ENMedical tourism in Berlin means travelling to Germany’s capital for diagnosis or treatment. Someone who has decided on Germany almost always starts with a city rather than a diagnosis, and Berlin comes up first, because it is the capital and because it is the one German city most people can name with confidence.
This page explains what Berlin medicine actually consists of, when the capital fits the case and when it does not, and what the trip itself involves. The general route is on the page on medical tourism in Germany.
What Berlin medicine actually consists of
Berlin medicine has three layers. The first is university medicine: Charité Berlin, officially Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Its cardiac centre, the German Heart Center at Charité (DHZC), was formed on 1 January 2023 from the merger of the German Heart Centre Berlin and the Charité’s cardiac units. It has around 470 beds and around 2,100 staff, and it is a supraregional heart failure centre (heart failure means the heart pumps too weakly) and a transplant centre for hearts and lungs.
The second layer is the city’s general hospitals: the municipal network Vivantes, which includes the Vivantes Friedrichshain Hospital (956 beds at the end of 2024, part of Vivantes since 2001), and the Helios Hospital Berlin-Buch, on a site whose history goes back to the late 19th century.
The third layer is the specialised houses: the BG Hospital Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin, a trauma hospital opened in 1997 with more than 730 beds, and the DRK Hospital Berlin of the German Red Cross, whose history reaches back to 1875. No single page can list everything; the overview is on the page on hospitals in Berlin.
When the capital fits the case and when another city fits better
The honest answer: in Germany you choose a department and a surgeon, not a city. For a rare tumour or a rare operation the right department may sit in another federal state, and that is normal.
What genuinely speaks for Berlin is practical: direct flights and a large airport, embassies and consulates in the same city, hospitals used to foreign patients, interpreters and administrative infrastructure already in place.
The question «here or somewhere else» is settled on the discharge summary and the images, not on the name of the city: the departments that receive the records reply whether they can take the case. How it then works in the capital is explained on the page on treatment in Berlin.
Who pays, and what the bill is made of
A foreign patient is almost always a self-payer. Before admission the hospital issues a written cost estimate, as German law requires when payment by an insurer or another third party is not assured, and usually asks for a deposit, which the law allows until insurance cover is proven. The hospital states the sums after studying the patient’s records.
For a visitor, the difference between a municipal hospital and a private clinic is not the quality of the operation but the room, the ability to choose the treating doctor and the tariff. In municipal and university hospitals the main bill follows a tariff that is the same for every patient, while a private room and a doctor of your choice are optional services (Wahlleistungen), agreed in writing beforehand. A clinic that takes only paying patients has its own tariff. What «private» means in Germany is explained on the page on private hospitals in Berlin.
The doctor’s invoice and the hospital’s invoice are separate documents because two tariffs stand behind them. The hospital bills for the stay and the hospital treatment; if the patient has chosen a particular doctor, that doctor and the other entitled hospital doctors involved bill separately under the German medical fee schedule (official text of the GOÄ). Ask whether the estimate covers both.
The practical side of the trip
The trip rests on a chain of paperwork: the translated discharge summary and images, the hospital’s written reply, the invitation letter and the medical visa, each link depending on the one before. Visa details are on the page on the medical visa for Germany.
For the arrival, know in advance who meets the patient, where the family stays and how long the stay lasts; the hospital states that period, as it depends on the diagnosis and treatment plan. An interpreter should be present at every appointment.
Before the flight, settle who the treating doctor is, what happens if the plan changes on site, who holds the money, the hospital or an intermediary, and which documents the patient takes home.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need German health insurance to be treated in Berlin?
No. A foreign patient is usually treated as a self-payer, so German insurance is not needed. Before admission the hospital sends a written cost estimate and usually asks for a deposit. If an insurer in your own country covers the costs, get its confirmation in advance: as long as cover has not been proven, the hospital may demand an advance payment.
Do I need to speak German?
No. The discharge summaries and images are translated before they go to the hospital, an interpreter accompanies the patient to every appointment, and the hospital’s reply and estimate are translated into the patient’s language. One rule matters: sign the consent to an operation only once every point is clear, and ask the interpreter to repeat anything that is not.
How much does medical tourism in Berlin cost?
There is no single price: the hospital states the sum in its written estimate after its doctors have studied the records. The estimate covers the hospital treatment; if you have chosen a particular doctor, that doctor’s invoice under the GOÄ comes separately. Travel and the family’s accommodation come on top, so compare the full cost of the trip, not just the hospital’s figure.
How AlenMed arranges treatment in Berlin
AlenMed starts with the records, not with the city: the discharge summary and images go to the department that fits the diagnosis, and that department is not necessarily in Berlin. The company works with 86 partner hospitals in 38 German cities and 345 doctors, and its own office is in Munich.
Before agreeing to the trip, ask who will operate, how long the stay will last, and what the estimate covers and what it does not. Answers in writing are easier to compare when the records went to several departments.
This material is for information only and is not an offer. The treatment plan is decided by a doctor at an in-person consultation.