Berlin Travel Forum

I read about this Happy-Weekend-Ticket on DB's site but i am not sure i fully understood the meaning. So, can i buy one of those tickets and have a day trip to wherever (in Germany) i wish with my husband? With just one ticket?
We are visiting Berlin in August 2009 for 10 days and would really enjoy having day trips to the nearest cities or villages. Any suggestion is more than welcome.

Thank you.

Happy-Weekend-Ticket is
- good for up to 5 persons traveling together
- covering all regional trains in Germany
- valid either Saturday midnight till Sunday 3am or Sunday midnight till Monday 3am

A similar ticket but only for the states Berlin and Brandenburg is the Brandenburg-Berlin-Ticket. EUR 27,00 for 2-5 persons traveling together. This ticket is also valid on weekdays, however on weekdays from past 9am only.
http://www.vbbonline.de/index.php?cat=2&sCat=389&par=480&id_language=2#anker5
network map of this area
http://www.vbbonline.de/download/pdf/liniennetze/141208_Bahnregionalverkehr.pdf
There are also a few places covered which are just outside of Brandenburg
- Waren (Müritz)
http://www.mecklenburgische-seenplatte.de/default.aspx?file=start
- Neubrandenburg
http://www.neubrandenburg-touristinfo.de/neubrandenburg-touristinfo/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=category&id=1&Itemid=2
- Lutherstadt Wittenberg U)
http://www.wittenberg.de/staticsite/staticsite.php?menuid=661&topmenu=661
- Dessau U) U)
http://www.dessau.de/amt41/kulttour/en/home/index.html
- Stettin/Szczecin
http://www.turystyka.szczecin.pl/turystyka/chapter_11882.asp

Another option is the Berlin-Harz-Express. Runs only on Saturday and Sundays but direct trains into the Harz mountains (Quedlinburg or Wernigerode)
- Quedlinburg U)
http://www.quedlinburg.de/
- Wernigerode
http://www.wernigerode.de/
- Goslar U)
http://www.goslar.de
- Harz narrow gauge railways
http://www.hsb-wr.de/hsb_barrierefrei/hsb/hsb_e.htm

U) UNESCO world heritage site

gamily return ticket (2 adults plus 0-n children < 15y) is EUR 35,00
one day family return ticket is EUR 29,00
Harz-Berlin-Express is not run by DB (German Rail). Here you buy the tickets on board.

Hi,
you understood it correctly, but remember you can use only regional trains and only at Saturday and Sunday, so you must be carefull with your's timetable.

Good luck !

Oops, wasn't so fast, but now a little shame after that exellent answer! :-))

Good luck !

I think you have already had some pretty good advice.

The Happy Weekend Ticket is marketed in Germany as the ticket for families making long trans-regional journeys to visit distant relatives, or to have a day out in the city, in the mountains or beside the sea (hence the 'happiness' concept! - plus, the families in the adverts are always bumping into members of the German football team!).

I've always used the regional tickets (Lander-Tickets). A 'Land' is one of the federal states within German. It is an accident of political history how big a Land is.(Three of the Lander - Bremen, Hamburg and Berlin - are cities, and incorporated into larger Lander for ticketing purposes!). The 'value for money' of each regional ticket is thus a matter of chance. Geographically, Brandenburg is not that big. But for 2 people a regional ticket still represents excellent value for a day's unlimited travel in Berlin and Brandenburg. I have visited Potsdam (highly recommended),Oranienburg for a tour of Sachsenhausen (not perhaps for everyone), and Frankfurt on Oder (recommended if you want to cross the Oder into Poland, just because you can!). I would love to visit the city of Brandenburg itself one day. And many Germans I have spoken to, say that I should visit the Spreewald one day. There is an interactive map with suggested places to visit on this page: http://www.brandenburg-tourism.com/pages/tours_map.html


Hoping some of this helps. Enjoy your trip. JHR.
(Apologies for the lack of umlauts)

Thank you guys for the precious information.