The Berlin WelcomeCard costs €45 for 72 hours. The individual U-Bahn tickets for the same three days cost €34. The 200+ discounts it unlocks on attractions are most useful if you’re going to pay full price for half of them. So the maths gets interesting very fast — and the three different zone options and two different flavours of the card make it more complicated than it needs to be.
I’ve used all three versions on different Berlin trips. Here’s which one actually saves money, which don’t, and when to skip the pass entirely and just buy a transit ticket.
In a Hurry? Which WelcomeCard to Buy
- Most travellers (ABC zones): Berlin WelcomeCard ABC — from €50 for 72 hours. Includes airport transport. This is the one to buy if you’re flying into Berlin Brandenburg.
- City centre only (AB zones): Berlin WelcomeCard AB — from €31 for 48 hours. Cheaper but does NOT cover the airport. Pick if you’re arriving by train.
- Museum Island focus: WelcomeCard Museum Island + Transport — from €70 for 72 hours. Museum Island entry included. Only worth it if you’re serious about all five museums.
- In a Hurry? Which WelcomeCard to Buy
- How the Berlin WelcomeCard Actually Works
- The Zone Question — AB vs ABC
- The Three WelcomeCard Options Compared
- 1. Berlin WelcomeCard ABC (with Airport) — from €50 for 72 hours
- 2. Berlin WelcomeCard AB (City Only) — from €31 for 48 hours
- 3. WelcomeCard Museum Island + Transport — from €70 for 72 hours
- The Transport Maths — When the Card Pays for Itself
- The Discount Maths — When to Ignore It
- What You Can Do With the Card
- Museum Island Deep Dive — Is the Extra €20 Worth It?
- How to Buy and Activate
- If You Change Your Mind
- When to Skip the WelcomeCard
- Berlin Transport Basics for First-Timers
- Using the Card for Day Trips
- Day Trips Not Included
- Berlin WelcomeCard vs Alternatives
- Pairing With Other Berlin Attractions
- Practical Questions
- Avoiding Classic WelcomeCard Mistakes
- The Short Version
How the Berlin WelcomeCard Actually Works
The Berlin WelcomeCard is a travel-and-discount pass sold by the Berlin tourist board. It combines two things: (1) a public transport ticket for Berlin, good for unlimited rides on U-Bahn, S-Bahn, buses, and trams during its validity period, and (2) a discount booklet that gets you 25-50% off at around 200 Berlin attractions.
Validity options: 48 hours, 72 hours, 4 days, 5 days, or 6 days. Zone options: AB (inner city only), ABC (includes Brandenburg — critical for the airport and Potsdam). Flavours: standard, or Museum Island +Transport (which includes free entry to five Museum Island museums).
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The Zone Question — AB vs ABC
Berlin uses a three-zone fare system: A is the inner Ring, B is the rest of the city proper, C is the surrounding state of Brandenburg (including Potsdam and — crucially — Berlin Brandenburg Airport). The AB zone card covers 95% of what a typical Berlin visitor does. The ABC extension matters for exactly three things:
- Getting from BER airport to the city (it’s in zone C)
- Day trip to Potsdam (zone C)
- Day trip to Sachsenhausen Memorial (zone C)
If you’re flying in, ABC is almost always worth the €10-15 difference. A single one-way airport transfer without a WelcomeCard costs €4.40 anyway. If you’re arriving by train and not visiting Potsdam, the cheaper AB card is fine.
The Three WelcomeCard Options Compared
1. Berlin WelcomeCard ABC (with Airport) — from €50 for 72 hours
This is the one I’d default to for most first-time Berlin visitors. The ABC extension pays for itself on the round-trip to the airport alone. 48-hour option is €36, 72-hour is €50, 5-day is €70. The discount booklet includes 25% off most museums, TV Tower, Madame Tussauds, and dozens of river cruises. Our full review lists the individual attractions where the discount makes the biggest difference.
2. Berlin WelcomeCard AB (City Only) — from €31 for 48 hours
Saves €10-15 over the ABC variant. Same 200+ discounts. Works if you’re arriving by ICE train into Berlin Hauptbahnhof and don’t plan to leave the city. If you decide mid-trip to do Potsdam, you can buy a zone-C extension for €4.10 per trip. Our review has the exact validity windows and zone map.
3. WelcomeCard Museum Island + Transport — from €70 for 72 hours
Worth it if and only if you’re planning to visit all five Museum Island museums. Individual tickets are €14-19 each; bundling three of them already pays for this card. If you’ll see one museum, buy the standalone ticket. Our review breaks down which museums are actually worth the time versus worth skipping.
The Transport Maths — When the Card Pays for Itself
Here’s the break-even calculation for transport alone, 2026 prices:
Single tickets AB: €3.50 per ride. Break-even for a 48-hour card at €28 is around 8 rides. Most tourists do 3-4 rides a day, so 2-day visitors hit it easily.
7-day ticket AB: €39. Cheaper than the 6-day WelcomeCard AB (€52) for transport alone — so if you’re staying a week and don’t care about discounts, buy the 7-day BVG ticket instead.
Airport transfer (ABC): €4.40 per trip. Round-trip + a few other rides = break-even fast on the ABC variant.
The Discount Maths — When to Ignore It
The discount booklet lists around 200 partners with 10-50% off. In practice, most of them are: (a) small attractions you wouldn’t visit anyway, (b) restaurants where the discount is on an overpriced tourist menu, or (c) boat tours competing for the same visitor.
The worthwhile discounts are a smaller set: 25% off the TV Tower (saves about €8), 50% off a few museums, 25% off Madame Tussauds, 25% off the Berlin Dungeon, some major river cruise operators. If you’re going to visit three or more of those, the card wins. If you’re just going to ride the U-Bahn, it’s a wash with the 7-day BVG ticket.
What You Can Do With the Card
The 200+ discount partners span everything from TV Tower to chocolate museums. Here’s my personal prioritised list of the discounts actually worth using:
Top value:
- TV Tower fast-track ticket (25% off)
- Berliner Dom (25% off entry)
- DDR Museum (25% off)
- Story Bunker / Underground Berlin tours (25% off)
- Spree River cruises (25% off; most operators participate)
Decent value:
- Madame Tussauds (30% off)
- Legoland Discovery Centre (25% off)
- Sea Life Berlin (25% off)
- Zoo Berlin & Aquarium combo (25% off)
Skip:
- Restaurant discounts (usually restrictive conditions, tourist menus)
- Shopping discounts (usually Berlin-brand souvenirs)
- Most walking tour discounts (minimal, and better tours don’t participate)
Museum Island Deep Dive — Is the Extra €20 Worth It?
Museum Island has five buildings: Pergamon Museum, Altes Museum, Neues Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie, Bode Museum. Individual tickets are €14-19. The Museum Island WelcomeCard variant costs €70 but includes all five.
Individual prioritisation:
Neues Museum — has the Nefertiti bust and excellent Egyptian collection. €14. Essential.
Altes Museum — Greek and Roman sculpture. €14. Decent.
Pergamon Museum — partially closed for renovation. Check first.
Alte Nationalgalerie — 19th-century German painting (Menzel, Caspar David Friedrich). €14. Niche but high quality.
Bode Museum — Byzantine art and medieval sculpture. €14. Skippable unless you’re specifically interested.
If you’ll genuinely do Neues + Altes + Alte Nationalgalerie = 3 × €14 = €42, plus 72 hours of transport at €32.50 = €74.50. The Museum Island WelcomeCard at €70 saves €4.50 and gives you the fifth and fourth museum for free, plus the discount booklet.
If you’ll only do 1-2 museums, buy the standard WelcomeCard ABC + individual museum ticket, cheaper by about €10.
How to Buy and Activate
Book online through the official Berlin tourist board site or through GetYourGuide. You’ll get a QR code on your phone. Some versions also let you pick up a physical card with the pocket travel guide at Berlin tourist offices (Hauptbahnhof, Brandenburg Gate, TV Tower, Alexanderplatz).
Activation: the card starts when you first use it on public transport. If you buy a 48-hour ABC card and first ride a U-Bahn at 3pm Monday, it runs until 3pm Wednesday. Museum Island entries are counted separately by scanning the QR code at the museum entrance.
If You Change Your Mind
Some sellers (GetYourGuide) offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before the first use. The official tourist office generally does not. Buy online if you’re the kind of person who plans in advance.
When to Skip the WelcomeCard
Three scenarios where the card isn’t worth it:
Staying 1 night only: Single tickets (€3.50 each) or a 24-hour ticket (€10) will be cheaper. The card’s minimum is 48 hours.
Staying 7+ days: The 7-day BVG ticket at €39 beats the 6-day WelcomeCard at €70 for transport alone. The discount booklet doesn’t make up the difference.
Walking-centric visitor: If you’re doing 3 days in Mitte and walking everywhere, you might not make enough transport trips to break even.
Berlin Transport Basics for First-Timers
Four networks share Berlin’s public transport: U-Bahn (underground), S-Bahn (overground commuter rail), buses, and trams. The WelcomeCard covers all four. So does the standard BVG ticket.
No turnstiles. You validate your ticket at the yellow box on the platform before the first ride. After that, keep the validated ticket (or QR code on phone) for inspectors. They do check, and fines are €60 on the spot for fare evasion.
Night service: U-Bahn runs all night Fri-Sat-Sun, until ~1am weeknights. Night buses (N-lines) fill the gaps.
Using the Card for Day Trips
Included with ABC:
Potsdam — Sanssouci Palace, New Palace, and the rest of the UNESCO park. 45 minutes by S-Bahn (S7) or RE1. Entry to individual palaces is extra.
Sachsenhausen Memorial — 45 minutes north of Berlin on the S1. Free entry to the memorial itself.
Day Trips Not Included
Dresden, Leipzig, and Munich are all outside zone C and need separate DB (long-distance) tickets. The WelcomeCard doesn’t help there.
Berlin WelcomeCard vs Alternatives
EasyCityPass: Similar discount pass, slightly cheaper, fewer partners, worse support. Skip.
Berlin City Tour Card: Competitor from the private sector. Transport plus 100+ discounts. Roughly equivalent; pick whichever is cheaper on the dates you need.
BVG 7-day ticket: Just transport, €39. Best if you don’t care about attraction discounts.
Standalone day-by-day tickets: €10 for 24 hours, €3.50 single. Best for very short visits.
Pairing With Other Berlin Attractions
If you buy the WelcomeCard, pair it with the single-site attractions where the discount makes the biggest dent: TV Tower (25% off), Spree cruise (25% off), Jewish Museum (not discounted but free entry anyway, so the transport to get there is the savings).
For context-setting before using the card, a walking tour on day one gets you oriented so you can plan the next two days of public transport.
For day 3 or 4, use the ABC zone extension for Potsdam — the palace entrance isn’t included in any WelcomeCard variant but the train is.
Practical Questions
Kids? The WelcomeCard includes up to 3 children (under 15) free with one paid adult. Good family value.
Can I use it on regional trains? Within the zone, yes. RE and RB trains (regional express, regional bahn) count. Long-distance IC/ICE/EC trains don’t.
Refund policy? Once activated, no refund. Before activation, most resellers allow cancellation up to 24 hours before start.
Is there a physical card? Both options available. Digital works on your phone; physical comes with a pocket travel guide.
Avoiding Classic WelcomeCard Mistakes
Three errors I’ve seen Berlin visitors make, in rough order of how often they happen.
Buying AB then realising you need ABC. The airport falls in zone C. The BER-to-city run alone is €4.40 each way. If you bought the AB variant and are flying in, you’re either paying the extra fare each way or upgrading your card at the tourist office. Plan the zone question before you book, not after.
Buying the 72-hour when 48 is enough. The discount booklet doesn’t get more valuable with more days — the main transport savings level out once you’ve crossed the break-even point. If your Berlin schedule is two full days and a departure morning, the 48-hour card is cheaper and functionally the same.
Buying the Museum Island variant “just in case.” The €20 premium only pays off if you actually visit three of the five museums. Most people visit one (usually Neues for Nefertiti) and feel done. Check the Pergamon’s renovation status before you decide — the biggest draw is partly closed until 2037.
The Short Version
Most people should buy the ABC 72-hour WelcomeCard (€50) — covers airport transport both ways, all Berlin travel, and discounts on the TV Tower, a river cruise, and a museum. Pays for itself by day two. Swap to AB if you’re arriving by train and staying in central Berlin. Consider the Museum Island variant only if you’re going to see three or more Museum Island museums.
Affiliate disclosure: Some links in this article are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no cost to you. All recommendations are based on my own use.