fiogf49gjkf0d 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/a?¬15-20 to Bahnhof Zoo, covering the distance in about half the time. Berlin's second airport,
SchA¶nefeld
, 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 SchA¶nefeld, 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 LuftbrA?cke 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/a?¬2.35;
www.tip
) and
Zitty
(DM4/a?¬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/a?¬1.75), a monthly English/German publication. Another monthly, the
Berlin Programm
(DM3/a?¬1.50;
www.berlin-programm.de
), has more condensed listings, alongside information on opening times, and national and international train, bus and plane timetables.
Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections):
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