5 day unlimited public transport ticket in Berlin?

Here is the Berlin transit website: https://www.bvg.de/en/tickets-tariffs

Or you can go with the Berlin Welcome card that includes some additional perks in addition to transit:
https://www.berlin-welcomecard.de/en

Enjoy Berlin

There is a hotel chain that offers a free combi-ticket to its guests valid on all public transport, basically, a free unlimited pass even good on check-out day. I use that in Vienna, always a paper ticket given at check-in.

I used the Welcome Card when I was there in April. There is a shop at BER that sells them - sort of a TI, or it may even be called something like "Welcome Berlin". I don't remember how many days I bought, four or five, but I requested the one that included Potsdam. I was given a paper ticket. I validated it right before my first ride and then showed it when requested. A conductor was doing a sweep of the U-Bahn one day for "Schwarzfahrer" and I was asked to show it.

In Berlin, I use the BVG app for buying tickets. It also has a very helpful trip planner. It does not give the option of using a US address to create a profile, so I just use the address of my B&B.

Here are all the tickets BVG sells: https://www.bvg.de/en/tickets-tariffs/all-tickets

No 5-day ticket unless you get a Berlin Welcome Card, but a 7-day ticket is less than five one day tickets. It’s worthwhile to Google the fare zone map for Berlin to figure out which ticket to buy.

Continental,

From your request, it appears you'll likely be going outside metro-Berlin on only one day for a full day out in Potsdam.

If that's the case, you can buy the 7-day Berlin-ABC 3-zone ticket for 43€, as periscope highlighted above.

But if you're counting your Euros, you can purchase the 7-day Berlin-AB 2-zone ticket for 36€. On the day you're heading out to Potsdam, you can purchase from BVG / S-Bahn Berlin machines an "extension ticket (Anschlussfahrausweis)". One-way to Postdam in Berlin-C is 1.80€, valid 120 minutes; the return "extension" would be another 1.80€. Alternatively, an all-day extension ticket is 3.70€, for multiple trips and valid for 24 hours.

I have a lot of reading to do now and I appreciate everybody’s assistance and links. I plan to stay within Berlin with one day dedicated to Potsdam. I had not considered the Welcome Card although I had heard about it. There are so many options; I just don’t want to waste money.

To be honest, I am taking this solo trip one day at a time because I had a heart attack at the end of December of last year and this is my first trip abroad since that event let alone since the pandemic. My cardiologist gave me the green light to travel as long as I maintain a low-key environment meaning taking one day at a time. I’m 52. So if I feel like going to a museum one morning, I will go. If I feel like taking a walk to an outdoor market or to a bookstore, I will do that. There are many museums I want to visit; I know that this trip will not be one in which I can see all of them & that is OK. This will be my second visit to Berlin.

Thanks again.

Germany in late-September to early-October:

I miss Germany during "Altweibersommer". During this time, I think the weather and temperatures in Berlin could be lovely, especially if leaves begin changing colours and there are clear mornings.

It's impossible to cover the variety of museums on offer in Berlin, and that's why I've always viewed the city as a "lifelong project." If you can, try to get onto the Ringbahn (the S-Bahn circle line) and explore some of the city "outside" the Ring.

Enjoy your second visit to Berlin!

Please tell me about the S-Bahn circle. This sounds interesting! Thank you.

Continental,

A S-Bahn Berlin suburban rail route well used and known by the city's residents is the Ringbahn or the Circle Line. The Ringbahn effectively is the "border" between zones A and B.

The Ringbahn has 27 stops in total and takes about 1 hour to make a complete circuit around the city. Route S41 runs clockwise, and route S42 runs counterclockwise around the loop.

My last few stays in Berlin in the city's western neighbourhoods have always been close to either a U- or S-Bahn station. In my view, the Ringbahn has always been a good way to reach other distant parts of the city. That makes the Ringbahn as well as the north-south S1/S2 and east-west "Stadtbahn" critical S-Bahn options for commuters. With rising housing prices, many have spoken about finding a place either close to the Ring, and/or living more cheaply "outside" the Ring.

• Graphic of the Ringbahn, on Wikipedia
• S-Bahn Berlin route S41, in English
• S-Bahn Berlin route S42, in English
• Berlin ABC zone map, including Potsdam (to the southwest/lower-left) and the Ringbahn

Doing the entire west to east lateral route on the S-Bahn from Spandau to Karlshorst (Eckner) is very revealing, an eye opener especially hitting the junction points, Berlin Hbf., Friedrichstrasse , Alexanderplatz, Ostbahnhof , Ostkreuz, Warschauer Strasse.

So sorry to hear your health news, Continental. You're a valuable contributor to this forum and I've enjoyed many of your posts. I hope your recovery continues till you're back to full speed. You're much too young to slow down for long (compared to me anyway).

I got the 7-day, 3-zone pass last fall and it made things much easier. I didn't think twice about using the U- or S-bahn for a short trip. I also went out to Potsdam and, at the end, out to the airport on the S-bahn. The pass was a paper ticket I kept in my wallet. I had to show it three times in a week to inspectors who randomly check everyone's ticket now and then. I loved the absence of turnstiles in the system, preventing bottlenecks going in and out of stations and between lines. The pass also worked on the trams, an added convenience. I think also on the buses, though I didn't take one.

I hope you have a great trip and a full recovery. As a denizen of this forum, you know how to pace yourself and stop to smell the schnitzel.

I have to say I'm not sold on making a revolution on the Ring Bahn. The S-Bahn motors along at pace, it travels on lines without much to see really and you're rubber-necking to catch the briefest of glimpses. You have no views of approaching stations, and the only stations that have any day light are the reconstructed Berlin Südkreuz and Berlin Ostkreuz stations.

Personally, with time on my side, I'd sooner be exploring stations on the Berlin U7 line - that's my take.

I have to say I'm not sold on making a revolution on the Ring Bahn.

I agree with periscope. I'm sure you will end up doing some part of the ring with going to the places you want to go. I personally kind of like taking a U or S line to its terminus just to see what's there. I took the U2 to its terminus, Pankow, and wandered around a bit last fall -- see the Aimless Ambulations part of this trip report.

"...to its terminus, Pankow...." Pankow is an interesting district, historically and culturally. I mean, prior to the DDR time.

I actually did, or tried to, ride the Ringbahn when I was in Berlin in April. it was a bitterly cold misty rain so I thought why not? I was planning to hop off in Prenzlauer Berg and wander around, then hop back on to finish the ring. I got on at Tempelhof and made it as far as Wedding, where the line was closed and we had to transfer to a bus, so I didn't continue. I probably missed the most interesting part of the journey, but it was interesting in its own way to see the suburbs of Berlin - the Ikea, the building supply megastores, the generic apartments, much like our own suburbs in the states, yet different in many ways. Definitely not worth it for the average tourist, but I'm fascinated by Berlin, so I enjoyed it.

Good that you made it to Wedding, an important district in Berlin and one I've yet to see. Wedding was always known historically as the Communist area, stronghold of the KPD. Lots of the violence , street fighting, took place there in the early 1930s.

Prenzlauer Berg is interesting in how it has changed dramatically I first saw that place in August of 1989, the last summer of the East German regime ie, prior to the fall of the wall in Nov., lots of bullet holes in some of the walls., went back again in 1999.

I really appreciate everybody’s suggestions. thank you also for sharing links. I think with the information I’ve learned on this thread, it might be best to get the 7 day pass. When I go to Potsdam, I will buy the extension for each way. What a convenience that the pass is valid on both the U-Bahn & S-Bahn. It sounds like the 7 day pass is also only in paper form, is that correct?

I love the idea about taking a rail line to its terminus and walking around. I’ve done this in NYC but not in Berlin or really anywhere else. I don’t want to see just the tourist areas.

Dick, thank you so much for your kind words. I do appreciate this group and hope that I can help as I have certainly benefited from the help I have received. The heart attack really threw me for a loop. I didn’t even know I was having one; my situation was apparently typical with regards to women & heart attacks. I am getting better every day, hopefully, and am eager to return to traveling although a little bit scared to be honest.

You can buy the 7-day ticket out of a machine or you can buy it through the BVG app and just show your ticket on the app if it is requested.. You can also buy your extension ticket on the BVG app, too. Again, you just can’t use a US address to set up a profile — just use the address where you are staying, if you choose to use the app.

Thanks Dave