Perfect As a station is glas and it looks awesome. It is big and it is not crowded. There are trains going all the days read more

Interesting place to be at in Berlin, especially when you read about the history of the building how it was build by the genius Egyptian architect Hani Azer and the massive difficulties they faced building it. My only problem with the place is the food court, it's so depressing and cramped for such a huge busy place, also small variety of food chains there. read more

What a great main train station! Signage is excellent, and there are so many staff who can point you in the right direction. Services are excellent, and the lockers are very safe. Great architecture, wonderful spaces to explore. Look around, such great shops and so much food and drink! Enjoy! read more

A great and easy to handle main station. Always busy. Use the elevators from the different levels to save some time. Nice shops with more or less fair pricing. read more

THE best train station I've used, my trip to Berlin landed me at my hotel on a Sunday and had to run here by necessity. Why? As I unpacked, I realized I didn't bring my Type C power adapter. Of course my hotel ran out. Ray of light: my hotel concierge mentioned that stores around the hotel were closed but drive, metro or bus it to the Hauptbanhof and you may be in luck. It was a quiet Sunday, streets were bare, snow just put a second coat of powder, the street I was on was still, not a soul, just me. I decided after a few steps (wimp Californian) to catch the bus-- didn't dare take my rental, half sleepy from an overnight flight. And after a 5 minutes bus ride, this monstrous edifice of a structure beamed me to go in even before the bus auto-announcement boasted a soft "Hauptbahnof'. Got out, walked through the path paved by others and Whoa, you feel immenseness of space, and like a grand German aria, this building sent waves of in-your-face presence in my psyche, "This is Metropolis!" Awed. Paused and snapped out, I notice the buzzy atmosphere and a plethora of super delish cafés pastry shoppes, yup; I tried a few. You notice the well- lit , well signed train information in German and English. You can't possibly catch the wrong train here unless you're dyslexic like me. You find everything in this train station from Virgin Store to drugstores, shoes, clothing, BackWerk- Sandwiches, Starbucks, Dunkin' D, pastries, lots restos, more pastries, chocolate. And sure 'nuf found my adapter at a Virgin Store? Very Cool. There are multiple levels to the Hauptbahnof for trains going to local and international destinations. Super busy, super efficient. This station is the height of German efficiency and convenience. When the time said train arrives in 2 minutes you see the train pull up right at 2 min, like clockwork, at the desired time. When in Berlin, you will most likely end up here......in wonderment. Moral of the story: If you're in Berlin and cannot get to a mall and are looking for anything from food, dining, pastries, curios and travel items and it happens to be a Sunday when everything is closed, take the bus, U or S-bahn to the Hauptbahnhof. Visits: a few, like every day I was in Berlin but forgot to check in :( Tip: Buy your metro ticket religiously here. There are no turnstiles into or out of subway. Even though it looks like it's on an honor system, think again. Pay your fare either at a Yellow metro booth or machine. There are cameras everywhere and you will get a violation ticket if you try to catch a free ride. Just sayin' first time visit New Yorkers! Restrooms are super clean like Japan, but have to have Euro coins on hand. Ya gotta plunk to get into the restrooms. read more

The largest train station in Europe. Our arrival was very nice and we had no trouble navigating.

Wow, what impressive architecture! I love to get one of the glass lifts to the top floor, just to soak in the view read more

One of the easiest stations to use. There are plenty of stores, shops, coffee shops, etc. there is also a pharmacy that is open 24hrs. It's the only one in the area read more

See all

Me likey! The design is kept kind of compact as it is in a multi-story concept and not like Cologne for example that is more the wide kind of station. You have lots of options to get somewhere else from/to here. It has a descent food court, no McD's though. As lots of corners of Berlin it has a lot of concrete around and of course its an ongoing construction site. But that's normal. I like the Glass facade and ceiling and that the center of the station is open from top to bottom, so regardless of where you're standing you get a bit of natural light which is good. read more

Oh how I hate this station. It's near nothing, literally nothing. Whatever or whomever you want to visit in Berlin is probably miles away from the exceptionally ugly Hauptbahnhof. Also, due to the moronic construction of the whole thing it is super windy and cold inside. The escalators are designed to take you from point a to point b across as many shops as possible. So disgusting. An elevator might help you get to your destination quicker, they are very few though. The Kaiser's supermarket just above track 1 and 2 is the only ray of sunlight in there. Get your supplies and real german food&drink souveniers there! read more

Berlin main station has everything you need and even more. It came into full operation in May 2006. It is really modern and clean with food courts, shops, drugstore and more. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof (1871). The upper level of the station has six tracks (two of which used for the Berlin S-Bahn) served by three island platforms. The lower level has eight tracks served by four island platforms for main-line trains, plus a further island platform for the Berlin U-Bahn. The lower level is often denoted by 'tief' on travel guides, etc. (thus the calling point may be "Berlin Hbf (tief)"). The U-Bahn platforms are presently served only by the U55, opened in August 2009, connecting the Hauptbahnhof with the Brandenburger Tor station. read more

This is probably one of the worst planned train stations I've even been through. I've been here multiple times on way way in from Hamburg on the ICE, needing to take the S-Bahn to Berlin Center. In principle, this should be simple, because both trains come and go from the same station. Unfortunately, the Berlin central train station is built like a multi-level labyrinth with barely any floor maps or information desks. I speak German, so I was able to navigate myself to the proper platform after only about 20-25 minutes of walking in circles. I can't imagine what this experience must be like for tourists. The train station opened with much fanfare, but truth be told, I find it to be badly planned, confusing and disorienting. read more

I have yet to experience a better train station. It looks cool, reasonably easy to navigate...if people would just get out of my way. (But not a easy place to navigate if stoned at 3 a.m.!) It looks like it should be in Blade Runner - all the glass, multilevels, totally tubular elevators. I like looking at all the people busily walking on the different levels. I remember a few years ago when an I-beam fell off the building during a hurricane. The engineers blamed the architects and the architects blamed the engineers. 40 tons the beam was, fell down on outdoor staricase, injuring, thankully, no one. The next days I saw welders all over the outside checking everything. Also one two winters ago saw a sign by the main south entrance - Vorsicht Lawinen Gefahr Caution Avalanche Danger Snow had been falling off the roof in large amounts. Not often do you see that at a train station read more

I love arriving at the Hauptbahnhof! It's hectic, of course - Berlin is the capital after all. But this station has everything you need to arrive/depart the city. Facilities are clean (have 1 Euro ready if you need to use the toilet), there's a good selection of food, tourists, and banking services among others. Taxi stand outside. Go towards the Spree on a fine day and sit by the riverbank or do a short cruise. read more

Love this Train Station.. Why? It is clean, clear, bright, shops and friendly!!! read more

Berlin's Hauptbahnhof is the most modern and beautiful train station I've ever transited through. The amount of shopping and dining options are unbelievable, but almost all are closed on Sundays. It's a treat to come through here, even if you're not taking the Deutsch Bahn read more

See all

We took a three-hour train ride from Warnemünde to this station on a shore excursion from NCL Norwegian Star. It was a pleasant ride and very comfortable. It was easy to negotiate the busy Hauptbahnhof coming and going. No problems. Wish the US had as much effiient mass transit as do the Europeans. read more

I basically live here. In fact, I almost had to sleep here when I first arrived in Germany because I had an idea to "fly by the seat of my pants" for this international trip and was feeling groggy so I booked an AirBnB. Come to find out that Berlin Fashion week is the first week in July, so my AirBnB cancelled on me and I ended up in a hostel in a co-ed dorm room for one night... but hats a story for another review. Lots of food choices, my languages school designated McDonalds the meet up place for our weekly day trips to another city, so it was prominent enough to find. They don't have biscuits! Only McMuffins. This shattered my world. Anywho the Hauptbahnhof has 4 floors or trains, metro and trams. Top floor are mostly metro trains for Getting around Berlin city. Bottom floor is regional trains and ICE (high speed). The tram is out front, you could also catch a cab there. The travel center is on one of the middle floors (Reisezentrum) and you can use machines to buy regional or metro tickets. If you're getting a metro monthly pass, you can/should get it from the machine if it's the first day of the month because the machines monthly tix are just for 1-30 standard of any month. If it's mid month or something and you want to get your €81 worth for all 30 days, go into the travel center and get it from the ticket counter, they will give you a 30 day ticket from whatever day you choose. Make sure you're in the correct line. There's shopping here, grocery, Starbucks, ATMs, florist, Vapiano's pasta restaurant, and lots of people moving around. I'm writing a musical about it. read more

See all

First English review of the Hauptbahnhof. I don't know why I wouldn't be in love with it. Design | This place is a work of art! It's so modern and clean, the first train station that could double as a gallery/mall... Efficiency | I've always prided the Germans on their efficiency. I speak no word of German besides 'gute nacht' or 'bitte schön' amongst other courtesies, and I received very decent English answers from station staff. Shopping | They have a decent selection of stores, including the overpriced gift shop... Bijoux Terner, Vero Moda/Jack & Jones, s.Oliver... Gastronomy | Japanese food, Chinese food, Dunkin' Donuts, McDonalds, Klässig's Fish & Chips (would have eaten this but I was going to London in three days...!) and many cafés including the dreadful American embassy Starbucks. Train | Clean, organized, efficient. I'm a happy traveler. I don't understand how this place could be too difficult to navigate. As long as you get there early you can find your track. And wander around the Rossmann as though you are a Berliner who forgot to pack something last minute, though you really are some rabid tourist simply hungry for more Ritter Sport. read more

Yeah, point taken it looks nice and it's also pretty open, and there are some stores there that are open on Sundays. But the openess totally sucks when you are picking up people during the winter. I wonder if any of the architects ever had the pleasure of doing so - standing in the cold and wind, but you are inside a building. Really, I try to avoid this place whenever possible. I rather leave from Ostbahnhof for example. Also, reaching this place is like impossible at some times - why is it so far away from everywhere (unless you live in Moabit/Wedding)? ;-) What also annoyed the hell out of me. What is it with opening hours in general at this place. I had to leave at 4:30 AM on Monday, and there is like nothing open except for a bakery and a Saft Bar (see other review). Can't they have at least a coffee shop and a news stand open that early or are there stupid-ass German regulations that forbid opening those places that early? read more

Is it any wonder why you don't need a car in Berlin? Part of the vast and efficient public transport system it's fairly new and BIG, but kinda in the middle of nowhere - It's a good 15 min walk from Brandenburger Tor. It has everything though from cafes, pubs, restaurants, supermarkets, chemists/drug stores, florists, boutiques, etc... You can spend a good few hours here and not get bored. It's set on several levels, so trains zigzag over one another and maybe worth a look if you're passing by on the s-bahn or need to transfer. There are several hotels situated close by and a couple of beach bars are handily placed if you need to wait for a train :) read more

Architecturally interesting, but not well-planned. The 8 or so elevators all run in separate, isolated shafts spread throughout the station. This means each elevator is serving 5 floors alone (algorithm-wise), making them horribly inefficient. This seems like a clear victory of form over function. The one real plus, and this may be a helpful tip for visitors, is that it's really a shopping mall, with trains running through it. Since train stations are allowed to have their shops open on Sunday, it is by default the best shopping mall open on the day of rest. When all other shops are closed, you can still get there easily and stock up on clothes, housewares, books and music, groceries, etc. read more

Remember the guy who went crazy here and stabbed a bunch of people? Well, it turns out that is a perfectly natural reaction to the Hauptbahnhof. After spending a certain amount of time here, anyone can be transformed into a raging maniac. But seriously, if you can avoid this station, definitely try to do so. There are hardly any signs, everything is labelled terribly. There are huge crowds of people wandering around in a fog of confusion. It's a terrible, terrible station. read more

Been here a few times now. It's enormous. Super-clean, super modern, impressive looking. However, it's more-than-averagely difficult to navigate, especially if your German is less-than-excellent. This time I made sure to look up what gate my train was leaving from on the Internet before actually getting to the station - which made my experience smooth and non-stressful. The last time I was there I had no idea what gate my train was at, and I couldn't seem to find any timetables or guides anywhere, so there was some frantic running about... It's got an entire mall's worth of shopping and eating options, and you can easily transfer to S-Bahn, U-Bahn and many buses here, as well as trains. Bus connections to the airports are frequent. read more

This place is dizzying! There are two Berlins I have in mind when I think of this great city. This is the epitome of the touristy, over-commercialized version of Berlin. Great shops / grocers open on Sunday, so that's a plus. It feels like a huge mall with no climate control (but what's that in Berlin anyway??). It connects you to many metro & bus lines, so in that regard, it serves its purpose well! read more

Impressive! Huge traffic hub for train, subway and overground trains and lots of shops which are also open on Sunday. And take the U55 and you'll be at the Brandeburger Tor in less then 5 min. read more

What an incredible hub! This is probably one of the best train stations I've come across. I love Berlin!

The station itself was fine, but wanted to learn how the system worked so that we could navigate more efficiently. Stopped at large S-bahn planning desk when we entered. Got a sound "slap in the face" from the angry man behind the counter. He could have taken 1 minute to give me an overview of how to find stations and select appropriate tickets, but instead chose to spend the time sarcastically making obvious statements and answering each of my questions with his own pointed question clearly aimed to point out my incompetence. Maybe he gets a kick-back from the Taxi companies, since that is what we ended up taking instead. In all fairness we have met only kind and patient people on this trip to Europe. But, oh my...he is a frustrated boy. Perhaps a new line of work is in order. read more

Cool structure, easy to navigate, clean and convenient. Happy to go there anytime.

Very helpful attendants and a clean, bright station. I think we overcomplicated things with our Bostonian assumptions about the difficulty of public transportation. Once everything was explained to us, it was quite easy. However, a lady got hit in the face by a strange man right in front of us - the man didn't end up leaving either. Just be aware of your surroundings, which is good advice in general for all public transport stations. read more

A bit run down but the U bahn pretty easy to use if you use a good app and have some experience using world subways. Watch for train nbrs and end destinations. Similar to most subways. read more

If. Only. San Diegans had the transportation options of Berliners. If Californians, if Americans had the options of Germans, of Europeans. High speed trains. Comfortable stations like this. i have a serious case of Train Envy. read more

Amazing Construction and Informative too ! You have all Basic stuff including Supper Market and ATM ! Complete Train Station !

by far the best and most amazing train station I have ever seen or heard of. A full mall of great stores, excellent supermarket, central hub for all transportation options. The architecture is amazing, the location on the Spree and views are beautiful, there isn't a comparison in Germany. read more

In this modern station, there are all kinds of services a traveler would need. Also, a large variety of the usually low quality fast-food, while prices are higher than in the rest of Berlin. Pretty cold flair in this place, however, german punctuality and organising makes you feel safe read more

This train station has left an impression on me since 2006 when I first arrived from the airport. Beautiful views await from the main station, on the top floor as well as the front of the station. You can see the Reichstag, numerous government buildings, the river Spree and more from the front of the station. If an intentional football event is going on there will be massive screens for public viewing available. If you need something to red, eat or more the station is full of options. Even if your not going to take a train, it is worth a visit! read more

schöner platz richtig sauber und die mitarbeiter in den läden sidn aich super nett. Der zug kam pünklich alles top

This is by far my favorite train station in Europe. Modern, clean, very easy to navigate and customer friendly. All of this virtues make spending time at Berlin Houptbahnhof very nice. There are many stores and restaurants you can spend time at. If the weather is nice you can even walk from there to the city center. There are always cabs on both sides of the building. Train platforms are clearly marked and easily reachable. read more

most impressive indeed. germany is light years ahead of the states in the public transport sector. + multi-level train platforms. + mpeccably clean. + clear signs and time boards. + multi-level shops and restaurants. + multi-lingual (and fluent!) announcements of all train arrivals and changes. + gorgeous glass ceiling design (though not unique among train stations). + seemless merge between different rail systems. + always on time (german precision, as we like to say). + helpful, courteous and knowledgeable staff. what more can you ask for in a train station? hbf, i like you. i really really do. i almost wanna say that my favorite part of berlin was its public transportation: the accessibility, the maps, the announcements, the trains, the conductors, the DB workers, the entire system really. read more

Bahnhoff - Germany It took me two hours to make my train reservation on the Bahnhoff yesterday online. The site is very difficult, not straightforward at all. It's easy enough to see the schedule but when it comes to actually purchasing the ticket there are too many options and too much information that needs to be filled out. First of all you must register, and if you've registered before of course you must remember your ID and password. If you don't then it takes a while to get that information sorted out. Then you have to decide if you want to get a Bahn card, to receive a discount. That page is not easy either as there are about 20 choices and they don't tell you at the site why there is such a big difference between the card costs for four euros and the one that costs €69. And of course they make this a subscription service so that you would get automatically billed monthly or every year. It varies by age and other factors that you don't get the info on until you try to purchase it. After that you have to decide if you want the flex price or the non-flex price. And then you have to decide whether you want a seat or not. The prices also change constantly as you get closer to the departure date. And if you don't have good Internet the site resets itself about every five minutes. It really seems to be an unnecessary struggle. Booking a flight on an airline is much easier,and with the low fares available in Europe, many times it is cheaper. It would be nice if their was a on-stop page for visitors. When I landed at Frankfurt, I couldn't find the track I was supposed to get the train to Düsseldorf. I had started the ticket process and had been shut down so many times on the DB site, I'd inadvertently bought it from Frankfurt Main station instead of the airport. This is not clear on their site either. So I had to buy a ticket from the airport to the main station only to eventually go back thru the airport. The information booth at the airport wasn't manned. A lot of backtracking was required to find out where I needed to go. Luckily I had allocated 1.5 hours to make this connection. I needed most of that time to sort it out. Also, slowest escalators in the world in the Bahnhoff at the airport. Not helpful when you're in a hurry! I tried to load my ticked onto the DB app, which I dutifully downloaded. The DB App doesn't work! Lots of error messages saying it's not currently able to download my ticket. They did send a PDF along with my confirmation email. However, the conductor said they don't normally accept smartphone tickets/barcodes and I should have printed out my ticket....Seriously!!!! I'd been travelling through Russia, lucky to have sporadic internet let alone a printer. Then you board and all the seats say reserved, even though no one is sitting there. read more