Berlin public transportation buses offer great routes for cheap city bus tours and sightseeing trips past the Reichstag and along Unter den Linden.
Berlin’s double-decker buses offer great opportunities for very cheap city sightseeing tours. Public bus routes 100, 200, and 300 are very much designed with tourists in mind but several other bus routes offer great views of Berlin landmarks while transporting visitors to the German capital’s top sights. Hop-on hop-off bus services, as well as traditional city sightseeing bus tours, are also plentiful but few can really beat the convenience and low prices of the Berlin public transportation yellow double-decker buses — usually a simply AB-zone ticket is sufficient.
Berlin public transportation ticket prices in mid-2023: €3.20 for AB and €4.00 for ABC tickets.
Berlin Public Transportation’s Yellow Double-Decker Buses
Berlin’s public transportation network operates over 1,300 buses, which cover over 300,000 km daily. The front of Berlin’s public buses is always yellow with a black silhouette of the Brandenburg Gate even if the rest of the bus may be covered by advertisements. Unfortunately, the number of double-decker buses is in decline but regular buses still offer good views.
Metro buses have M in the route number and run at least every ten minutes (often every five minutes) during the day. Express buses have X in the route number and run usually every five minutes.
All Berlin buses are wheelchair (and stroller) accessible. Drivers will get out of the bus to unfold ramps if necessary but usually Berlin buses kneel down sufficiently for wheelchair users to enter and exit the bus without assistance.
See the Top Sights in Berlin with Bus 100
Bus 100 is the best-known and most useful bus route for most visitors to Berlin. Bus 100 connects the Zoologischer Garten train and bus station in the former West Berlin with Alexanderplatz in the heart of the former East Berlin in around half an hour.
En route, bus 100 goes through the Tiergarten park and passes amongst others the Berlin Zoo, Victory Column, Schloss Bellevue, Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden, Museum Island, and the Fernsehturm.
Tour Top Sights in Berlin from Bus 200
Bus 200 is an equally useful bus route for tourists visiting the top sights in Berlin. Like bus 100, it starts at Zoologischer Garten station but runs along the south side of the Tiergarten park via the Kulturforum and Potsdamer Platz.
Bus 200 no longer runs along Unter den Linden but rather follows a faster route to Alexander Platz. Handy stops en route include U Stadtmitte /Leipziger StraĂźe (near Checkpoint Charlie and the LP12 Mall of Berlin shopping center), Nikolaiviertel, and Berliner Rathaus).
Bus 200 continues from Alexanderplatz deeper into the Prenzlauer Berg area of the former East Germany.
Bus 300 to Unter den Linden and East Sight Gallery
Bus 300 runs from Tiergarten Philharmonie Süd in the heart of the Kulturforum (Philharmonie, Gemäldegalerie, Neue Nationalgalerie, Musical Instruments, and Kunstgewerbe museums) to S+U Warschauer Straße. En route to Alexanderplatz, bus 300 mostly follows the previous route of bus 200 including stops at Potsdamer Platz, Unter den Linden, and Lustgarten (on Museum Island in front of the rebuilt Berliner Schloss / Humboldt Forum). It stops on the east side of Alexanderplatz from where it runs via amongst others the Ostbahnhof and handy for tourists a bus stop right at the East Side Gallery.
Berlin Bus M29 along KurfĂĽrstendamm and on to Checkpoint Charlie
Bus M29 starts in Grunewald and continues all the way to Hermannplatz. En route, it runs along the full length of the KurfĂĽrstendamm.
The most useful part of the M29 route for tourists is from Europa Platz and TauentzienstraĂźe to Check Point Charlie – the bus skirts the Kulturforum and stops near the German Technology Museum with Science Center Spectrum — one of the easiest museums to enjoy in Berlin.
Metro Buses M41 and M85 from Berlin-Hauptbahnhof to Potsdamer Platz
Metrobus routes M85 and M41 run from Berlin-Hauptbahnhof via Potsdamer Platz to the outskirts of Berlin. Both bus M85 and bus M41 now use the tunnel under the Tiergarten to Kulturforum and no longer pass by the Reichstag building, Brandenburg Gate, and the Holocaust memorial. These buses are generally faster for transportation from the main station to Potsdamer Platz than taking the train.
No buses, or other motorized transportation, pass through the Brandenburger Tor.
Berlin’s public buses, especially the top deck of the double-decker buses, are great for city sightseeing tours. Furthermore, ticket prices and Berlin discount passes are pleasantly cheap for a German city. Hop-On Hop-Off buses offer good connections to top sights for visitors less keen on studying the Berlin transportation maps.