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Getting There By Air:

Berlin-Tegel (Otto Lilienthal) (TXL)
Tel: 01805 000 186.
Website: www.berlin-airport.de

The airport is located in northwest Berlin, 8km (5 miles) from the city center. Tegel primarily serves Western European destinations, handling flights from 38 scheduled airlines flying to 92 destinations and 42 charter airlines flying to 59 destinations.

Major airlines: Lufthansa is Germany’s principal airline (tel: 01803 803 803, for 24-hour call center or 01803 000 074, for arrivals and departures, or 01805 838 426 for information; website: www.lufthansa.com). Other airlines flying to Tegel include Air Berlin, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, CSA Czech Airlines, Deutsche BA, Iberia, KLM, LOT, Malév, Olympic Airways and Turkish Airlines. Low-cost airline Hapag-Lloyd Express, provides services from Berlin to Cologne/Bonn.

Airport facilities: The airport offers two snack bars, a bistro, a champagne bar and a restaurant. Other facilities include a post office, bank/bureaux de change, ATMs, florist, newsagents, duty-free shops, hairdresser, left-luggage, baby-care rooms, 24-hour first aid, travel agents, tourist information and clothing shops. There are Novotel and Holiday Inn hotels near the airport. Car hire is available from Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, National and Sixt.

Business facilities: The LSG conference center (tel: (030) 4101 3316), located on the third floor, has four function rooms with a capacity of up to 150 people, as well as a media center with photocopier, fax, computers with Internet access and printers. Secretarial and translation services can be arranged. The GSS Airport Service Center (tel: (030) 4101 3434), opposite gates nine and ten, provide fax services for public use. There are also four business lounges in the airport, located in the Airport Gallery, above the main hall.

Transport to the city: The JetExpressBus TXL, operated by Berlin’s public transport provider, BVG (see Getting Around), leaves the airport Mon-Fri every 15 minutes 0600-1900 and every 20 minutes 1900-2300; Sat every 20 mins 0600-2300; Sun every 20 mins 0600-1400 and 1800-2300, and every 15 mins between 1400 and 1800, traveling to Friedrichstrasse,Unter den Linden and Alexanderplatz(journey time – 28-40 minutes). The fare is €2.10. Bus 128 connects to the U6 line at Kurt-Schumacher-Platz, while bus 109 and express bus X9 depart every 5 to 10 minutes daily 0500-2400 and connect to the U7 at Jakob-Kaiser-Platz, before continuing on to Bahnhof Zoo (journey time – 30 minutes on the X9 bus). Taxis are plentiful at the airport and there is a taxi rank immediately outside the arrivals’ hall. The fare into Berlin is approximately €17-20.


Berlin-Schönefeld (SXF)
Tel: 01805 000 186.
Website: www.berlin-airport.de

The airport (recently renamed Berlin Brandenburg Airport, but still referred to as Schönefeld), is located in the southeast of the city, 18km (11 miles) and 22km (13.5 miles) from the Eastern and Western centers respectively. Schönefeld was the primary airport for East Berlin and now handles flights mainly to Eastern Europe and Asia, as well as many charter flights to summer destinations. Some 21 scheduled airlines fly to 47 destinations, while 32 chartered airlines fly to 44 destinations.

Major airlines: Air Berlin (tel: 01805 737 800 or 0870 738 8880 in the UK; website: www.airberlin.com), is the principal German airline operating from Schönefeld. Other airlines include Aeroflot, EasyJet, El Al, Germanwings, Ryanair and Turkish Airlines.

Airport facilities: The airport has a restaurant, bars, florist, bank/bureau de change, ATMs, newsagents, duty-free shop and first-aid facilities. Services available 24 hours a day include left-luggage, snack bar, and hotel reservations. There are Aparthotel and Albergo hotels located near the airport. Car hire is available from Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt.

Business facilities: As well as one business lounge on the second floor in Terminal A (tel: (030) 6091 6036), conference rooms are available at the Konferenzzentrum Flughafen Berlin-Schönefeld GmbH (tel: (030) 6091 2222), a 10-minute walk from the terminal. Fax facilities are available at the information desk in Terminal A.

Transport to the city: The easiest way for visitors to get into the city is with the AirportExpress Schönefeld train, which is operated by DB (see Getting There By Rail) and runs daily every 30 minutes 0510-0140. The train stops at four stations in East Berlin before terminating at Bahnhof Zoo (journey time – 30 minutes). The fare is €2.10. The airport station is located 0.5km (0.3 miles) from the airport and there is a free shuttle bus connecting the two, running every 10 minutes, daily 0430-2330. The station is also served by S-Bahn trains 9 and 45, as well as some mainline and local rail services. Bus 171 connects the airport with the U7 U-Bahn line at Rudow. Taxis are available 24 hours a day and cost approximately €27-30 (journey time – 30 minutes).


Berlin-Tempelhof (THF)
Tel: 01805 000 186.
Website: www.berlin-airport.de

The airport is located in the south of the city, 6km (3.5 miles) south of the city center. Activities are fairly moderate here, with 15 scheduled airlines serving 22 destinations and seven charter airlines serving a total of seven destinations. Most flights are on smaller jets to short-haul domestic and European destinations.

Major airlines: Germany’s principal airline, Lufthansa (tel: 01803 803 803, for 24-hour call center or 01803 000 074, for arrivals and departures, or 01805 838 426 for information; website: www.lufthansa.com), operates from Berlin-Tempelhof.

Airport facilities: The airport offers three lounges, snack bars, florist, bank/bureau de change, ATMs, newsagents, duty-free shop, left-luggage, first aid, hairdresser, baby-care room, tax refund office and travel agents. The Hotel am Columbiadamm is situated near the airport. Car hire is available from Avis, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt..

Business facilities: There are a couple of small conference rooms and a 200-seat auditorium offered by TAG Aviation (tel: (030) 6951 3880) and LSG (tel: (030) 4101 3316).

Transport to the city: The airport is directly connected to Berlin’s public transport system (see Getting Around), including the U-Bahn network on the U6 line (the station is Platz der Luftbrücke and not, as would be expected, Tempelhof), with quick connections to the city center (journey time – 10-20 minutes). Bus 119 departs every 10 minutes to the Ku’damm area, while buses 104, 184 and 341 (to Potsdamer Platz) also stop near the airport. Nightbuses N4 and N76 leave from Platz der Luftbrücke. Taxis are available in front of the main hall for around €12.


Approximate flight times to Berlin: From London is 1 hour 45 minutes; from New York is 8 hours 25 minutes; from Los Angeles is 11 hours 45 minutes; from Toronto is 8 hours 30 minutes and from Sydney is 21 hours 55 minutes.

Getting There By Road:

Germany is covered by an excellent and extensive system of major roads (prefixed ‘B’) and motorways (prefixed ‘A’ for Autobahn). There are no tolls or speed limits on the Autobahnen but a maximum of 130kph (81mph) is recommended. Speed limits are 130kph (81mph) or 100kph (62mph) on major and minor roads outside the cities and 50kph (30mph) in built-up areas. Traffic drives on the right. Seatbelts must be worn at all times and children under 12 are forbidden to travel in the front seat without a child restraint.

The minimum age for driving is 18 years. Foreign drivers require proof of insurance and their national driving license. A Green Card is strongly recommended. A country identification sticker is compulsory. The legal maximum alcohol to blood ratio for driving is 0.05%. Leaded petrol is unavailable; unleaded petrol with a lead additive can be found at some petrol stations.

The Allgemeine Deutsche Automobil Club – ADAC (tel: 01805 101 112; website: www.adac.de) provides breakdown services throughout the country. In the Berlin area, Auto Club Europa – ACE (tel: 01802 336 677; website: www.ace-online.de) can also offer assistance.

Emergency breakdown services:
ADAC (01802) 222 222.
ACE (01802) 343 536.

Routes to the city: The A10 is an orbital motorway that entirely circles the city. The A111 and A115 connect this to the A100 – which wraps part way around the Western center – from the north and south, respectively. The main roads leading to Berlin from outside the orbital are the A24 (from Hamburg), A9 (from Leipzig and Munich), A13 (from Dresden), A12 (from the Polish border) and A2 (from Hanover, from where the A7 connects to the A5 toward Frankfurt am Main in the south).

Approximate driving times to Berlin: From Hamburg – 3 hours 15 minutes; Dresden – 2 hours 25 minutes; Frankfurt am Main – 5 hours 50 minutes.

Coach services: Eurolines international coach services to over 300 destinations are operated by Bayern Express & P Kühn Berlin GmbH (tel: (030) 306 7210; website: www.deutsche-touring.com or www.bex-berlin.de). Destinations include Paris, Strasbourg, Vienna and London, and more locally, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Hanover. Buses on both international and domestic routes arrive at the Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof (ZOB) Messedamm in Charlottenburg, near the International Congress Center (ICC). The station has a restaurant and snack bar; information and tickets are available from the DTG Ticket Center, Kaiserdamm 30 (tel: (030) 306 7210) and at the ZOB Reiseburo (tel: (030) 301 0380; website: www.zob-reiseburo.de). Taxis are available and the U-Bahn Kaiserdamm and S-Bahn Witzleben stations are located nearby. There is a general coach information line (tel: (060) 790 350).

Getting There By Rail:

Deutsche Bahn (tel: 0800 150 7090; website: www.bahn.de or www.bahn.co.uk, UK reservations), Germany’s national rail service provider, operates a comprehensive and efficient rail service, including high-speed InterCityExpress (ICE) trains. There is a national railway enquiries line (tel: 11861 (within Germany) or 01805 996 633 (from outside Germany). There is a separate hotline for cyclists who wish to take their bikes on the train (tel: 01805 151415).

Until the massive new station, Bahnhof Lerther (which will link the main north-south and east-west lines) is completed in 2006, the busiest station in Berlin will continue to be Bahnhof Berlin Zoologischer Garten (or, simply, ‘Bahnhof Zoo’), Hardenbergplatz 11 (tel: (030) 2974 9241) in the western center of the city. Facilities include a travel center (open daily 0600-2200), tourist information, post office, bank, restaurant, buffet, café, shops, florist, newsagents and left-luggage. Ticket and information offices at Bahnhof Schönefeld, near the airport, are open daily 0530-2200 (tel: (030) 2972 9528). The other major mainline stations are Bahnhof Lichtenberg, Weitlingstrasse 22, and Ostbahnhof, Am Ostbahnhof 9, in East Berlin. Some mainline services also stop at Bahnhof Spandau, to the west, and Bahnhof Wannsee, in the southwest.

Rail services: Berlin is part of the InterCityExpress (ICE) network, with super-fast trains to Hanover (journey time – 1 hour 35 minutes) and Frankfurt am Main (journey time – 3 hours 30 minutes). ICE trains also go to Hamburg (journey time about 1 hour 30 minutes). An expanding web of high-speed trains serves destinations across Western Europe. Supplements are incurred for travel on ICE, IC and EC trains.

Transport to the city: The main stations are all located on the S-Bahn spine, which arches from west to east across the city. Connections to the U-Bahn network and north-south S-Bahn lines are available either directly or via a short journey on the main east-west line. Taxi ranks and buses are also available outside the main stations.

Getting Around:

Public Transport
Berlin has a highly integrated transport system comprising U-Bahn (underground), S-Bahn (commuter rail), bus, tram and ferry services, with easy connections to regional and mainline rail services. The Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB), Hardenbergplatz 2 (tel: (030) 2541 4141; website: www.vbbonline.de), coordinates activities among the Berlin transport providers and those of the surrounding region.

Berlin’s Eastern and Western city centers are linked by the main east-west axis of the S-Bahn, which is crossed by the north-south lines at Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse and intersects the S-Bahn ring at Bahnhof Westkreuz and Bahnhof Ostkreuz. Operated by S-Bahn Berlin GmbH (tel: (030) 2974 3333; website: www.s-bahn-berlin.de), which has offices at Nordbahnhof (tel: (030) 2974 3333), the trains run daily 0500-0030..

The other public transport services are operated by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe – BVG (tel: (030) 19449 or 2562 2562; website: www.bvg.de) and generally run daily 0600-2300. There are nine U-Bahn lines, which operate daily 0600-0000 with some services during the night. Bus services crisscross the city, and night buses operate when trains are not running, while the network of 30 trams only operates in East Berlin. There are three seasonal and three year-round ferry services to the ports of Hamburg, Kiel, Lubeck and Rostock, which are linked by road and rail to Berlin. The BVG has an information center in the pavilion at Hardenbergplatz, in front of Bahnhof Zoo (open daily 0600-2200), as well as counters at Tegel and Schönefeld airports and at Turmstrasse U-Bahn station.

Tickets are priced for either two or three zones – almost all visitors will use the AB tariff. The standard single fare is €2.10, valid for 2 hours on all forms of transport. Nearly all tickets are available for purchase from automated machines at stations and stops, as well as from service desks and, in the case of buses, from the driver. Bus drivers only sell day tickets and 2-hour tickets.

A number of passes are also available. A day ticket, valid until 0300 on the following day of purchase, costs €5.80. Seven-day tickets are valid until 0000 on the seventh day and cost €25.40. Available from the tourist information office (see Sightseeing), the WelcomeCard costs €16 for 48 hours or €22 for 72 hours. It covers free travel on all buses and trains in zones A, B and C for one adult and up to three children and also includes reductions on many attractions and performances in Berlin and Potsdam. The City Tour Card combines transport in zones A and B and an advantage card for nearly 50 tourist attractions. It is available for 48 or 72 hours.


Taxis
Beige Mercedes-Benz sedans make up most of Berlin’s taxi fleet. Outside the main centers, it is better for visitors to find a taxi rank rather than try to flag down a taxi. Taxis are also available by telephone from Taxi-Funk Berlin (tel: (030) 443 322; website: www.taxifunkberlin.de), Würfelfunk (tel: (030) 210 101 or 0800 222 255; website: www.wuerfelfunk.de) and Alt Ursel (tel: (030) 744 4592). A journey from the Ku’damm to Unter den Linden costs about €10. It is standard for passengers to tip taxi drivers, usually 5-10 per cent of the fare.

Car Hire
All of the major car hire firms are represented in Berlin and all have multiple locations throughout the city. Some of the most central are Avis, Budapester Strasse 41 (tel: (030) 230 9370; website: www.avis.com), Europcar, Alexanderplatz 24H (tel: (030) 240 7900) and Huttenstrasse 50 (tel: (030) 3435 8091) (website: www.europcar.de), Hertz, Budapester Strasse 39 (tel: (030) 261 1053; website: www.hertz.de), and Sixt, Nürnbergerstrasse 65 (tel: 0190 501 111; website: www.e-sixt.de).

Drivers usually must be over 23 years old and require a valid national driving license. Third party insurance is included in the rate.

Bicycle Hire
Bicycles are plentiful in Berlin – the flat terrain and extensive network of bicycle paths make cycling in the city a pleasure. Cycling maps, information and assistance are available at Das Radlerzentrum, run by the cycling lobby group Allgemeine Deutscher Fahrrad-Club (ADFC), Brunnenstrasse 28 (tel: (030) 448 4724; website: www.adfc-berlin.de), Monday to Friday 1200-2000 and Saturday 1000-1600. Bicycle hire is available from Berlin by bike-Fahrradstation (tel: 01805 108 000; website: www.fahrradstation.de), which has offices at Goethestrasse 46, Friedrichstrasse 95, Auguststrasse 29A, Leipziger Strasse 56 and Bergmannstrasse 9. Bicycle hire costs around €10 per day or from €35 per week (insurance not included. You can also hire bikes left at stands at major junctions in the city from the Call a Bike service (tel: 0700 0522 5522; website: www.callabike.de). You call the company, give them credit card details and get a code to unlock the padlock. Pre-register one week in advance.

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