What is cheapest traveling from Berlin Airport to Dresden and how?

Normally getting from one big German city to another, the cheapest way is the Flix bus. But this doesn't connect you to and from exactly where you want to go and usually runs just a few times a day. You will probably need to take trains. The information can be found on the www.bahn.de website.

It might take some time on arrival for you to pass customs and get your luggage. I put in the information given, just guessing the Berlin Schönefeld airport. But there are 2 airports in Berlin!, so it could also be the Berlin Tegel airport. Both should be connected by local trains.


Anyway, I found an S-Bahn train from Berlin Schönefeld to the Berlin Südkreuz station leaving 2.45 pm arriving 3.18 pm. Then one needs to walk some minutes to where the long distance trains are and one would catch the EC train to Dresden main station, leaving 3.26 pm , arriving 5.07 pm. Then one needs to again walk some minutes to where the connecting local trams are and catch the tram 3 or 5 to Dresden Münchener Platz, which is the closest to the Max Planck Institute – about 5 blocks walk. The normal price listed is 42 Euros. One can order tickets online that can be stored on a mobile phone or printed out on your computer.

One has connections about once an hour. Depending on when you leave there can be variations in the route connecting you to a long distance train to Dresden including an additional change of trains. I won't bother to give details of what I found assuming Tegel airport rather than Schönefeld except to say that the price, traveling times and number of train changes is nearly the same. Most such scenarios takes you from Tegel airport to Berlin main station and then to Dresden.

When I looked for this information, I just looked to get you to Dresden without considering a visit to the Berlin wall, most of which does't exist anymore - so it depends on where you really intend to visit?! Basically everything is connected throughout the city by various types of trains, trams and buses. To figure out Berlin local public transportation connections look at the site (in English): http://www.bvg.de/en

The bahn.de website is pretty reliable. I think it is not so difficult to use yet one must realize there are so many variables to put in. It is also only in German. If you don't speak German it is probably best to get someone who does to help you find an itinerary and book the ticket. There are sometimes special tickets that are cheaper but then one has to catch a particular train and the ticket is worthless if you miss your train and want to take the next one. With normal priced tickets one can take a different train and only pay any extra if the connections are more expensive.

Most people who live in Germany and use long distance trains with any regularity will buy a Bahn Card. One that saves you 25% on each ticket costs 62 Euros a year, one that saves 50% usually cost 255 Euros unless one is over 60 years old and then it cost 127 Euros.

Just to add to Tom's post; Tegel does not have a train station, but there is a frequent bus from outside arrivals to the city centre; trains to Dresden run from the Berlin Hauptbahnhof.  Schönefeld is on the eastern side of Berlin; I've used Tegel quite a lot, but when I lived in Berlin, Schönefeld was in the old East Germany and was a real hassle to use; of course, that must have changed since reunification.

This link will take you to a web-planner for your journey from Berlin to Dresden by bus/train; it works both for Tegel and Schönefeld.

To be honest, it would be a lot less hassle to use a taxi between either airport and the Hauptbahnhof.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Dear Tomin!
Thank you very much for sending useful info. Yes my arrival airport is Berlin Tegel. Can I buy ticket at railway station with same price?
Thank you very much!

Cynic wrote:

Just to add to Tom's post; Tegel does not have a train station, but there is a frequent bus from outside arrivals to the city centre; trains to Dresden run from the Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

I stand corrected. The connection from Tegel to the Berlin main train station is a bus. This is shown in the details of the connections when one uses the www.bahn.de route planner. Most important is to figure out which airport your flight arrives in to make your plans!

Maybe Cynic can better answer this question since he knows Berlin much better than me. If you book your ticket before online it will include all trains and the bus. Otherwise, I think you will have to buy a ticket for the bus from the airport to the Berlin main station from a machine. Not sure if you will have the option to book through to Dresden. If not, then you would have to get an additional ticket in the Berlin main station to get you to where you want to go in Dresden. The savings from a normal priced online ticket are not much, if anything. Mostly it saves time and hassles.

Using the ticket machines for such a complicated connection (since it is not just to Dresden main station) can be very complex and confusing. There are also counters in the main station to buy tickets but one can wait endlessly. The advantage is that they can give you detailed information about schedules and options. In Stuttgart one usually waits over an hour at the ticket counters, not sure if Berlin is better. I would strongly suggest you book online to get to Dresden and if you opt to do sight-seeing in Berlin on the way, you can get additional tickets for the local system quickly from the local ticket machines.

Cynic suggested a taxi from the airport to the main station. This cost at least 20 Euros while the bus only costs a few Euros and nothing extra if you would book the whole trip over the internet.  The question then is comfort or saving money.

LOL - when I lived there; the railway to Dresden was the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the tickets were hand-written when you booked your ticket (and you smiled nicely to the VOPO lurking on the platform).

I was in Berlin last year on a nostalgia trip, I used the bus/S-Bahn/U-Bahn option, but I knew where I was going.  However, I noticed that the Hauptbahnhof had a travel centre; assuming this is a business trip and if not on expenses, at least deductible, I'd still recommend the taxi option, then go into the Travel Centre, if the OP can't speak German, then they will speak at least English.  I just checked the Deutsche Bahn website; single seat 44 euro, you can book online and you get an e-ticket (pdf) to keep on your phone.

Dear Cynic and Tomin!
Thank you very much for sharing useful information.

Cynic wrote:

LOL - when I lived there; the railway to Dresden was the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the tickets were hand-written when you booked your ticket (and you smiled nicely to the VOPO lurking on the platform).

I was in Berlin last year on a nostalgia trip, I used the bus/S-Bahn/U-Bahn option, but I knew where I was going.  However, I noticed that the Hauptbahnhof had a travel centre; assuming this is a business trip and if not on expenses, at least deductible, I'd still recommend the taxi option, then go into the Travel Centre, if the OP can't speak German, then they will speak at least English.  I just checked the Deutsche Bahn website; single seat 44 euro, you can book online and you get an e-ticket (pdf) to keep on your phone.

Like I suggested, booking online is pretty straight forward - if one manages with the German. If not one always has the option to buy tickets at the stations. The question is the hassle. Waiting in line for an hour or more is normal in Stuttgart and out of the question when one is in a hurry. Maybe they have more personnel in Berlin but I doubt it. Deutsche-Bahn has gone way down hill in terms of service and reliability. They waste billions on unneeded projects like Stuttgart 21 while trying to save by cutting service. And while public transportation in most German cities is amazing compared to many countries, Berlin's is embarrassingly run down. But I guess it will get one to where they need to go.

TominStuttgart wrote:

Cynic wrote:

LOL - when I lived there; the railway to Dresden was the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the tickets were hand-written when you booked your ticket (and you smiled nicely to the VOPO lurking on the platform).

I was in Berlin last year on a nostalgia trip, I used the bus/S-Bahn/U-Bahn option, but I knew where I was going.  However, I noticed that the Hauptbahnhof had a travel centre; assuming this is a business trip and if not on expenses, at least deductible, I'd still recommend the taxi option, then go into the Travel Centre, if the OP can't speak German, then they will speak at least English.  I just checked the Deutsche Bahn website; single seat 44 euro, you can book online and you get an e-ticket (pdf) to keep on your phone.

Like I suggested, booking online is pretty straight forward - if one manages with the German. If not one always has the option to buy tickets at the stations. The question is the hassle. Waiting in line for an hour or more is normal in Stuttgart and out of the question when one is in a hurry. Maybe they have more personnel in Berlin but I doubt it. Deutsche-Bahn has gone way down hill in terms of service and reliability. They waste billions on unneeded projects like Stuttgart 21 while trying to save by cutting service. And while public transportation in most German cities is amazing compared to many countries, Berlin's is embarrassingly run down. But I guess it will get one to where they need to go.

The website does have 8 different language versions, one in English.  I suspect because you are actually in Germany, yours defaults to German, whereas, my ISP is in the UK, so it spots I'm an Auslander and gives me some options.

Opps, Cynic is right; the Deutche Bahn website is in multiple languages including English. I overlooked that in the navigation. Possibly it was not so obvious before, now it is centrally placed at the top where one picks the language. Because of this I see no reason for one not to book a trip in advance rather than risking waiting in lines at the main station ticket/information counter or having to deal with the machines for a complicated route - although always has those options.