Berlin Welcome Card

And I guess one follow up (somewhat related) would be whether most museums charge admission for children under 5. I have a 3-year-old, and it is unclear whether I will be on the hook for, say, 7 Euro admission at the Pergamon Museum. We don't intend to go to many museums, perhaps just a couple over the week that we are there that are reasonably suitable for a well-behaved toddler. Certainly, we'll check out the zoo.

We were in Berlin last fall for one week. My calculation (I'm a budget traveler) reveals that it's a much better deal to get, separately, the 7-day transport pass PLUS the 3-day museumcard for 19 euro (SchauLUST-MuseenBERLIN), if you're planning to go to at least 3 major museums.
http://www.visitberlin.de/english/berlin-infos/e_bi_infomaterial_museumspass.php

The "downside" was that we had to group most of the museums into those 3 days, but it made it work, and visited places not covered on the museum card during the rest of the week.

YES, thank you.

I was already leaning toward skipping the Welcome Card in favor of the 7-day transit pass, but I had forgotten about the SchauLUST card. That could be the answer we are looking for. Tell me, does the SchauLUST card provide a discounted admission or a "free" admission. The Welcome Card's list of discounts is not that appealing. If SchauLUST offers free admission, I'm in.

We will be on the ground for 7 days, but 2 of those are kind of travel days (arrival/departure) and we have a short list of museums and other sights that could be organized into 3 days. Excellent response and thanks for the answer.

It is FREE admission to all the museums listed here:
http://www.berlin-tourist-information.de/international/ticketcounter/i_ve_schaulustmuseen.html

This is what I wrote in my trip report from last fall:

It is dated for the day you buy it, and it’s valid for 3 consecutive days. It covers over 70 museums, definitely more than you can see in 3 days! We used it to get into 12 different museums, so it comes out to about 1,50 euro per museum! This is a very good deal, even if you only go to 3 museums in 3 days. For example, the Pergamon Museum admission alone is 10 euro.

P.S. if you get the 7-day transport pass for zones A/B, I don't know how it works for Potsdam which is in zone C. The price difference between A/B and A/B/C is 6 euro. When we went to Potsdam (that's another trip from several years ago), I remember we had to take a bus from the train station to the palace. So if you add in the bus fare and the additional train fare you have to pay, would it be more economical to get the A/B/C pass? (I don't know the answer, but probably someone else here does.)

I believe the difference in a one-way ticket between A/B and A/B/C is around 0.70 (1.40 round trip) plus the round trip bus fare if you decide not to walk. It might make sense to simply by the A/B pass and then pay for the extra stretch to Potsdam individually, if Potsdam is the only place in the C zone one will travel.

I am budget-oriented like you and I like the way you think.

For what it's worth, we're probably skipping Potsdam this time around (been there 3 times) and trying Wannsee and Pfaueninsel as a day trip, which we've never seen.

I also notice that there is a reduced price for students. My wife is in an MBA program - I wonder how tough they would be on a student ID from an American institution.

I forgot to add, you can definitely get the 7-day transport pass @ Tegel. Just look for the BVG desk there. This is what I wrote in my TR:

At Tegel, I found the BVG desk (this Tegel map was quite helpful at my jet-lagged state http://www.berlin-airport.de/EN/ReisendeUndBesucher/AmFlughafen/Terminalplan/TXL.html ) and bought our 7-day transport pass.

Regarding children at Berlin's museums, they get in for free to all the State-owned museums if they are under 16.
http://www.smb.museum/smb/service/index.php?lang=en&p=2&objID=3297&n=3

Lastly, the state museums also offer a one-day "area ticket". Say you only want to see the museums on Museumsinsel, you can get a one-day "area ticket" for 14 euro, which will give you entry to all 5 museums on Museumsinsel that day. Of course, that means cramming quite a few museums into one single day.
http://www.herden.de/downloads/e_museum_prices.pdf?PHPSESSID=e0jach2gc5hp3uv1q6o1tol7d6

It certainly won't hurt to have your wife show her ID and ask. The worst they can say is No. I remember being asked many times in Germany (though not in Berlin) by ticket agents if I were a student. They seemed quite keen on selling me a discounted student ticket even though
1) I look way too old to be a student
2) I definitely do not look like a native German

Right. We'll try. It probably comes down to the individual selling the ticket and how flexible (or inflexible) they are (or can be). Back in the day, I believe they required an international student ID (like an ISIC or something).

Reviving this thread in hopes of getting some clarification:

What's the difference between the Welcome Card and the City Tour Card?

I have read the descriptions (http://www.bvg.de/index.php/en/17178/name/For+Visitors.html) 3 times, and can't tell!

Thx so much