Transportation to Berlin Airports: Bus or Train to Tegel (TXL) and Schönefeld Flughafen (SXF), Germany

Berlin’s Tegel and Schönefeld Airports are best reached by public transportation. Both airports are in tariff zone B, requiring an AB ticket from Central Berlin. All regular tickets and passes are valid.

Tegel is the more convenient in the northwestern suburbs of Berlin and mostly used by full-service airlines. It is due to close when the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BBI) opens after 2011. BBI is being constructed next to Schönefeld Airport to the south of Berlin. Most cheap flights on low-cost airlines are from Schönefeld, although Air Berlin uses mostly Tegel.

Buses from Tegel Airport (TXL) to Central Berlin Mitte

Buses are the most convenient way from Tegel Airport to central Berlin. Buses generally operate from before 5 am to around midnight. Buses run every few minutes making timetable consultation fairly irrelevant during normal business hours.

Two JetExpressBuses – extra-long buses with special space for luggage – run from Tegel Airport. These buses only halt at major stops, which are where most foreign travelers get of anyway.

• X9 connects Flughafen Tegel with Zoologischer Garten Station, the heart of former West Berlin, in 20 minutes.
• TXL runs from Flughafen Tegel to Prenzlauer Berg in 40 minutes. En route, it stops amongst others at the Hauptbahnhof (20 minutes), Unter den Linden (30 minutes), and Alexander Platz (35 minutes).

Regular bus lines from Tegel Airport to Central Berlin:

• Bus 109 connects Flughafen Tegel with Zoologischer Garten Station in 27 minutes. It has more stops than bus X9 – amongst others at the following S and U-Bahn train stations: Charlottenburg (17 minutes), Adenauerplatz (19 minutes), Uhlandstraße (23 minutes), and Kurfürstendamm (25 minutes).

Transportation from Schönefeld Airport (SXF) to Central Berlin Mitte

Schönefeld Airport is currently less conveniently located than Tegel for users of public transportation to Central Berlin. Most foreign visitors will find the Airport Express or other S-Bahn trains the most convenient, you can find out more.

• Trains from Schönefeld Airport to Berlin

The Airport Express is the fastest and generally most convenient way to central Berlin. It is a special regional train (RE7 or RB14 but clearly marked as Airport Express) that runs every half hour from S-Bahn Station Flughafen Berlin-Schönefeld through central Berlin to Spandau in 45 minutes. En route, it stops at Ostbahnhof (17 minutes), Alexanderplatz (21 minutes), Friedrichstraße (24 minutes), Hauptbahnhof (28 minutes), and Zoologischer Garten (32 minutes). The Airport Express runs from around 5 am to 11 pm. S-Bahn train S9, which follows the same route in just over an hour but with more stops, has more services late at night.

It is a 400-m (1/4 mile) walk via a covered walkway from the airport to the railway station – bus 162 or 171 can also be used. (The new Berlin Brandenburg International Airport, due to open in 2011 but probably a few years later, will have the S-Bahn and long distance train stations right in its center.)

• RB22 goes directly from Schönefeld to Potsdam hourly in just less than an hour.
• Buses from Schönefeld Airport

For foreign travelers, buses from Schönefeld Airport are generally less useful except to connect to the nearby S-Bahn and U-Bahn train stations.

• Buses 162 and 171 (and night bus N60) run from Flughafen Schönefeld via S-Bahn Station Flughafen Berlin-Schönefeld (3 minutes) to S-Bahn Station Adlershof in 19 minutes.
• X7 is a JetExpressBus connecting Flughafen Schönefeld and U-Bahn station Rudow (U-Bahn line U7) in 7 minutes. Night bus N71 does the same route.

For visitors, Berlin’s public transportation is not just a cheap and fast way to connect to low-cost flights at airports but bus lines 100 and 200 are the cheapest and easiest ways to see the top sights of the German capital.