The Berlin Untergrundbahn (U-Bahn) is a massive metro system that you can use while in Berlin. It consists of 175 stations, covering nearly 100 miles around the city, and is the most convenient form of travel around the city. How many lines does it have? How much do tickets cost? Let’s take a look.
Metro in Berlin
The Berlin metro was established at the beginning of the 20th century and currently consists of 9 lines – from U1 to U9. The longest of the bunch is the U7, consisting of 40 stations. Select stations, such as Hermannplatz or Alexanderplatz, are also genuinely beautiful pieces of architecture.
Tickets
Berlin uses one ticket for all means of public transport, including the U-Bahn, the S-Bahn (suburban railway system), buses and trams. You can either buy them from a ticket office, ticket machines at U-Bahn stations or from the BVG app. You have to stamp the ticket before the journey to validate it.
You can either buy one-use tickets, a ticket for a few stops or an unlimited ticket for a specified duration. Here are your main options:
One-use tickets have different costs depending on the zone you’re in. It’s valid for two hours, though it cannot be checked in twice (so you can only use it for one ride and not a round trip). As a tourist glued to the centre, you’ll be mostly using the AB zone:
- AB one-use ticket: €3.50 regular, €2.20 reduced
- BC one-use ticket: €4 regular, €2.70 reduced
- ABC one-use ticket: €4.40 regular, €3.20 reduced
There are also short-trip tickets, meaning the ones for a few stops. A three-stop ticket for U-Bahn costs €2.40 (it can also be used on S-Bahn for the same duration or a bus/tram for 6 stops).
If you’d like to use the transport system more extensively on a given day, you may want a 24-hour ticket or even a 7-day ticket if you’re staying in Berlin for a week. Here are the prices:
1-day ticket
- AB: €9.90 regular, €6.50 reduced
- BC: €10.40 regular, €6.80 reduced
- ABC: €11.40 regular, €7 reduced
7-day ticket
- AB: €41.50
- BC: €42.50
- ABC: €49
There’s also an option to buy a shared group ticket for 24h. It allows for up to 5 people to use all public transport on one ticket (and one dog can be included too!).
- AB: €31
- BC: €32
- ABC: €33
Schedule
The U-Bahn runs from 4am to 1am from Monday to Friday and 24h on weekends. You can find trains every 5-10 minutes depending on the hour of the day during the week and every 10-15 minutes on weekends.
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