Get free admission tickets and big savings on top attractions, museums, shopping, and tours with the Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive.
The Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive gives free admission to over 30 top sights and attractions in Berlin and discounts to around 150 further museums, tours, attractions, concerts, restaurants, shopping, adventures, palaces, and tourist sites in Berlin and Potsdam. The free admission sights include amongst others the Berlin Fernsehturm TV Tower, all the museums on Museum Island, the Berlin Dungeon, hop-on, hop-off buses, boat cruises, and a variety of guided walking and cycling tours. Buy the Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive online and use it as a mobile phone ticket. If the cheap public transportation option is selected, a physical ticket or an A4 print-out is required.
Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive
Of all Berlin’s wide variety of city passes and travel cards, the Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive may be the most expensive but also offers by far the biggest savings potential. It is particularly useful when visiting some of the expensive sights such as the TV tower not covered by the cheaper passes. The Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive includes free admissions or discounts to all the major sights in Berlin – no other travel card or city pass offers more.
The Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive gives free admission to some of the top sights in Berlin making it excellent value for money. It can pay for itself when two to three sites are visited per day.
Some of the top sights and tours included for free are Berlin on Bike tour (€32), Hop-on Hop-off buses (€30), boat cruises (€15), Original Berlin Walks (available for Berlin, Potsdam and Sachsenhausen concentration camp memorial site and around €20 each).
The card gives free skip-the-line or express tickets to some very popular and fairly expensive sights in Berlin such as the Berlin Fernsehturm TV Tower (€25), Berlin Dungeon (€26), and Madame Tussauds Berlin (€26). These three sights alone almost cover the 48-hours ticket.
The Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive also gives free admission to many formal museums including, for example, all the museums on Museum Island, the Pergamonmuseum (€12), Hamburger Bahnhof (€10), Neues Museum (€14), Gemäldegalerie (€14), Museum Barberini in Potsdam (€16), Deutsches Spionagemuseum / German Spy Museum (€12), and the ever-popular DDR Museum (€12.150).
(No matter how or when you get your tickets for the Neues Museums and Neue Nationalgalerie, make free online time slot reservations on the state museums website – it may be done without buying or already having an actual admission ticket!)
In contrast to the cheaper Berlin Welcome Cards which are principally public transportation travel cards with savings on tickets to attractions, the Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive is primarily a good deal for the free admission tickets. Somewhat ironically given the name, public transportation for zones ABC may be added to the All Inclusive card (fairly cheaply too) but in that case a physical ticket must be collected from a tourist office, or print out the ticket on an A4 sheet — mobile phone tickets are still no accepted on transportation.
Buying the Berlin Welcome Card All-Inclusive
The Berlin Welcome Card All-Inclusive may be bought online or at any of the Visit Berlin tourist information offices – currently at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Hauptbahnhof Main Train Station, Humboldt Forum, and in the Brandenburger Tor.
If bought online, the Berlin Welcome Card All-Inclusive (without transportation) may be used as a print-at-home or smartphone ticket. If the public transportation option is added, the Berlin Welcome Card All-Inclusive must picked up at any of the Visit Berlin tourist information offices, or print it out on A4 paper — mobile versions are still not accepted on Berlin public transportation.
Berlin Welcome Card All-Inclusive Versions
The Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive is available for 48 hours, 72 hours, 4, 5, or 6 days. Get the best value out of the shorter versions by entering a major sight in the final hour of validity. The day versions are valid until midnight on the last day, so use early morning on the first day.
The prices (€) of the Berlin WelcomeCard All Inclusive in 2024 are:
| Validity | Transportation | No Transport | Child (3 – 14) |
| 48 hours | €89 | €79 | €59 |
| 72 hours | €109 | €95 | €65 |
| 4 Days | €129 | €105 | €75 |
| 5 Days | €149 | €119 | €79 |
| 6 Days | €169 | €139 | €85 |
All periods are available for adults (15 years plus) or children (3 to 14 years). Many museums give free admission to children up to 18 but the Wellcome Card All-Inclusive for a child is a good deal for admission to the more expensive sites without cheap child and family discount tickets.
Given the name, it is somewhat ironic that public transportation must be added separately but this option does add considerable further savings. Transportation may be added to the adult tickets only, as up to three children (up to 14 years old) are allowed for free onto Berlin public transportation with an adult pass. The transportation pass covers Berlin ABC Рall of Berlin, including both Tegel and Sch̦nefeld airports, Potsdam (Schloss Sans Souci) and Oranienburg (Sachsenhausen).
The card is automatically activated at the first moment of use. The transportation option is a separate paper ticket – stamp it in the yellow validation machines on buses or station platforms on the first time of use only. A printed ticket with a start date and time should not be validated again, as the validity is as per the original booking and clearly printed out. After the first validation, simply show the ticket to the driver or inspector on request — no validation is needed on further journeys.
At many museums, the ticket counter may be skipped – go straight into the exhibition area but note that the free audio guides at the state museums are usually picked up at a separate counter before entering the exhibition halls.
The Welcome Card is valid on consecutive days. Enough sites are open in Berlin on Mondays to not make it a major issue but on December 24 and 31 more research is necessary. On other holidays, including December 25 and New Year’s Day, most top sights in Berlin are open. (The Mauermuseum and DDR Museum, for example, are open 365 days per year.)
How to Save the Most with the Berlin Welcome Card All-Inclusive
It is easy to save with the Berlin Welcome Card All–Inclusive but a little bit of planning and concerted effort can easily enhance savings further to make this card an absolute sightseeing bargain:
Enter a big sight just before the 48h or 72h card is about to expire – once inside visitors may stay until closing time. Great options include the Neues Museum (€14), Alte Nationalgalerie (€12), or the Gemäldegalerie (€14).
See sights that are open in the evening at night – not only are the venues likely to be less crowded but it leaves the day free for more sightseeing. The German Spy Museum near Potsdamer Platz are open until 20:00 most days, the DDR Museum closes at 22:00 on weekends, while many of the Berlin State Museums (including the Pergamonmuseum, Neues Museum, Gemäldegalerie, and Alte Nationalgalerie) are open late on Thursdays. The Berlin TV Tower opens early and stays open until around midnight.
Similarly, see free sights such as the Reichstag cupola early morning or late at night. Advance reservations are essential.
Although the best savings are on the free admission sights, it would be sensible to keep an eye on the savings options too. Good luck on not visiting one of the Berlin Stores or Ick bin Berliner souvenir shops — a 25% discount on Ampelmännchen gummi bears (or any other souvenir for that matter) may be claimed. Rausch gives 50% discount at its famous chocolate store and café.
Discount Tickets with the Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive
In addition to the free sights, the Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive also gives discounts on many further admission tickets, tours, boat cruises, concerts, adventures, restaurants, shopping, and events.
The biggest savings are possibly on theater and stage tickets (usually 25% discount) but often only on expensive seats and without much advance reservations. Absolutely worth enquiring though.
Base Flying am Alexanderplatz give the more adventurous a 25% discount – enough to cover a full day of the longer passes. Or save 25% on a visit to the zoo.
Most of the major museums not covered by the free admission part of the Berlin Welcome Card All-Inclusive give at least discounts. Save 50% on admission to the Trabi-Museum and Mythos Germany, or the Communications Museum (open late on Tuesday).
Try mental arithmetic to work out the 37.5% discount given at the museum for natural history or the fantastic Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Museum of Technology, which is worth more than the full fare.) Most museums give only 25% discount, including the ever-popular Mauermuseum – Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie (open until 22:00 every day of the year) and the Computer Games Museum.
The Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive also gives discounts on many sights in Potsdam (and an ABC transportation pass covers the train and buses there) but for the best savings, the card is best used at the free sights in Berlin itself.
The Berlin Welcome Cards are excellent value for money and especially on a first visit to the German capital the Berlin Welcome Card All Inclusive is hard to beat. It covers all the top sights in Berlin with either free admission or discounts – no other travel card or city pass offers more. For serious museum visiting the Berlin Museum Pass is the best choice – it gives admission only to museums and no further attractions or tours.
