The Best Places To Drink In Berlin
EVENINGS
Café Am Neuen See
The appeal of Café Am Neuen See is obvious, but the natural advantages of being a biergarten in the Tiergarten haven’t made it complacent. It draws in locals and tourists not just with its leafy, lakeside location in the city’s best-known park, but also with good local beer on tap, stone-oven pizzas and homemade pretzels. The airy but covered restaurant does a decent breakfast.
Visit CafeAmNeuenSee.de
Rhinoceros
The husband and wife behind this Prenzlauer Berg bar were inspired by the tiny coffee and whisky ‘kissa’ in Japan where hosts play jazz records. And that’s pretty much what happens here: the soundsystem is great, highballs are a strong suit, and they even host the odd live gig.
Visit Rhinoceros-Berlin.com
Clärchens Ballhaus
If we said this was a charming, friendly and occasionally rickety bar in a hundred-year-old building in Mitte, we’d be telling the truth, but we wouldn’t be telling you everything. Because it’s also still got its original ballroom, which hosts regular – and inclusive – dance events across every style from disco to swing. Start with a beer and a pizza in the courtyard, and let your evening unfurl from there.
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Ora
This elegant wine bar and restaurant occupies an old pharmacy in Kreuzberg. Some original dark-wood features help make it an atmospheric spot to explore a well-crafted, German-first wine list. There are cheeses and bar snacks to accompany – or three and four-course set menus featuring ingredients from Ora’s own farm.
Visit Ora.Berlin
Crackers
Crackers used to be a famous nightclub called Cookies. Today, it’s a restaurant good enough to have an entry in the Michelin Guide, but there’s also a fun bar that pays homage to the venue’s history. You can still order the ‘Watermelon Man’ cocktail that was invented here to fuel those legendary 90s nights, or there are seasonal options like a glühwein negroni.
Visit CrackersBerlin.com
Rum Trader
Almost 50 years after it first opened, Rum Trader remains a key fixture on the Berlin cocktail scene. On a quiet street south of Ku’Damm, the bar itself has an intimate, speakeasy feel, with some tastefully tropical touches to match the focus on rum. It’s a small place, so dress up and arrive early to maximise your chances of gaining entry – and minimise any queuing.
Visit RumTrader.com
LATE NIGHTS
Geist Im Glas
This female-owned place in hip Neukölln might be the Berlin bar of your imagination: candlelight flickers across exposed brickwork as expert bartenders turn out state-of-the-art cocktails. Come the weekend, it also does brunch – all the way from buttermilk pancakes with dulce de leche, brown butter and apple compote to a kimchi Florentine on an English muffin.
Visit GeistImGlas.de
Becketts Kopf
Husband and wife Oliver and Kristina have run this small cocktail bar for 15 years. Watching over every drink they’ve ever served is an illuminated portrait of the great Irish writer Samuel Beckett. Don’t be intimidated by him – the beguiling atmosphere and refined drinks are too good to miss.
Visit Becketts-Kopf.de
Buck & Breck
This tiny speakeasy-style bar in Mitte has been a regular on The World’s 50 Best Bars list, but it’s not for everyone. Smoking is encouraged, phones are banned (though you’ll probably need one to find it), it’s cash only – and it’s open every day except Saturday. If you can accept those terms, you’ll be in for a treat, joining one of the hallowed few sat up at the island bar watching a world-class mixologist do their thing.
Visit BuckAndBreck.com
Schwarzes Café
When it opened in the late 70s, Schwarzes Café was a late-night, always-open haunt for David Bowie, Iggy Pop and other avant-gardists. These days, it tends to shut for a few hours around 4am, but the free spirit is still there. Grab one last whisky sour here the night before, then return for eggs and coffee the next morning. The big disco ball in the upstairs room won’t judge you.
Visit SchwarzesCafe-Berlin.de
Café Luzia
High ceilings, big windows and mid-century furniture all help make Café Luzia a popular hangout for the cool kids of Kreuzberg. Candlelight and classic cocktails keep it buzzy through the week, then DJs kick things up a notch at weekends. With some big-name clubs close by, it’s a good spot to start a proper Berlin night out.
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Tier
On a lively street in the hipster haven of Neukölln, Tier is a casual spot that takes its cocktails seriously. The aesthetic is vintage, the atmosphere is vibey and the music is vinyl. Forward-thinking drinks menus rotate with the seasons, but you’ll always be able to get a well-made classic.
Visit Tier.Bar
Thelonious
Just down the street from Tier, this one is open Wednesday to Saturday (’til late). A decade ago, founder Laura Maria named it for the great American musician Thelonious Monk, and the smoky jazz-club vibe is still strong today. Take a seat at the dark-wood bar, and look forward to convivial service and perfectly turned modern classics.
Visit Thelonious-Bar.de
Velvet Bar
Another Neukölln need-to-know, Velvet Bar changes its cocktail list every week. Each one is based around locally foraged ingredients – anything from carrot to Christmas tree has been pressed into service on past menus. The bar’s shut every Tuesday so the team can enter the laboratory and concoct their latest set of pioneering drinks. The venue itself is similarly cool and contemporary.
Visit Velvet-Bar-Berlin.de
Wax On
A recent entry on the World’s 50 Best Bars list, Wax On is another reason to spend an evening on Weserstraße. A few doors along from Thelonious, it’s an expert blend of laid-back atmosphere and leading-edge mixology. In a lab downstairs, owner Sam Orrock (once of Scout in London) uses some serious equipment to create new, well-priced takes on gimlets, old fashioneds and more.
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Madame Claude
In an old brothel close to the Berlin Wall near Schlesisches Tor, Madame Claude has been imagined by its French owners as an upside-down apartment. Don’t be perturbed by the furniture on the ceiling of the main room – it hasn’t fallen down yet. Drinks are good and lots of decent indie acts pass through its live session space downstairs.
Visit MadameClaude.de
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ALL-NIGHTERS
Weekend
For anyone not quite ready to dive into the deep end of the Berlin club scene, Weekend will feel comfortingly familiar. On the 15th floor of a building close to Alexanderplatz, it has a rooftop terrace looking across the city to the famous TV Tower. In the club itself, DJs cut across genres from afro to R&B. Open Thursdays to Saturdays until 6am.
Visit WeekendClub.Berlin
Watergate
This is a two-level house and techno club with a view. Floor-to-ceiling windows make the most of Watergate’s position next to the river Spree in Kreuzberg – later on, the creeping daylight may or may not be a sign it’s time to wind down. Competing for your attention on the top floor, there’s an LED lighting panel running the length of the ceiling.
Visit Water-Gate.de
Berghain
Though it sits on the border of old East and West Berlin, industrial-looking Berghain is a place of few boundaries. That’s partly why it has a legendary status among techno heads that has even been recognised by the German state: it now gets a tax break as an official ‘cultural institution’. If you can get in (door staff are famously fickle), you’ll have plenty of time to explore its three main dance floors, as Friday-night sessions run into Saturday afternoon and Saturday events go strong into Monday.
Visit Berghain.Berlin
Tresor
Berlin’s first techno club opened in a damp subterranean space beneath a bombed-out department store near Potsdamer Platz shortly after the Wall came down in the early 90s. After 15-odd years of hard partying there, Tresor moved to an old power plant in Mitte, where you can find rooms for house and electronica, as well as a techno vault that harks back to its raw early days. Next door, its little sister OHM is a weird and wonderful venue in its own right.
Visit TresorBerlin.com
Kater Blau
By day, Holzmarkt 25 is a laidback and leafy riverside area of beer gardens, bakeries and outdoor concerts. Come Friday night, it’s the home of Kater Blau. You’ve got a good chance of getting into this ramshackle techno club, where outdoor terraces and dance floors on boats help create a festival feel. It’s also a fair bet the party will still be going on Monday afternoon.
Visit KaterBlau.de
Anomalie
It’s not just music you’re signing up for at this cool multi-art venue in Prenzlauer Berg. As well as showcasing the excellent work of international techno DJs, it gives over walls, nooks and other spaces to installations by light artists. If you’re heading down for the beats, check the listings – you don’t want to end up at an avant-garde film screening.
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Lido
One street back from the Spree river, close to Schlesisches Tor in Kreuzberg, Lido is a music venue and club that used to be a cinema. Great live acts appear regularly but, if you’re reading this far down the list, you’re probably more interested in the parties. Crossing genres from reggaeton to goth rock, they tend to start around midnight on a Friday or Saturday – and go long and late.
Visit Lido-Berlin.de
Ritter Butzke
Ritter Butzke started as an illegal club, but soon went legit. In an old industrial plant in Kreuzberg, its great sound draws a friendly crowd of local house and techno connoisseurs. There are three main dance floors, so you’ve always got options, and they expand when the outdoor courtyard opens for summer.
Visit Club.RitterButzke.com
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