Euro 2024 By Train: Berlin

With the exception of Leipzig, all of the other Euro 2024 host cities are a long-distance from Berlin - though the trains from more distant cities spend much of their journeys from and to the German capital travelling along high speed lines at more than 250 km/h.
So travelling to and from Berlin by car involves long drives on autobahns across Germany, which combined with the lack of parking at the Olympiastadion, makes taking a comfortable long-distance express train the logical way to go.
Berlin has direct trains which travel from and to all but one of the other Euro 2024 host cities.

The Olympiastadion is comparatively close to Berlin city centre and it is served by stations on

• the Berlin S-Bahn network = local trains, similar to the Overground in London and the RER in Paris
• the Berlin U-Bahn network = metro / subway / underground trains.
  Car parking is not available at the Olympiastadion.

By S-Bahn train

The S-Bahn trains on line S3 and line S9 link the station named Olympiastadion with multiple locations in the city centre including Alexanderplatz and Friedrichstraße and Zoologischer Garten, which is the primary station in West Berlin.

These two S-Bahn lines also provide the public transport connection between the city's main rail station, Berlin Hbf, and the stadium in which the Euro 2024 matches will be played.
The trains on both lines, which will be heading to Spandau, typically depart at 20 minute intervals, to provide a service every 10 mins, though on match days there will be additional trains that terminate at Olympiastadion - the journey time from Berlin Hbf is 19 minutes.
The final train of the day to central Berlin typically departs from the Olympiastadion station at 00:45.

By U-Bahn train

The trains on U-Bahn line U2 link other areas of the city to the stadium, including Potsdamer Platz and Gleisdreieck - the location of the German Museum of Technology.
Line U2 has a 24 hour service.

The alternative route to and from the stadium

The western terminus of the regular S-Bahn trains which serve the stadium is Berlin-Spandau, which is a major station that is linked to and from Berlin Hbf, Alexanderplatz and Friedrichstraße and Zoologischer Garten by up to five Regio trains per hour.
So travelling via Berlin-Spandau is a viable alternative to taking the direct S-Bahn trains, particularly post-match.

The ICE trans heading to Berlin from Cologne, Dortmund, Dusseldorf and Hamburg also call at Berlin-Spandau, before they call at Berlin Hbf.
So the quickest and easiest route to the Olympiastadion by train from those cities is to make the connection at Berlin-Spandau.

Those with match tickets for the games in Berlin are entitled to a 36 Hour Travel Pass for the entire VBB (Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg) network, including the S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains at no additional cost!
The network covers a vast area beyond Berlin's city borders, including all of Brandenburg, so you can discover the whole region by public transport.

The trains on line S9 provide a direct link to the Olympiastadion station from Berlin-Brandenburg Airport.
Though the airport is at the far eastern end of line S9, hence a journey time of around 70 mins.
So a faster, but more complicated journey is to take either the dedicated 'FEX' Airport Express trains or Regio trains on lines RE7 and RB14 from the the airport to Berlin Hbf - and connect there with a S-Bahn train on to Olympiastadion station; the end-to-end journey time will be around 55 mins.

Those with match tickets are able to access a special type of ticket, the DB Ticket Euro 2024 for travel by ICE and IC train to the host city of the corresponding game - the train conductor will ask to see the rail ticket and the match ticket.
Though the tickets have limited availability per departure, so for the widest possible choice of trains, it will be best to book as far in advance as possible.
The key plus of these tickets is that they have a flat rate price for a one-way trip of €29.90 in 2nd class and €39.90 in 1st class; so when the cheapest prices of both types of Sparpreis tickets have sold out, these Euro 2024 tickets obviously become the cheapest option.

If when looking up a journey on DB there are tickets available at a cheaper price than €29.90 in 2nd class and €39.90 in 1st class, they will be offered as an alternative.
Though during the tournament the prices for the longer journeys from and to Berlin will otherwise likely be more than €100 - so these DB Ticket Euro 2024's will likely be significant money savers.

The info on our general Euro2024 guide has step-by-step instructions on how to book these tickets.

seat reservations

The 1st class tickets include a seat reservation, which otherwise costs €5.90, but seat reservations are not included when booking the 2nd class DB Ticket Euro 2024 tickets - and a 2nd class seat reservation has an additional charge of €4;90.
If you don't reserve it will be possible to board a train with a 2nd class DB Ticket Euro 2024 ticket to find that no seats are available.
Note that once you factor in the reservation, the additional cost of a 1st class DB Ticket Euro 2024 ticket is only €5-6 - for longer journeys this extra cost will be worth every cent!

core terms and conditions

These Euro 2024 tickets cannot be exchanged or refunded - so book your accommodation before you arrange the rail travel.
U[p to four children aged 6 to 14 can travel with for free of charge with someone aged 15 and over who has purchased a Euro 2024 ticket.

book to travel on to the stadiums

To make the journeys to the stations / public transport stops by the stadiums easier to book, a dedicated journey look up service has been created.
It shows the names of the stations / stops closest to the stadiums in each of the Euro 2024 cities.
That's because the the DB Ticket Euro 2024 ticket can include the transfer on to the stops by the stadiums.
Though something to look out for, is that to book the DB Ticket Euro 2024 ticket, you need to:

• copy the name of the stop
• scroll up the page and click on the red 'Jetzt Ticket buchen' button
• paste the name of the stadium stop into the 'to' box
• follow the booking path - info on how to do this is available here.
  However, if you click on the name of the stadium stop on this look-up page, it will then be automatically included as the destination on DB's standard booking path - but if you proceed to book, you seemingly won't then see the DB Ticket Euro 2024 offer.

If you won't have match tickets for games in the cities that you will be travelling to, the key things worth knowing about the usual tickets to travel on trains in Germany are:

• There are four types of train service which travel between German cities, the longer-distance trains are are the ICE trains, IC trains; and the shorter-distance services are the Regio trains and local (S-Bahn) trains - this matters when booking and using tickets.
• Tickets for the ICE and IC trains can be booked online and are placed on sale 6 months ahead.
• Tickets for the Regio and S-Bahn trains, see the types of train note below, can be purchased at the station on the day of travel - But if you don't specify that you want to travel by ICE or IC train, you won't be able to travel by those train services - so you can't just hop on the next train to depart.
• Tickets booked last minute at the station for travel by the IC and ICE trains will be more expensive than those which can be used on the Regio and S-Bahn trains.
• Discounted tickets, branded 'Sparpreis', are made available for travel on the ICE and IC trains - the further in advance of the travel date that they are booked, the cheaper they will be.
• Sparpreis tickets do not include seat reservations, they can be added either when booking or can be booked separately later, they cost €4.90 in 2nd class and €5.90 in 1st class.
• The least expensive type of Sparpreis ticket to travel by the ICE and IC trains are the 'Super Sparpreis' tickets.
• Both types of Sparpreis ticket are available for both 1st and 2nd class travel on IC and ICE trains - aside from the greater comfort, a key benefit of 1st class travel is the at seat catering service.
• Both types of Sparpreis ticket are only valid for travel on the specific departure selected when booking and they cannot be exchanged to an alternative departure.
• 'Super Sparpreis' tickets also cannot be refunded, but Sparpreis tickets can be cancelled up until the day of a departure for a fee of €10, with the balance returned in the form of a travel voucher.
• Super Sparpreis tickets are available from €17.90 and Sparpreis tickets are available from €21.90.
• Up to four children aged 6 to 14 can travel with for free of charge with someone aged 15 and over who has purchased either type of Sparpreis ticket
• Those aged 15 and older pay the adult rate - and there is no charge for those aged 5 and under, those aged 65 and over can travel at a discounted rate.

The German capital's main station Berlin Hbf is inevitably a hub station on the German rail network.

The teams playing in Berlin will also be playing matches in the cities listed below - click on the city names to access a detailed guide on how to travel on to them by train:

• Dusseldorf; final departure at 19:46 on Mon - Sat, Sunday at 21:27
• Hamburg
• Leipzig;
  The trains heading to Dusseldorf also call in Dortmund
  Connect in Dortmund for Gelsenkirchen.

The DB Ticket Euro 2024 will be available for travel on all of these routes - the general Euro 2024 guide explains how to book them.

During Euro 2024 there will be additional late night trains from Berlin Hbf to:

• Hamburg at 23:28 and 01:08
• Munich via Nuremberg at 23:56
• Frankfurt (Main) via Leipzig at 00:20.

Berlin as a base city

Berlin is a good option as a base location for those who will be following the Holland team and the winners of the PlayOff A.
Travelling to and from the games in Hamburg, Dortmund and Leipzig is relatively straightforward - day trips can be taken to the afternoon games in each city and returning from the evening fixtures will allow a night time arrival back in the German capital.

The final of the trains back to Berlin will be leaving at

• from Dortmund at 00:33
• from Hamburg-Altona at 22:36 and 23:26; from Hamburg Hbf at 22:52 and 23:42
• from Leipzig Hbf at 23:42.

There are direct trains to Berlin from cities in multiple countries with teams participating in Euro 2024: Click the city names to access journey guides which have all the relevant info.

• Amsterdam via Amersfoort, Deventer and Hengelo
• Basel
• Bratislava
• Budapest
• Copenhagen
• Innsbruck
• Prague
• Paris
• Vienna