What to see/How to get around Berlin

[jonhewes]

Hello everyone,

I am going to Berlin for three days, and fly out tomorrow, and will be arriving at Schonefield airport at about 1:30 PM.

I was there very briefly in February, and didn't really get chance to travel on their railway system (the lady who sold me a 3 day travel ticket at the airport advised me to catch a bus to a U-Bahn station, and then travel into Berlin via the U-Bahn.

Could anyone advise the best type of ticket to buy, for a 3 day sight seeing trip around Berlin, and hopefully maybe a bit of German Loco Haulage into the bargain

If possible, I would like to travel behind (or at least see) the following types of locos ;

*BR 182
*BR 189 (I know these are freight only, but I have heard that they sometimes make it onto passenger work as they have ETS)
*BR 218
*BR 146
*BR 246

I'd also like to visit a railway museum if there is one in Berlin.

Due to budget constraints, I don't think that spending a lot of money on train travel is really an option, so ideally I'd like to keep costs down to a minimum if that is possible

Thanks

Jon

 

[gordonthemoron]

Railway Museum, you should go to Deutsches Technical Museum near Gleis Dreieck u-bahn station. This has got quite a good railway collection, aswell as sections on cars, boats & planes. There is a douglas dakota suspended over the front of the building: http://www.sdtb.de/Home.623.0.html. There are also u-bahn & s-bahn museums, but these only open 1 weekend a month, so you won't be able to visit.

The three day travel card also gets you discounts on entries to museums, although these days I generally only get the normal day tickets as I've done all the museums I'm interested in.

Either the three day or one day tickets allow you to use the red Regio trains within the zones you've paid for (i.e. A&B or A,B & C). They also cover u-bahn, s-bahn, trams & buses. Any more exotic traction, i.e. hauling IC or EC trains will not be covered by these tickets and will cost more.

Personally, I tend to prefer travelling on the top deck of the double decker buses as you can get a good bit of free sight seeing.

 

[route101]

Ha im in Berlin at the moment and sampled the U bahn and S bahn plus the db regio decker train from schonefeld airport . Must say im impressed , and the Berlin Hauptbahnhof is amazing . Im not sure but you could try riding the IC /ICE Betweeen the main stations in the centre.

 

[gordonthemoron]

If you get on an IC/EC/ICE without a ticket and there is a ticket check, they will ask you to buy a ticket. Unlike the regio/s-bahn/u-bahn where there is a €40 fine for travelling without a ticket

 

[Goldfish62]

Ha im in Berlin at the moment and sampled the U bahn and S bahn plus the db regio decker train from schonefeld airport . Must say im impressed , and the Berlin Hauptbahnhof is amazing . Im not sure but you could try riding the IC /ICE Betweeen the main stations in the centre.

The station is fantastic, I'd agree. I used it on the way home a couple of days ago to travel to St Pancras via Cologne and Brussels.

I'm a big fan of German railways, but I'd wish DB were able to run trains on time...

 

[gordonthemoron]

I'm a big fan of German railways, but I'd wish DB were able to run trains on time...

too true

 

[route101]

Impressed with the freq of the IC services and even the loco hauled stuff was pretty modern ( im too used to Eastern /Balkan stock) . One regio was late at Berlin Ostbahnhof.

 

[tripleseis]

I love the whining traction noises of the newer S-Bahn stock. It's like a whining dog.

Great place Berlin and I you will need to use public transport to get around as it is very spread out. Very reliable and clean though. 8 years ago we went.

 

[route101]

I love the whining traction noises of the newer S-Bahn stock. It's like a whining dog.

Great place Berlin and I you will need to use public transport to get around as it is very spread out. Very reliable and clean though. 8 years ago we went.

Yeah they do whine but there isent great variety on the s bahn i think i only saw 2 different types of stock .

 

[gordonthemoron]

there are only 2 types of Berlin s-bahn stock

 

[route101]

there are only 2 types of Berlin s-bahn stock

Yeah i got both . I still feel that the s -bahns are not proper trains tho in many ways they are .

 

[tripleseis]

S-Bahn trains are pretty much standard metro trains and they run on third rail unlike the the other DB trains which use OLE.

 

[gordonthemoron]

IIRC Hamburg s-bahns also run on 3rd rail, and OHLE. There is no other rail system in germany which uses two power sources

 

[MCR247]

The new Bombardier ones sound amazing :P