Berlin on a Budget: 17 Tips for Saving Money on Your Trip to Berlin (2024)

Berlin is a great city for budget travelers. In fact, it’s one of the cheapest capital cities in western Europe, so if you’re visiting Berlin on a budget, you’ll do well here.

You’ll find so many free and cheap attractions here so you won’t have to spend much money to see the top sights in Berlin. There’s lots of cheap food and drinks, and you can get around Berlin without having to spend much money either.

Whether you’re backpacking in Berlin or simply want to know how to save money while visiting Berlin, this Berlin budget guide will help you keep money in your pocket.

Where to stay in Berlin on a budget

Berlin has lots of great neighborhoods for you to stay in and explore. If you’re visiting Berlin on a budget, there are plenty of inexpensive options for hotels and hostels around the city.

Check out some of our favorite options for budget accommodation in Berlin.

Use public transport

Getting around in Berlin is easy when you use public transport, but it’s also budget friendly. Tickets are cheap, and there are lots of options to save you money.

Are you doing a lot of sightseeing in different parts of the city? A 24 hour ticket might be your best option since it allows unlimited travel for 24 hours from the time you purchase the ticket, and it costs just 8.80 euros for zones A & B.

Traveling with a family or group? The 24 hour ticket also has a group option for 25.50 euros for zones A & B, and it allows up to 5 people on one ticket, plus children under 6 years old travel free.

If you’re only going to take a few trips, a 4 pack could be your best choice. This is a set of 4 tickets for 9.40 euros for zones A & B, which is a nice reduction from the single ticket price.

Are you visiting Berlin for 5-7 days? Consider the 7 day ticket, which costs 36 euros for zones A & B. For stays that are 5, 6, or 7 days, the 7 day ticket works out cheaper than buying individual 24 hour tickets.

And if you’re taking a day trip outside of transport zones ABC, especially if you’re traveling with a small group, the Brandenburg-Berlin day ticket could be a big money saver.

For more information and tips about the public transport system, check our our guide to getting around in Berlin.

Walk whenever possible

Despite my love of the public transport system, sometimes walking is your best option for saving money. Now, it’s a big city and it would take you over an hour to walk from the East Side Gallery to Brandenburg Gate or close to two and a half hours to Charlottenburg Palace.

But if you have a day where most of your sightseeing is in the central part of Mitte, like the area from Alexanderplatz to Brandenburg Gate, you might be better off walking. There are lots of Berlin bucket list sights along Unter den Linden, and walking makes more sense than hopping on the Ubahn at every stop for a journey of just one stop.

>>Read our list of the best World War II and Cold War sites in Berlin.

Rent a bike or scooter

Another cheap option for getting around is renting a bike or scooter. Berlin has seen a big increase in bicycle and scooter sharing companies, and now you can easily find one close to wherever you are.

Prices generally start at 1 euro per 30 minutes for the first 30 minutes, so this is is definitely a great choice for saving money on your trip to Berlin.

But please! When you’re done with your bike or scooter, don’t leave it in the middle of a sidewalk or blocking a pathway or door or whatever. Be considerate, and leave it off to the side so it’s not in anyone’s way or causing a tripping hazard.

Take an inexpensive tour

Tours can be one of the best ways to get to know a city, learn about it’s history, and see a lot of attractions in a short amount of time. And luckily Berlin has quite a few budget options.

You can certainly take one of the many free walking tours, but please remember to tip. Most of the guides are dependent on those tips, and giving them 5 or 10 euros is still really affordable.

Another great option is the Third Reich Walking Tour, which teaches you about Hitler’s rise to power, Nazi history, and Berlin during World War II. At the time of writing, the cost was under 20 euros.

Or take a street art tour like this one. I’ve taken that one, and it was fascinating to here stories about the artwork and artists.

Do lots of free activities

Luckily for those of you traveling to Berlin on a budget, there are loads of free activities here that will show you some of the best things the city has to offer.

You won’t have to try too hard to find several of them since there are so many things to do with a small budget in Berlin.

It’s free to see Brandenburger Tor, the Victory Column, and the TV Tower, and it’s free to admire the East Side Gallery, one of the most popular places to see the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse, including the films in the visitors center and the documentation center and tower viewpoint, is also free.

Checkpoint Charlie, Topography of Terror, Tränenpalast (Palace of Tears), Franziskaner-Klosterkirche church ruins, and the Holocaust Memorial are all free to visit.

At the Reichstag Building, you can take a free tour of the glass dome, but you must reserve well in advance. The permanent exhibits at the Jewish Museum are free, too.

Hunting for street art is a fun free activity for budget travelers. Urban Nation: Museum for Urban Contemporary Art, which is a museum dedicated to street art, has free entry. And it’s just one of a handful of free Berlin museums you can enjoy.

It’s even free to wander through the park and gardens that surround Charlottenburg Palace. So if you don’t go inside the palace, you can still admire it without spending any money.

These are just a handful of the amazing free things to do in Berlin.

Find great cheap activities

Unfortunately not everything can be free. But you can still find tons of activities in Berlin that are cheap and affordable if you’re in Berlin on a budget.

Instead of going up the TV Tower for views of Berlin, why not climb the Victory Column? The views are spectacular, and it only costs 4 euros to climb those 285 stairs.

Skip the hop on hop off bus tours, which can be quite pricey. Instead get on the 100 bus line for just the cost of a transport ticket, and it’ll take you by many important landmarks in Berlin.

Visit an inexpensive museum. In between the free museums and the expensive ones, you can find quite a few interesting museums that cost less than 10 euros to enter, like the German History Museum, the DDR Museum, the Deutsches Technikmuseum, and the Stasi Museum.

Check out even more cheap things to do in Berlin.

Plan around free museum Sundays

This might not work for everyone, but if you can plan your trip to Berlin at the beginning of the month, you can take advantage of free museum Sundays.

On the first Sunday of every month, dozens of museums all around the city offer free entry. Most museums require you to reserve ahead of time, but they you can get into world class museums like the ones on Museum Island without spending a dime.

Get a museum pass

If you’re a museum buff who’s also trying to save money on your trip to Berlin, a museum pass like the Welcome Card can get you some great discounts on many museums and attractions.

Visit in shoulder season or off season

When you come to Berlin can also effect how much things cost. Summer in Berlin is the high season, and prices in Berlin can be higher than other times of the year.

Traveling to Berlin in fall, especially later in the season, means fewer tourists. Visiting Berlin in spring, especially early spring, will also mean not as many visitors are in town.

If you travel to Berlin in winter there are hardly any tourists. Just avoid Berlin Christmas market season (late November through New Year’s) when it’s actually really popular to be in Berlin.

Coming here when there are fewer tourists often means you’ll find better deals on hotels, which is such a big part of the cost of your trip. And hotels won’t be as booked up, so you’ll have more options for cheap hotels or hostels.

Don’t pay for the hotel breakfast

If your hotel includes breakfast at no extra charge, that’s great. But many charge extra for it, and it’s never worth it if you’re traveling to Berlin on a budget.

Bakeries are everywhere in Germany, and Berlin is no exception. You can easily get a croissant or other pastry from a bakery to have for breakfast.

You’ll find many bakeries around the city, so there’s bound to be one within a few blocks of where you’re staying. Or try one of the more decadent ones like Zeit für Brot or Brammibal’s Donuts (they’re vegan) where you’ll still spend less than the 8-12 euros per person per day your hotel is charging.

>>Read: 75 Popular Landmarks in Germany

Bring a refillable water bottle

When you’re sightseeing in Berlin, it’s best to have a refillable water bottle like this one to take with you. This will be much cheaper than buying bottled water at a store, plus it’s more environmentally friendly.

And yes, the tap water in Berlin is safe to drink, though it might be harder water than what you’re used to at home.

It’s worth noting that the vast majority of restaurants don’t give out tap water. If you ask for water, they’ll bring you bottled water.

So if you’re trying to save money but still eating at a restaurant, don’t order anything to drink. The only time I ask for tap water at a restaurant is if I’m also ordering alcohol.

Buy food at the grocery store

Another way to save money while you’re visiting Berlin is to buy some of your food at grocery stores. This is especially helpful for breakfast since you can buy fruit, yogurt, bread, or granola bars to keep in your room.

Buying groceries can cut down on eating out if you’re backpacking in Berlin and trying to save money. You can make sandwiches or salads and have a picnic at one of Berlin’s fantastic parks instead of eating at a restaurant, and that sound save you some money.

Cheapest grocery stores in Berlin

In general, buying groceries will save you money vs eating out. But for those of you who are traveling to Berlin on a tight budget, you might be wondering what grocery stores are the cheapest.

For money saving options in Berlin, look for Lidl, Penny, Netto, and Aldi. These will have the lowest prices for groceries.

Rewe and Edeka are two other grocery stores you’ll see often, but they tend to be more mid range. Kaufland is another mid range grocery store, and it’s bigger, probably more comparable to what you’d find in the US.

Get drinks at a Späti

Spätis are a Berlin convenience store. You’ll find them all over the city, and they’re normally open long hours, sometimes even 24 hours a day, though many are closed on Sundays.

At a Späti you can find beer and usually some other types of alcohol like wine or co*cktails in cans. These will be at higher prices than grocery stores, but much cheaper than going to a bar.

This is helpful for picking up a few last minute beers before your park picnic. Or some Spätis have tables outside on the sidewalk where you can sit and enjoy your beer, and then go back in to buy the next round, making it sort of like a bar but not quite.

They usually also sell potato chips, chocolate, and some other snacks. Some Spätis double as a bakery or some other type of fast food type restaurant, so you can get a cheap meal there, too.

Seek out cheap food in Berlin

Aside from quick meals at Spätis, look for currywurst or döner for a cheap meal. Not only are these foods you should try in Berlin, but they’re easy on the budget.

Berlin is an international city, and you can find lots of interesting and tasty food here. Look around, there’s bound to be some good deals when you’re away from the tourist spots.

Thai Park is a great quirky option for cheap food. There are Vietnamese restaurants all over the city, and you can often find some inexpensive food on the menu. And of course there are cheap pizza places and lots of other options.

>>See my top choices for where to eat in Friedrichshain Berlin.

Go to a food event

Berlin has a few food events that happen regularly, and most of the food on offer is pretty cheap. Bonus: Drinks are usually sold at a separate food truck or stall, so it’s easier to bring your own water to drink.

Markthalle Neun is an indoor market in Kreuzberg, and they host a fun Street Food Thursday event where you can get lots of good food on a budget. In the Kulturbraueri courtyard in Prenzlauer Berg, they host a Street Food Sunday event when a variety of food trucks.

Not only are these types of events a great way to stick to your budget, but they’re a fun way to see a little more of Berlin outside of the major tourist trail.

Berlin Travel Resources

I want you to have the best trip to Berlin, and hopefully this guide to Berlin on a budget helps. But there are lots more tips on the site!