Berlin to Prague by train

You may be able to get cheaper fares at bahn.com in advance, but these will be on specific trains and if your plane is delayed you will have to buy another ticket. I would suggest travelling from the airport to Berlin Hauptbahnhof by a regional train rather than changing in Dresden, as German long-distance trains are very unreliable at the moment and you might miss your connection. If you do change in Dresden, be warned that as you head into Dresden from the northern direction, your train might call at the Dresden Neustadt station, and it is possible that your connecting train might not. Make sure you stay on the train until Dresden Hauptbahnhof. I'm warning about this as Dresden Neustadt station is quite large and impressive, and it's easy to mistake it for the Hauptbahnhof.

I’ve taken the direct train in both ways - Prague to Berlin and also Berlin to Prague. The trip was seamless. You may find it easier to take the train into Berlin. There may be better departure options. Berlin’s train station is very well laid out and easily navigable. The recommendation for purchasing your ticket on the bahn website is solid.

I think this really depends on what time you land and get through immigration and your luggage. if you can catch the connection through Dresden in the near term, you should take it. The change time in Dresden to the EC train to Prague is 43 minutes, so even if your first train to Dresden is running late, you have a big cushion in Dresden.

But lets say you are ready to go and you just missed the Dresden train. The EC train to Prague goes every 2 hours, so you will have to kill time somewhere, so you either do it in BER or Berlin Hbf. Berlin Hbf will have coffee shops, restaurants, shopping, so then you might choose to kill an hour there. Airport train stations usually don't have much to offer, if anything. There is a train to Berlin Hbf every 15 minutes and it takes 35 minutes to get there.

So if the Dresden train is less than an hour to go when you are ready, I would stay put. Going into into Berlin is back tracking and likely to cost a bit more for a ticket bought that day. If it is much more than 1 hour, Berlin Hbf is a more comfortable wait.

Thanks to you all! This is so helpful. We will see what time we get in and adjust the plan at that point. It sounds like we should be able to buy train tickets on the travel day instead of ahead of time. Many thanks!

Note! Beginning Tuesday, May 20, the DB schedule says the stop at Berlin Hbf is omitted and train will stop alternatively at Berlin Gesundbrunnen and Berlin Lichtenberg.

You can book tickets through cd.cz, though the website is a bit odd as a first time user. Might work out cheaper than the Bahn.de offer. See www.seat61.com (not a business nor affiliated with me) and look up Berlin to Prague on the site. It is THE definitive guide to train travel.

I agree with jwells6. Tickets are less expensive through the cd.cz site as compared to the DB system. For example, one-way ticket Munich to Prague was over $100 for two on DB, but through the Czech train page they are $56. We have tickets booked through there for Munich-Prague and Berlin-Prague--both round trip. I also suggest downloading the app so your tickets also show up on your phone.

Oh, one note on cd.cz vs bahn.de...you can pick your actual seats on the CD Eshop. Left side of the train has the best views!

I my experience if you book via CD but you need to make changes then the DBahn Ticket office in Berlin will help. But if you book via DBahn then CD will not help with any changes as they just tell you to sort it out with DBahn.

Again, many thanks to you all for the thoughtful replies and suggestions! We appreciate it!!