What's the smartest way to use public transit in Berlin?

Buy a day ticket (Tageskarte) for the AB zone — it covers everything inside the S-Bahn ring, which is where you'll spend 95% of your time, and costs around €9.90. Validate it once at the start of your first trip and it's good until 3 a.m. the following night. The BVG app lets you buy tickets directly on your phone, which removes the friction of finding a working machine at a U-Bahn station. Berlin's transit grid is a genuine network: U-Bahn for speed across the center, S-Bahn for longer east-west or north-south runs, trams in the east (especially useful in Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain), and buses as a fallback. The M10 tram from Warschauer Straße to Prenzlauer Allee is genuinely faster than the U-Bahn for that corridor. Avoid the ABC zone ticket unless you're going to Potsdam or Schönefeld airport specifically — it's a noticeable price jump for trips most visitors never make.

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• Where do locals actually go for aperitivo in Berlin?
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• What does a local breakfast look like in Berlin?
• Where is the street food in Berlin actually good?
• Where can I eat after midnight in Berlin?
• How do I get from the airport to the city in Berlin?