train travel to Berlin in Germany?

If landing on a Sa or Su, the happy weekend ticket (daypass) will get a group of 2-5 to Berlin for 35 Euros total on the regional trains.

As Russ says, if you're traveling from Warnemuende to Berlin on either a Saturday or a Sunday, the Schoenes-Wochenende (Happy-Weekend) ticket will get up to five people to Berlin AND back to Warnmuende for a grand total of €35. It will also cover your local transportation in Berlin. It's good on IC trains and regional trains but not on ICE trains.

Go to www.bahn.de and click on the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner for English. After you get summary timetables for Warnemuende-Berlin (or vice versa), click on "Details for all" to see the connecting points, if any. I suggest that you leave Warnemuende at 06:02, change in Rostock, and arrive in Berlin at 09:15. Leave Berlin at 18:43, change in Rostock, and arrive in Warnemuende at 22:01. The fare is €33.80 each way. Or a Happy-Weekend ticket for €35 roundtrip for all of you--if you're so lucky.

In the spirit of providing the best information, I must correct Tim's claim about the IC trains. The IC trains are taboo w/ the SW ticket - and I'm pretty sure you can confirm this at the DB website. You can use the SW ticket on the RB, RE, IRE and S trains - the local and regional trains. It has been this way for many years.

I stand corrected! That's what I get for relying on my memory of what I've read about Laender tickets and the Schoenes Wochenende tickets instead of looking it up one more time. Next time I'll be more careful so I don't lead anyone else astray.

Tim, you're forgiven, some of were wondering when you were actually going to make a slight error! :) That's only one error in 2000 detailed responses--not a bad batting average! :)

Thank you so much for the information, yes we will be in Germany on Saturday. We don't arrive until 8:00 a.m. though, so the 6:am train is out for us. Then our ship leaves at 22:00 so we will need to be back before that time. I am so computer Illiterate, but I am trying, I found a train that leaves at 9:02, but it is ICE. Did you say we couldn't use the weekend discount tickets on ICE? Do we need to purchase tickets before we travel? Do we have to state the time we are traveling if we use the weekend discount?
Thanks again so much for the info,
Sharon

I was unaware you were thinking of Berlin as a daytrip. It's probably not worth the trouble with just one day. Go there sometime when you have 3-5 days to spend.

I imagine your cruise provider has suggestions for more do-able outings.

Yes, you CANNOT use a Happy-Weekend-Ticket on either IC or ICE trains. You can, however, simply buy tickets at the station for the 09:02 ICE train. Buy a Happy-Weekend-Ticket (€35) for the return to Warnemuende. So long as you limit yourselves to regional and local trains, it doesn't matter which ones you take.

However, I agree with Russ that it would be better to visit places closer to Warnemuende. Since you won't be able to catch an early train to Berlin and since you'll have to be back at the ship fairly early, you just won't have enough time in Berlin to justify the hours you'll spend getting there and back.

Thank you so much for your replies. I know it sounds crazy to travel 6 hours to spend about 5 hours in Berlin, but I don't know when or if we will get back to Germany. The cruise line offers round trip for $179. per person, so I was just trying to find something more reasonable than that, and thanks to your help, it looks like I have.

Do you know if there is any way to hire a private van to go from Warnemunde to Berlin? Is it faster to take the train?

Thanks again for all your help,

Sharon

We were on a Baltic cruise in 2001 and really wanted go to Berlin from Warnemunde. We (my 80+ mother and I) had been there before several times but not since the wall came down. My brother was stationed there in the Army and married there as well. We opted for the ships's excursion as it was the easiest way to go. It is very LONG train ride RT for a day trip. To us, it was worth it though. The other factor to consider is how you are going to get around once you are there...Berlin being a fairly large place. After considering just the ship's train excursion or the complete guided tour for the day, we opted for the latter. We were very glad we did.
Yes it is expensive..but worth it to us. In contrast we did not take shore excursions in other ports.

It is a very long day and we were amazed at all the changes in Berlin. I think you have to weigh the options and decide exactly how important it is to visit Berlin. The many advantages of our excursion was that we were picked up at the station, and toured Berlin from the "new" eastern part to Dahlem in the far west(important to us as the former Army hdqtrs.)
We were given snacks on the train and had a great lunch near the Kudamm.

Time is money...we considered the money well-spent and economized elsewhere. But we had sentimental reasons for visiting. Plan carefully on this one...it is not just a matter of figuring out the trains to get there.

Sharon, all you're gonna see in Berlin is maybe the view of the Reichstag from the central train station. You simply won't have enough time for that HUGE city. Why don't you visit Lübeck, which is such a beautiful city with many, many historic sights or maybe Hamburg, a city that's got more bridges than Venice, Italy?

thank you everyone for your insights in this matter, I am seriously considering the situation

Does anyone know how far the train station is from the dock where the ships come in?

Does anyone know if we will be able to find people like taxi drivers and people at the train station in Warnemunde who speak English? I don't speak any German.

How about in Berlin, will we find people who speak English there?

Thanks again so much for any help you can offer,

Sharon

Hi all, arriving for one day at Warnemunde on July 28 w my two daughters, from looking at all the postings, seems like a trip to Berlin not practical, I'm a major WWII buff, and was looking forward to it...but I do understand that ambitious plans can ruin a trip...has anyone taken private tour from Warnemunde to Berlin? I wanted to do Sachsenhausen, but it's closed Mondays...and the cost of the ship tours is prohibitive, given what we already had to invest in seeing St Petersburg (w/o visa for all of us, no alternative by ship's options)...so any suggestions re how to spend the day much appreciated...not afraid of being adventurous and taking the local train, etc, so all suugestions welcome...and if you are ever coming to NYC, I can return the favor! Tim in Staten Island NYC

Hello,
I have been checking and found DenRus who offer tours in St Petersburg and tours from Warnemunde to Berlin for much less than the ship tours. There is also Red October in both countries. You can check out their web sites and see what you think of them. I like DenRus because they offer a trip by bus or van or car from Warnemunde to Berlin that is only 2 hours drive instead of the 3 hour train trip into Berlin that the ships offer. That leaves you with an additional 2 hours in Berlin. Hope this is helpful to you,
Sharon

Hello Sharon and travelers,

I'm on the NCL cruise to the Baltics and it's funny that all the questions your asking are the same questions I have.
There's 4 of us and we want to go from Warnemuende to Berlin for the day. I have done some research and found that it's really far from where NCL is docked. I've come across a driver named Taxi Harry who picks you up at the gate for 450 Euro. He drives a station wagon so if you think you can handle that drive all day long, give him a try. His e-mail is h.stutz@email.de
I don't know how well his English is so your taking a chance. Now, there's another fellow named Mr. Berlin Jeremy Minsberg and his e-mail is jeremy@theberlinexpert.com He sends a driver to you and he's a history expert. He's a little expensive but he works with you & your itinerary. Check out his wed site. I actually booked a tour with Taxi Harry and now debating if it's worth the long drive. My wife is trying to change my mind and see the nearby cities instead. I'm a photographer/videographer and I know we're so close, but yet it's so far.
Good Luck!
Happy Travels
Ralph

Ralph, these posts are a year old now.

JO,

Do you thinks it's worth the long drive to Berlin and back for a day trip?
Ralph

Hi Sharon, We are in the same boat (no pun intended!) docked in Warnemunde on Aug. 2 and doing research regarding Berlin. An excursion from the ship would be the easiest but there are 3 of us and the cost for the day is almost the cost of the cruise! We are saving some of that for our St. Petersburg days..anyway after much thought and debate we are probably going to catch a train around 8 a.m, getting us into Berlin around 11, see as much as we can in that time (of course we will only hit the highlights...probably the East Berlin area) and then catch the 6 p.m. train back. Yes it will be a long day but the day after for us is a sea day if I remember correctly and we wouldn't be back to Berlin for a long time and it would have to be on a land trip, not cruise. Even our ship offers the "train trip" in (at almost double the price of a regular ticket) and then you're on your own in the city for 5 hours. We figure if they are doing that then we can do it too. The area around Warnemunde looks beautiful but I know that if we don't go, even for a few hours, we will regret it...

Hello, We did use DenRus to travel to Berlin, but the travel time was 3 full hours both directions, the shopping area we were taken to was very expensive and our whole tour was an hour less than it was advertised to be. I wrote to them to let them know of our concerns buat they were not interested and were actually quite rude. I would not reccommend them.
Sharon

No, I do not think it is worth that long of a drive. Berlin is such a great city, that going there for an hour or two seems a waste. Plan another trip where you can stay there for at least 4 days and preferably a week. Would you hop into Paris or Rome or London for a couple of hours? I would just be mad that I couldn't stay longer, so its better if I don't. But that is just me.