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Germany

Travel to Berlin

Flying to Berlin

Flights to Berlin are served by two airports at present, both woefully ill-equipped for a modern European capital, 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, and is scheduled to open by 2012.

In the meantime, Lufthansa, British Airways and BMI offer flights to Berlin’s Tegel Airport from the UK, while budget airlines easyJet and Ryanair fly from the UK to Schönefeld. Prices remain stable year-round, though it’s far easier to get cheap flights if you avoid flying in the summer months and at weekends throughout the year. Flights to Berlin take just under two hours from London.

Flight times: 

From London - 1 hour 45 minutes; New York - 8 hours 25 minutes; Los Angeles - 11 hours 45 minutes; Toronto - 8 hours 30 minutes; Sydney - 21 hours 55 minutes.

Travel by road

Summary:

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 (30mph) 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. Leaded petrol is unavailable; unleaded petrol with a lead additive can be found at some petrol stations.

The Allgemeine Deutsche Automobil Club - ADAC (tel: 0180 510 1112; www.adac.de) provides breakdown services throughout Germany. In the Berlin area, Auto Club Europa - ACE (tel: 0180 233 6677; www.ace-online.de) can also offer assistance.

Emergency breakdown service:

ADAC (tel: 0180 222 2222); ACE (tel: 0180 234 3536).

Routes:

The A10 is an orbital motorway that encircles Berlin. The A111 and A115 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 A24 (from Hamburg), A9 (from Leipzig and Munich), the A113 (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).

Driving times:

From Hamburg - 3 hours 15 minutes; Dresden - 2 hours 25 minutes; Frankfurt am Main - 5 hours 50 minutes.

Coaches:

Eurolines (tel: 0870 514 3219 in the UK only; www.eurolines.com) international coach services cover 500 destinations including Paris, Strasbourg, Vienna and London, and more locally, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Hanover. Berlin Linien Bus (tel: (030) 861 9331; www.berlinlinienbus.de) also runs these national and international services.

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, Kaiserdamm 30 (tel: (030) 306 7210) and at the ZOB Reiseburo (tel: (030) 301 0380; www.zob-reisebuero.de).

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 Hanover and Frankfurt am Main. ICE trains also go to Hamburg. An expanding web of high-speed trains also serves destinations across Western Europe. Supplements are incurred for travel on ICE, IC and EC trains.

The main railway station is Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Europaplatz, Europe's largest station linking east/west and north/south lines in the city centre. Facilities include tourist information, lounge, bank, restaurant, food halls, café, shops, newsagents, pharmacy, hairdresser and left luggage. Gusundbrunnen station to the north provides rail links to the Baltic. The other major mainline stations are Bahnhof Lichtenberg, and Ostbahnhof, in east Berlin. Some mainline services also stop at Bahnhof Spandau, to the west, and Bahnhof Sudkreuz, in the south.

Operators:

Deutsche Bahn (tel: 0180 599 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:

Approximate journey times for trains to Berlin are: from Hamburg - 1 hour 40 minutes; Hanover - 1 hour 40 minutes; Frankfurt am Main - 3 hours 40 minutes.

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