Berlin

Berlin Travel Tips: Getting Around, Money and Tourist Traps

Last checked October 8, 2026

Berlin is flat, well connected and easy to navigate on foot, but a visit runs more smoothly once you know which ticket zone the airport sits in, how validation actually works, and which free sights still need advance registration.

Arriving

Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), as Wikivoyage notes, opened in October 2020 on the site of the former Schonefeld Airport. The station, Flughafen BER, sits directly under Terminal 1; from Terminal 2 follow the signs to arrivals level E0.

The FEX Airport Express runs Berlin Hauptbahnhof – Potsdamer Platz – Sudkreuz – BER around the clock, every 15 minutes from about 4am to 1am, reaching Hauptbahnhof in about 23 minutes; the RE20 serves the same stops. The slower S9 and S85 S-Bahn lines also connect, with S9 calling at Ostbahnhof, Alexanderplatz, Friedrichstrasse and Zoologischer Garten along the way.

BER sits in tariff zone C, so trips to the centre need an ABC ticket, bought from machines in the terminals or in the VBB, BVG or S-Bahn app; paper tickets bought from machines must be validated before you depart.

For a taxi, use only the ranks in front of Terminal 1 — the airport warns that fraudulent operators work outside the designated stands. Licensed drivers must take the shortest route unless you agree otherwise, accept any destination within Berlin, and give a receipt on request.

Getting around

One ticket covers the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams, buses and regional trains across three zones: A is the inner city up to the S-Bahn ring, B runs out to the city boundary, and C covers the area around Berlin, including Potsdam and BER. Paper tickets must be stamped at the yellow or red validators, and digital tickets activated in the app, before the journey begins; buy them at station machines, BVG customer centres or the apps.

Travelling without a valid, validated ticket means an increased transport fee if an inspector catches you — Wikivoyage adds that inspectors often work in plain clothes and are strict about it. A single ticket covers two hours of travel in one direction with unlimited transfers, and a Kurzstrecke short-trip ticket covers just a few stops. The U-Bahn runs all night on weekends; on weekday nights, N-prefixed buses take over.

Berlin is flat with extensive bike paths, including the Mauerradweg tracing the former Wall; pedestrians should take care not to walk in the designated bike lanes. Uber, Bolt and FreeNow all operate in the city.

Money and tipping

Germany has used the euro since 1 January 1999, one of the first adopters. The Bundesbank found that half of all transactions in Germany in 2023 were still settled in cash, with debit cards a distant second — Wikivoyage agrees that many Berlin stores still take cash only, and some restaurants set a minimum spend for card payments. Independent vendors and Christmas-market stalls may not take cards at all, and foreign credit cards are less widely accepted than the German girocard, though contactless is widely available.

For ATMs, Wikivoyage advises avoiding independent brands in tourist hotspots because of high fees and poor currency-conversion rates, and to always choose to be charged in euros rather than your home currency — the same advice the EU consumer body BEUC gives travellers everywhere. Only change money at banks, ATMs or official exchanges, and check your change when paying in cash.

On tipping, round up or add 5-10% if you're happy with the service, telling the server the total including the tip rather than leaving money on the table — saying "Stimmt so" means "keep the change." Not tipping for poor service is socially acceptable.

Tourist traps

The Reichstag dome is free to visit but needs advance registration through the online form on the Bundestag's own site; visitors aged 16 and over need an original photo ID, since copies aren't accepted. The Visitors' Service on Scheidemannstrasse can also issue same-day access up to two hours before a slot.

At Checkpoint Charlie, booths sometimes offer a souvenir stamp in your passport for a fee — Wikivoyage warns these aren't official and could even cause problems with your passport.

Around Pariser Platz and the Brandenburg Gate, Alexanderplatz and Museum Island, Wikivoyage describes a begging scam: someone asks "Speak English?" and tells a story about needing money to fly home, using a card with the story written out to distract you while an accomplice searches your bags. The best response is to ignore it and not engage.

Wikivoyage also flags people at stations who sell already-used transit tickets — a single ticket is valid in one direction only, and the sale can double as a pickpocket distraction.

Staying safe

The UK Foreign Office rates crime levels as similar to the UK, recommending sensible precautions against mugging, bag-snatching and pickpocketing, and extra vigilance at airports, railway stations and crowded gatherings. Wikivoyage flags the area around Hauptbahnhof and Warschauer Strasse as feeling less comfortable late at night, and notes that 1 May brings demonstrations — sometimes with clashes — in parts of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, and around Mauerpark the evening before.

Dial 112 for ambulance and fire; Wikivoyage also gives 110 for police. Berlin's water utility, Berliner Wasserbetriebe, describes the city's tap water as being of the highest quality, drawn from natural groundwater with no chlorine or fluoride added, and checked daily at more than 3,300 sampling points across the city.