Arriving by Air
at Tegel (TXL)
at Schönefeld
(SXF)
Arriving by Train
Public Transport in Berlin
Maps of Berlin
Berlin is served by three airports, Tegel (IATA code TXL), Schönefeld (SXF) and Tempelhof (THF). If you manage to find a flight that lands in Tempelhof--about ten minutes from the dojo--then you probably live in Germany and don't need these directions.
Tegel (TXL) is right in town, on the northwest side. You need to take a bus to the nearest tube, but never mind the Airport Express bus, which costs one euro more. Take the regular Bus 128 to Kurt-Schumacher-Platz. There you get on the tube (line U6, the purple line, in the direction labeled Alt-Mariendorf) and ride to Ullsteinstrasse, which is a stone's throw from the dojo.
Go left (north) as you exit the underground train, and take the stairs down to get out of the station. You'll eventually reach daylight at the corner of Viktoriastrasse, which is the left extremity of the little pictorial map on Karl's UFA-Aikido web site,
Schönefeld Airport (SXF) is just outside the city limits to the south. Walk out of the front of the terminal building and keep going almost straight ahead, leaving the big parking lot on your right, to the local rail (S-Bahn) station: about 50-60 yards, IIRC. Once again you want a EUR 2.10 ticket, see above. Take a line S45 train, which will probably say it's going to Westend, and get off at Tempelhof. There you arrive above ground and change to the underground (line U6, the purple line, in the direction labeled Alt-Mariendorf) and ride to Ullsteinstrasse, which is a stone's throw from the dojo.
Go left (north) as you exit the underground train, and take the stairs down to get out of the station. You'll eventually reach daylight at the corner of Viktoriastrasse, which is the left extremity of the little pictorial map on Karl's UFA-Aikido web site,
http://www.ufa-aikido.de/dojo/dojo-fr.htm
Make a U-turn to stay in Viktoriastrasse as you come out of the tube station; go left into the UFA-Fabrik lot; and look for some other people carrying the same funny oblong luggage as you. If you get lost, go into the café (officially called "Café Olé"), walk up to the counter, and say, "So where's Karl from the Aikido group when you need him?"
National and international trains arrive at one (or more) of three stations in Berlin: Zoologischer Garten, Ostbahnhof, and Lichtenberg. All of these stations lie on a rail line running from East to West through the middle of town. From any of them, get on a local S-Bahn train, line S5, S7 or S75, and go to Friedrichstrasse. There you arrive above ground and change to the underground (line U6, the purple line, in the direction labeled Alt-Mariendorf) and ride to Ullsteinstrasse, which is a stone's throw from the dojo.
Go left (north) as you exit the underground train, and take the stairs down to get out of the station. You'll eventually reach daylight at the corner of Viktoriastrasse, which is the left extremity of the little pictorial map on Karl's UFA-Aikido web site,
Buses, trams, underground, the local "S-Bahn" railway and even some ferries all honor the same tickets. The underground (subway to Yanks) stations are signposted with a white U in a blue square; S-Bahn stations are indicated by a white S in a green circle (as shown at the top left corner of the PDF transport system map.) The city is divided into three concentric zones called A, B, and C, and your basic ticket is good for whatever you want to ride in two hours in two or three zones: ride everything with free transfers for two hours in zones A and B for EUR 2.10. There are day and weekly passes for those planning a longer stay: see the Berlin transport company for details. Sorry about the weird English on their web site; I guess they couldn't afford a real translator. The machines that sell tickets are either touch-screen (in which case they offer instructions in the same idiolect of English that you'll find on the web site) or have a double row of buttons down the front. Take something called "Einzelfahrausweis Berlin AB": that's an adult fare for two hours in the two central fare zones of Berlin.
Plan of Berlin underground and local rail lines (92 KB):
http://www.bvg.de/plan/images/s+u-netz.pdf
Same plus tram and a few major bus lines (207 KB):
http://www.bvg.de/plan/images/schnellnetz.pdf
Street map of Berlin centered on the dojo: