Berlin

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General information

Berlin is the capital of Germany. Berlin has a population of around 3,5 million people. It is estimated that annually 100 million people visit Berlin, of which roughly 10 million stay in a hotel, hostel, guesthouse, etc. Tourism is one of the pillars of the economy of the city.

Berlin has a relatively high unemployment rate. Around 12% of the people in Berlin is officially unemployed and almost 19% of the Berliner lives on social security benefits.

Berlin's Couch Situation

Berlin is a major Couchsurfing city where there are CS events happening almost every day. Berlin is a favourite city to Couchsurf, especially around New Years Eve and in summer. Since many people try to Couchsurf in Berlin, it can be hard to find a couch. Make sure you have a filled out profile and a profile picture. Write personal requests. Hosts in Berlin are getting many copy-paste requests, so a personal one could make a difference. It's recommended to write your requests between 1 month and 1 week before arrival. Your chances increase if you have some references (from your local community, for example).

The Berlin last minute couch request group is in:

• Last Minute Couchsearch Group

Berlin Hostels and Guesthouses

Hostels cost of €5 to €65 a night, depending on the season, location and type of room.

The major backpacker's hostel area in Berlin are:

These hostels come highly recommend by CS travellers:

To find hostels and reviews, try these links:

• list of hostels (non-commercial)
• Hostelworld (commercial)
• Hostelbookers (commercial)
• Hostelz (commercial)
• Hostels.com (commercial)

Mid-range and Higher end Accommodation

These are another option for budget travellers if your couchsearch doesn't work out and hostel reservations are hard to make. Team up with other CSers and you can share costs.

Short/Long term stay

Some websites that our CS-ers recommend, if you're looking for flatshare(WG)/renting a flat in Berlin:

• WG-Gesucht.de (German/English) The most used website to search for accomodation/house mates
• Studenten-wg.de (German) Another website to find WG's
• Immobilo.de (German) Searches multiple websites that lists accomodations.
• Immobilienscout24 (German) For appartments, less used for flatsharing.
• WGcompany (English) Has a glossary in english with all important terms. Used for flatsharing.
• E-bay Kleinanzeigen (German) Germans offer everything on E-bay.
• Craigslist (English) Not all very reliable, but sometimes it contains a hidden treasure.

Or try our Accommodation subgroup under the CS Berlin group.

Getting Around

U-Bahn and S-Bahn lines of the inner city of Berlin, as of February 2013

Public transportation generally goes almost everywhere in whole Berlin. Read more and plan a journey at the BVG Website Very important: Some of the tickets has to be validated before use. If you forget: the fine is 40 Euro.

Tickets

Tickets for public transport can be bought at every S- and U-Bahn station from machines, at ticket offices on the main stations. Daily tickets or tickets for short rides can be bought in busses and trams as well. Tickets are valid for all ways of public transport within the chosen area (A, B and C).

Short term tickets

Short trip fare (Kurzstrecke) is valid for either 3 U- or S-Bahn stops, or 6 tram- or busstops. Costs €1,40

Single tickets (Einzelfahrschein) is valid for 2 hours. Officially you can not travel back to the station you started, so it's a one-way ticket. Costs €2,40 (AB), €2,80 (BC) or €3,10 (ABC).

4-Trip-ticket (4-Fahrten-Karte) is the same as 4 single tickets, but slightly cheaper when bought in this way.

Day ticket (Tageskarte) can be used for an entire day, until 3:00am next day. Costs €6,50 (AB), €6,80 (BC) or €7,00 (ABC).

Long term tickets

7-Day-ticket (7-Tage-Karte VBB-Umweltkarte) is valid for an entire week. With this ticket you can travel with an additional adult or 3 children between 8:00pm end 3:00am, on saturdays and sundays and at public holidays. Costs €28,00 (AB), €28,90 (BC) or €34,60 (ABC).

Monthly ticket (Monatskarte VBB-Umweltkarte) is valid for an entire month. With this ticket you can travel with an additional adult or 3 children between 8:00pm end 3:00am, on saturdays and sundays and at public holidays. The ticket is transferable and some people offer their monthly ticket (or the part that's left) on the internet. Costs €77,00 (AB), €78,00 (BC) or €95,00 (ABC).

10am Monthly ticket (10-Uhr-Karte) is a limited version of the monthly ticket. You can not take other people on the same ticket. Furthermore, you're only allowed to travel after 10:00am. Therefore the price is better than the regular monthly ticket: €55,50 (AB), €56,50 (BC) or €68,00 (ABC).

Special tickets

Small group ticket (Kleingruppen-Tageskarte) is a daily ticket for group of up to 5 persons. It pays itself back when traveling with 3 or more persons. Costs €15,50 (AB), €15,80 (BC) and €16,00 (ABC)

Berlin Welcome card 2/3/5 days - Next to travelling, you can use this card to get discounts at touristic attractions, in restaurants and free entrance at some museums (with 3/5-day ticket). Can not be bought at ticket vending machines. Read more

Berlin CityTourCard 2/3/5 days - Next to travelling, this card provides some discount on some touristic attractions. This ticket can also be bought at ticket vending machines. Read more

For more information on tickets and pricing: BVG Tickets

From Airport to City

For the time being, Berlin has 2 major airports, 'Tegel' in the northwest and 'Schönefeld' in the southeast.

S-Bahn

Schönefeld Airport is directly connected with S-Bahn. Line S9 connects the airport with the eastern and northern part of the city. Line S45 connects the airport with the southern part of the inner-city. Both lines pass stations located on the S-Bahn circular railway (Ringbahn), which makes it easy to travel to other parts of the city, changing trains just once.

Bus

Tegel Airport is accessible by bus. There are 2 shuttle buses: X9 between Tegel and 'S+U Zoologischer Garten' (western Berlin); TXL between Tegel and 'S+U Alexanderplatz' (eastern Berlin). There are also 2 normal bus lines: 128 in the direction of 'U Osloer Straße' and 109 in the direction of 'S+U Zoologischer Garten'.

Taxi

Expected price for a taxi-ride from/to the airport is between €20,00 and €35,00.

Underground/ U-Bahn

The subway/underground in Berlin is called the U-Bahn.

The U-Bahn is efficient and reliable and it covers the major areas of the city.

Buses

Buses in Berlin are plentiful.

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Taxi

There are fixed prices for taxi's in Berlin. There's no difference between day- and night prices. The prices are calculated as follows:

Basic price: €3,20

Per kilometre (first 7): €1,65

Per kilometre (after 7): €1,28

You'll pay additional if:

- you're travelling more than 4 persons: €1,50 per extra person

- the taxi has to wait for you: €25,00 per hour

- you have big luggage: €1,00

- you are paying with credit card: €1,50

- you are coming from Tegel Airport: €0,50

The common taxi companies:

Taxi Berlin (+49 30) 20 20 20

Taxi Funk Berlin (+49 30) 44 33 22

Funk Taxi Berlin (+49 30)26 10 26

Nightlife, Dining and Entertainment

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Magazines and Event listings

The following websites can help bring you up to speed on the local club scene, nightlife, concerts, festivals and shows:

• Blitzgigs (English)
• Zitty (German)
• Exberliner (English)

Bars

Some favourite local haunts include:

Restaurants

There are hundreds of restaurants in Berlin. In most districts you'll find typical restaurants with foreign food, mostly turkish, asian and arabic. Meals that are often consumed are Döner and Falafel. Both meals cost between €2,00 and €4,00 depending on district and quality.

On several places you can find the typical Berlin Currywurst (curry sausage)

Vegetarian Restaurants:

• Yellow Sunshine - Fast food
• Vego Foodworld - Vegan/vegetarian hamburgers

Vegan Restaurants:

Sports, Activities and the Great Outdoors

Hiking

Running and Hiking events

Swimming and Beaches

Camping

Wakeboarding and Waterskiing

Windsurfing and Kayaking

Diving

Rock Climbing

Para-gliding

Snowboarding

Language Exchange

There are lots of language exchange options available in Berlin from one on one meetups to clubs that meet regularly in person to social networks available online at your convenience. Here are some of your options:

For one on one exchange:

Groups that meet regularly:

Language exchange social networks:

Paid language courses:

Sightseeing

Berlin is extremely easy to get around by public transport. You can easily visit several locations on one day.

Typical touristic attractions

Brandenburger Tor

Brandenburger Tor on German euro-coins

The Brandenburger Tor ([Brandenburger gate]) is one of the most famous buildings of both Berlin and Germany. It has been build as a city gate, but is now known as a symbol of the reunion of Germany.

Reichstagsgebäude

The [Reichstag building] is the former and present building for the German parliament. The burning of the building in 1933 was the direct cause of Hitler taking over all power. The building was not in use as a parliament between 1933 and 1999.

Flea markets

Berlin is well known for its flea markets. There are several weekly flea markets. The most famous ones:

Mauerpark

Boxhagener Platz

Schöneberg

Arkonaplatz

Straße des 17. Juni

Ostbahnhof

OBI Neukölln

Travelling from Berlin

Apart from the 2 airports, several (international) trains and busses arrive at and leave from Berlin.

Trains

Most international trains arrive at and depart from Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main railway station).

• to the Netherlands (Berlin-Schiphol)
• to Poland (Berlin-Warsaw/Gdansk/Wrocław Główny)
• to Switzerland (Berlin-Basel)
• to Denmark (Berlin-Copenhagen/Arhus)
• to the Czech Republic (Berlin-Prague)

To find the best connections, or for booking tickets, you can check out the website of the [German Railway]. Booking tickets on forehand can make a huge difference in price.

(inter)regional trains depart from every major station, such as Alexanderplatz, Ostbahnhof, Spandau and Sudkreuz. There's a difference between regional trains (RB (Regionalbahn) andRE (Regionalexpress)) and inter-regional trains (IC (Intercity) and ICE (Intercity Express)). The IC's and ICE's drive much faster and over a long distance, mostly to other big cities in Germany. The RB and RE only drive short distances and stop at many smaller stations on the way.

Car

Hitchhiking

Naturally, Hitchwiki has the best and most up-to-date resources about thumbing your way out of Berlin.

Visas

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Baggage Storage

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Cost of living

In Berlin you have many choices on how to spend your money. Berlin is a relatively cheap city, although the prices raised over the years.

FAQs

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