Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date
The fastest trains between Hamburg and Berlin are the ICE trains, but slightly slower IC and EC trains (those with the journey time of approx 2hr 4mins) also operate on this route.
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RESERVATIONS:
Book 1st class ticket journey tickets on DB Bahn and your seat reservation is included - but they're optional when booking 2nd class tickets, or if you will be travelling with a 1st or 2nd class rail pass.
Opting to reserve is particularly recommended if you will be travelling at business hours and/or during the day on Fridays and Sundays.
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FINDING TICKETS:
The ticket prices for this route tend to depend on the time of day that you want to travel, rather than the type of train.
So the ICE trains are not automatically more expensive, despite being faster (There is 1 x ICE train per hour)
On the DB Bahn booking site look for journeys that have:
- 0 in the Chg. column
Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day - so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.
Use the earlier/later buttons to search for the cheapest ticket prices.
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A step-by-step guide to booking train tickets (and reservations) on the DB (German national railways) website is available HERE.
There's also a guide to booking with an independent ticket agent.
If you're new to booking tickets for train journeys in Germany, we also recommend taking a look at the guide to German train tickets - it should help you save time and money and confusion.
Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
---|---|---|
DB Bahn | from 17.90 | |
Omio | from €17.90 approx (in £s) | |
SaveATrain | from €17.90 | |
Happyrail | from €1790 | |
Happyrail | from €19.90 |
Taking a train from Hamburg to Berlin:
The Hamburg to Berlin route is unusual due to the choice of train services.
In most hours during the day travellers can choose between taking an ICE train - some of these departures are by the new ICE 4 trains - and IC trains.
Despite there being no high speed line between the two cities, the ICE trains are the faster of the two services - but they can cost the same price as the IC trains, or even be cheaper.
The ticket prices on this route is determined by the demand for each departure and not the type of train being used.
But what is particularly different about this route is that in some hours, instead of an IC train, the slower (non ICE) service, is provided by an EC train heading to Praha/Prag or Budapest.
Czech trains are used for these EC services that are heading to Prag, but board the early morning train heading for Budapest and you'll be travelling to Berlin on a Hungarian train.
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If you are new to travelling by train in Germany, we recommend taking a look at our German Train Travel Guide.
It is packed with info and useful links to help ensure you’ll have a stress-free trip.
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Departing from Hamburg:
Most of these trains commence their journeys at Hamburg-Altona station and then call at Hamburg-Dammtor before they arrive at Hamburg Hbf.
Final Destinations:
Munchen (ICE trains)
Berlin (most IC trains)
Prag or Budapest (the EC trains)
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Arriving in Berlin:
All trains also call at: Berlin-Spandau
If your final destination in West Berlin it's likely that your best option is to leave these trains at Berlin-Spandau and make onward connections by S-Bahn or Regio trains.
Taking a train from Hamburg to Berlin:
The Hamburg to Berlin route is unusual due to the choice of train services.
In most hours during the day travellers can choose between taking an ICE train - some of these departures are by the new ICE 4 trains - and IC trains.
Despite there being no high speed line between the two cities, the ICE trains are the faster of the two services - but they can cost the same price as the IC trains, or even be cheaper.
The ticket prices on this route is determined by the demand for each departure and not the type of train being used.
But what is particularly different about this route is that in some hours, instead of an IC train, the slower (non ICE) service, is provided by an EC train heading to Praha/Prag or Budapest.
Czech trains are used for these EC services that are heading to Prag, but board the early morning train heading for Budapest and you'll be travelling to Berlin on a Hungarian train.
---------------------------------------------------------
If you are new to travelling by train in Germany, we recommend taking a look at our German Train Travel Guide.
It is packed with info and useful links to help ensure you’ll have a stress-free trip.
---------------------------------------------------------
Departing from Hamburg:
Most of these trains commence their journeys at Hamburg-Altona station and then call at Hamburg-Dammtor before they arrive at Hamburg Hbf.
Final Destinations:
Munchen (ICE trains)
Berlin (most IC trains)
Prag or Budapest (the EC trains)
---------------------------------------------------------
Arriving in Berlin:
All trains also call at: Berlin-Spandau
If your final destination in West Berlin it's likely that your best option is to leave these trains at Berlin-Spandau and make onward connections by S-Bahn or Regio trains.
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This is one of more than 1000 journey guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.