Berlin Brandenburg Airport to the City Centre - Transport Guide

Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which everyone calls BER, lies south of Berlin in Schönefeld, outside the city itself in fare zone C. The good news is that the railway station is directly beneath Terminal 1, so you can be on a train towards the city centre a few minutes after you’ve collected your luggage. I always take the train to and from the airport in Berlin myself.

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Here are my favourite places to stay & things to do in German capital.

🛌 Places to Stay:
1. Hotel Adlon Kempinski (luxury hotel where all the celebs are staying too, right by the Brandenburg Gate)
2. NH Collection Mitte (very good hotel with an even better location in the heart of Berlin)
3. H4 Hotel Alexanderplatz (affordable hotel near Alexanderplatz and my favourite area, Prenzlauer Berg)

🎟️ Top Activities & Tours:
1. Fast-track ticket to the TV Tower (skip the slow-moving queue)
2. Go on Boat Tour on the River Spree (lovely way to see a lot of sights)
3. Take a Third Reich and Cold War Walking Tour
4. Take a guided tour to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial

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You’ve got three real options: the FEX airport train to Hauptbahnhof, the S-Bahn lines S9 and S85, which run straight to Alexanderplatz, Friedrichshain and Prenzlauer Berg, or a taxi. Which one suits you best depends on where you’re staying and when you land. Here you’ll find the fares, the ticket rules, where to get off and what to do at night. For the rough conversions I’ve used about £0.84 and $1.13 per euro.

If you’d rather drive yourself from the airport, you can compare prices on rental cars at Booking.com.

At a glance

• FEX (the airport train): €5 (about £4.20/$5.60) with an ABC ticket, 23 minutes to Hauptbahnhof, runs every 15 to 20 minutes from around 04:00 to 01:00 and about once an hour for the rest of the night.
• S-Bahn S9: €5 (about £4.20/$5.60), around 45 minutes to Alexanderplatz, runs every 20 minutes and all night on Fridays and Saturdays.
• S-Bahn S85: €5 (about £4.20/$5.60), direct to Ostkreuz and Prenzlauer Berg, runs every 20 minutes from morning to evening.
• Express buses X7 and X71: €5 (about £4.20/$5.60), to Rudow U-Bahn station, where you change to the U7 towards Neukölln and Kreuzberg, at least every 10 minutes during the day.
• Night buses: €5 (about £4.20/$5.60), the N60 to Alexanderplatz and the N7X to Zoologischer Garten, for when the trains are infrequent.
• Taxi: Expect €60 to €70 (about £51 to £59, or $68 to $79) to the centre, 35 to 45 minutes depending on traffic.

Finding your transport at the airport

BER has two terminals, Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, which are a few minutes’ walk apart. If you land at Terminal 2, follow the signs from arrivals level E0 over to Terminal 1, because everything you need is there. The airport’s railway station, Flughafen BER, lies directly beneath Terminal 1 on level U2, and the FEX, the regional trains and the S-Bahn all leave from here.

Buy your ticket before you go down to the platform, as you can’t buy one on the S-Bahn or the regional trains. According to S-Bahn Berlin, there are ticket machines in Terminal 1 on level E0 close to the baggage reclaim belts, and there are ticket counters on level E0 and on level U1. You can find out more on S-Bahn Berlin’s page about the airport.

The buses stop in front of Terminal 1 on arrivals level E0, where the X7 and X71 express buses leave from stops A6 and A7. Taxis wait at the two ranks north and south of the entrance in front of Terminal 1 on level E0. You can see all the lines and stops on the airport’s public transport page.

1. FEX to Hauptbahnhof, Potsdamer Platz and Südkreuz

The airport train is called the FEX (Flughafen-Express), and it’s the fastest way into the centre. It runs directly between the airport and Berlin Hauptbahnhof with only two stops on the way: Südkreuz after 14 minutes and Potsdamer Platz after 19 minutes. The journey to Hauptbahnhof takes 23 minutes. The train takes the direct line through the southern part of the city and leaves from the station right below the terminal.

From around 04:00 until around 01:00 there’s an FEX train every 15 to 20 minutes, and for the rest of the night it runs about once an hour. At night the train takes a different route through the city, so you can also ride it to Alexanderplatz and Zoologischer Garten. From morning to evening, the RE20 regional train also runs the same way between Hauptbahnhof, Potsdamer Platz, Südkreuz and the airport, and according to the airport, the FEX and the RE20 together run up to five times an hour. You’ll find the timetable and the stops at DB Regio, which runs the FEX.

The FEX suits you if you’re staying in Mitte, near Hauptbahnhof, at Potsdamer Platz or in the western part of the city, where you change to the S-Bahn or U-Bahn at Hauptbahnhof. The catch is that the train doesn’t go to Alexanderplatz during the day. If that’s where you’re heading, the S9 is often just as easy, because you won’t have to change.

Fares and tickets

The airport is in fare zone C, so you need a ticket for the Berlin ABC zones. A single ticket costs €5 (about £4.20/$5.60), and children aged 6 to 14 pay €3.50 (about £3/$3.90). Children under 6 travel free. The ticket is valid for 120 minutes in one direction, and you can change along the way to the S-Bahn, U-Bahn, trams and buses. You can’t use it for a return journey. The fares and rules are listed by BVG.

The standard AB ticket costs €4 (about £3.40/$4.50), but it isn’t valid to the airport. If you already have an AB ticket, such as a day ticket, you buy a zone C extension ticket, which costs €2.40 (about £2/$2.70). If there are several of you, or you’ll be travelling a lot on the same day, a 24-hour ABC ticket for €12.90 (about £11/$14.50) is often the best buy. It’s valid for one adult and up to three children aged 6 to 14, according to BVG’s page about the 24-hour ticket. A four-trip ticket for the ABC zones costs €16.80 (about £14/$19).

If you’ll be using public transport for several days, take a look at the Berlin WelcomeCard for the ABC zones, which covers the trip to and from the airport. The 48-hour card costs €34.50 (about £29/$39) and gives you discounts on sights, and up to three children aged 6 to 14 travel free with it, according to BVG. Only buy the ABC version, because the AB card doesn’t cover the airport.

You can buy the Berlin WelcomeCard for the ABC zones in advance here, so it’s ready when you land.

Paying, the app and validating your ticket

The ticket machines take cash, girocard and credit cards, and you can pay contactless, according to BVG’s page about its ticket machines. If you buy a paper ticket, you have to validate it before you board. The validators are at the stations, on the trams and on the buses, and a ticket that hasn’t been validated isn’t valid.

The easiest option is to buy your ticket in BVG’s Ticket App, where you can pay by credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay. You can also buy tickets in the VBB and S-Bahn Berlin apps. If you’d like to know more about tickets for the rest of your stay, read my guide to public transport in Berlin.

Where to get off

Berlin Hauptbahnhof: The last stop and the city’s biggest railway station, where you can change to the S-Bahn and U-Bahn. Get off here if you’re staying near the station, in the government quarter or in the western part of Mitte. From here, the S-Bahn continues towards Friedrichstraße and Alexanderplatz.

Potsdamer Platz: The stop between Mitte, Tiergarten and Kreuzberg, where you can change to the north-south S-Bahn. It’s the right stop if your hotel is at Potsdamer Platz or around Leipziger Platz.

Südkreuz: The first station in the city, where you can change to the Ringbahn and to long-distance trains. It’s a good place to change if you’re heading to Schöneberg or anywhere on the Ringbahn.

If you’d like to choose your neighbourhood based on the connections, see my guide to where to stay in Berlin, where I go through the best areas and their hotels.

2. S-Bahn S9 and S85 to Alexanderplatz, Friedrichshain and Prenzlauer Berg

The S-Bahn is the other big option, and it’s often the best one if you’re staying in the eastern part of Mitte, in Friedrichshain or in Prenzlauer Berg. Two lines run directly from the station beneath Terminal 1: the S9 and the S85. Both first run through Schönefeld, Adlershof and Schöneweide to Treptower Park, and from there they split.

The S9 continues via Warschauer Straße, Ostbahnhof, Jannowitzbrücke and Alexanderplatz to Hackescher Markt, Friedrichstraße, Hauptbahnhof, Zoologischer Garten and Charlottenburg. According to the timetable, it takes about 35 minutes to Warschauer Straße, 45 minutes to Alexanderplatz, 50 minutes to Hauptbahnhof and just under an hour to Zoologischer Garten. The S85 runs via Ostkreuz and Frankfurter Allee instead, up through Prenzlauer Berg with stops at Greifswalder Straße, Prenzlauer Allee and Schönhauser Allee.

Both lines run every 20 minutes, so there’s an S-Bahn train from the airport about every 10 minutes. The S9 runs towards the centre until around 02:00, and on Friday and Saturday nights it runs all night every half hour, according to S-Bahn Berlin’s page about the S9. The S85 runs until around 23:30 and not at night, and late in the evening and at weekends it terminates at Pankow, as you can see on the page about the S85.

The S-Bahn is slower than the FEX, but you often won’t have to change, and that counts when you’ve got suitcases with you. The catch is that the journey to Mitte takes twice as long as on the FEX, so if you’re going to Hauptbahnhof, the airport train is clearly faster.

Fares and tickets

You use exactly the same ticket as on the FEX: an ABC single ticket for €5 (about £4.20/$5.60), €3.50 (about £3/$3.90) for children aged 6 to 14, or a 24-hour ABC ticket for €12.90 (about £11/$14.50). The ticket is also valid when you change from the S-Bahn to the U-Bahn, a tram or a bus within the 120 minutes. Remember to validate your paper ticket at the station before you board.

Where to get off the S-Bahn

Warschauer Straße: The stop for Friedrichshain and the nightlife around RAW-Gelände, and you can change to the U-Bahn here. The Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery is a few minutes’ walk away, and you can read more in my guide to the Berlin Wall.

Alexanderplatz: The big interchange in the eastern part of Mitte by the TV Tower, where you can change to the U-Bahn. There are lots of hotels here, and from Hackescher Markt, the next stop, you walk straight into streets full of cafés and courtyards. You can see hotels in Mitte here.

Friedrichstraße: The stop for the western part of Mitte around Unter den Linden, and you can change to the U-Bahn here.

Zoologischer Garten and Savignyplatz: The stops for City West and Charlottenburg with the Kurfürstendamm. It’s a long ride on the S9, but you won’t have to change.

Greifswalder Straße, Prenzlauer Allee and Schönhauser Allee: The S85 stops in Prenzlauer Berg, where you’ll be staying on quiet streets with cafés and old apartment buildings. You can see hotels in Prenzlauer Berg here.

3. Express buses X7 and X71 to the U-Bahn

BVG’s X7 and X71 express buses run from stops A6 and A7 in front of Terminal 1 to Rudow U-Bahn station, and the X71 continues to Alt-Mariendorf on the U6 line. The buses run at least every 10 minutes during the day and are a particularly good choice if you’re staying in Neukölln or Kreuzberg.

At Rudow you change to the U7, which runs through Neukölln to Hermannplatz and on to Südstern, Gneisenaustraße and Mehringdamm in Kreuzberg, as you can see on BVG’s page about the U7. It takes longer than the train, but it’s the most direct route to the southern districts. You use the same ABC ticket for €5 (about £4.20/$5.60), and it covers both the bus and the U-Bahn. You can also buy your bus ticket from the driver.

4. Night buses and trains at night

Berlin is easy to reach at night. The FEX runs almost around the clock, according to VBB. At night there’s about one train an hour, and it runs via Alexanderplatz and Zoologischer Garten. On Friday and Saturday nights the S9 also runs every half hour. For the rest of the night, the night buses leave from stops A4 and A6-7 on arrivals level E0 in front of Terminal 1.

The N60 runs every half hour to Alexanderplatz, the N7X runs every quarter of an hour to Zoologischer Garten, but only on weeknights, and the N7 runs every half hour to Rudow U-Bahn station, from where it continues along the whole U7 line on weeknights. The night buses need the same ABC ticket for €5 (about £4.20/$5.60) as the train. You’ll find the lines and stops on the airport’s public transport page, which I link to in the section on finding your transport.

5. Taxis

Taxis wait at the ranks north and south of the entrance in front of Terminal 1 on arrivals level E0, even if you’ve landed at Terminal 2. Only get into a car that’s marked as a taxi, at the official ranks. Unless you’ve agreed otherwise, the driver has to take the shortest and therefore cheapest route, according to the airport’s page about taxis.

S-Bahn Berlin says you should expect to pay €60 to €70 (about £51 to £59, or $68 to $79) to the centre, and that the journey takes 35 to 45 minutes depending on traffic. For one or two people the train is therefore far cheaper, but if there are four of you with lots of luggage, or you land late, a taxi can be worth the money.

Private transfer

If you’d like your transport sorted before you land, you can book a private transfer from BER to your hotel here. The price is agreed in advance, and the driver picks you up at the airport.

You can also book a pickup with Welcome Pickups here, where the price is likewise agreed before you land.

Onward travel around Germany straight from the airport

If you’re not heading into Berlin, you can often travel on directly from the airport. The Intercity trains between Dresden and Rostock stop at BER, and they run via Südkreuz and Hauptbahnhof. The RE20 regional train runs from the airport to Lübbenau in the Spreewald, and the BER2 express bus runs from stop A2 to Potsdam Hauptbahnhof in just under an hour. The BER2 costs a supplement of €6 (about £5.10/$6.80) on top of the standard ticket, and you pay the supplement on the bus. These connections are also listed on the airport’s public transport page, and you can find and compare train tickets on Omio.

Getting back to the airport

To get to the airport, take the FEX from Hauptbahnhof, Potsdamer Platz or Südkreuz, and from Hauptbahnhof you’ll be there in 23 minutes. From Alexanderplatz, Friedrichshain and Prenzlauer Berg, the S9 and S85 are the easiest. You’ll need an ABC ticket again, because the ticket from your arrival can’t be used for a return journey.

If you’ve got a very early flight, the FEX is the safe option, because it runs about once an hour all night, and the N60 and N7X night buses also run towards the airport. The airport doesn’t give a fixed number of hours, but it asks you to check the times with your airline and to allow time for security and the walk to the gate, which normally closes 30 minutes before departure. Also check whether you’re flying from Terminal 1 or Terminal 2. You reach check-in and security for Terminal 2 through Terminal 1, and there’s no drop-off area in front of Terminal 2.

If you’re getting a lift or a taxi, you’ll be dropped off on departures level E1 in front of Terminal 1, and the first 10 minutes in the short-stay car park are free, according to the airport’s FAQ.

Which option should you choose?

Here’s what I’d recommend, depending on where you’re staying:

Mitte: Take the FEX to Hauptbahnhof if your hotel is in the western part of Mitte, and the S9 straight to Alexanderplatz, Hackescher Markt or Friedrichstraße if it’s in the eastern part.

Prenzlauer Berg: Take the S85 straight to Greifswalder Straße, Prenzlauer Allee or Schönhauser Allee. If the S85 isn’t running, take the S9 to Alexanderplatz and the U-Bahn or a tram from there.

Friedrichshain: Take the S9 to Warschauer Straße or Ostbahnhof, or the S85 to Ostkreuz and Frankfurter Allee.

Kreuzberg: Take the X7 to Rudow and the U7 to Mehringdamm or Gneisenaustraße. If you’re heading to the northern part by the Spree, the S9 to Warschauer Straße is often easier.

Charlottenburg: Take the S9 straight to Zoologischer Garten, Savignyplatz or Charlottenburg, or the FEX to Hauptbahnhof and the S-Bahn on towards the west if you’d like to save time.

If you land at night: Take the FEX, which runs about once an hour, or the N60 night bus to Alexanderplatz. On Friday and Saturday nights the S9 runs too.

If there are three or four of you: Buy a 24-hour ABC ticket if you’re one adult with children, or take a taxi if you’re four adults with lots of luggage.

If you’re staying several days: Buy the Berlin WelcomeCard for the ABC zones, and the trip to and from the airport and all your transport in the city are covered.

Practical tips for getting from Berlin Brandenburg Airport to the city centre

Always buy an ABC ticket. The airport is in zone C, and a standard AB ticket isn’t valid for the journey. If you already have an AB ticket, the zone C extension ticket is enough.

Validate your paper ticket. A ticket from the machine has to be validated at the station before you board. If you buy it in the app, you skip both the machine and validating a paper ticket.

Buy your ticket before you go down to the platform. You can’t buy a ticket on the S-Bahn or the regional trains, so use the machines in Terminal 1 or the app.

Only take a taxi from the ranks. The airport warns against cars that aren’t marked as taxis, so use the ranks in front of Terminal 1.

Choose your hotel with the connection in mind. If you’re staying in Mitte, the FEX runs to Hauptbahnhof and the S9 to Alexanderplatz, and you can see hotels in Mitte here. In Friedrichshain, the S9 runs straight to Warschauer Straße and Ostbahnhof, and you can see hotels in Friedrichshain here. If you’d like to stay in Prenzlauer Berg, the S85 runs straight to the neighbourhood, and you can see hotels in Prenzlauer Berg here.

If you’re not sure which neighbourhood suits you, read my guide to where to stay in Berlin, and find inspiration in my guide to things to do in Berlin.

Travel ressources & websites I use all the time 👇

• Booking.com has the best offers on hotels and unique places to stay
• GetYourGuide is the best place to book tours & activities with free cancellation
• Welcome Pickups is the best & safest place to pre-book airport transfers

Psst 👀 Have you subscribed to my Youtube channel and my Instagram where I provide more useful travel tips?