Berlin’s a large city and its layout, lacking a single ‘city centre’ may be confusing at first. The former ‘eastern’ centre is located around Alexanderplatz, whereas the former ‘west’ had its centre near the Zoologischer Garten station. Although both are linked by frequent S-Bahn and U-Bahn lines, getting from one to the other is likely to take half an hour, which means you’d be best of planning ahead, thereby attempting to focusing your activities to either sides of the city each day. On another east-west note, you may find it difficult to know whether you’re in the ‘east’ or ‘west’. Whereas the Soviet building blocks are generally easy to spot, it’s not always as easy and differences between the two have diminished since the fall of the Wall in 1989. Even the Ampelmännchen, which are now world-famous, have in recent years been placed in the former west and therefore cannot guarantee your whereabouts.

Getting around
However good you plan your trip, you will eventually want to get around. Walking provides the best experience for short distances of, say, up to two or three metro stops as the streets of Berlin are never deserted. For somewhat longer distances, renting out a bicycle is your best bet if the weather allows. In the summer numerous places rent them out with ‘fares’ starting at 10 euros a day. In the winter renting a bike can prove to be slightly harder, but you can always fall back to the bike rental at the foot of the Fernsehturm which seems to be open nearly every day of the year. Once you have your bike the streets are yours. On many streets separate bike lanes are available on the sidewalk. On some busy roads the bus lanes are also available to cyclists.
If you’re looking for an alternative, you’ll find the public transportation network in Berlin to be excellent. Even though the S-Bahn caused chaos due to service reductions resulting from technical failures, the system works really well in general. All posts also contain some information on how to get there by public transport. There’s a wide variety of transport forms, all iconified for your ease.

Regionalbahn Of limited use within the city, as it only has a east-west line from Spandau/Wannsee via Zoo, Hauptbahnhof, Alexanderplatz to Ostbahnhof and a north-south line from Gesundbrunnen via Hauptbahnhof and Potsdamer Platz to Südkreuz, but trains do run far into the country. Regionalbahn trains always connects the Schönefeld airport, with trains of the east-west line continuing to the airport.

S-Bahn The ‘overground’ suburban trains, connecting Berlin’s suburbs with the city and offering frequent connections on and within the S-Bahn ring by combining several lines. Both the underground north-south line and the overground east-west line run more or less parallel to the Regionalbahn-tracks, although S-Bahn trains stop more often.

U-Bahn

U-Bahn Berlin’s got an extensive subway network, which is known as the ‘U-Bahn’ or ‘Underground Train’. If you want to get around quickly, the metro is your best bet, as it will get you nearly anywhere while still maintaining a high average speed.

(Metro)Tram As a legacy from the communist rule, the former eastern part of Berlin is serviced by a tram network. Although some lines are called ‘MetroTram’, these lines never go underground. The MetroTram lines are the ones running on the busiest lines, with very high frequencies. The ‘normal’ Tram lines are equally fast and comfortable, but run less often.

MetroBus The MetroBus network fills the holes the rail-network doesn’t cover. With high frequencies and only stopping at major stops along the way, these lines will still get you across town fairly quickly, but especially during rush hour, congestion can rise journey times considerably, even though separate bus lanes are often available.

Bus On less busy lines normal bus lines take over. You may want to avoid these lines, or look up the timetable first if they’re your only option, as frequencies are often just once or twice an hour. Exceptions are lines 100 and 200, which run every 10 minutes at day-times and are often called the “sightseeing lines of Berlin’s public transport” as their route gets you to many sights in the city.

Tickets are valid on all means of travel, and can be bought from machines that are available at many stops, or at designated booths. If you’re planning to use public transport a few times a day, you might want to consider getting a day ticket, or a multiple day ticket. The 2- or 3-day tickets not only include free travel, but also get you discounts on various tourist attractions. However, if you’re staying for more than 3 days, a week ticket (7-Tage-Karte VBB-Umweltkarte) is exceptionally cheap, at slightly more than the rate of the 3-day-tourist tickets, but then again: they don’t include discounts. Information on exact prices can be found at the website of the local transport company. Regular tickets, day- and week-passes can be found under ‘Fares overview‘. The 2- or 3-day tickets including discounts under ‘For Visitors‘.