I understand that there is a 72 hour Berlin Welcome Museum Pass card that includes a pass to the five Museums on the Island. My 2018 Rick Steve's Germany book does not mention this. And when I go to the Welcome Card website it is not clear what is included. Yet on the site called getyourguide.com it shows a combined Berlin Welcome Card plus Museum Pass available for about 45 Euro. Which seems to be as good or better than purchasing a 72 hour Berlin 27.90 Euro Welcome Card plus a 72 hour Museum Pass Berlin for 29 Euro. What does Rick recommend?
Posted by
Salem, Oregon, USA
2324 posts
Really it should be what you need for your purposes and based on how long you're going to be there, whether you are needing transit options, and what activities you want to do. Depending on the math pick the option that suits your needs - the website provides all the entrance fees so you can calculate your expected costs for yourself. You can buy all of the passes at the airport on arrival, but you can order them online (you still have to pick up in person).
The basic welcome card covers transit (you can pick the time period it covers and the radius of how far you want to travel) and discounts to some attractions. No free entry to museums.
The welcome card plus museum island includes the basic card features, plus free one time entry to the five museum island museums.
The welcome card all inclusive is transit plus free entry to 30 listed attractions.
The museum pass covers entry to 30 museums for a three day period.
I personally picked a four day basic welcome card plus a museum pass because that worked best for my visit. I used the discount feature only twice (once for an Insider Tour walk, highly recommended, and another for a discount to a museum not covered by the pass).
Posted by
Washington DC
27062 posts
I have no idea what Rick recommends, but I bought that combination in 2015 and do not recommend it. If you have more than 3 days in Berlin, there's a big difference between having a 3-day Welcome card plus a separate 3-day Museum Pass Berlin (which together give you up to 6 days of sightseeing) and the 3-day combination card you are considering. [I think the better combination is what CL used.] A major issue for travelers to Berlin is that there are so many widely-scattered large museums and time-consuming historic sites. There's a limit to how many places you can see in one day if they are places you really care about.
I also ran into two major annoyances with the Welcome Card/Museum combo:
- I was not allowed to skip the extremely long ticket lines on Museumsinseln.
- When there was a special exhibition at one of the Museumsinseln museums that caused an increase in the entry fee, I was required to pay the full augmented entry fee rather than just the difference due to the special exhibition. That left me with the feeling that the whole thing was something of a rip-off.
In addition to the 3-day Museum Pass Berlin I mentioned above, there appears also to be a 1-day Museumsinseln pass for 18 euros. If you're interested I more than one of the Museumsinseln museums and intend to sequeeze them all into one day (you'll have to be ruthless), that might be a good way to go.
Note that I have no experience using either of those passes. I did read somewhere on line that it is possible with one or the other of those passes to go to the Group Tour desk and get in without braving the hour+ ticket line.