Berlin

For other places with the same name, see Berlin (disambiguation).

Berlin is a huge city with several district articles containing sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listings — have a look at each of them.

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and one of the 16 states (Länder) of the Federal Republic of Germany. Berlin is the largest city in Germany and has a population of 4.5 million within its metropolitan area and 3.5 million from over 190 countries within the city limits.

Berlin is best known for its historical associations as the German capital, internationalism and tolerance, lively nightlife, its many cafés, clubs, and bars, street art, and numerous museums, palaces, and other sites of historic interest. Berlin's architecture is quite varied. Although badly damaged in the final years of World War II and broken apart during the Cold War, Berlin has reconstructed itself greatly, especially with the reunification push after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

It is now possible to see representatives of many different historic periods in a short time within the city centre, from a few surviving medieval buildings near Alexanderplatz, to the ultra modern glass and steel structures at Potsdamer Platz. Because of its tumultuous history, Berlin remains a city with many distinctive neighbourhoods.

Mitte (Mitte) The historical center of Berlin, the nucleus of the former East Berlin, and the emerging city center. Cafes, restaurants, museums, galleries and clubs are abundant throughout the district, along with many sites of historic interest.

City West (Charlottenburg, Wilmersdorf, Schöneberg, Tiergarten, Moabit) Ku'Damm (short for Kurfürstendamm) is, along with Tauentzienstraße, one of the main shopping streets in former West Berlin, especially for luxury goods. Many great restaurants and hotels are here and also on the side roads. The district also contains the Charlottenburg Palace, Kulturforum, Tiergarten and the Olympic Stadium. Schöneberg is generally a cozy area for aging hippies, young families and LGBT people.

East Central (Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg)
Associated with the left wing youth culture, artists and Turkish immigrants, this district is somewhat noisier than most, packed with lots of cafes, bars, clubs and trendy shops, but also with some museums in Kreuzberg near the border to Mitte. These districts are undergoing gentrification as they are popular with students, artists and media professionals alike.

North (Spandau, Tegel, Reinickendorf, Pankow, Weißensee, Gesundbrunnen, Wedding)
Spandau and Reinickendorf are beautiful old towns which feel much more spacious than the inner city. Pankow was once synonymous with the East German government, and the villas the SED leaders inhabited still exist.

East (Lichtenberg, Hohenschönhausen, Marzahn, Hellersdorf)
The museum at the site of the 1945 surrender to the Soviet army is of interest, as well as the former Stasi prison, an essential visit for anyone interested in East German history. Marzahn-Hellersdorf has a not entirely deserved reputation for being a vast collection of dull high-rise apartment blocks, as it contains the "Gardens of the World", a large park where various ethnic styles of garden design are explored.

South (Steglitz, Zehlendorf, Tempelhof, Neukölln, Treptow, Köpenick)
South is a mixed bag of different boroughs. Zehlendorf is one of the greenest and wealthiest districts in Berlin, while Neukölln is one of the poorest of the city. Köpenick's swaths of forest around Berlin's largest lake, Müggelsee and the nice old town of Köpenick itself beg to be discovered on bikes and using the S-Bahn.

History

The foundation of Berlin was very multicultural. The surrounding area was populated by Germanic Swabian and Burgundian tribes, as well as Slavic Wends in pre-Christian times, and the Wends have stuck around. Their modern descendants are the Sorbian Slavic-language minority who live in villages southeast of Berlin near the Spree River.

In the beginning of the 13th century, two towns (Berlin and Cölln) developed on each side of the river Spree (today the Nikolaiviertel and the quarter next to it beyond the river). As the population grew, the towns merged and Berlin became a centre for commerce and agriculture. This area stayed small (about 10,000 inhabitants) up to the late 17th century, because of the 30 years' war in the beginning of the 17th century, which led to death of about half of the population.

Since the late 17th century, when large numbers of French Huguenots fled religious persecution, Berlin has welcomed religious, economic and other asylum seekers. In 1701 Berlin became the capital of Prussia and in 1710 Berlin and surrounding former autonomous cities were merged to a bigger Berlin.

In 1871 Berlin became the capital of the new founded German Reich and a few years later, it became a city with more than one million inhabitants because of the immensely growing industry.

Shortly after the first World War, in 1920, the last of the annexations of surrounding cities of Berlin led to the foundation of the Berlin as we know it now. After the coming into power of the National Socialists ("Nazis"), Berlin became the capital of the so called Third Reich and the domicile and office of Hitler (although the triumph of Hitler and his henchmen started in the south of Germany).
WW II led to destruction of most of central Berlin, thus many of the buildings which we see nowadays are reconstructed or planned and built after the war, which led to a very fragmented cityscape in most parts of the inner town. Berlin was divided into four sectors (West Berlin into the French, American and British sector, East Berlin belonged to the USSR). In 1949 the German Democratic Republic ("East Germany") was founded with East Berlin as its capital. West Berlin remained occupied by the western Allies and kept a close relationship with West Germany (with Bonn as the capital) and was an exclave (political island) in East Germany. Because of the growing tensions between West Germany and the GDR, the GDR built a militarized and increasingly impassable border between the states, and then in 1961 surrounded West Berlin with a wall.

In late 1989 East German citizens began rebelling in increasing numbers; this led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1990 West Germany and East Germany were united. Berlin became once again the capital of Germany.
After WW2 and the building of the wall, large numbers of immigrants from Turkey were invited to West Berlin to work in the growing industry sector; in East Berlin the jobs were done mostly by Vietnamese immigrants. But also people from other communist countries, including the former Yugoslavia, not to mention Soviet soldiers who refused to return home, have helped to make Berlin more multicultural than ever.
Berlin is also a youth-oriented city. Before German unification, West Berliners were exempt from the West German civil/military service requirement. Social activists, pacifists and anarchists of all moved to Berlin for that reason alone. Musicians and artists were given state subsidies. It was easy to stay out all night thanks to liberal bar licensing laws, and staying at university for years without ever getting a degree was a great way to kill time. In contrast with most of Germany, Prenzlauer Berg is said to have the highest per-capita birth rate in Europe (in fact it just seems so because of the high percentage of young women in the district).

After the fall of the wall, Berlin - especially the former East - has evolved into a cultural hub. Artists and other creative souls flocked to the city in swarms after reunification, primarily due to the extremely low cost of living in the East. Despite the increased prices and gentrification as a result, Berlin has become a centre for art, design, multimedia, electronic music, and fashion among other things. The particularly high number of students and young people in the city has only helped this cause. Just stroll down a street in Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain, or Mitte to get a glimpse of the new East Berlin.

Some famous artists of the region and their best-known works include Lucas Cranach the Elder, Lucas Cranach the Younger, Johann Gottfried Schadow, Marlene Dietrich (The Blue Angel), Leni Riefenstahl (Triumph of the Will), Bertolt Brecht (Threepenny Opera), Käthe Kollwitz, Kurt Tucholsky, Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Walter Gropius, Paul Klee, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (Nosferatu), Fritz Lang (Metropolis), Volker Schlöndorff, Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire (German: Der Himmel über Berlin)), Blixa Bargeld/Einstürzende Neubauten, Christopher Isherwood, Gunter Grass (The Tin Drum), members of the Bauhaus architectural movement and many more.

People

Berlin is a relatively young city by European standards, dating to the thirteenth century, and it has always had a reputation as a place filled with people from elsewhere. It may seem tough to find someone born and raised here! This is part of Berlin's charm: it never gets stuck in a rut.

A certain uneasy détente still exists between some former residents of East and West Berlin (and Germany). Wessi evolved as a derogatory nickname for a West German; its corollary is Ossi. The implication here is that after reunification, the West Germans automatically assumed the way they do things is the right way, and the way the Easterners should start doing it, too. Westerners got a reputation for being arrogant. They saw the Easterners as stubborn Communist holdouts interested only in a handout from the "rich West." Consider a shirt for sale in a shop inside the Alexanderplatz Deutsche Bahn station: Gott, schütze mich vor Sturm und Wind/und Wessies die im Osten sind ("God, protect me from the storm and wind, and Wessies who are in the East"). Another such stereotype is reflected by the short poem: Der Ossi ist schlau und stellt sich dumm, beim Wessi ist es andersrum ("The Ossi is sly and pretends to be simple-minded, and with the Wessi, it's the other way around"). However, most of the younger generation do not share such prejudices.

Talk

German is of course the main language in Berlin but you can easily find information in English and sometimes in French. Due to the football World Cup in 2006 all public transportation staff got language training and should be able to help you in English (although probably with a strong German accent). If you seem to be lost or hesitating in a public transport station a member of staff could come to your assistance but don't count on that. You can easily approach a group of (preferably young) bystanders and ask for advice in English.

Most people under 40 in Berlin are able to speak English with varying degrees of fluency, but it might not be as widely spoken as you might expect, so a few key German phrases are worth having, especially in the suburbs and less touristy places. Basic French and Russian is partly spoken because French in West Berlin and Russian in East Berlin were taught in schools.

There are also 400,000 people of Turkish origin living in Berlin - mainly in the Kreuzberg, Wedding and Neukölln districts. Many of them arrived in the early 1960s from remote villages in Anatolia as guest workers but stayed on.

There are some words in Berlin that differ from regular German, especially in the former East Berlin. Here, the language preserved a certain level of dialect.

Economy

One of the most important "products" produced in Berlin by both academic and company-sponsored institutes is research. That research is exported around the world. German labour is highly efficient but comes at high cost. Strong trade unions, the end of West Berlin's pre-reunification subsidies and Germany's dense regulatory environment forced industry to concentrate on high quality and expensive products.

Museums

Berlin has a vast array of museums. Most museums charge admission for people 18 years of age or older - usually €6 to €10 for the big museums. Discounts (usually 50%) are available for students and disabled people with identification. Children under 18 years free. A nice offer for museum addicts is the three day pass Museum Pass  for €24 which grants entrance to all the normal exhibitions of the approximately 55 state-run museums and public foundations. Most museums are closed on Mondays; notable exceptions include the Neues Museum and the Deutsches Historisches Museum, which are open daily. Museumsportal Berlin, a collective web initiative, offers easy access to information on all museums, memorials, castles and collections and on current and upcoming exhibitions.

A short list of important museums (for a more detailed list check the district articles) are:

• Museumsinsel . Literally "Museum Island", this area is best known for the vastPergamon-Museum, which houses an extensive collection of ancient Greek, ancient Middle-Eastern and Islamic art and architecture (€13 just for the museum in December 2011), Photography is allowed but be careful of what you lean or rest on, the staff is fussy!

Other museums which belong to the Museum Island are the Altes Museum (with the Egyptian and the antique collection), the Alte Nationalgalerie(with mainly German paintings of the 19th century) and the reopened Bode-Museum with its fantastically presented sculpture collection and Byzantine art. The recently reopened Neues Museum houses the Egyptian collection, Neanderthal and other prehistoric archaeological finds, and some of the treasures unearthed at Troy. This is the only museum on Museums Insel that requires a timed entry ticket. It's best to get a timed ticket online ahead of time as time slots fill up quickly.

• Kulturforum located close to Potsdamer Platz is another cluster of cultural buildings, museums among them. Some of them areGemäldegalerie [23] - thousands of European paintings from the 13th to the 18th century, works from Dürer, Raffael, Tizian, Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Rubens; Neue Nationalgalerie, designed by Mies van der Rohe, with art from the 20th Century (there are also temporary exhibitions during which the permanent collection is usually not on display) and Musikinstrumenten-Museum a part of the Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung PK that has an amazingly wide range of historic and unusual instruments on display.

• Museen Charlottenburg – Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace, Belvedere with Porcelain Manufactory (KPM), Mausoleum, New Pavilion), Museum Berggruen, Bröhan Museum, Museum Scharf-Gerstenberg

• Museen Dahlem – in the district of Dahlem three museums are located: Museum of European Cultures  - the biggest of its sort in Europe. Ethnologisches Museum  - again one of the world's most comprehensive museums (Well worth a visit for its splendid collection of Pre-Columbian archeology!). Museum of Asian Art.

• Deutsches Historisches Museum in the Zeughaus, Mitte, Unter den Linden 2,. German historical museum covering everything from prehistory right up to the present day. One can spend many, many hours here!

• Museum für Naturkunde, Mitte, Invalidenstraße 43,. Near the main railway station. Natural science museum with a big collection of dinosaur skeletons, fossils and minerals. Reopened after restoration in late 2007.

• Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Moabit, Invalidenstraße 50-51, Museum for Contemporary Art located in former train station. Big halls filled with artworks made since 1960s.

• Jüdisches Museum, Kreuzberg, Lindenstraße 9-14,. Jewish Museum. Learn about the history of Jews in Germany. Permanent exhibition on two millennia of German-Jewish history, changing exhibitions and impressive modern architecture by Daniel Libeskind. There is also a small unrelated Jewish Museum at the Oranienburger Straße Synagogue.

• Berlinische Galerie, Kreuzberg, Alte Jakobstraße 124-128, is the city museum for modern art, architecture, and design. The museum is just around the corner from the Jewish Museum.

• Technikmuseum  Few branches, most interesting at Trebbiner Straße 9 (Kreuzberg), about midway between Gleisdreieck and Möckernbrücke U-Bahn stations. Steam trains & engines, aircraft & flight, ships & sailing, and much more.

• Berlin Wall Memorial (Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer), Gesundbrunnen/Mitte, Visitor Center: Bernauer Straße 119, Documentation Center: Bernauer Str. 111 – The central memorial site of German division, located in the middle of the capital. – Open-Air Exhibition and Memorial Grounds: All year round Mo. - Su. 8am - 10pm, Visitor Center and Documentation Center: April - Oct.: Tu. - Su. 9:30am - 7:00pm, Nov. - March: Tu. - Su. 9:30am - 6:00pm. The outdoor grounds are open 24 hours a day all year round. Admission free. – Nordbahnhof S-Bahn station S1, S2, S25, Tram M10 – Flyer

• Mauermuseum at Checkpoint Charlie . This museum is situated at the most famous historical checkpoint between the two Berlins. Admission: 12,50 EUR.

• Topography of Terror , Kreuzberg – This open-air museum documents the terror applied by the Nazi regime. It consists of excavated prison cells located directly under a remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall.

• DDR Museum, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 1,. A small museum just over the river from the Berliner Dom. It can be extremely crowded and it's a small place. All the displays are in German and English, gives a good insight into life in the former GDR.

• Story of Berlin  Kurfürstendamm 207-208i, close to the Uhlandstraße metro, the last stop on the U1. Museum in the centre of a mall. In addition to the history (including the World Wars), culture, transportation, architecture and an exhibit of life in the city since medieval times, it is unique to feature an authentic cold-war era bunker. The 20 minute tour is included in the cost of the entrance ticket, and is at the top of each hour, alternating in German and English.

• Stasi Museum  At the northeast corner of Frankfurter Allee and Ruschestraße is a complex of buildings housing hospitals and clinics. In the communist era, all these buildings belonged to the Stasi with their massive apparatus for spying on East German citizens, including opening tens of thousands of pieces of mail every day. Now just one of these buildings is used as museum of the Stasi. It is almost impossible to find from the street address since the number is out of sequence with the rest of the street. Walk up Ruschestraße from Frankfurther Allee. On the right side of the street, there is a small sign for the Stasi Museum at the entrance to the clinic complex. Walk in and go straight ahead to the far end of the car park.

Private art galleries[edit]

As Berlin is a city of art, it is quite easy to find an art gallery on your way. They provide a nice opportunity to have a look at modern artists' work in a not-so-crowded environment for free. Some gallery streets with more than about a dozen galleries are Auguststraße, Linienstraße, Torstraße, Brunnenstraße (all Mitte, north of S-Bahn station Oranienburger Straße), Zimmerstraße (Kreuzberg, U-Bahn station Kochstraße) and Fasanenstraße (Charlottenburg). You can find a list of all the exhibitions and gallery openings as well as a map on Berlin Art Grid  A directory listing of all Berlin's art galleries can be found on The Art of Berlin: Complete Berlin Art Gallery Directory.

• Art Center Berlin Friedrichstraße , Friedrichstraße 134, Tel. +49 30 27879020. Four floors of exhibitions with a relatively good variety of genres and artists. A very nice oasis of calm from the busy Friedrichstraße.

• Galerie Eigen & Art, Auguststraße 26, Tel. +49 30 280 6605. One of the most famous German art galleries, home to the Neue Leipziger Schule (Neo Rauch et al.)

• loop -- raum fur aktuelle kunst , Jägerstrasse 5, 10117. Known for being the "incubator" of future famous Berlin artists. Primarily featuring sculpture video, and painting.

Orientation

Berlin is - at least in many parts - a beautiful city, so allow enough time to get to see the sights. A good map is highly recommended:  While the public transport system is superb, it can be confusing to visitors, due to a lack of directional signs in some of the larger stations, so a good transit map is also essential. Be sure to note the final station/stop of the S-bahn or U-bahn, since that is usually the way direction of travel is indicated. Roads into Berlin can also be confusing, so study your route and drive carefully. Signs point to city boroughs or districts rather than indicating compass directions, so it's a good idea to get to know where the various boroughs or districts lie in relation to each other. This also applies to cyclists.

Berlin's Tourist Information Office is an excellent resource for finding out more about Berlin, providing a wealth of practical information and useful links.

 As the city was divided into two during the Cold War, many major parts of Berlin's infrastructure — such as airports — were built on both the east and west side. After the demolition of the Wall, the challenge has been to merge these formerly independent systems into one that serves all people in the metropolitan Berlin area.

By plane

Berlin has two operational airports:

• Tegel International Airport (ICAO: EDDT, IATA: TXL) located in the north-west of the city is the main airport for international carriers (British Airways, Air France-KLM, United, LOT, etc.) and a hub for domestic flights on Lufthansa and Air Berlin. The original airport was designed as a hexagon but today two other terminals try to handle the flights of Air Berlin (most flights in Terminal C) and other budget carriers (mostly in terminal D). All flag carrier flights leave from the main terminal building A (Terminal B nowadays contains just the bus gates of Terminal A for Non-Schengen flights), and is also where all airlines lounges are. The airport might close on 2015 depending on the construction progress.

Buses from Tegel International Airport operate to S+U Alexanderplatz, Hauptbahnhof (bus TXL [3]), and S+U Zoologischer Garten (buses X9 and 109) for the standard ticket fare . Its takes around 45 minutes to Alexanderplatz - it is much quicker to get off at Hauptbahnhof or Zoologischer Garten and change to the S-Bahn (the bus ticket remains valid for this). (TXL takes less than 10 minutes to get to S-Bahn station Beusselstrasse.) Caution!Do not take any train to the "Tegel railway (S-Bahn) station", which is not connected to the airport, but rather to the suburban village called Tegel. It is not possible to walk or to otherwise get easily to the airport from that station. The nearest train stations are Jakob-Kaiser Platz on the U-Bahn line U7, which is 5 minutes from the airport with bus X9/109, Kurt-Schumacher Platz on the U6, 10 minutes from the airport with bus 128, and Beusselstraße S41/S42 (the ring) connected to the airport with an express bus . Tegel International Airport does not have any railway station. Any indication to a Tegel railway station refers to the remote S-Bahn station, even if railway staff at stations in other cities might tell otherwise.

• Schönefeld (ICAO: EDDB, IATA: SXF) This airport — formerly serving the capital of the GDR — southeast of Berlin is the base for most low-cost airlines (e.g. easyJet, Ryanair and Germanwings) and charter flights in addition to traffic from Eastern Europe.

The airport is served by the S-Bahn and regional trains. The station is a short walk, under a covered well lit walkway opposite terminal A/B. Trains run from here on the S-Bahn into the city until 1:30 AM so most late night arrivals will be covered. There are also less regular but faster regional trains that cost the same and stop at these major train stations too. In S-Bahn and regional trains between the airport (zone C) and the city (zone A,B), the public transport ticket (zones A,B,C for €3.20) can be used. Stamp the ticket to validate it before boarding.

By train from Schönefeld Airport to Berlin

A ticket that will get you anywhere in Berlin will set you back a mere €3.20. Choose the ‘ABC’ single journey ticket (Einzelfahrschein).

Now here is the top tip for getting to/ from the airport quickly. A lot of visitors make the mistake of jumping onto the S-Bahn when they arrive. Now it is true that all the guide books advise this because the S-Bahn departs every 10 minutes or so. But it is a slow service that stops all the time and can, if you are travelling late at night, easily take you an hour to get to the middle of Berlin. A far better, quicker and more comfortable option is to use the Regional trains.

So… make sure you are taking an Express Train (RE7 or RB14) rather than the S-Bahn (S9 or S45).

These Express trains run to and from central Berlin (Mitte) every half hour from 5am-11.30pm and take approx 25 min to/from Alexanderplatz; 30 min to/from Berlin Hauptbahnhof and 35 min to/from Zoologischer Garten. There are two of these every hour (look for the RE7 or RB14) and, as of the time of writing (2014), they leave the airport station at 25 minutes and 55 minutes past the hour. The trains are big and comfortable and run a far quicker service.

And if you do find yourself on either the S9 or the S45 in error, don’t panic, you’ll make it in the end. The S9 runs every 20 minutes and if all goes smoothly, it will take you approx 30 min to/from Ostkreuz and 45 minutes to/from Pankow, while the S45 connects to the circle-line (Ringbahn)and also runs every 20 minutes.

Check out timetables, platform numbers and fare prices on the BVG website, To and from Airports.

• The construction of the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport (German: Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg), (IATA: BER), [4] is in sort of progress next to current Schönefeld airport. Opening will be not before 2015, after several opening dates had to be called of, recently an announced opening date at 27. October 2013 (instead of 3rd June 2012 as orignally intended). After the opening all air traffic in the Berlin-Brandenburg region will be bundled at BER while the Tegel and todays Schönefeld airport are going to be closed down.

There are numerous direct flight connections between Berlin and major German & European cities. For historical reasons intercontinental direct flights to Berlin were limited. The German flag carrier Lufthansa will mostly fly to its major hub airports Frankfurt and Munich and offer connecting flights to Berlin on a near hourly basis.

The intercontinental flights to Berlin are:

1. From the United States, Air Berlin and United Airlines have daily nonstop flights to Berlin from New York's Kennedy and Newark-Liberty Airports respectively
2. Air Berlin also flies to Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dubai, Moscow, Bangkok, Tel Aviv,Windhoek and Mombasa
3. Hainan Airlines offers flights (in code-share with Air Berlin) to Beijing
4. S7 Airlines flies (in code-sahre with Air Berlin) to Novosibirsk
5. Royal Jordanian has flights to Amman
6. Qatar Airways flies daily to Doha
7. MIAT Mongolian Airlines offers flight to Ulaanbaatar via Moscow

By bus

Berlin is serviced from over 350 destinations in Europe. Long distance buses arrive at Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof (Central Bus Terminal) inCharlottenburg, Masurenallee. There are numerous buses to all directions or do a 5-minute-walk to the U-Bahn (Theodor-Heuss-Platz or Kaiserdammor to the S-Bahn (Messe Nord/ICC). Follow signposting.

• Berlin Linienbus serves over 350 destinations in Europe
• Salinea serves Bosnia
• MeinFernbus serves main German cities, including Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Freiburg, etc.

By train

Berlin is served by ICE, InterCity and EuroCity trains by the national German train corporation Deutsche Bahn  (DB) which offers connections between Berlin and other German and major European cities.

Night trains from Amsterdam, Paris, Zurich, Vienna and Budapest run every day. Booked in advance they can be as cheap as €29. Popular with backpackers so reservations are strongly recommended.

Long-haul trains from Eastern European cities, Kaliningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Moscow, Saint Petersburg andWarsaw amongst others, stop both at Hauptbahnhof and Ostbahnhof. Make sure you have a reservation because these lines are also very popular.

Train travel from Asia is also possible. The direct once-weekly Sibirjak train service connects Russia's Asian cities of Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg as well as Kazakhstan's capital Astanadirectly with Berlin. Train travel from China requires transfer in Russia (Moscow or Novosibirsk) or in Astana (Kazakhstan).

Some private train companies such as Veolia  offer connections to smaller cities in Eastern Germany.

Stations

During the times of its division, Berlin had two main train stations: Zoologischer Garten (colloquial nameBahnhof Zoo) in the West, and Ostbahnhof in the East. The new 'Hauptbahnhof' may be titled 'Lehrter Bahnhof' on older maps & is situated between the S-Bahn stations Friedrichstrasse and Bellevue. Since the opening of the Hauptbahnhof, most ICE and international lines now bypass Zoologischer Garten, although it is still in operation for regional Deutsche-Bahn service and as an S/U-Bahn station.

The new building for the central station Hauptbahnhof was opened in May 2006 and together withSüdkreuz (southern cross) and Ostbahnhof (eastern station) - plus minor Gesundbrunnen in the north and Spandau in the west - form the backbone of all connections. All are connected to either S- or U-Bahn (and in the future, both). All trains travel through central station and a second major hub (depending on the destination you travel to or arrive from). Trains in the regional area (Berlin and Brandenburg) mostly use these stations. Regional trains stop at several stations within Berlin.

By car

Berlin is encircled by a motorway ring (A10 Berliner Ring), which runs up to 30 km outside the city limits. Following motorways (clockwise) yield to the ring: A 11 to Stettin at Dreieck Schwanebeck, A 12 to Frankfurt (Oder)/Warsaw at Dreieck Spreeau, A13 to Dresden/Prague at Kreuz Schönefeld, A 9 to Leipzig/Munich at Dreieck Potsdam, A 2 to Hanover/Dortmund at Dreieck Werder, and A 24 to Hamburg at Dreieck Havelland.

From the ring there are motorways towards the city: A 111 from the northwest at Kreuz Oranienburg, A 114 from the north at Dreieck Pankow, A 113 from the southeast at Schönefelder Kreuz and A 115 from the southwest at Dreieck Nuthetal. B 96 from the north and the south, B 2 from the northeast, B 5 from the east and west and B101 from the south are dual carriageways, which also connect to the city.

Inside Berlin there ist a heavily congested ring motorway (A 100), which encircles the north, west and south with the northeastern bit missing. Berlin driving is not for the fainthearted, but manageable as there are wide streets and reasonably good parking conditions at least in most parts of the city. Orientation is easier than in most of the central european cities, once you got the system: There are a couple of ring roads (like an onion) and several radiating trunk roads.

Berlin does have a low emission zone (Umweltzone), which contains all areas within the S-Bahn ring. All vehicles moving inside this zone are required to bear a green Emission badge (Feinstaubplakette). There are exceptions eg. for historic cars, but not for foreign number plates. Information on obtaining a sticker (which must be done at least several days in advance) is available here [10]. The sticker can also be ordered online at .

MFG

There is also the option to do carpooling, which is very popular in Germany Mitfahrgelegenheit in German (abbreviated to MFG) is the website where a lot of drivers post their travel destinations, and sharing the ride and fuel costs with one of them can get you to Berlin from Hamburg for as cheap as €10. Usually on weekends there are cars leaving roughly every 30 mins throughout the day. Requires a cell phone and sometimes some knowledge of German.

By ship

Being 200 kilometres inland, Berlin does not have a seaport. Nearest seaport is Rostock-Warnemünde, which is between two and a half and three hours away by train. Still sold by many cruise ship operators as "Berlin", so dont be suprised. There are similar distances to the seaports ofHamburg and Stettin.

Some river cruises start or end at Berlin, using Havel, Spree and some canals for cruises to Prague or the Baltic sea.

Get Around

Berlin is a huge city. You can make use of the excellent bus, tram, train and underground services to get around. Taxi services are also easy to use and a bit less expensive than in many other big Central European cities. You can hail a cab (the yellow light on the top shows the cab is available), or find a taxi rank (Taxistand). Taxi drivers are in general able to speak English. If you ask for a short trip (Kurzstrecke), as long as it's under 2km and before the taxi driver starts the meter running, the trip normally is cheaper, €4. This only applies if you flag the taxi down on the street, not if you get in at a taxi rank.

Check the Berlin route planner [12] (in English) to get excellent maps and schedules for the U-Bahn, buses, S-Bahn and trams, or to print your personal journey planner. The route planer can also calculate the fastest door-to-door connection for you destination for any given day and hour. The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) have a detailed fare list on their web site [13].

If you don't know how to get somewhere, or how to get home at night, call +49 30 19449, the Customer Service of the BVG. There are also facilities in most U-Bahn and some S-Bahn stations to contact the Customer Service directly. In 2005 the BVG introduced Metro lines (buses and tram) that run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All lines are marked with a big orange plate and a white M.

It's also worth noting that the house numbers do not necessarily run in one direction (up or down). On a lot of streets, the numbers ascend on one side and descend on the other. Especially on long streets, check the numbering scheme first: you can find the name of the street and the numbers on that block at nearly every street corner.

Different from what is usual in some English-speaking countries, Germans usually add the word for "street", "square", "park", etc. when they mention the name of a locality. Thus, they would not simply refer to "Kurfürsten" when talking about Kurfürstenstraße (Kurfürsten Street), as this could also mean "Kurfürstendamm", which is a different road at a different place. "Schloss", which simply means "palace", could refer to any of the palaces in Berlin, as well as to one of the two roads called "Schloßstraße", a shopping centre called "Das Schloss", or the "Schloßplatz" in the Mitte district.

Public transport ticketing

Berlin uses a zone system, but you are unlikely to need to go beyond zone A and B, except on trips to Potsdam or to the Schönefeld Airport (SXF). This is a very large area. The public transport system (U, S-Bahn, bus

• AB Tageskarte (day card): € 6.70, ABC Tageskarte (incl. Potsdam): € 7.20.
• AB 7-Tage-Karte (7-Day-Ticket): € 28.80, ABC 7-Tage-Karte (incl. Potsdam): € 35.60.

• The Berlin CityTourCard : ticket valid for all public transport services in Berlin and a discount card for many tourist attractions; available in 3 different version 48 hrs € 16.90, 72 hrs € 22.90 and 5 days € 29.90; a folded leaflet with inner city map and an overview of the S-Bahn and U-Bahn railway networks of Berlin is included; buy the CityTourCard at any ticket counters, ticket machines of the BVG and S-Bahn Berlin, hotels in Berlin, at the Berlin airports or at the main station (Hauptbahnhof Berlin) or online.

• The Berlin WelcomeCard available in 8 different versions: tariff zone AB only Berlin: € 18.50 / 24.50 / 31.50 for 2 / 3 / 5 days, tariff zone ABC Berlin, Potsdam and the surrounding area: € 19.90 / 25.90 / 35.90 for 2 / 3 / 5 days. Free travel with all methods of public transport for 48 hours, 72 hours or 5 days from the day of purchase; save up to 50% on more than 200 tourist and cultural highlights; Handy guide in pocket book format with insider tips and tour suggestions; City plan for Berlin and Potsdam and a Network plan for public transport. You can order the Berlin WelcomeCard in various sales points (berlin airports, main station, Hotels or online).
• The Berlin WelcomeCard Museum Island: valid for 72 hours in the tariff zone AB: € 38.50, ABC: € 40.50 (2014) plus free admission to all museums on the Museumsinsel of Berlin (Old National Gallery, Old Museum, Bode Museum, New Museum and Pergamon Museum). A folded leaflet with inner city map and an overview of the S-Bahn and U-Bahn railway networks of Berlin is included. Buy the CityTourCard Museumsinsel in hotels, at the main station (Hauptbahnhof, Südkreuz, Zoologischer Garten, Alexanderplatz, Friedrichstraße), berlin airports or online.

• There is also a monateskarte which is good for a month - either a calendar month (e.g. March) or a 30 day card (e.g. May 15 to June 14). At the airport information booth near the baggage claim exit they will direct you outside where there is a ticket booth and you can buy whatever card you want. For the months card it costs 77 euros for zone AB. You don't have to validate it each time you get on any or all of the public transportation (tram, bus, U & S Bahn, Regional express train). You are given a little transparent plastic folder to keep it in (dates are on the card) and you show it only when asked. On the bus you show it to the driver.

• Small group ticket (€ 15.00) for up to five persons. If you are traveling more than two trips a day, this ticket is cost-effective for three persons and above.

, tram, regional rail) uses a common ticket.

Standard tickets (€ 2.60 for A and B) are valid for any travel within two hours of validation, in a single direction, within the appropriate fare zones. There is no limit to transfers. For a single journey you can buy a cheap Kurzstrecke for €1.50, but this is only valid for 3 stops on the U-Bahn or S-Bahn (six stops by bus or tram); no transfers are permitted. Reduced tariffs apply for children 6 to 14. Under 6 y/o ride free.

Several options are available for unlimited travel. Prices listed here are only for zones A and B: prices for A, B, and C cost marginally more. Check the machines for the actual prices:

• Single Ticket Berlin AB: €2.60, ABC (incl. Potsdam): €3.20, reduced: €1.60, ABC: €2.30.
• Quadruple card "4 Fahrten Karte" (4 single trips AB bought at once for a reduced price) € 8.80, reduced: € 5.60.

Purchasing tickets

All tickets are available at vending machines at U- and S-Bahn platforms. English and other European languages are available. Payment is mostly by local bank cards, coins and banknotes. Ticket machines may not take banknotes bigger than 10 euros. If you need assistance most larger stations have staffed ticket counters where you can ask questions and buy tickets. Buses will accept cash, and make change for tickets. Hotels may sell tickets as well.

In some places like Zoologischer Garten and Eberswalder Straße, people will rarely try to sell used tickets to you. Be aware that you can go only one direction with a single-journey ticket (check the validation stamp and be careful as this could also be a pickpocket trick). Don't pay more than half the price.

There's an experimental ticket-less service called Touch&Travel , allowing you to track your journey using your smartphone and pay for it by direct debit from a German bank account.

Validating tickets

You need to validate your ticket using the machines on the U- and S-bahn platforms or in the bus. The machines are yellow/white in the U-Bahn and the bus, and red on S-Bahn platforms. Validation simply means the machine prints a time stamp onto the ticket. Once validated, a ticket which is still valid will not have to be re-validated before each single trip. Whilst it might be tempting to try to avoid buying a ticket, be advised that plain-clothed inspectors do patrol the trains frequently. There is a €40 fine if you are caught with an unvalidated ticket.

By train  

If you need to get around the city quickly, take the S-Bahn. Especially the Ringbahn that goes all around Berlin in a circle lets you get to other parts of the city really fast. If you're looking for the way, use BVG.de, that site includes Buses, U-Bahn, S-Bahn, Tram and even ferries. You can simply enter departure address and arrival adress to see the optimum connection, it's an excellent service. An option to reach Schönefeld airport is to use U-Bahn line 7 until the terminal station Rudow and then take the bus.

In the center, most S-Bahn lines S5, S7, S75 run on an east-west route between Ostkreuz and Westkreuz via the stops Warschauer Straße, Ostbahnhof, Jannowitzbrücke, Alexanderplatz, Hackescher Markt, Friedrichstraße, Hauptbahnhof, Bellevue, Tiergarten, Zoologischer Garten, Savignyplatz and Charlottenburg. Other lines run along a circle track around the city, most notably the S8 and the S41, S42, S45, S46 lines, and there's also a north-south connection S1, S2, S25 from Gesundbrunnen through Friedrichstraße and Potsdamer Platz to Südkreuz or Schöneberg.

Regional trains run along the same central east-west connection, but stopping only at Lichtenberg or Karlshorst, Ostbahnhof, Alexanderplatz, Friedrichstraße, Hauptbahnhof, Zoologischer Garten, Charlottenburg and Spandau , as well as other lines connecting north-south from Jungfernheide or Gesundbrunnen through Hauptbahnhof, Potsdamer Platz and Südkreuz to Lichterfelde-Ost. Long distance trains mostly run to Hauptbahnhof, often with one or two extra stops at other stations.

By underground

The Berlin U-Bahn (subway/metro) is something to behold; it is so charmingly precise! There are no turnstiles to limit access, so it is technically possible to ride without a ticket, but if caught by a ticket checker you will be fined €40 so it is probably not worth the risk. All U-Bahn stations now have electronic signs that give the time of the next train, and its direction based on sensors along the lines.

Detailed maps can be found in every U-Bahn station and on the trains. Don't be confused by the alternative tram maps. U-Bahn stations can be seen from far by their big, friendly blue U signs. Together with the S-Bahn (which is administered by Deutsche Bahn and mostly runs aboveground), the U-Bahn provides a transportation network throughout greater Berlin that is extremely efficient and fast. On weekend (Friday to Sunday), as well as during the Christmas and New Year holidays, all U-Bahn and S-Bahn lines (except line U4) run all night, so returning from late night outings is easy, especially given the average start time of most 'parties' in Berlin (11PM to 1AM). During the week there is no U-Bahn or S-Bahn service from appr. 1AM to 4:30AM, but metro trams/buses and special Night Buses (parallel to the U-Bahn line) run every half an hour from 12:30AM to 4:30AM.

By tram 

The trams (Straßenbahn) are mostly found in East Berlin, as in West Berlin the tram lines were removed to facilitate more vehicular traffic. If you don't have a ticket already, you can buy one inside the tram.

Two types of tram service are available. Metrotrams frequent more often as well as by night. Tram routes not so identified stop more frequently and may even include picturesque single-track rides through forested areas far east of the Mitte district.

By bus 

Although buses are the slowest form of public transport, the yellow double-decker buses are part of Berlin's transit landscape and they will take you to almost anywhere in Berlin. Besides the normal metrobuses, there are also express buses (indicated by an X), but these don't halt at every stop.

The most famous bus line, especially for tourists, is bus route 100 or 200, which leaves from Zoo Station ("Berlin Zoologischer Garten") or, if you want to go the other way round, Alexanderplatz. This crosses most of historic Berlin, including many of the sites listed here. For the price of a city bus ticket or daily pass, it's possible to see many of the landmarks of Berlin from one of these yellow double-decker buses. Sit up top as it's easier to see the Bundestag, as well as the many historic buildings on Unter den Linden. If you're lucky, you'll get the legendary bus-driver who delivers a commentary (in Berlin-accented German) on the trip. Line 200 takes nearly the same route, but it goes through the modern quarters around Kulturforum (Philharmonie, museums) and Potsdamer Platz. Either ride is a must for any visitor to Berlin.

By bike

Cycling is another great way to tour Berlin.

Berlin has no steep hills and offers many bicycle paths (Radwege) throughout the city (although not all are very smooth). These include "860 km of completely separate bike paths, 60 km of bike lanes on streets, 50 km of bike lanes on sidewalks, 100 km of mixed-use pedestrian-bike paths, and 70 km of combined bus-bike lanes on streets. Bicycles are a very popular method of transportation among Berlin residents, and there is almost always a certain level of bicycle traffic. Seeing Berlin by bicycle is unquestionably a great way to acquaint the traveler with the big tourist sites, and the little sprees and side streets as well. Although it's good to carry your own map, you can also always check your location at any U-Bahn station and many Bus Stations. You can create your own bicycling maps online, optimized by less busy routes or fewer traffic lights or your favorite paving . If you are not familiar with searching your own way through the city or you want more explanation of the sights you visit, you can get guided bike tours (with bike included) on Berlin Bike.

Tours and Rentals: Bicycle rentals are available in the city, although the prices vary (usually from €7.50). In addition, the Deutsche Bahn (DB) placed many public bicycles throughout the city in 2003. In 2011 they have been changed to a station-based system, where you can sign up using a credit card and unlock bicycles, to be checked into any station within the city. They charge either per minute or per day (€9-15). They are installing more and more stations, but as of Sept 2012 still none in Neukölln.

If you are a member of CouchSurfing or BeWelcome, another option is to book a bike from BikeSurfBerlin , an up-and-coming bike lending project that offers bikes for free, and asks for a voluntary donation rather than a fixed rental price.

Most places have a rental charge of between 8 EU (too cheap) with majority at 12 Eu / day - they are excellent value and freedom to see the big city and all the art on streets and buildings everywhere. There are lots of bike paths and drivers know to look for bicycles.