassy in Berlin offers a full range of services for American citizens in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Saxony, Thueringen, Hamburg, Bremen, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, and Mecklenburg.

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Berlin has an extensive network system of underground lines (U-Bahn), urban railway lines (S-Bahn), buses and tramways (Tram), allowing you to reach every location and sight in town in a safe and convenient way.

When arriving to Berlin we decided to purchase the Berlin Welcomecard. There are various types of that card, depends on how long you plan on staying. We purchased a card for 48 hrs for zones AB, the card costs 16.9 euro and is valid from the time it's stamped the firs time you take public transport (you only need to validate it once). With the card we got a booklet with all the places you can get discounts with the card and a map with all the main attractions. I think it was money well spent since Berlin is a very bis city and you can't see everything if you just walk and in our case we stayed there for a short time and wanted to see as much as possible.

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Berlin is too large to navigate entirely on foot so you will need to take public transport of some sort during your stay. It is very cycle-friendly, with designated cycle paths everywhere (watch out for them if on foot as they often seem to cross over pavements!), lots of bike hire shops and a city-wide hire scheme. But we chose to rely on the public transport network, which is excellent but a little confusing at first as there are two types of urban rail line (S-bahn and U-bahn), plus buses and trams. We used a bus to and from the airport (see my other transport tip) and on one occasion in the city centre, but otherwise relied on the S- and U-bahn.

So what is the difference? U-bahn is short-hand for Untergrundbahn, i.e. underground train. Confusingly perhaps these don’t run exclusively underground, but as in London tend to do so in the centre and surface further out. The lines are much shallower than in London however, and a short flight of steps will usually bring you down onto the platform. Many more stations than in London are also accessible by lift, and the free map available at the stations (or online – see below) indicates all of these.

The S-bahn trains run on lines that are above ground, and indeed usually above street level, so whereas you walk down for an U-bahn line, you walk up for an S-bahn. The two types intersect at a lot of stations – if changing from one to the other look for the large “S” or “U” signs.

Tickets are bought from machines on the platform (photo 2). Unless you are going some distance out of the city (maybe to Potsdam), you will need one for zones A and B only. When we were there in May 2011 a single ticket cost €2.30, and is valid for a journey lasting up to two hours, regardless of how many changes you make. But we found the day tickets, at €6.30, to be much better value – you only have to make three journeys in the day for this to be the case. Make sure you validate your ticket (photo 3) before boarding (unlike on the buses where you do so on board) – if an inspector finds that your ticket is not stamped, it is the same as if you had no ticket at all.

Trains are pretty frequent on all the lines, or so it seemed to us – the longest we waited was nine minutes but three to five was more normal, even at night. Our guidebook said that the U-bahn trains are more frequent than the S-bahn but I didn’t notice that this was the case. I was very impressed with the system and would be happy to travel on it alone, day or night, just as I do in London.

You can download a map of the S- and U-bahn network here: http://www.visitberlin.de/en/article/line-network

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We flew to Berlin Tegel from London Heathrow by British Airways, having got a good package deal on Lastminute.com. The flight in both directions was fine, with no greater problem than a 30 minute delay on the return leg. The flights lasted around an hour and a half, and light refreshments were served (a drink and a bag of crisps or biscuits).

Tegel is a small airport for such a major city, and is one of its two main airports; you might find yourself arriving at Schönefeld instead, which is also quite small. There are plans to open a new major airport to serve the city, Berlin Brandenburg International (BBI) as neither of the existing hubs (nor even-smaller Templhof) is really up to the job these days. An added issue with Tegel is that you are not even able to travel directly to the centre by train but must instead take one of several buses, depending on your eventual destination.

As we were staying in the eastern half of the city we decided that the TXL bus would be the best for us. If you’re not sure and haven’t researched in advance, there is a bus information desk in the airport – follow the bus signs to find it, and the best exit for the bus stops. You can’t buy tickets at the desk, so don’t waste time queuing if you know what bus you want; instead go straight to the machines outside. These are just regular city buses, so the fares are the same as everywhere in the city. A single ride to anywhere in the centre cost €2.30 (in May 2011) and is valid for up to two hours in zones A and B, so if like us you need to change to the U-bahn or S-bahn (more on these in my other transport tip), hang on to your ticket and don’t buy another one. If you know you’ll be doing several more journeys on the day of your arrival, check out the various multi-ride options too. And do make sure you validate your ticket once you get on board – insert it into the slot on one of the small machines, in the direction indicated, so that the date and time are stamped on to it.

We had just missed a bus, but only had to wait about eight minutes. Just the same, the bus was full, and as a regular bus was not really set up for carrying lots of luggage. Consequently the first part of the ride was rather uncomfortable as we had to wedge our bags into the space in front of the seat where our legs should have been! But this eased after a while and we were able to enjoy the second part of the ride, spotting some landmarks such as the Reichstag building and Brandenburg Gate on the way. We could have got off and changed for the S-bahn at the Hauptbahnhof (which was the route we took on our return) but instead did so at the Alexanderplatz, which was just two stops from our hotel near the Ostbahnhof. This is a major interchange and quite confusing when you’re unused to the system, but a helpful information desk and a good map soon saw us on our way!

The whole journey from airport to hotel took us about an hour, with the bus ride being about 45 minutes. If this all seems a bit too much hassle (although it really isn’t!), or you have loads of luggage and/or small children, you could consider the airport shuttle as a slightly cheaper alternative to taxis: http://www.visitberlin.de/en/article/book-your-airportshuttle-here-online.