Berlin public transport tickets and fares: zones A, B and C, the 24-hour ticket, the Deutschlandticket, validation and fines, and night service

💡 The Short Version: A single ticket is €4.00 for zones A and B and €5.00 with zone C, valid for 120 minutes in one direction with changes. A 24-hour ticket is €11.20 (AB) or €12.90 (ABC), and it is cheaper than three singles. BER, Potsdam and Oranienburg are in zone C, so they need an ABC ticket. The ticket covers the S-Bahn, U-Bahn, trams, buses, regional trains in the zone and the BVG ferries. There are no turnstiles: validate a paper ticket before you travel. The fine without a valid ticket is €60. The 7-day ticket was withdrawn on 1 January 2026. The Deutschlandticket is €63 a month and only a subscription. At weekends the U-Bahn and S-Bahn run all night. Or pre-buy: the Berlin WelcomeCard for zones ABad is from €28.50, a transport ticket with attraction discounts (GetYourGuide).

Tickets and fares

Fares are BVG’s, valid from 1 January 2026. Reduced fares are for ages 6 to 14, and children under 6 travel free.

Hand luggage, buggies and wheelchairs need no ticket. One dog travels free on a 24-hour ticket; on a single ticket it needs the reduced fare (bvg.de). The 24-hour AB ticket costs less than three single tickets, which are €12.00. There is no 7-day ticket: VBB, the regional fare association, stopped selling it on 1 January 2026. A ticket is sold at the BVG machines in stations, in six languages including English, at BVG customer centres, on buses, and in the BVG Ticket, Fahrinfo and Jelbi apps.

From 1 January 2027 VBB fares rise by 3.72 per cent on average: the AB single stays at €4.00, the 4-trip ticket becomes €13.20 and the Potsdam AB single €3.10 (rbb24.de).

The zones

Zone A is the area inside the S-Bahn ring, zone B runs out to the city boundary, and zone C is the area around Berlin, including Potsdam, BER and Oranienburg (bvg.de). Everything in the city is in AB. Take ABC for:

Validation, inspections and fines

• Paper tickets. Stamp them in a yellow or red validator before you travel, on the platform for the S-Bahn, U-Bahn and regional trains and inside the vehicle on trams and buses.
• Digital tickets. Activate them in the app before you board.
• No turnstiles. Inspectors may be in plain clothes.
• The fine. €60 for no valid ticket or an unvalidated one, payable within 14 days; inspectors take payment by Girocard or credit card (sbahn.berlin).

A BVG tram on Pappelallee. Photo: Tomasz Sienicki, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.

Night service

Public transport runs roughly between 04:00 and 01:30 on weekdays. On the nights from Friday to Saturday and from Saturday to Sunday the U-Bahn and S-Bahn run all night, and N night buses cover the weekday nights (visitberlin.de).

A U2 train on the viaduct between the Landwehr Canal and Gleisdreieck. Photo: NutzerAusBerlin, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

The WelcomeCard and the Deutschlandticket

WelcomeCard 48 hours from €28.50 · Deutschlandticket €63 a month

The Berlin WelcomeCard is a transport ticket with discounts at attractions, sold by BVG from €28.50 for 48 hours and €39.50 for 72 hours (bvg.de). Two 24-hour AB tickets cost €22.40, so the card pays only through the discounts; the sums are in the Berlin WelcomeCard or Museum Pass.

The Deutschlandticket is €63 a month in 2026 and €66.80 from 1 January 2027. It is sold only as a monthly subscription that renews until you cancel by the 10th of the month for the end of that month. It is valid on local and regional trains, the S-Bahn, the U-Bahn, trams and buses across Germany, and not on ICE, IC or EC trains. It covers the S7 to Potsdam, the S1 to Oranienburg, the RE20 to the Spreewald and the BER trains. Six 24-hour AB tickets cost €67.20, so it pays only for a long stay (bahn.de).

Stations and the Stadtbahn works

Berlin Hauptbahnhof, at Europaplatz 1, is the hub for long-distance, regional and S-Bahn trains. The Tourist Info on the ground floor near the Europaplatz entrance sells the WelcomeCard and tickets, lockers stand in the car park (area C, levels 1 to 3) at €4 to €6 a day, and the Reichstag is a ten-minute walk. The Central Bus Station (ZOB) is opposite the ICC near the Radio Tower, in zone B; the nearest S-Bahn station is Messe Nord/ZOB and the nearest U-Bahn station Kaiserdamm. Its lockers are €2 to €5 a day (bvg.de).

From 14 June to 12 December 2026 the Stadtbahn, the rail line through the centre between Charlottenburg and Ostbahnhof, is closed to regional and long-distance trains. The S-Bahn lines S3, S5, S7 and S9 keep running through it. Most long-distance trains stop on the lower level of Hauptbahnhof, and Zoologischer Garten and Ostbahnhof have no long-distance trains: replacement stops are Südkreuz, Gesundbrunnen, Ostkreuz, Charlottenburg and Lichtenberg (vbb.de). The S-Bahn between Friedrichstraße and Tiergarten, at times to Zoologischer Garten and Charlottenburg, is closed from 11 June to 2 September 2027, Deutsche Bahn told rbb24 (rbb24.de).

An S-Bahn train crossing the Spree on the Stadtbahn viaduct. Photo: Paul Korecky, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Bikes, scooters and sharing

Bicycle ticket from €2.70 · Jelbi app

A bicycle on the S-Bahn, U-Bahn or tram needs its own ticket: a single from €2.70 or a 24-hour ticket from €5.90. The BVG’s Jelbi app books public transport and sharing vehicles in one place; Lime, Bolt, Voi and Dott are among its partners, and renting one needs registration, a payment method and ID (jelbi.de). GetYourGuide lists bike hire shops: Berlin Bike Rentalsad is from €5 for 2 to 8 hours (22 reviews) and Berlin: 48-Hour or 72-Hour Bike Rentalad is €30 (18 reviews). Guided rides are in the bike tours section of the walking tours page.

Trains and boats to the day trips

What to book before you go to Berlin lists the sights that need tickets and the days they are closed, and Berlin walking tours lists the guided walks. Where to stay in Berlin compares the areas. Free things to do in Berlin lists what costs nothing once you are there, and the Reichstag dome is a ten-minute walk from Hauptbahnhof.