Eurofurence Information > Questions & Answers

Vicky's Eurofurence Newcomer's Guide

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Shinji170981:
I used to live in Berlin and it can be quite intimidating, when you arrive in Berlin for the very first time.
Especially the size of the city and the amount of public transport possibilities like the Bus, the Tram, the S-Bahn and the Underground.

Here is a map of the public transport.
https://yearinberlin.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/bvgmap.jpg

These are the zones, so try to use the ring as a orientation.
https://www.bvg.de/images/content/service/Grafik-Tarifbereiche-400x225_teaser.jpg

It's important to say, that if you want to go from Westkreuz to Ostkreuz, this trip takes almost 45 minutes alone.
The Ringbahn, which is the S-Bahn that circles Berlin in 2 directions, runs 24/7 and one round trip is roughly 80-90 minutes if i remember correctly.
Since the convention is located at the ring-bahn in the east of Berlin, it's fairly easy to get there, if you have the time.
The AB Card is useful, if your hotel, hostel, accomodation is outside of the A area or the inner ring area.
The C area is quite far out of Berlin and i wouldn't recommend a hotel in that area, if it is on the west side. It just takes too long to get to Sonnenallee this way.
What is very important, is that the S41 and the S42 are the 2 ring-bahn trains that pass the Sonnenalle station every 10-15 minutes.
If your accomodation is located in the A area, you only need an A ticket, which is cheaper but i would always recommend the AB ticket for a tourist. Depending on how much time you intend to spend in the city of Berlin, i would recommend the following ticket.

- 7-Day-Ticket Berlin AB which will be 30€ and it will be valid from the moment, you purchase it.
If you really stay in the C area, you should get this ticket:
- 7-Day-Ticket Berlin ABC which will be 37,20€ and it will be valid from the moment, you purchase it.

You can already plan your travel time with this page and check how long it will take to get from your hotel to the convention and how much a single ticket will cost you.
http://fahrinfo.bvg.de/barrierefrei/bin/query.bin/en?noRestriction=yes

You can even create your individual time table for the duration of your stay on this page, so you have everything on your mobile, even if you have no data plan or german sim card.
http://fahrinfo.bvg.de/Fahrinfo/bin/tb/query.bin/en

This should help in general with the commuting in Berlin during normal hours.

There are some night busses which run to certain location but not evrywhere and the C area will not serviced at certain times, so you might wanna check the time tables in advance, if you intend to stay after midnight every day during EF. In the C area, they have cutoff times, so the train station will be closed in some locations for up to 4 hours.
Keep this in mind.

Other than, always be aware of the Sonnenallee area during the night time. This area is not the safest to begin with during the night, so i would advise anyone who might be easily intimidated or alone, to stay in a group when going to the S-Bahn.
Berlin is a big city and every big city has some areas you don't want to walk around alone.

Stay safe and i hope this does help a little bit. :)

Santa fox:
Well, given how we have a similiar subway/bus and train system here, I can kind of.. make sense of the routes posted above. Still, getting around Berlin, as I did last time I attended EF, I would suggest a cab, or at least people who are well aware of how Berlin goes ;) it isn't too hard to get lost, and cabs saved me a lot of time, and were quite cheap, too. Still, no doubt a more in depth guide to new attendees regarding the city in general will be quite helpfull.

meo:
to help you out a bit:
- Who is who? (Knowing some important faces and their functions to remember such as security guys)
  the most important faces are the ones by the board of directors (putting a Picture of these in the conbook isn't that problem, but i would suggest for first timers to go to the opening ceremony). As for the Security guys: There is an emergency Hotline printed in the conbook (would be nice by the way to have these at the small timetables we all got too) and also look out for the Security patches.
- Quick reference for lanyard colours
   At the Conbook (Page 13) there is a little Guide for the lanyard colors
- Improved map of the hotel (Easier to see where you are by applying textures of the floors and references)
  While there are better some maps in the conbook it would be imho strange to carry a big map with me all the time. Personal i would suggest to take a picture of these maps and put them on your cellphone
- Travel from abroad to Tegel
  If you go by plane just look for Berlin TXL and talk to others here on the Forum when they would like to arrive (so you can share a cab or a groupticket for the public transport)
- Carpooling to Eurofurence
  Carpooling for Eurofurence can be achieved the easiest way over this Forum
- Travelling in Berlin
  Best advice is to grab the official Public transportation apps by the BVG or VBB or print the Travelplans in advance. If you get lost, look for a Bus, Tram, S- or U-Bahn station. There should be a Map with a (mostly yellowish) circle where you are, so you can maybe figure out the way back or at least know where to go with the public transport.

WarthogSmurf:
Hi ,

Thanks for this info. Hopefully Eurofurence 22 will be my very first furry con and i am looking forward to it. Anyway my question more is how easy is it to get by car to Estrel ? (planning to book there).

Denucard:
Oh my! First things though: I'm sorry to hear you had gone through all of that, I can imagine how stressed and panicky one can get in that kind of situation where you don't have anyone who could guide you... >.<

Second: I think it's a really nice idea to make an in-depth 'Starters kit', that may have some pretty vital info which be useful to some people, and not just for EF, in general too.
From what I've noticed, most people usually group up before going to a con, to split up the costs more... :)
Definitely keeping an eye on this, as me and my partner have never been to Berlin ^^;

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