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MONEY
There is more info on Money on the 'Money' page , however make sure you have some Euro's for bus fares, taxis and train trips, try to
get some small denominations of money too, you wont be the bus drivers favourite person if you hand him a €50 note for a €3 journey
BERLIN HAUPTBAHNHOF
On May 26th 2006 a new Railway Station opened in Berlin, sited in the very centre of Berlin and very close to the Reichstag. Plans for the
Berlin Hauptbahnhof were first drawn up in 1993 and approved in 1995 with the foundation stone being laid in September 1998. Years
of construction work has transformed the surrounding area around the site of the new station, with new bridges and extensive
tunnelling work under the nearby Spree River.
The building in Spreebogen, which is the largest and most modern crossing station in Europe, effectively combines striking
architecture with the mobility requirements of the 21st century. Every day, some 1100 long-distance, regional and rapid transit trains call
at the 14 platforms on two different levels. Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest cross hub station in Europe with links to all the major
cities of central Europe as well as being the largest cross regional station in Berlin. Deutsche Bahn (DB) is estimating that the new
station will be dealing with 19 million long distance passengers by the year 2010.
With the increase in passenger volume, a new rail concept was needed for Berlin and the Hauptbahnhof is Berlin's center piece of
mobility and the core of the city's new rail concept. Situated in the geographical centre of the city, it is the only station that links up all the
long-distance lines with regional transport and S-Bahn services.
Architecturally the station is wonderful and magnificent to behold. The station is huge, built on five levels, housing over 80 shops with 50
escalators linking the various levels. The lower level runs north-south and is the home to the super fast ICE intercity trains, whilst the
top floor running east-west is the home of local regional trains. (see photos below)
The Hauptbahnhof links up all the long-distance lines with the S-Bahn and regional trains, so that changing trains has become a lot
easier. For Deutsche Bahn customers, the new system is more reliable because more track capacity has been made available.
Berlin Hauptbahnhof, or Berlin Central Station, is the main railway station in Berlin. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter
Bahnhof, and until it opened as a main line station, it was a stop on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway temporarily named Berlin
Hauptbahnhof–Lehrter Bahnhof
NORTH-SOUTH traffic (THE GOOD PART)
North-south traffic is concentrated in the Tiergarten tunnel, which reduces journey times significantly, e.g. by 40 minutes on both the
Berlin–Stralsund and Berlin–Leipzig lines. Long-distance trains travelling through the Tiergarten tunnel include the Hamburg-Berlin-
Leipzig-Munich, Hamburg-Berlin-Dresden-Prague and Stralsund-Berlin-Erfurt services.
Berlin to Leipzig now takes an hour and fifteen minutes
EAST-WEST traffic
The Tiergarten tunnel provides capacity relief to the very busy east-west line (Stadtbahn), on which the Cologne-Hanover-Berlin,
Basel/Stuttgart-Frankfurt-Berlin and Berlin-Osnabrück-Amsterdam/Münster services continue to operate.
NEW STOPS
Additional long-distance and regional train stops were provided at Südkreuz and Gesundbrunnen stations and there are new regional
train stops at Jungfernheide, Potsdamer Platz and Lichterfelde Ost stations. Bahnhof Zoo station has now become a regional station in
order to reduce journey times on long-distance services.
BERLIN HAUPTBAHNHOF a few more details
So presuming that you have arrived outside Berlin Hauptbahnhof from either Tegel or Schonefeld you are now faced with a huge glass
building and probably wondering where you go. Don’t worry, it’s all very easy and its all very well sign posted. As you walk through the
front doors (with the taxi rank just outside) you will see the size of the station, to your right you will see an Information Shop (it looks a
little like a tourist shop, but inside there are a bank of desks and helpful assistants, they will answer all your questions about the
station, trains, other public transport and Berlin). Open Daily from 6.00 a.m. - 10.00 p.m.
As you walk into the station you can see shops on the two middle floors, and trains on the top and bottom levels. If you’re hungry you
have plenty of options.
LEFT LUGGAGE STORAGE
If you have time on your hands go up one level and look for the luggage signs, they will lead you to the ‘Gepack Centre’, go down this
corridor and you will find a luggage storage area, staff here will scan your bag/suitcase (airport style) and hand you a ticket that will cost
you three Euro's. Open Daily from 6.00 a.m. - 10.00 p.m. (see photos below)
BUYING YOUR TICKET
So you want to travel by train in Germany you will need a ticket before you board. You have several options. You can buy your ticket
before you travel over the Internet, or you can buy it direct from the station when you arrive. Don’t forget you can save even more money
by buying a group ticket.
ONLINE TICKET
So you can use the English version of DB to purchase your tickets before you travel, remember to build in a bit of time just in case your
plane is delayed. If you are coming from Tegel it will take you half an hour by Bus and about the same time if you are travelling from
Schonefeld by Regional train.
When you have chosen your train route and times you will get an email with your ticket attached as a PDF file. Print it out, you will need it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Ensure that whoever purchases the Train Ticket is with you, as the conductor on the train will ask for your ticket,
when you hand over your print-out they will scan the square in the top right hand corner of the print out, the conductor will also ask for
the credit card that booked the ticket, if you don’t have the credit card the ticket printout is not valid and you will be forced to buy a new
ticket.
See Picture of ticket below (note this does not have a guaranteed seat place on it, as we booked online late)
BUYING YOUR TICKET FROM THE STATION
If you need to buy a ticket at Berlin Hauptbahnhof then you will need to go down one level and find the ticket office (its on the left hand
side, down one floor as you enter from the front of the station). Queue up and then explain your travel requirements to one of the people
working there, most will have some English, although you may get passed to the next operator if they can’t. They will bring up the details
of all the trains heading towards Leipzig, make sure you get an ICE train, the regional trains take a lot longer (and I did hear one story of
it taking 3 hours to get to Leipzig).
REGIONAL TRAVEL
If you have time or you want to travel around Berlin then I strongly recommend the Regional trains and the S-Bahn, both are excellent.
Get yourself up to the top level of the station for Regional Trains, and you should find one of fifty ticket machines that can supply you with
a travel card (they have an English option). It’s also quite cheap to travel on these trains. You MUST validate your ticket in one of those
red boxes on the platform before boarding the train. If you forget and get caught by an inspector, they will fine you. Dumb tourist excuses
do not work…
Regional Train tickets can be purchased from the level beneath the train platforms (at the top of the station), there are a number of
machines in the ticket office. You must first press the English option on the machine and enter your destination (Schonefeld is entered
as Berlin Schonefeld) on one machine. You enter the amount of tickets you wish to purchase here too. The machine will then print out a
sheet with your travel details and a bar-code. Take this sheet to the next machine (located very close) and put the sheet and barcode
under the scanner. You can now pay for your tickets, the machines are quite slow, once you have enter the correct money it will start to
print tickets sloooowly.
U-BAHN TRAVEL
The U-Bahn or Underground/Subway Railway is on the bottom floor under the ICE platform. You will find ticket machines down on the
platform,make sure you puchase one and validate it.
THE TRAIN JOURNEY
The train system in Germany is excellent; however you will need to plan this part of your journey as it is customary in Germany to book
tickets and seats in advance of journeys. Use the German train operator website (look to the Links page on this website) to book your
tickets, these will guarantee your seats. You want to ensure that you book an ICE (inter continental express) train. These trains are
extremely fast (300 kph), smooth and very modern. If you don’t book a seat you will struggle to sit down for the 1 hour 15 minute trip
between Berlin and Leipzig. If you have booked your ticket when you get to the station you should find the location of your seat on the
train. Your ticket will tell you what carriage you are on, a notice board on the platform will show you the time of your train, the length of
your train and what carriages will be included (its called a Wagenstandanzeiger (car/coach locator) see picture below). Simply look
along the platform and get yourself and your baggage down to this location. It should have a letter above it A - E). When the train arrives
get yourself on ASAP, don’t queue, Germans don’t do that. Stow your baggage, a task that can be difficult as there is not normally
enough storage places, leaving your suitcase near the doorway is probably the best idea. Then find your seat. If you have booked you
may need to ask the person in your seat to vacate it (they will when shown the ticket). If you didn’t book then you are now looking at a
very full train with no seats, (they all went whilst you was stowing your baggage, that or they are booked with a nice flashing name above
them). If there is a group of you, split your group, half to run on the train as soon as it stops, and half to stow the baggage, however you
will all still struggle to find a seat. My advice is to book your seats via the website and hope that your plane is not delayed.
One downside of booking your train ticket in advance is that if your flight is delayed you miss your train. I advise that you book your train
ticket from Berlin to Leipzig 2-3 hours after you expect to land (for Tegel) and maybe 2 hours for Schonefeld, that will give you time to get
out of the airport and get yourself to the station, plus it will allow some time should your flight be delayed. If your flight is delayed for any
long length of time I am not sure if the train ticket is still valid (if you ever find out please email me).
A BIT OF SIGHTSEEING
So if you find yourself with an hour or two to spare before you need to either get your train or before you need to leave for the Airport then
I strongly advise leaving your luggage and going for a stroll around central Berlin. Once you checked your luggage into left luggage (see
above) leave the station by the rear, you can’t miss it, it’s the opposite side to the station to which you entered from and you can see
straight out the back. You can see various landmarks from the station, the most prominent being the Reichstag, head towards it over
the river and across a small park. (This entire area has been landscaped as part of the Stations rebuild). You can enter the Reichstag
and look down on the insides from the glass domed roof, I recommend it highly (although you do have to pass the type of security that
you will find at the airport, so be prepared to remove your boots and have them scanned). The Reichstag has a very rich history, and if
you look carefully you can see the old bullet holes in the front of the building, shot there by Russian soldiers in the last months of the
second world war. The Brandenburg gate is very close as is the site of Hitler’s Bunker, if you look at Google Earth you will find enough
to keep you busy from an historic point of view for many hours of sightseeing. For refreshments head to the Brandenburg gate area,
there are various cafés here that although over priced are still only 10 minutes walk from the station.
ARRIVING IN LEIPZIG
Leipzig is an end of the line stop (and the largest train station in Europe), you won’t miss it, and the train will continue further south after
Leipzig, but it must first stop here and change direction. When you arrive at Leipzig, you will need to get yourself downstairs to ground
level (use the lift or the moving walkway). When you get outside the Train Station you will find a taxi rank to your left and the main tram
stop in front of you. Most central hotels are within walking distance of the train station in Leipzig.
LEIPZIG TO BERLIN
After the festival depending on your travel arrangements you may need to get yourself back to Berlin (if you have an extra day or two then
I strongly recommend staying in Berlin, its absolutely fabulous). Many people will be heading to the Train Station to get out of Leipzig,
my advice is to get a late afternoon train as the morning trains will be extremely crowded, the later in the day that you can leave the
better. Make sure you book your ticket before you travel, or you will not get a seat.
To book your ticket (and again I advise doing this ASAP, don’t leave it until you intend to travel as you may not get a ticket, that or you may
end up on a very slow regional train, with maybe a change of trains at some point). The ticket office is on the ground floor of Leipzig train
station, enter the main doorway and look right, there are some lockers for storing luggage and a large room where you can book your
ticket. You should be OK with English again, although it will be a little harder than Berlin. Book an ICE train and get yourself to the right
place on the platform, in the same way that you did coming to Leipzig.
There is more info on Money on the 'Money' page , however make sure you have some Euro's for bus fares, taxis and train trips, try to
get some small denominations of money too, you wont be the bus drivers favourite person if you hand him a €50 note for a €3 journey
BERLIN HAUPTBAHNHOF
On May 26th 2006 a new Railway Station opened in Berlin, sited in the very centre of Berlin and very close to the Reichstag. Plans for the
Berlin Hauptbahnhof were first drawn up in 1993 and approved in 1995 with the foundation stone being laid in September 1998. Years
of construction work has transformed the surrounding area around the site of the new station, with new bridges and extensive
tunnelling work under the nearby Spree River.
The building in Spreebogen, which is the largest and most modern crossing station in Europe, effectively combines striking
architecture with the mobility requirements of the 21st century. Every day, some 1100 long-distance, regional and rapid transit trains call
at the 14 platforms on two different levels. Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest cross hub station in Europe with links to all the major
cities of central Europe as well as being the largest cross regional station in Berlin. Deutsche Bahn (DB) is estimating that the new
station will be dealing with 19 million long distance passengers by the year 2010.
With the increase in passenger volume, a new rail concept was needed for Berlin and the Hauptbahnhof is Berlin's center piece of
mobility and the core of the city's new rail concept. Situated in the geographical centre of the city, it is the only station that links up all the
long-distance lines with regional transport and S-Bahn services.
Architecturally the station is wonderful and magnificent to behold. The station is huge, built on five levels, housing over 80 shops with 50
escalators linking the various levels. The lower level runs north-south and is the home to the super fast ICE intercity trains, whilst the
top floor running east-west is the home of local regional trains. (see photos below)
The Hauptbahnhof links up all the long-distance lines with the S-Bahn and regional trains, so that changing trains has become a lot
easier. For Deutsche Bahn customers, the new system is more reliable because more track capacity has been made available.
Berlin Hauptbahnhof, or Berlin Central Station, is the main railway station in Berlin. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter
Bahnhof, and until it opened as a main line station, it was a stop on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway temporarily named Berlin
Hauptbahnhof–Lehrter Bahnhof
NORTH-SOUTH traffic (THE GOOD PART)
North-south traffic is concentrated in the Tiergarten tunnel, which reduces journey times significantly, e.g. by 40 minutes on both the
Berlin–Stralsund and Berlin–Leipzig lines. Long-distance trains travelling through the Tiergarten tunnel include the Hamburg-Berlin-
Leipzig-Munich, Hamburg-Berlin-Dresden-Prague and Stralsund-Berlin-Erfurt services.
Berlin to Leipzig now takes an hour and fifteen minutes
EAST-WEST traffic
The Tiergarten tunnel provides capacity relief to the very busy east-west line (Stadtbahn), on which the Cologne-Hanover-Berlin,
Basel/Stuttgart-Frankfurt-Berlin and Berlin-Osnabrück-Amsterdam/Münster services continue to operate.
NEW STOPS
Additional long-distance and regional train stops were provided at Südkreuz and Gesundbrunnen stations and there are new regional
train stops at Jungfernheide, Potsdamer Platz and Lichterfelde Ost stations. Bahnhof Zoo station has now become a regional station in
order to reduce journey times on long-distance services.
BERLIN HAUPTBAHNHOF a few more details
So presuming that you have arrived outside Berlin Hauptbahnhof from either Tegel or Schonefeld you are now faced with a huge glass
building and probably wondering where you go. Don’t worry, it’s all very easy and its all very well sign posted. As you walk through the
front doors (with the taxi rank just outside) you will see the size of the station, to your right you will see an Information Shop (it looks a
little like a tourist shop, but inside there are a bank of desks and helpful assistants, they will answer all your questions about the
station, trains, other public transport and Berlin). Open Daily from 6.00 a.m. - 10.00 p.m.
As you walk into the station you can see shops on the two middle floors, and trains on the top and bottom levels. If you’re hungry you
have plenty of options.
LEFT LUGGAGE STORAGE
If you have time on your hands go up one level and look for the luggage signs, they will lead you to the ‘Gepack Centre’, go down this
corridor and you will find a luggage storage area, staff here will scan your bag/suitcase (airport style) and hand you a ticket that will cost
you three Euro's. Open Daily from 6.00 a.m. - 10.00 p.m. (see photos below)
BUYING YOUR TICKET
So you want to travel by train in Germany you will need a ticket before you board. You have several options. You can buy your ticket
before you travel over the Internet, or you can buy it direct from the station when you arrive. Don’t forget you can save even more money
by buying a group ticket.
ONLINE TICKET
So you can use the English version of DB to purchase your tickets before you travel, remember to build in a bit of time just in case your
plane is delayed. If you are coming from Tegel it will take you half an hour by Bus and about the same time if you are travelling from
Schonefeld by Regional train.
When you have chosen your train route and times you will get an email with your ticket attached as a PDF file. Print it out, you will need it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Ensure that whoever purchases the Train Ticket is with you, as the conductor on the train will ask for your ticket,
when you hand over your print-out they will scan the square in the top right hand corner of the print out, the conductor will also ask for
the credit card that booked the ticket, if you don’t have the credit card the ticket printout is not valid and you will be forced to buy a new
ticket.
See Picture of ticket below (note this does not have a guaranteed seat place on it, as we booked online late)
BUYING YOUR TICKET FROM THE STATION
If you need to buy a ticket at Berlin Hauptbahnhof then you will need to go down one level and find the ticket office (its on the left hand
side, down one floor as you enter from the front of the station). Queue up and then explain your travel requirements to one of the people
working there, most will have some English, although you may get passed to the next operator if they can’t. They will bring up the details
of all the trains heading towards Leipzig, make sure you get an ICE train, the regional trains take a lot longer (and I did hear one story of
it taking 3 hours to get to Leipzig).
REGIONAL TRAVEL
If you have time or you want to travel around Berlin then I strongly recommend the Regional trains and the S-Bahn, both are excellent.
Get yourself up to the top level of the station for Regional Trains, and you should find one of fifty ticket machines that can supply you with
a travel card (they have an English option). It’s also quite cheap to travel on these trains. You MUST validate your ticket in one of those
red boxes on the platform before boarding the train. If you forget and get caught by an inspector, they will fine you. Dumb tourist excuses
do not work…
Regional Train tickets can be purchased from the level beneath the train platforms (at the top of the station), there are a number of
machines in the ticket office. You must first press the English option on the machine and enter your destination (Schonefeld is entered
as Berlin Schonefeld) on one machine. You enter the amount of tickets you wish to purchase here too. The machine will then print out a
sheet with your travel details and a bar-code. Take this sheet to the next machine (located very close) and put the sheet and barcode
under the scanner. You can now pay for your tickets, the machines are quite slow, once you have enter the correct money it will start to
print tickets sloooowly.
U-BAHN TRAVEL
The U-Bahn or Underground/Subway Railway is on the bottom floor under the ICE platform. You will find ticket machines down on the
platform,make sure you puchase one and validate it.
THE TRAIN JOURNEY
The train system in Germany is excellent; however you will need to plan this part of your journey as it is customary in Germany to book
tickets and seats in advance of journeys. Use the German train operator website (look to the Links page on this website) to book your
tickets, these will guarantee your seats. You want to ensure that you book an ICE (inter continental express) train. These trains are
extremely fast (300 kph), smooth and very modern. If you don’t book a seat you will struggle to sit down for the 1 hour 15 minute trip
between Berlin and Leipzig. If you have booked your ticket when you get to the station you should find the location of your seat on the
train. Your ticket will tell you what carriage you are on, a notice board on the platform will show you the time of your train, the length of
your train and what carriages will be included (its called a Wagenstandanzeiger (car/coach locator) see picture below). Simply look
along the platform and get yourself and your baggage down to this location. It should have a letter above it A - E). When the train arrives
get yourself on ASAP, don’t queue, Germans don’t do that. Stow your baggage, a task that can be difficult as there is not normally
enough storage places, leaving your suitcase near the doorway is probably the best idea. Then find your seat. If you have booked you
may need to ask the person in your seat to vacate it (they will when shown the ticket). If you didn’t book then you are now looking at a
very full train with no seats, (they all went whilst you was stowing your baggage, that or they are booked with a nice flashing name above
them). If there is a group of you, split your group, half to run on the train as soon as it stops, and half to stow the baggage, however you
will all still struggle to find a seat. My advice is to book your seats via the website and hope that your plane is not delayed.
One downside of booking your train ticket in advance is that if your flight is delayed you miss your train. I advise that you book your train
ticket from Berlin to Leipzig 2-3 hours after you expect to land (for Tegel) and maybe 2 hours for Schonefeld, that will give you time to get
out of the airport and get yourself to the station, plus it will allow some time should your flight be delayed. If your flight is delayed for any
long length of time I am not sure if the train ticket is still valid (if you ever find out please email me).
A BIT OF SIGHTSEEING
So if you find yourself with an hour or two to spare before you need to either get your train or before you need to leave for the Airport then
I strongly advise leaving your luggage and going for a stroll around central Berlin. Once you checked your luggage into left luggage (see
above) leave the station by the rear, you can’t miss it, it’s the opposite side to the station to which you entered from and you can see
straight out the back. You can see various landmarks from the station, the most prominent being the Reichstag, head towards it over
the river and across a small park. (This entire area has been landscaped as part of the Stations rebuild). You can enter the Reichstag
and look down on the insides from the glass domed roof, I recommend it highly (although you do have to pass the type of security that
you will find at the airport, so be prepared to remove your boots and have them scanned). The Reichstag has a very rich history, and if
you look carefully you can see the old bullet holes in the front of the building, shot there by Russian soldiers in the last months of the
second world war. The Brandenburg gate is very close as is the site of Hitler’s Bunker, if you look at Google Earth you will find enough
to keep you busy from an historic point of view for many hours of sightseeing. For refreshments head to the Brandenburg gate area,
there are various cafés here that although over priced are still only 10 minutes walk from the station.
ARRIVING IN LEIPZIG
Leipzig is an end of the line stop (and the largest train station in Europe), you won’t miss it, and the train will continue further south after
Leipzig, but it must first stop here and change direction. When you arrive at Leipzig, you will need to get yourself downstairs to ground
level (use the lift or the moving walkway). When you get outside the Train Station you will find a taxi rank to your left and the main tram
stop in front of you. Most central hotels are within walking distance of the train station in Leipzig.
LEIPZIG TO BERLIN
After the festival depending on your travel arrangements you may need to get yourself back to Berlin (if you have an extra day or two then
I strongly recommend staying in Berlin, its absolutely fabulous). Many people will be heading to the Train Station to get out of Leipzig,
my advice is to get a late afternoon train as the morning trains will be extremely crowded, the later in the day that you can leave the
better. Make sure you book your ticket before you travel, or you will not get a seat.
To book your ticket (and again I advise doing this ASAP, don’t leave it until you intend to travel as you may not get a ticket, that or you may
end up on a very slow regional train, with maybe a change of trains at some point). The ticket office is on the ground floor of Leipzig train
station, enter the main doorway and look right, there are some lockers for storing luggage and a large room where you can book your
ticket. You should be OK with English again, although it will be a little harder than Berlin. Book an ICE train and get yourself to the right
place on the platform, in the same way that you did coming to Leipzig.
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