Berlin for 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall - 2 questions

You may have a perfectly efficient busstop near your hotel. Can you find out from their website? 500 m. to walk to F.strasse u-bahn would not be logical..

Wittenburg platz is near a big shopping area. I think it is not very attractive, but .. certainly has plenty of transport there.

The hotel is 2 blocks north of river and 1 block west of F.strasse. Looks like u-bahn is just across river to the south.

I've stayed at Wittenberg Platz before and thought it was a good location due to transport and general central location.

Given that most of my time will be spent in Mitte this time, I was thinking of staying there but there are less hotels and many are booked or more than I want to spend.

I'm less familiar with Spittelmarkt area.

I think you have the 147 and the 12 busses, perhaps others, near there at B.W. hotel. The TXL bus goes near there.. has a stop at Karlplatz.

However, I think Spittelmarkt area also looks super convenient as I now have my map out.

Oh great! I see Karlplatz is a block away from hotel. In the past I've gone to Zoo Station (and walked to Wittenberg Platz) but if I stay here looks like I should take this one:

"TXL runs from Flughafen Tegel to Prenzlauer Berg in 40 minutes. En route, it stops amongst others at the Hauptbahnhof (20 minutes), Unter den Linden (30 minutes), and Alexander Platz (35 minutes)." I assume that Karlsplatz is one of the stops near Hbf.

Spittelmarkt is probably less convenient from airport. I'm leaving Berlin on train so staying near Hbf probably makes the most sense!

You persuaded me with your comments on my arrival and departure into Berlin! Also the price was lower than the other 2 locations. Thanks for your help!!!!

well.. I see a busstop at Karplatz.. and ASSUMED the TXL bus stops there, because I don't think it "SKIPS" stops.. I hope I haven't given you wrong info. It has TXL near that line.. but perhaps it doesn't stop at ALL the stops! Yikes. I am worried about this now. But as I recall, ( just got back a couple days ago) I saw TXL up on the board almost no matter where we were it seemed, as a bus coming. We used it to get around the city at times, too, since it was going the way we wanted to go, as everyone does.

It is not a proper airport bus, or at least the ones we were on had no luggage area.. its end of the line is Tegel.. that's all.

The 147 goes to HpBf from your hotel area and down to Museum Insel and Friedrichstrasse.

If you are not going to be travelling much that first day, the simple ticket is good for 2 hours in the same direction so you can still use it to do a bit further investigation after check-in.

you might be able to get a good map view online googling berlin-innenstadt bus

No worries - if it doesn't stop at Karlplatz then I can get out at Hbf. Funny, after all my angst, your advice helped me make the decision and now I think it is the perfect choice!

Most of the things I'm going to do will be in Mitte so I might just mostly walk. Not sure yet whether to buy the 3 day pass.

I'll let you know how I make out. Thanks again!

Berlin is larger than you probably imagine, even the centre, and walking distances sum up. Having a public transport pass and being able to hop on a bus or S-Bahn, even if for no more than two or three stops, adds a lot of mobility and flexibility and saves a lot of walking. The passes in Berlin do not cost much, I'd get it to have more freedom.

The TXL bus stops at Karlplatz. There is no surcharge.
Any ticket or pass you can get from the transit authority's ("BVG") desk near one of the exits of Terminal A at Tegel airport, or from the vending machines at the bus stops.
Regular tickets or 1-day-passes are also available from the driver.

You will also find trams at street level on Friedrichstraße (subway stop Oranienburger Tor) which take you directly to Hackescher Markt, and further on to Prenzlauer Berg or Alexanderplatz district. Trams are usually a good alternative to subways since you get to see a bit more than from a subway.

A belated reply...

First of all the trip was amazing. Having spent plenty of time in Berlin before, I concentrated only on Wall stuff. There were many exhibitions and events going on - wonderful. And of course, the actual ceremony with the domino fall was brilliant!

Re the hotel/transport question. I always get the transport pass and did this time. While I got my money's worth, I needed it less than in the past. If you can believe this, I never left East Berlin!

I had a feeling that might be the case which is why I was so insistent upon staying in Mitte in the first place. The Best Western-Mitte near Friedrichstrasse station turned out to be quite convenient (unlike what it looked like on the map). Spittlesmarkt would have been a lot less convenient.

lincasanova - thanks for the tip re the airport bus. That was really convenient. And when I went to take the train to Leipzig, I was able to walk to the main Hauptbanhoff. All in all, a good choice!

Thanks everyone!

Try http://www.hotelbooking-worldwide.com/

Welcome back! I never tire of Berlin. There is always so much to do. I enjoyed watching the incessant news broadcasts of the falling wall re-play.

How was that hotel? Besides being convenient...