This week I was lucky enough to visit the incredible city of Berlin for a couple of days for my first holiday away this year. Currently at the time of writing (August 2020), Berlin has two international airports  – Tegel Airport which is located five miles north west from the city centre and Schönefeld Airport which is located a little further away in the south.

Tegel Airport is old with a unique design with no direct rail links (either by U-Bahn or S-Bahn) into the centre of Berlin.  However it is incredibly easy to take one of the many buses from Tegel Airport to several destinations in the city where you can change onto other transportation links.  But the advantage that Tegel Airport does have is because it is so small, you can be out of the airport and on a short bus ride heading into the city within minutes of landing.

Getting the bus from Tegel Airport into the city centre of Berlin is so easy, cheap, quick and efficient that you definitely do not need to take an expensive taxi ride or book an even more expensive car transfer.   As always with all my travels overseas, I took plenty of photos throughout the journey to help explain how simple it is to get from Tegel Airport into the centre of Berlin by bus.

After going through passport control and collecting your luggage (if you have any) and once inside the airport terminal, simply follow the yellow signs for the Bus which you will see everywhere.  As the airport is so small, this will not take long at all.

Once outside the door, turn left and you will see ticket machines along the wall on the left as well as all the bus stops ahead of you.  There are more ticket machines located further along if there is a long line at the first ones you come to.

The ticket machines are very simple to use and you can change the language from German into English, French, Polish, Spanish or Turkish just by pressing the flag button on the right hand side of the screen.

To travel from Tegel Airport into the centre of Berlin, you will need to buy an AB ticket as Tegel Airport is located in Zone B. As of August 2020, the current price for an AB Single Trip ticket is:

Adult – €2.90
Child – €1.80

On the screen, select “Single Ticket”.  This ticket will be valid for two hours for travel in one direction on the Bus, U-Bahn and S-Bahn in Zones A and B.

Then select “Standard Fare” and if you require more than one ticket, select “Several Tickets” and the number of tickets you need.  You can also buy tickets for children aged between six and fourteen by selecting “Reduced Fare” and again selecting the number of tickets you require. Anyone aged five and under can travel free of charge.

If you plan on using public transportation in Berlin three or more times in one day, you can also purchase a “Day Ticket” from the same machine which is valid from time of validation until 3:00am the following day.

At the bottom of the screen, it will tell you how much to pay, how much change the machine can give, what notes and coins it can accept and what credit cards can be used including Visa, Mastercard and American Express.  We used American Express to buy all of our tickets during our stay with no issues however all cards will need to have chip and pin enabled.

Before using your ticket, you must validate it.  You will find a machine to do this next to the ticket machines, at the bus stops as well as on the buses themselves.

Once you have validated your “Single Ticket”, it is valid for two hours in the selected zones on the Bus, U-Bahn and S-Bahn from the time printed on it.  You can change as many times as needed during this time as well as interrupt your journey (so you can quickly stop somewhere on the way to your destination) whilst the ticket is valid but you cannot travel back in the same direction from where you purchased your ticket.

Once you have purchased and validated your ticket, there are several different buses you can take from Tegel Airport to different destinations in the centre of Berlin. You can find an up to date Berlin public transportation map here.

Bus TXL takes twenty three minutes to get to Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Main Railway Station) and runs every six to ten minutes throughout the day.

Bus X9 takes twenty one minutes to travel directly to Zoologischer Garten (where you can transfer to the S-Bahn and U-Bahn) and runs every ten minutes throughout the day.

Bus 109 also travels to Zoologischer Garten but via Kurfürstendamm which takes thirty minutes and runs every ten minutes throughout the day.

You can also use the 109 and X9 to travel to Jakob-Kaiser-Platz (on line U7) which is the closest U-Bahn Station to Tegel Airport.

All of the bus stops are clearly signposted and as the buses are frequent, you will not have to wait long for the next one. If the bus is full, I would recommend waiting for the next one so you can get a seat. All of the stops on the bus are announced in both German and English and there is a television screen where you can follow your journey and see which stop is next.

Another essential need-to-know is at this current time, it is mandatory for anyone over the age of six to wear a face covering (which covers your nose and mouth) on all public transportation in Berlin and there is a fine for non-compliance. You also cannot purchase bus tickets directly from the driver at this time so you will need to use the ticket machines at the airport.

Within ten minutes of disembarking our flight, we had bought our tickets and was on Bus X9 and on our way to Zoologischer Garten Station where we transferred to the U2 line on the U-Bahn (using the same ticket) to get to our hotel.

When leaving Zoologischer Garten Station to go back to Tegel Airport, both the X9 and 109 buses depart from Bus Stop 1. However give yourself some extra time and make sure to stop at Curry 36 which is located between the U-Bahn entrance and the bus stops for the best Currywurst in Berlin – they even have vegetarian and vegan versions which are delicious. There is not much in the way of food or drink at the airport so it’s best to eat something before you get there.

I’m not sure how much longer the information in this blog post will be valid as later this year, the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport is finally due to open after nearly ten years of delays and it is said that Tegel Airport will close for good.

I hope that in this short time that these directions will help anyone travelling to Berlin and using Tegel Airport – if nothing else the process for buying tickets on the machines is exactly the same wherever you are throughout the city.

Have fun in the incredible city of Berlin!

Since this blog post was written back in 2020, some of the information may no longer be accurate or up to date. Be sure to do your own research and check official websites for the latest details before making any of your own travel plans.

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