Most scheduled and charter
flights
arrive at
Tegel airport,
from where buses #X9 and #109 run
every five to fifteen minutes to
Bahnhof Zoo, while JetExpressBus
TXL goes to Unter den Linden.
Alternatively, take bus #109 to
Jakob-Kaiser-Platz or bus #128 to
Walter Schreiber Platz and
transfer to the U-Bahn system (the
bus ticket is valid for the U-Bahn
journey). Taxis cost
DM30-40/?15-20 to Bahnhof Zoo,
covering the distance in about
half the time. Berlin's second
airport,
Schönefeld , lies
just beyond the southeastern edge
of the city, and mainly serves
eastern Europe and the Middle and
Far East. Take bus #171 from the
terminal building to S-Bahnhof
Flughafen Schönefeld, from where
S-Bahn #9 provides a direct link
to the city centre.
Tempelhof
, the closest airport to the city
centre, to which it is linked by
bus #119, is used mainly by German
domestic carriers and scheduled
flights by very small operators.
The Platz der Luftbrücke U-Bahn
station is just outside.
Trains from western
European destinations generally
stop at both Bahnhof
Zoologischer Garten (shortened
to Bahnhof Zoo , or Zoo
Station ) and Ostbahnhof
; some also halt at Wannsee or
Spandau. Bahnhof Lichtenberg
, which is easily accessible by S-Bahn
from all other stations, is the
main terminus for trains to and
from eastern Europe. The Lehrter
Stadtbahnhof is currently
being developed as Berlin's
first-ever central rail terminal,
though it is unlikely to be
operational before 2005.
International buses and
those from other German cities
mostly use the Zentraler
Omnibus Bahnhof or ZOB
on Masurenallee near the Funkturm.
Bus #149 and U-Bahn #2 from
Kaiserdamm link it with the centre.
The headquarters of the tourist
office , Berlin Tourismus
Marketing, at Am Karlsbad 11
(information tel 0 30/01 90 75 40
40, reservations 25 00 25, fax 25
00 24 24, www.btm.de or www.berlin-info.de
) is not open to the public, but
deals with all written and
telephone enquiries. Its main
branch for personal callers is in
the Europa-Center on Budapester
Strasse (Mon-Sat 8.30am-8.30pm,
Sun 10am-6.30pm); there's another
in the south wing of the
Brandenburger Tor (daily
9.30am-6pm) and smaller
information points in the KaDeWe
department store, Tauentzienstr.
24-24 (Mon-Fri 9.30am-8pm, Sat
9am-4pm), and at Tegel airport
(daily 5am-10.30pm). The very
helpful EurAide office in
the hallway of Bahnhof Zoo (daily:
June-Sept 8am-noon & 1-6pm;
Oct-May 8am-noon & 1-4.30pm; www.euraide.de
) exists specifically to dispense
help and advice to
English-speaking travellers.
Berlin has two essential listings
magazines - Tip
(DM4.70/?2.35; www.tip )
and Zitty (DM4/?2; www.zitty.de
) - which come out on alternate
weeks. A free magazine, 030
, is another useful source on
nightlife, with good club, music
and film listings. Berlin's
diverse arts scene is well covered
by Artery Berlin
(DM3.50/?1.75), a monthly
English/German publication.
Another monthly, the Berlin
Programm (DM3/?1.50; www.berlin-programm.de
), has more condensed listings,
alongside information on opening
times, and national and
international train, bus and plane
timetables.
