public transportation in Berlin

The best starting point is https://www.bvg.de/en.

You can start by looking at the Berlin card https://www.visitberlin.de/en/berlin-welcome-card

Every time I go to berlin I buy the Sieben-Tage-Karte w/zones ABC when I arrive at BER. https://www.bvg.de/en/subscriptions-and-tickets/all-tickets/time-tickets/7-day-ticket
You need Zone C to travel from/to the airport into the city and if you are going to Potsdam you will need it as well. You can do the math based on your plans and see whether having Zone C for the week makes sense, or an individual ticket.

Once I bought the Berlin Welcome Card, which includes transport, but I did not feel I got my money's worth out of it. If you are considering that, look at what it covers and see if those things are on your to-do list and if it makes sense to buy the card instead of paying individual admissions.

I am not interested in having to buy a ticket every day or worry about going somewhere that's not covered, so I buy my Zones ABC ticket at the BVG machine in the baggage claim area, validate it when I board the train at the airport, then I'm good for unlimited travel wherever I want to go for the next seven days.

Also, Berlin is VERY spread out. You may think you are going to do a lot of walking, and you no doubt will, but with an unlimited ticket it's nice to be able to hop on transport if you're tired - no worries about taking the bus, tram or Bahn just a stop or two.

Be sure to keep your ticket with you because you are almost guaranteed to be asked for it at some point, if not asked multiple times for it.

Are you going anywhere else in Germany? The Deutschland Ticket is 58 euro and covers regional trains as well as local transportation for a calendar month. It is not much more than the 7-day ABC ticket for Berlin.

I am in Berlin now. I landed in Berlin about a week ago, traveled to the Harz Mountains for 5 days, and am now back in Berlin for 3 days. For about the price of a one-way ticket to the Harz Mountains, I got round trip to Harz Mountains, regional trains throughout Harz Mountains, and then local transportation (U, S, Bus) in Berlin. It's a deal if you will be traveling elsewhere in Germany.

If you are interested, I can explain further, including how to purchase (or use the Search tab above -- the Deutschland ticket is well-covered on this forum).

This is one of the great things about this forum— great suggestions even when you’re not looking.

Thank you kayla.p. For some reason I didn’t think about the 7 day pass.
I just bought on my phone to activate the day we arrive and now I don’t have to mess with any machines or think about tickets.

Hello,
We just spent a week in Berlin and definitely ended up using transit enough times every day to make a pass very worthwhile. The trams and subway were very nice and efficient for getting everywhere.

The Welcome Berlin Card was worthwhile for us because we were travelling with our kids under the age of 14...they could travel for free with us. Otherwise though, we didn't save a whole lot of money on entrances for museums or attractions, though the extra cost for the basic card wasn't too high.

My in-laws didn't get the Welcome Card, and just bought a 7 day pass on the BVG app. That worked well too. They would have likely saved a few dollars on attractions with a Welcome Card, but didn't get the huge benefit of needing to travel with kids for free.

Either way, the Welcome Card or just an ABC transit card were both bought via the app and were very simple to just pull up and show the couple of times we got spot checked on the train. Getting the full ABC zone worked great for us too and made travelling to Waansee and Potsdam very simple.

Cheers,

Thank you everyone! Fantastic information!
Question: does the ABC transit card include buses, trams, and subways? All public transportation?

So appreciate everyone’s help! :)

Yes, all public transportation.

All public transportation including S-Bahn and R-prefixed regional train services (which you might get to Potsdam or the airport, for instance).

I see we can purchase on an app. I’m assuming we wouldn’t need to carry a printed copy if we have an electronic version? We are leaning towards the Deutschland ticket. Also, is it a pass if my spouse purchases on his app, can he share my ticket where I can store on my phone in case I’m asked for proof of purchase?

Hello,
No physical copy required. There is no scanning in required, so you just need to have an active ticket with you in case inspectors ask to see it. So all we needed to do was open the app and show them.

And some people in our party bought multiple passes on the app on one phone which worked fine...as long as you're sure you will always be travelling together that would work. I'm not sure if he could share it after purchase though, but if you're with him he can show them both tickets on his app.

Cheers,

Deutschland Ticket is a ticket on your phone. Each person would need their own ticket which has the traveler's name on it. On rare occasion when I was on regional trains in the Harz Mountains a couple of weeks ago, my companion and I are were asked for our passports to match names to ticket. On Berlin busses, we were just waved on by, and we never had to show it on the U or the S in Berlin.

The Deutschland Ticket is actually a monthly subscription, but you can buy it at the beginning of the month you want it, and then cancel the subscription shortly thereafter (even like 5 minutes) -- you will still have the ticket for the current month but will not be charged for the next month.