Berlin is served by a comprehensive and interlinked network of buses, trains, trams and ferries. It’s efficient and punctual, but not especially cheap – unlike a lot of its bars, restaurants and hotels. The completion of the innercity-encircling Ringbahn in 2002 reconnected the former East and West Berlin transport systems, though it can still sometimes be complicated travelling between eastern and western destinations. But services are usually regular and frequent, timetables can be trusted, and one ticket can be used for two hours on all legs of a journey and all forms of transport.

The Berlin transport authority, the BVG, operates bus, U-Bahn (underground) and tram networks, and a few ferry services on the outlying lakes. The S-Bahn (overground railway) is run by its own authority, but services are integrated within the same three-zone tariff system. Zone A covers central Berlin, zone B extends out to the edge of the suburbs and zone C stretches into Brandenburg. The basic single ticket is the €2.80 Normaltarif (zones A and B). Unless going to Potsdam or Flughafen Schönefeld, few visitors are likely to travel beyond zone B, making this in effect a flat-fare system.

Especially useful in eastern Berlin, the S-Bahn covers long distances faster than the U-Bahn and is a more efficient means of getting to outlying areas. The Ringbahn, which circles central Berlin, was the final piece of the S-Bahn system to be renovated, though there are still disruptions here and there.