Berlin, Frankfurt(Oder) and Slubice

[paddington]

Is there a combined ticket that permits travel in Berlin Zones ABC, on RE1 to Frankfurt(Oder) and then on the trams in Frankfurt?

Would it be cheaper to buy them separately, particularly if I can get the RE included free as part of an ICE ticket?

Any opinions on Frankfurt(Oder) and Slubice (sorry can't type the Polish letter), both relating to transport and in general? There does not seem to be much cooperation between the two areas

 

[JonathanP]

The Berlin-Brandeburg Ticket costs €29 and would cover all of that, as well as the Polish Railways service from Frankfurt(Oder) to Slubice if that is of interest. The task of researching the cost of all the indvidual tickets I leave to you

Frankfurt(Oder) has some churches, fountains etc. and you can walk by the river. Slubice is IMO not much of interest unless you want to buy cheap(er) booze or cigarettes.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There's an old steam loco parked up at Frankfurt/Oder, visible from the platforms and the station entrance, but I don't know how you would get a closer look.
I passed through this week, and the Berlin-Warsaw EC services were starting in the northern Berlin suburbs (Gesundbrunnen, on the Ringbahn) and calling at Lichtenberg rather than Hbf and Ostbf.
So I needed an RE leg to Frankfurt to pick up the EC into Poland.
I think this is because of major work at Berlin Ostkreuz, don't know how long it is due to last.

 

[radamfi]

There is also a local bus service across the border which is also valid with the Berlin-Brandenburg ticket, although it is not far to walk.

 

[johnnychips]

You can buy day tickets from machines on the trams if you haven't bought the all in ticket, which is quite a novelty for a UK citizen. The station is not central to the town, ten minutes walk or very frequent trams, and there is a bus to Slubice fom there (983) but you might as well walk over the bridge. Slubice is not unpleasant, and as has been said has many shops selling cheap booze and fags. Here is the link to the local transport network, and it's in German:

https://www.svf-ffo.de/de/

 

[Spoorslag '70]

The Berlin-Brandeburg Ticket costs €29 and would cover all of that, as well as the Polish Railways service from Frankfurt(Oder) to Slubice if that is of interest.

I understand that they want to travel around in Berlin before travelling to Frankfurt(Oder), and would suggest a Tageskarte Berlin ABC-Frankfurt(Oder) ABC (20€, valid for unlimited journies within Berlin Zones ABC and Frankfurt(Oder) Zones ABC and on services between the two (on the direct route only)).
Slubice is part of Frankfurt(Oder) Zone B and thus all tickets valid for that zone also include Slubice (e.g. Day tickets). The Frankfurt(Oder) Zones can be found on https://www.svf-ffo.de/de/zeiten-und-netze/tarifzonen.html and a day ticket for just AB is 3,60€.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Frankfurt(Oder) has some churches, fountains etc. and you can walk by the river. Slubice is IMO not much of interest unless you want to buy cheap(er) booze or cigarettes.

Frankfurt is quite interesting - it has the Europa Garten, an interesting central square that screams DDR, the Marienkirche is worth a visit, and there are some reasonable pubs. Słubice is a typical small Polish town - not much happening, but it has a very good restaurant (http://www.douane.com.pl/) and it's pleasant enough to wander around for a couple of hours. Just get away from the main "Zigaretten Allee" and it's fine.

Any opinions on Frankfurt(Oder) and Slubice (sorry can't type the Polish letter), both relating to transport and in general? There does not seem to be much cooperation between the two areas

No, there isn't. There are a lot of tensions between the two cities, and while there are people doing their best on both sides to integrate them, the two never really developed together in the same way that Gorlitz/Zgorzelec did. The reason is historical: after WW2, Gorlitz/Zgorzelec always had an open border crossing in the centre. In comparison, in Frankfurt/Słubice, the border there was closed for quite a few years after the war, and there was always quite a lot of resentment from both sides towards each other. Then, in the 1990's, both towns were quite dangerous - Poles were beaten in Frankfurt by neo-Nazis, while Germans were often scammed on the Polish side. None of that exists today, but people have long memories.

Frankfurt wants to build a tram line to Słubice (as existed before the war), but financing is the problem, as neither side has the money for it.

Regarding transport, my advice would be to take the train to FFO, then walk from the station to Słubice via "Der Oderturm" in the centre of the city. While the old border crossing buildings have finally been demolished, the area around the former border crossing still retains a certain character to it.

Don't rely on the Polish train connection, and the station in Słubice is nowhere near the town anyway.

 

[paddington]

Do people in Slubice speak much German or English?

 

[duesselmartin]

Do people in Slubice speak much German or English?

The older generation would just speak Polish.
The younger tend to be bi lingual.
Try speaking English first, as mentioned, relations to Germany are a bit difficult.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Older people in Słubice will almost certainly speak some German as a result of the cross-border trade that took place from 1990 onwards. Anyone working in retail/services in Słubice will speak German, too. Younger people will know both English and German to varying levels, though English tends to be prioritised over German, even in border areas.

If you speak some German, use it first over English, as most service workers will have been hired for German skills rather than English skills.

I had an amusing situation there a few years ago when with my German friend. We both speak Polish despite being visibly not Polish, and the poor waitress in the aforementioned restaurant was bewildered as to why we spoke Polish. Apparently very, very few German clients speak even passable Polish, and she was astounded that foreigners could speak Polish.

 

[duesselmartin]

Its the same for the Netherlands. Very few German visitors speak Dutch. In neither the eastern or western education system it ias encouraged. Usually English and French, in the East Russian.

 

[1D54]

Did football today in F/0 and Slubice. €20 day return on Berlin AB ticket and really no need to worry about including Brandenburg because of short distance.

Been to Slubice five times and the problems that have been mentioned on this thread simply do not exist. Both live in harmony together. Poles don't venture west simply because they have no need to.

 

[paddington]

Well I went, and there wasn't very much to see in either place, heard a bit of Polish spoken on the German side but no German spoken on the Polish side. I asked if people spoke English and they all said no, so I used Google Translate on my phone and spoke Polish (badly), which worked.

I think the German tickets are only valid on bus 983, but it only runs hourly and wasn't convenient. It was also faster to walk everywhere than wait for the trams.

My Polish friend had a question: why are there so many supermarkets on the German side, but I didn't have time to investigate this.

Also, the lockers in FFO DB station are only 2 euros, cheapest I have ever seen in Germany.

Warsaw train was disappointing as the restaurant car was completely full the entire time so I had to survive on my snacks.

 

[1D54]

Of course I meant to say Slubice not Brandenburg on previous post. The Polish town is absolutely teaming with Germans who shop and own property. I looked on a sight for rail prices from Berlin Hbf - Slubice many moons ago and they were horrendous giving changes within Poland, never sussed out the location of station in Slubice but gather very few trains bother with it. As for super markets in F/0? No more than your average city /town of that size in Germany.

 

[rg177]

The station in Słubice isn't in the town at all and is intersected by the main road that heads south.

Its served by three return trips a day between Frankfurt (Oder) and Zielona Gora

 

[Cloud Strife]

Been to Slubice five times and the problems that have been mentioned on this thread simply do not exist. Both live in harmony together. Poles don't venture west simply because they have no need to.

I wouldn't say they live together in harmony. There's very little cross-border cooperation compared to other border towns (particularly Gorlitz-Zgorzelec), and there are tensions over various issues - which is why the tram line has never been extended to Słubice despite support for it. What you see as a visitor is just the surface, but if you spend any real time there, you discover that relations aren't that good at all. For a cross-border city, the amount of cooperation is shockingly low. It's reflected in the way that Polish is unknown among the German popoulation - while English is taught from the 0 class in Słubice schools, not German. Likewise, Polish isn't taught (except in one school) in Frankfurt.

The only substantive cooperation comes from the universities - Viadrina in FFO and Collegium Polonicum (which belongs jointly to Viadrina and the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań) are very close.

but no German spoken on the Polish side

Really? That's strange, given that the town survives on Germans buying services there. Were you talking to people on the streets, or in shops/restaurants?

It might well be a consequence of the government's anti-German policy...

My Polish friend had a question: why are there so many supermarkets on the German side, but I didn't have time to investigate this.

There aren't - only the usual discount supermarkets and one Kaufland. There are also Poles that go shopping there as the quality of products is higher, and the prices aren't much higher for anything that isn't raw. They can even be cheaper, such as when sugar was about 75% cheaper in Germany than in Poland because of mass hysteria.

never sussed out the location of station in Slubice but gather very few trains bother with it.

Very few people bother with the station full stop. It was built largely because the EU funding was there to do so, but the location is awful. It's right in the middle of an industrial area, and it's quicker to walk to the station in FFO than to Słubice. In practice, you'll never be charged for the FFO-Słubice section, so there's no motivation to bother taking the train from there. The connections are also useless for most people.