Berlin Airport

[Rachel01]

I would like to go to Berlin for a long weekend, staying right in the city centre.  Which airport am I best to fly to & is there plenty of transport to get you into the city?

[luckystrike]

Schoenfeld is about 17 miles from the city centre, Tegel is about 7 miles from the city centre and the closest is Tempelhof, which is about 4 miles away.

Check Google for the individual airport transport arrangements, but no doubt there are regular buses or trains which service the city.

[gaz_farr]

i went to schnolfeld this february - to get to central berlin is not a problem - the only problem is finding the right train. i found the whole underground/main rail system confusing at first. better off getting a cab to start with

[AllYourBase]

I agree with gaz. The trains are excellent from all the airports, though from SXF you get to the station and it's not immediatley obvious what to do. We got confused when we arrived because there had been a closure of the line and therefore we were really confused and delayed.

In all honesty, it's no more than 30 Euros for a cab to most parts of the city centre from SXF so it's probably worth getting one unless you're relly strapped for cash.

If you're going to use the train, from SXF to the town you do the following:

There is a little shuttle bus that takes you to the train station but it is only 2 minutes on foot. (follow the hordes walking away from the terminal, they are all going to the station, trust me)

You need to take the S9 in the direction of Gr�newald, buying a single ticket. I THINK it is usually platform 7 or 11, but don't quote me on that one. The ticket machines do an English opetion, but are still quite tricky to understand. Better to go to the booth (up the stairs by the shops) and use pigeon German "stadtzentrum fur ein adult, hin bitte" It costs 2 Euros and a bit.

There are little red metal things on pillars on all the platforms. You must stick your ticket in these and pess the button to validate your ticket before you board, as you get a spot fine if foun wihout a validation mark. the validation lasts 2 hours.

This route will take you to all the main interchanges in the city, most notably Freidrichstrase, which is where most hotels are near, or can be reached by an interconnecting train from.

Enjoy!

[acw]

Just a quick tip - adult in German is "Erwachsene" (Er-vax-en-uh).  Most Germans speak VERY good English.  Try learning this phrase - and your life will be much easier:

Entschuldigung, sprechen sie Englisch bitte?

(Ent-shuld-ee-goong, shpreshen zee ehnglish bitteh?)

Also all Germans will work out you could do with them speaking English, asking in German won't do any harm! :-)

 

PS - I've only assumed that you don't speak German because the information you require is readily available online on German language websites.  Please don't think I was meaning to be patronising. 

PPS - http://www.berlin-airport.de/ - over on the right there's a Union Flag you can click on for translation. 

Have a nice holiday! :-)

[winifred]

There is a bus from Tegel airport which takes you to the western city centre very cheaply and loads of hotels in the area. Do a bit of research on hotels on Venere but also look at lastminute.com who have hotel and flight deals. Transport within the city is easy and cheap with trains, underground and buses being very easy to work out. Try somewhere round the Kurfurstendamm/ Zoo station/ Schoneberg areas for convenience.