Guide To Berlin Schoenefeld Airport

• By: Editor
• On: 06/Sep/2007
• In: Berlin Travel Tips

Schoenefeld is a smaller airport located on the outer fringes of the city of Berlin. Many economy airlines such as Ryanair, Easyjet and GermanWings fly to and from here.  Although small, the Schonefeld area is becoming more and more industrialised and it’s going to get bigger in years to come. In fact, the Airport Berlin Brandenburg International has even started construction there already!

Enough of that already – here’s what you really need to know!

Our Experience

Arriving in Berlin…

Arriving in Berlin late on a Friday night I immediately regretted not researching the airport before I arrived! Thankfully we only had carry-on luggage so we didn’t need to collect any big bags.

Having said that though we didn’t suffer from our lack of preparation. No, taking things in our stride we just wandered out of the arrivals door where we found loads of taxis ready and waiting to take us to our hotel.
 
I’ll admit this proved to be quite expensive but I guess;
1) There was five of us
2) We all had weekend bags and
3) It was 11.30pm!
We should’ve been grateful there were taxis available in the first place! This 20km journey into the city cost us €35 – so not that expensive at all considering the aforementioned.

Our trip into Berlin wouldn’t have cost so much if it weren’t for our flight being delayed for two hours! If we had arrived at the scheduled time of 21.30 we could’ve just grabbed a train. Unfortunately, these trains stop running after 23:00.

For those of you who’ll be lucky enough to avail of the efficient train service, you’ll find the train station is just about a half km from the terminal  - so if you don’t mind the walk, it’s definitely the cheaper option.

The station is really easy to find too - just head out the main door of the terminal A, take a left at the door you’ll see a roofed walkway heading off into the distance. Follow this walkway and you’ll reach the station.

A single ticket will cost around €2 – really cheap considering the price of a taxi. Please don’t forget to get your ticket validated before boarding the train though. This can be done at one of the machines located along the platforms.

The U-Bahn is pretty faultless and is always on time. This train will bring you right into the city centre so you’ll just be a few minutes walk from your accommodation if you get off at the right stop. If you ring your hotel beforehand they’ll have no problem giving you this information.

If you’re staying further afield though, you’ll probably be able to get a connecting S-Bahn to bring you to your desired location.

Returning home…

So you’re after a wonderful city break in Berlin – You’ve seen everything from the Brandenburg Gate to Berlin Zoo but sadly you’ve to return home.

After our few days in the city we had gotten used to the S-Bahn network so decided this was the best option for getting us back to the airport. As we still had our rail passes it made our return journey a lot easier and much cheaper. We had an early outbound flight - 9:35am - so we had to be at the airport about an hour before that.

So after struggling out of bed and checking out of our Berlin hotel, we grabbed the S9 Airport Express. This left from the Ostbahnhof at 07:12 – on the minute. We said we’d get an early train, as we didn’t know how long the journey would take. We were shocked to see it only took around 25min but at least we arrived at the airport in plenty of time - 7:41am to be exact!

At the airport rail station we got off the train and had to walk though a series of well-signposted tunnels to reach the airport. These took us under the main road and brought us to the roof-covered walkway that we saw on our arrival. This walkway brought us all the way into the terminal A building.

It’s about half a kilometre which you might feel when lugging baggage with you but at least you’re sheltered from the weather and what we found to be really handy is the screens that are attached to the roof allowing passengers to see if your flight has been delayed or not and from what gate you must depart.

One of the most important things to know here is from what terminal you departing from. If you’re flying out with Condor, GermanWings or SunExpress you’ll probably be departing from Terminal D which will require you to take a right and exit the walkway early.

Those heading east to Israel etc (with Arkia Israel Airlines, El Al, Israir or Sun D'Or) usually depart from Terminal C. This is located between Terminals A and D; you’ll be turning right once you leave the walkway. Don’t worry these are all really well signposted in German and English.

Both of these terminals can be reached from Terminal A, but if you are stuck for time, it can make all the difference to head to them directly. Terminal B can only be reached through Terminal A.

At the airport…

We knew what departure gate we needed to head to from the screens we saw on the walk from the station, but if you arrive by taxi you’ll see it once you walk in through departures anyway. It was really easy to find where we had to go and we found our gate in no time at all. Departures are located on the first floor but the escalators, elevators and stairs are to the right, just inside the front door.

Before you head straight for your departure gate there are several amenities you might like to take advantage of such as cafes in the airport, at least one in each terminal except for Terminal C. There is also an information desk on the ground floor of Terminal A.

Once we had passed through airport security we went and found our gate and it was located out along what is called the Pier, but it is essentially a long corridor, which has the customary branches out for each aeroplane. Satisfied we returned to the main building and waited near the entrance to the Pier.

While you wait you could take advantage of the Duty Free Shopping and eateries in here. I must admit, we were extremely happy to see that a massive Burger King was located next to the entrance to the Pier!

An hour later we made a move for our flight and queued near the exit. Due to having checked in the night before with our airline, we were priority customers and were on the plane in no time at all.

On our way home we were tired but glad we chose Berlin to be the destination of our city break. Flying to Schoenefeld made it all the more relaxing. It's definitely one of the easiest airports I’ve ever past through but then it’s also one of the smallest.

Read more on Berlin Schoenefeld Airport's official website.

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