Travel to Berlin
Flying to Berlin
Flights to Berlin are served by two airports at present, both modernised but congested, though there is light at the end of the tunnel – Berlin Brandenburg International Airport (BBI) is currently being constructed on a site south of Schönefeld Airport. The opening date has been repeatedly put back however, so it may be some time before flights actually land there. Tegel Airport will be closed six months after the opening of Berlin Brandenburg International Airport (BBI), which is scheduled to take place in October 2020. Schönefeld Airport will merge with the planned Berlin Brandenburg International Airport (BBI) into one single airport. Prices remain stable year-round, but it's far easier to get cheap flights if you avoid flying in the summer months and at weekends throughout the year.
Airlines that fly to Berlin's Tegel Airport include Austrian Airlines, airBaltic, Air France, Aer Lingus, Air Serbia, easyJet, Eurowings, Finnair, KLM, and Lufthansa, among others.
Airlines that fly to Berlin's Schönefeld include easyJet, Jet2, Norwegian and Ryanair.
Flight times
From London - 1 hours 50 minutes
From New York - 8 hours
From Los Angeles - 12 hours 40 minutes (including stopover)
From Toronto - 9 hours 40 minutes (including stopover)
From Sydney - 24 hours 15 minutes (including stopover)
Travel by road
Germany is covered by an excellent and extensive system of major roads and motorways. There are no tolls or speed limits on the Autobahnen (motorways) 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 (31mph) in built-up areas. Traffic drives on the right and the minimum age for driving is 18 years. Foreign drivers require proof of insurance and their national driving licence. A Green Card is strongly recommended. A country identification sticker is compulsory.
The Allgemeine Deutsche Automobil Club - ADAC (tel: +49 180 2 22 22 22, in Germany only; www.adac.de) provides breakdown services throughout Germany. In the Berlin area, Auto Club Europa - ACE (tel: +49 711 530 34 35 36; www.ace.de) can also offer assistance.
Emergency breakdown services
ADAC (tel: 0180 222 2222, in Germany); ACE (tel: 0711 530 343536, in Germany).
Routes
The A 10 is an orbital motorway that encircles Berlin. The A 111 and A 115 connect this to the A100 (which wraps part way around the Western centre) from the north and south, respectively. The main roads leading to Berlin from outside the orbital are the A 24 (Hamburg), A 9 (from Leipzig and Munich), the A 113 (from Dresden), A 12 (from the Polish border) and A 2 (from Hanover, from where the A 7 connects to the A 5 toward Frankfurt am Main in the south).
Coaches
Eurolines (www.eurolines.com) international coach services cover hundreds of destinations across Europe, including a couple of dozen destinations within Germany. IC Bus (www.bahn.de/p/view/angebot/fernbus/index.shtml) also runs national and international services.
Most buses on both international and domestic routes arrive at the Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof (ZOB) Messedamm in Charlottenburg, near the International Congress Centre (ICC). Information and tickets are available from the DTG Ticket Center, Messedamm 9 (tel: +49 30 770 195 000), and at the ZOB Reisebüro (Masurenallee 4-6, tel: +49 30 301 0380; www.zob-reisebuero.de).
Time to city
From Hamburg - 3 hours 15 minutes; Dresden - 2 hours 20 minutes; Frankfurt am Main - 5 hours 30 minutes.
Travel by Rail
Services
Berlin benefits from a modern, extensive rail service. Berlin is part of the InterCityExpress (ICE) network, with super-fast trains to Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Munich, Nuremberg, Erfurt and Halle. An expanding web of high-speed trains also serves destinations across Europe. Supplements are incurred for travel on ICE, IC and EC trains.
The main railway station is Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Europaplatz 1, linking east/west and north/south lines in the city centre. Gesundbrunnen station to the north provides rail links to the Baltic and to other domestic and international destinations. Ostbahnhof, located in former east Berlin, is together with Berlin Hauptbahnhof and Bahnhof Südkreuz one of the three most important railway stations in Berlin.
Bahnhof Lichtenberg, once a major railway station, was transformed into a regional rail station serving the surrounding communities of Berlin as well as a few mainline services. Some mainline services also stop at Bahnhof Berlin-Spandau, Wannsee and Zoologischer Garten.
Operators
Deutsche Bahn (tel: +49 180 699 6633; www.bahn.com), Germany's national rail service provider, operates a comprehensive and efficient rail service, including high-speed InterCityExpress (ICE) trains.
Journey times
From Amsterdam - 6 hours 30 minutes; Cologne - 4 hours 40 minutes; Hamburg - 1 hour 40 minutes; Hanover - 2 hours; Frankfurt am Main - 4 hours 10 minutes.
