We’ll tell you how to use the Berlin Welcome Card, and its discounts. You’ll be able to decide if you take it for your next trip to Berlin.
Something that we cannot deny is that Berlin is a city full of options to visit. When planning a trip to the German capital, there is a card that promises to be our ally and save us money on visits and transportation. This is the Berlin Welcome Card. In this article, we are going to tell you how we use it, which discounts it has so that you can get an idea if it is convenient to acquire the Berlin Welcome Card for your next trip to Berlin.
Berlin Welcome Card, what does it consist of?
The Berlin Welcome Card is a tourist card that provides access to public transport, discounts in numerous monuments, boat trips, guided tours, restaurants and even shops.
It is valid from 48 hours to 6 days.
The validity rules are different depending on the duration of the card. Namely:
- For 48 and 72 hour cards: The Berlin Welcome Card will expire at the exact time you have validated it for the first time, this is where you have to see if it suits you and when it would be best to validate it. An example: you arrive at the airport and take the train to Berlin, you validate the card on a Monday at 6 pm. If it’s a 48-hour card, that means it will expire at 5:59 p.m. on Wednesday.
- For 4, 5 and 6 day cards: these cards expire at 12 a.m. on the sixth day of use (or 4th or 5th). For example, if you arrive at the airport on the last flight of the day and plan to use your Berlin Welcome Card around 10 at night, knowing how it works you will realize that perhaps validating it is not convenient for you. Not at that time, as you will lose a day of use.
Before activating the card, check the days on which the museums you want to visit are closed. Make sure that you won’t lose the opportunity to make the most of it because of this.
In my case, I had the 6-day card, which I validated on the Sunday that I arrived in Berlin. The card became invalid on Friday at midnight. That is, on Saturday, my card was no longer valid.
Is the Berlin Welcome Card really a card?
The Berlin Welcome Card may surprise you at first, when I held it in my hand it took me a while to understand that it was actually more in the form of a transport ticket than a tourist card, since they are usually made of plastic like credit cards. But not. I wasn’t wrong, I had the card in front of me, soon at the Television Tower I was able to verify it when I showed it and had the corresponding discount.
How to activate the Berlin Welcome Card?
As you have already seen, the card is a transport ticket, so to validate its first use, you have to stamp it at the little machines at the metro and train stations (at the airport you can do this before taking the train). Validating the card will print something that looks like a date, but is a bit more complicated to read. Taking the photo above as an example, when looking at the seal, here’s what there is:
- The time: 14 10 (that is, 2:00 p.m. with 10 minutes)
- The day it was validated: So (Sunday, which is called Sonntag in German). The other days of the week would be Mo – Monday, Di – Tuesday, Mi – Wednesday, Do – Thursday, Fr – Friday, Sa – Saturday
- The number of the week in which it was validated: this is where things start to get complicated since it took me a long time to understand, what was that 25 after So, when I finally found the explanation I felt as if a spotlight had turned on, basically that 25 wanted to say the number of the week in which you were validating the card. You can easily tell what week number we are in by looking at a calendar or checking the internet.
- The last digit of the year it was validated: and then that little 2, which was also flipped, but what was that? It turns out that it is the last digit of the year in which it was validated. I didn’t understand the reason for doing it that way, but hey, there it is, that’s it. In some forum, I found someone jokingly saying that in that case the card could be used again in 10 years (although of course for that, the combination of week number and day would have to match).
What does the Berlin Welcome Card include?
When I picked up the card, they gave me a booklet with the list of discounts (there are many), as well as tips on itineraries to do in the city and a map of Berlin.
Museums and attractions
There are many, here are some of the attractions that have discounts with the Berlin Welcome Card:
- TV Tower (Fernsehturm)
- Charlottenburg Palace
- Berlin Cathedral
- DDR Museum
- Berlin TierPark
- THE WOW! Gallery
- Checkpoint Charlie Museum
- Madame Tussauds
- LEGOLAND
- Currywurst Museum
- Sanssouci Palace
Discounts in restaurants and shops
In the book there are several restaurants and shops that offer discounts for those who have the Berlin Welcome Card, check if the discount suits you and take advantage of it. In my case, I couldn’t do it.
Get your flight to Berlin at the best price
Transport around the city
All public transport is included in the card, both the subway (U), bus, S train, regional trains. In Potsdam, transport such as the tram or the bus (if you purchase the ABC card) are also included.
How much does the Berlin Welcome Card cost?
The price depends on the number of days you want to visit the city:
| Card lifetime | Berlin zones AB | Berlin + Potsdam zones ABC |
|---|---|---|
| 48 hours | 24 € | 29 € |
| 72 hours | 34 € | 39 € |
| 72 hours + Island of museums | 52 € | 55 € |
| 4 days | 41 € | 46 € |
| 5 days | 47 € | 50 € |
| 6 days | 50 € | 53 € |
Each Berlin Welcome Card is valid for one adult and up to 3 children
What is the difference between AB or ABC cards?
The difference is the areas where you can use the card, it’s easy: if you are going to use it to get to or from the airport and also want to go to Potsdam, then you need the ABC. If you’ll arrive by train to Berlin and you do not plan to go to Potsdam or the airport, or to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, then the AB would be enough.
How can I get it?
There are several ways:
- By Internet
- At the tourist office, both physically and online. At the airport, we can find one. To buy the card with the modality of printing it at home (so you do not need to validate it at the vending machines), you can buy it on the official Visit Berlin website. If you print the card, you can order the book I told you about earlier at the Visit Berlin offices.
- In some hotels and shops
- In the vending machines of the train and subway stations
Is it really worth it?
Let’s see, you have to take account of the transport / monuments / visits that you can do during your days in Berlin. But from our side, we can say that it is worth it. Here is an example of the visits we were able to make.
| Day | Attraction | Ticket price without discount | Discounted ticket price | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Television tower | 21.50 € | 16.10 € | 5.40 € |
| 2 | Berlin Cathedral | 9.00 € | 6.50 € | 2.50 € |
| 2 | DDR Museum | 12.50 € | 7.00 € | 5.50 € |
| 2 | Ship on the Spree | 14.00 € | 10.00 € | 4.00 € |
| 5 | Ticket Sanssouci+ | 19.00 € | 14.00 € | 5.00 € |
| 6 | Tempelhof Tour | 16.50 € | 12.35 € | 4.15 € |
| 6 days of unlimited transportation | 43.00 € * | 0 € | 43.00 € | |
| Total | 69.55 € |
So, the math is like this:
Card cost €53 – Tickets and transportation €69.55
Savings of 16.55 € (per person)
If we had taken advantage of the dining discounts, we could have saved even more.
In our case, we can say that it is worth it. This card will be your ally on a trip to Berlin.
Some of the links in this article include affiliate links. This means that if you buy a product listed here by following these links, we'll receive a commission. The use of this link does not increase the final price for you and thus helps us to keep our blog alive.
