Transportation to Berlin-Schönefeld Airport (SXF)

Cheap and Fast Trains and Buses to Berlin’s Low-Cost Airline Flughafen

Trains and buses provide fast and cheap transportation to Flughafen Berlin-Schönefeld Airport (SXF) – a great way to save further with cheap tickets for flights on low-cost airlines.

photo credit: Secret Pilgrim

The fastest and cheapest way to travel to Flughafen Berlin-Schönefeld Airport (SXF) from downtown Berlin is by train. The Airport Express and S-Bahn trains S9 are generally the best way for foreign travelers to get to Berlin. Buses are generally less convenient from Schönefeld Airport but a few are useful when traveling to less central areas of Berlin or during late-night and early-morning hours. Taxi2Airport provide online quotations and may be useful for small groups or when not traveling to Berlin itself.

Berlin’s second airport – Tegel (TXL) – is to the north of the city. It is slightly closer to downtown but best reached on Jet Express Buses.

NOTE: Berlin Brandenburg International Willy Brandt Airport (BER / BBI) will replace Berlin Tegel (TXL) and Berlin Schönefeld (SXF) airports as the only airport serving the capital of Germany from June 2012.

Transportation from Schönefeld Airport (SXF) to Central Berlin Mitte

Schönefeld Airport is to the south of Berlin and partly in the neighboring state Brandenburg. It is slightly less conveniently located than Berlin-Tegel Airport (TXL) but transportation options are numerous and will increase in the future as a new airport – Berlin-Brandenburg International (BBI) will open at Schönefeld after 2011 to become the German capital’s only airport.

• Transportation options listed below all use the same public transportation tickets. A ticket for zones ABC are needed – currently (January 2012) €3.00 and is valid for travel to virtually all parts of Berlin including transiting all the way across town to Berlin-Tegel Airport.

Cheap and Fast Airport Express Trains from Schönefeld (SXF) to Berlin

The Airport Express is the fastest and generally most convenient way to travel from Schönefeld Airport (SXF) to central Berlin. It is a special regional train (RE7 or RB14 but clearly marked as Airport Express). The Airport Express runs every half hour from S-Bahn Station Flughafen Berlin-Schönefeld through central Berlin to Spandau in 45 minutes.

The Airport Express trains from Schönefeld Airport stop amongst others at Ostbahnhof (17 minutes), Alexanderplatz (21 minutes), Friedrichstraße (24 minutes), Hauptbahnhof (28 minutes), and Zoologischer Garten (32 minutes), and Charlottenburg (36 minutes). The Airport Express runs from around 5 am to 11 pm.

The railway station at Schönefeld Airport is called Station Flughafen Berlin-Schönefeld. From here, it is a 400-m (1/4 mile) walk via a covered walkway to the airport – bus 162 or 171 can also be used and the fare is covered by the ABC-zone ticket.

S-Bahn Trains from Schönefeld Airport (SXF) to Berlin

An alternative option is to use S-Bahn train S9 to Ostkreuz station and change there to either S3, or S7, or S75. These S-Bahn trains run through central Berlin on the same route as the Airport Express but stops at more stations en route. The S-Bahn trains routing split up at Westkreuz to either Spandau or Potsdam but most airport passengers have reached their destinations before going that far.

These S-Bahn trains are useful especially later at night when the Airport Express is no longer running but also during the day for travelers to smaller stations. These S-Bahn trains usually stop at the same platform (Gleis) at Ostkreuz making for easy transfers.

Trains from Schönefeld Airport (SXF) to Potsdam, Germany

Travelers going to Potsdam with its lovely palaces from the time of Frederic the Great can bypass traveling to downtown Berlin. Regional train RB22 goes directly from Schönefeld to Potsdam hourly in just less than an hour.

Fast Buses from Schönefeld Airport (SXF) in Berlin

For foreign travelers, buses from Schönefeld Airport are generally less useful except to connect to the nearby S-Bahn and U-Bahn train stations. Traveling from Schönefeld to Berlin after midnight and before around 4 am often require using buses as well.

• Buses 162 and 171 (and night bus N60) run from Flughafen Schönefeld via S-Bahn Station Flughafen Berlin-Schönefeld (3 minutes) to S-Bahn Station Adlershof in 19 minutes.
• X7 is a JetExpressBus connecting Flughafen Schönefeld and U-Bahn station Rudow (U-Bahn line U7) in 7 minutes. Night bus N71 does the same route.
• Expressbus-Linie SXF1 is a new fast but somewhat expensive express bus service to Südkreuz Station. It may be of use to travelers going to southern parts of Berlin such as the Tempelhof and Schöneberg areas. This bus is run by a private company and standard transportation tickets only give a discount to which an express bus surcharge is added.

Low-cost airlines mostly fly to Berlin-Schönefeld Airport (SXF) while most full-service airlines fly to Berlin-Tegel (TXL) airport, which can also be easily be reached by public bus. Passengers having to transit between SXF and TXL can do so in just over an hour using train and bus combinations.