Getting from Berlin airport into the city

Getting through the border

Passport control comes first, unless your flight came from another Schengen country, in which case there’s none and you walk straight out. At Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), plan on about an hour from landing to sitting on the train, and a few minutes more from Terminal 2.

• EU citizens show a passport or ID card.
• Everyone else queues at a desk, where non-EU visitors give fingerprints and a photo under the EU’s Entry/Exit System, which adds time.
• Bags. On one ticket they go through to your next flight. On separate tickets you collect them after passport control; left luggage on the station level of Terminal 1 keeps them from 8am to 6pm, for €10.50 a bag up to 4 hours or €18.50 up to a day.
• A long wait shortens your time in town but never puts the flight at risk, because the hour you leave town is fixed by your departure.

Who needs a visa to leave: visa and transit rules.

The options at a glance

	FEX airport express	S-Bahn S9	Taxi
To	Potsdamer Platz, then Hauptbahnhof	Warschauer Strasse, Alexanderplatz, Hackescher Markt, Hauptbahnhof	Anywhere
Time	19 min to Potsdamer Platz, 23 to Hauptbahnhof	35 min to Warschauer Strasse, 43 to Alexanderplatz	About 40 to 50 minutes
Single fare	€5.00 (Berlin ABC)	€5.00 (Berlin ABC)	About €60 on the meter
Pay with	Ticket machine or the BVG app	Ticket machine or the BVG app	Cash or card

The taxi’s ride time is our estimate.

FEX airport express: the quickest way in

• Finding it. The station, Flughafen BER, is directly under Terminal 1: follow the signs for the trains down from the arrivals hall. From Terminal 2, walk a few minutes along the arrivals level (E0) into Terminal 1 first. Take a train towards Berlin Hauptbahnhof; the S-Bahn leaves from the same station.
• How often. In the daytime there’s a train about every 15 minutes: the FEX three times an hour, and the RE20 regional train, which takes the same ticket and the same time to Hauptbahnhof, once an hour.
• The ride. 19 minutes to Potsdamer Platz, about a 15-minute walk from the Brandenburg Gate, and 23 minutes to Hauptbahnhof, the main station, where the FEX uses the lower level. Most of our itineraries start at one or the other.
• Tickets. The airport is in fare zone C, outside the city’s inner zones A and B, so you need a Berlin ABC ticket: an AB ticket, the one most visitors buy in town, isn’t valid to the airport. A single costs €5.00, and the FEX costs nothing extra. Buy one each way at the machines in the terminal or the station, or in the BVG app, before you board. A paper single has to be validated: stamp it in the small machine on the platform. Riding in town as well? The 24-hour ABC ticket, €12.90, covers the ride in, the ride back and every bus, tram, U-Bahn and S-Bahn in between; a single in town alone (zones AB) costs €4.00.
• First and last trains. Trains leave the airport from 4:01am every day, before any flight lands. The last trains back:

	Monday to Friday	Saturday	Sunday and holidays
First FEX from the airport	4:01am	4:01am	4:01am
Last FEX back from Hauptbahnhof	11:52pm	11:52pm	11:52pm
Last FEX back from Potsdamer Platz	11:56pm	11:56pm	11:56pm

These are DB Regio’s times for November 2026; both last trains reach the airport at 12:14am. After them, night trains leave Hauptbahnhof at 12:52am, 1:52am and 3:07am, then 3:37am, 3:52am and every 15 minutes from 4:07am, each about 4 minutes later from Potsdamer Platz. Into town, night trains leave the airport at 12:16am, 12:31am, 1:22am and 2:22am.

Few layovers need any of these. No flights land or leave between midnight and 5am, so on a same-day return you’ll leave Hauptbahnhof by about 9:40pm at the latest. The night trains matter if you spend the evening in town and fly early the next morning: the 3:07am reaches the airport at about 3:30am, half an hour before security in Terminal 1 opens at 4am. A new timetable starts on 13 December 2026, and engineering works can change trains at short notice, so check your train back in the BVG or DB Navigator app on the day.

S-Bahn S9: slower, but straight to the east side

The S9 leaves from the same station under Terminal 1 and runs through the city without a change: 35 minutes to Warschauer Strasse, for the East Side Gallery, 39 to Ostbahnhof, 43 to Alexanderplatz, for the TV Tower, 45 to Hackescher Markt, for Museum Island, and 50 to Hauptbahnhof. It takes the same €5.00 ABC ticket.

Trains run every 20 minutes through the day and evening, every day of the week, and every 30 minutes through Friday and Saturday nights. Our S9 times allow up to half an hour’s wait each way, to be safe. The S9 runs on past midnight, so on a same-day return you’ll be on a train long before the last; leave Alexanderplatz 2 hours 50 minutes before your flight. For Hauptbahnhof or the government quarter, the FEX is twice as fast: if one has just left, wait for the next rather than taking the S9.

Engineering works stop the S9 short of the city from 9:45pm on 13 November to 1:30am on 16 November, and from 9:30pm on 27 November to 1:30am on 30 November 2026, with replacement buses. Take the FEX on those days.

Taxis

• Where. The taxi ranks are in front of Terminal 1, on the arrivals level (E0), for both terminals.
• What it costs. Berlin’s meter starts at €4.30 and adds €2.80 a kilometre for the first three, then less, plus €1.50 on every ride from the airport. The city’s own estimates are about €58 from Alexanderplatz to the airport and €63 from Bahnhof Zoo, so allow about €60 each way. The ride takes about 40 to 50 minutes on our estimate.
• Paying. Cash or card: every Berlin taxi must take at least three of the common cards, and if you pay by card the driver can ask to see your passport or ID.
• When it’s worth it. After the last train, with heavy bags or with young children. On your own or as a couple, the FEX is quicker into the centre, at €5.00 a head.

Pre-booked transfers

A pre-booked car gives you a fixed price and a driver waiting in the arrivals hall, which helps most after a late landing or with a group. Compare the price with about €60 for a taxi before you book.

Storing bags

Left luggage at the airport is in Terminal 1, on the station level (U1), open 8am to 6pm every day: €10.50 a bag for up to 4 hours and €18.50 for up to 24 hours. Because it closes at 6pm, it suits a morning or midday landing. For an evening return, take your bag into town and use the lockers at Hauptbahnhof, on the second basement level by the car park passage and on the first floor near the escalator to platforms 13 and 14, where the price depends on the size and the time. Several sights, including the Reichstag dome and the TV Tower, have no room for luggage at all.

Moving between terminals

Terminal 1 has the station underneath it. Terminal 2 is next door, a few minutes’ walk along the arrivals level (E0), and has no station of its own. Our times are from Terminal 1, so if you land at or fly from Terminal 2, add about 10 minutes each way. Both terminals’ gates can be reached from either terminal’s security, and security in Terminal 1 opens at 4am.

Timing your return

Aim to be back at Berlin Brandenburg Airport 90 minutes before departure, onward boarding pass in hand. If you’re already checked in and carrying only hand luggage, that covers security, passport control for a flight out of Schengen, and the walk to the gate. Flights to the US and Israel have a second security check at the gate, which closes 30 minutes before departure. If you still need to check in or drop a bag, allow longer.

In practice, leave Hauptbahnhof 2 hours 20 minutes before your flight, Potsdamer Platz 2 hours 10 minutes before, or Alexanderplatz on the S9 2 hours 50 minutes before.

Layover	Time in town
5.5 hours	About 1.5 hours
6 hours	About 2 hours
8 hours	About 4 hours
10 hours	About 6 hours
12 hours	About 8 hours

The table allows about an hour from landing to the train, 35 minutes into Potsdamer Platz with the wait for a train, 50 minutes back from Hauptbahnhof to the terminal and 90 minutes at the airport, as in the itineraries.