Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
der track 14). Luggage lockers (€4) are difficult to find since they're in the parking garage
(levels P-1, P-2, and P-3; look for the garage entrance near Kaisers supermarket on the un-
derground shopping level UG1).
Train Information and Tickets:
The station has two DeutscheBahn
Reisezentrum
in-
formation counters: one on the upper level (OG1/+1, daily 6:00-22:00), and the other on
the lower level (UG1/-1, Mon-Fri 8:00-22:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-20:00; this branch also has the
EurAide counter described next). If you're staying in western Berlin, keep in mind that the
info center at the Bahnhof Zoo station is just as good and much less crowded.
EurAide
is an English-speaking information desk with answers to your questions about
train travel around Europe. It operates from a single counter in the underground shopping
level
Reisezentrum
(follow signs to tracks 5-6 and
Reisezentrum -1
). It's American-run, so
communication is simple. This is an especially good place to make fast-train and
couchette
reservationsforlaterinyourtrip(April-SeptMon-Fri11:00-20:00—thoughMay-Julyopens
at 10:00, May-Aug also open Sat 10:00-16:00—otherwise closed on Sat and always closed
Sun; off-season Mon-Fri 11:00-18:30 only and closed Jan-Feb;
www.euraide.com
)
.
Shopping:
In addition to all those trains, the Hauptbahnhof is also the home of 80
shops with long hours—some locals call the station a “shopping mall with trains” (daily
8:00-22:00,onlystoressellingtravelprovisionsareopenSun).TheKaiserssupermarket (on
undergroundshoppinglevelUG1,followsignsfortracks1-2)ishandyforassemblingapic-
nic for your train ride.
Getting into Town:
Taxis and buses wait outside the station, but the S-Bahn is probably
the best means of connecting to your destination within Berlin. The cross-town express S-
Bahn line connects the station with my recommended hotels in a few minutes. It's simple:
All S-Bahn trains are on tracks 15 and 16 at the top of the station (level OG2/+2). All
trains on track 15 go east, stopping at Friedrichstrasse, Hackescher Markt (with connections
to Prenzlauer Berg), Alexanderplatz, and Ostbahnhof; trains on track 16 go west, toward
BahnhofZooandSavignyplatz. Yourtrainticketorrailpassintothestationcoversyourcon-
necting S-Bahn ride into town (and your ticket out includes the transfer via S-Bahn to the
Hauptbahnhof). U-Bahn rides are not covered by tickets or railpasses.
If you're sleeping at one of my recommended hotels in eastern Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg
neighborhood, take any train on track 15 two stops to Hackescher Markt, then catch tram
#M1 north (see map on
here
).
If you're sleeping at one of my recommended hotels in western Berlin, catch any train
on track 16 to Savignyplatz, and you're a five-minute walk from your hotel (see map on
here
). Savignyplatz is one stop after
Bahnhof Zoo
(rhymes with “toe”; a.k.a. Bahnhof Zoo-
logischer Garten), the once-grand train hub now eclipsed by the Hauptbahnhof. Nowadays
Bahnhof Zoo is useful mainly for its shops, uncrowded train-information desk, and BVG
transit office (outside the entrance, amid the traffic).
