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Berlin transit question

I am going to be staying in Berlin for two weeks later this month. I see from the bvg.de website that a number of different transit tickets are available -- like, daily passes, weekly passes, etc.

There are also two tourist passes -- the Berlin Welcome Card and the Berlin City Tour Card. These two passes seem to offer pretty much the same thing -- unlimited transit for up to five days and discounts at selected museums and other attractions.

Since the prices of the two tourist cards are very similar, which is better? Or, are neither of these worth it? I see that a regular transit pass (without the tourist stuff) costs pretty much the same, but is valid for seven days instead of five days.

Posted by
446 posts

Berlin transit seems well organized -- typical German efficiency?

I get the idea that one company, or a collective, runs the buses, U-Bahn and S-Bahn -- so you don't have to buy separate tickets?

The one-week pass for 26,20 EUR looks good, too. Perhaps I might get that one week, and one of those tourist tickets that include discounts for the other five days, since I'm going to Dresden for two days and so won't be using transit during that period.

Posted by
17 posts

Tyler,

I was researching this very question last night. From my research, the City Tour card gives discounts on about 30 attractions, and the Welcome Card gives discounts on over 140 attractions/services. This year they are also offering a 5 day card for 29.50 Euro.
Links for info on both cards are below.
http://www.visitberlin.de/welcomecard/index.php?lang=en
http://www.citytourcard.com/cms/upload/pdf/CTC_Flyer_2009.pdf

I'm probably going to get the WelcomeCard.

Posted by
337 posts

Heidi is correct, the difference between the "Welcome Card" and "City Tour Card" is the number of partners which offer discounts.

Which is better for you (Welcome, Tour, regular) depends on which and how many attractions you'll want to visit.

Posted by
337 posts

Yes, it's a collective (VBB - Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg) with a unified tariff/ticket scheme.

In Berlin the two main operators are the BVG (subway, metro, busses, and some ferries; owned by the city) and the S-Bahn (S-Bahn; owned by Deutsche Bahn).

Posted by
446 posts

One other question -- the website says that their ticket machines take cash or "EC cards."

What are "EC cards"? Is that a special debit card, or do they accept other debit cards?

I have a Euro-denominated debit card from Citibank Spain. Could I use that? I bought a train ticket with it on the Deutsche Bahn website with no problem.

Posted by
337 posts

Yes, "electronic cash"/"girocard" cards are a brand/system of debit cards. Your card is an EC card, if it shows one of these symbols (click).