Berlin

The Berlin EPO is not in the most desirable part of the city. We can therefore advise you of availability and prices of hotels in the historic East Central; brand new Potsdam, or vibrant West Central districts. What with changes to the multiple airports serving the city,the services to Berlin are in flux, but our EPO info sheet lists the various options and this season’s flight schedules.

New Airport

On the 3^rd of June 2010 the remaining two Berlin airports where due to close and a new one start operating. Templehof shut in 2008, closing in 2012 would have been Tegel (TXL), popular as it’s about 15 mins from central Berlin, in addition and also closing would be the terminal buildings of Schoenfeld (SXF).

In their place Berlin Brandenberg (BER) Airport will open, this has been built on the other side of Schoefeld’s airfield. It will carry the name of the former Mayor of West-Berlin and Chancellor, “Willy Brandt”.  It will use one of the original runways and added to that a new runway; a new terminal complex; a new spur to the Autobahn and a new railway station under the terminal for direct services to Central Berlin and links into the German railway network. Initially the trains should take about 30 mins to Central Berlin, but later it will be reduced to about 20 mins, a new station is being built in Potsdammer Platz, a vibrant area that many of our clients enjoy staying and reasonably convenient for the EPO.

UPDATE  – Due to fire regulations and construction issues its opening has been postponed and will need to be re-built in parts. The airport operator has stated it was too early to discuss when the airport could possibly open and will not now open until probably 2019! In the meantime funds will be diverted for construction to enable Templehof to continue running until the new airport is open. Latest UPDATE, as per Dec 2019, the new opening date is now October 2020, so only a decade late then?

Flights

Are you buying BA’s Economy Class semi-flex air fares, if not why not, as they are dramatically cheaper than flexible Business/ Club Class fares? Once issued there are no refunds, but the good bit is…..on the day of travel for that day’s travel, you can change them free of charge. As long as there is an economy seat you can have it, irrespective of the fare you paid and what is left available. The important details are: it must be changed at least an hour in advance and you cannot swap UK airports. If you find yourself needing to change dates, then that is permitted too, but in this case there is a change fee plus any difference in fare. Most clients are spending £150-450 rtn instead of £800-900 for flexible business/ Club class. We are generally able to hold a provisional booking for up to 72 hours and in that time they can be amended or cancelled for no charge.

 

Link to the EPO Berlin information pages

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Disclaimer- the above third party sites are not members of ABTA. We have provided the links as a service to our clients, but the terms of use are that Target Travel are not responsible for the contents of these sites