Berlin WelcomeCard or Museum Pass Berlin: the sums, and which one pays

💡 The Short Version: The Museum Pass Berlin is €32 for three consecutive days at more than 30 museums, and it pays with the third paid museum. For one day on Museum Island, the €24 Museumsinsel ticket beats both. The Classic WelcomeCard costs more than day tickets for two to four days: €28.50 for 48 hours in zones AB against €22.40 for two 24-hour tickets, so it pays only through discounts. The €99 all-inclusive card pays only above €73.20 of sights on top of its transport, about five paid sights in two days. The Museum Pass leaves out the DDR Museum, the Stasi Museum, the TV Tower, the Berlin Cathedral and Charlottenburg Palace. Or buy a card: the WelcomeCard for zones ABad is from €28.50 on GetYourGuide, sold by visitBerlin.

What the cards are

The Museum Pass Berlin is sold by the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB) at smb.museum. The Berlin WelcomeCard is the official card of visitBerlin and the BVG, sold at berlin-welcomecard.de. They are different products: the pass is museums only, and the cards add public transport.

The Classic card also comes in longer validities:

• Classic without transport. For people who already hold a transport ticket, the Classic card is sold without public transport, from €10 for 72 hours to €15 for six days.
• One adult and up to three children travel on one WelcomeCard.
• The ABC cards cover BER airport, Potsdam and Oranienburg. See Berlin airport to the city.
• All-inclusive prices by validity are €99 for 48 hours, €119 for 72 hours, €139 for 4 days, €159 for 5 days and €179 for 6 days. A child’s card for ages 3 to 14 is about half price.

The sums

Prices are the adult rates in euros from the operators’ own sites. A 24-hour public transport ticket is €11.20 for zones AB and €12.90 for ABC, and there is no 7-day ticket.

• The Museum Pass pays with the third museum. On Museum Island alone, the one-day ticket is cheaper.
• The all-inclusive card breaks even at €73.20 of sights on top of its €25.80 of transport. That is four to five paid entries in two days.
• The Classic card pays through discounts, not through transport. It is the right card only if you will use the discounts below.

The cards’ own savings examples price sights at list prices. The sums above use the operators’ online prices.

What each card covers

The Museum Pass Berlin gives one visit to the permanent exhibitions of more than 30 museums over three consecutive days, from the first day you pick. It needs no time slot, is bought at the museums’ ticket offices, Berlin Tourist Info centres, the SMB online shop and visitBerlin, and online up to four weeks ahead. Digital tickets cannot be cancelled or rebooked. It covers:

A room of Italian Renaissance paintings in the Gemäldegalerie. Photo: Oursana, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

• the Museum Island museums that are open,
• the Kulturforum: the Gemäldegalerie, the Neue Nationalgalerie, the Kunstgewerbemuseum, the Musikinstrumenten-Museum and the Kupferstichkabinett,
• Hamburger Bahnhof, the Museum für Naturkunde, the Deutsches Technikmuseum and the Berlinische Galerie,
• the Humboldt Forum (Berlin Global, the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art),
• the Jewish Museum, the Museum für Kommunikation, the Bröhan Museum, the Brücke-Museum and the Georg Kolbe Museum.

At museums that are free to enter, it includes admission to at least one special exhibition. Children and young people under 18 are free at SMB museums without it. The pass does not list the DDR Museum, the Stasi Museum, the Berlin Cathedral, the TV Tower, Charlottenburg Palace or any memorial site. Many Berlin museums are closed on Mondays or Tuesdays: best museums in Berlin has the days.

The Neues Museum on Museum Island. Photo: Richard Mortel, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

The all-inclusive WelcomeCard gives free entry to listed partners. They include the TV Tower, the DDR Museum, the asisi “The Wall” panorama, the Stasi Museum, the Berlin Story Bunker, the Neues Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Gemäldegalerie, the Neue Nationalgalerie, Hamburger Bahnhof, the Museum für Naturkunde, Pergamonmuseum. Das Panorama, an Original Berlin Walks tour and a Stern und Kreisschiffahrt boat trip, and a day on the City Circle bus. It does not list the Altes Museum, the Bode-Museum, the Berlin Cathedral, the Humboldt Forum, the Jewish Museum, Charlottenburg Palace or Hohenschönhausen. Partners change, so read the partner list before buying.

The Classic card gives discounts, not entry, and the Museum Island card adds the island museums. The discounts include:

• Berlin Cathedral: €11 instead of €15.
• Humboldt Forum: the Berlin Global exhibition for €5 instead of €9.
• Tempelhof airport tours: 25% off.
• TV Tower: 25% off at the ticket desk only. An online ticket from €20 takes no WelcomeCard discount, so these cards do not clearly save money there.

Which to buy

• One day of museums on the island: the €24 Museumsinsel ticket. See Museum Island tickets.
• A museum-heavy stay of three days or more: the Museum Pass, plus 24-hour tickets for transport.
• Two to four days, mostly outdoor sights: day tickets for transport and no card. Free things to do in Berlin lists what costs nothing.
• A packed two days with five or more paid sights: the all-inclusive card.
• Five or six days on public transport: the Classic card edges ahead of day tickets, and the discounts add to it.

Buying the WelcomeCard on GetYourGuide

visitBerlin also sells the card on GetYourGuide at the card’s own prices. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices.

• WelcomeCard for zones ABad, from €28.50.
• WelcomeCard for zones ABCad, from €45.50.
• WelcomeCard Museum Islandad, from €62 for 3 days.

The card site sells every validity, including the 48-hour card for zones ABC at €34.50.

What to book before you go to Berlin has the closed days for every sight. Berlin public transport explains the zones and the fares, and Berlin airport to the city needs the ABC zone. 3 days in Berlin places the museums around the closed Mondays. Berlin walking tours names the Original Berlin Walks tour that the all-inclusive card covers.