Aaah, Berlin, the land where it makes no sense to enter a club until 1 AM, and where the nightlife is 'life'.
The one thing that always attracted me to Berlin is the city's vibrant alternative culture, so when in town I tried to visit a variety of different nightclubs and discovered there is something for everyone in Berlin.
TRESOR
Mitte.
Kopenicker Str. 70, 10179 Berlin, Germany. tresorberlin.com My favourite nightclub in Berlin.
Two words come to mind when thinking about Tresor: Techno & Viking. This venue is everything I ever imagined I'd find in Berlin and then some. Set in an abandoned power plant and over two rooms, Tresor plays a mixture of House and Experimental Electro upstairs, and the crazy Industrial Techno downstairs in the main room; a caged vault accessed via a 30-meter tunnel.
We went there on a Friday night and had a great time. I didn't want to leave! Entry was 10 euros, and regardless of their bar-token system (where if you return your glass to the bar staff you get 50c back), the drinks are cheap, priced around 3-4 euros. Apart from sitting in the cubbies upstairs at the Globus bar to chill out for a while, we spent most of our time downstairs in the vault. The sound in this room is incredible, as you enter it smacks you in the face. If you're unsuccessful at Berghain, Tresor is the perfect alternative, and somewhere I plan on returning to each time I am in the city.
WATERGATE
Watergate is a split levelled, two-roomed nightclub overlooking the River Spree and considered one of the most prominent electronic venues in Berlin. In comparison to the City's other clubs, Watergate is very stylish in design and is known for its wall to wall LED light installation covering the main dancefloor.
We arrived at the club around 4 AM. Watergate is rumoured to be quite hard to get in to. However, there was no line out the front, and we gained admission easily. Entry was 15 euros. The main floor upstairs was busy, so we headed downstairs to the Waterfloor and met up other travel buddies. There were plenty of available couches downstairs, and since Tresor got the best of Paul earlier in the evening, he sat on a lounge the rest of the night while I ordered shots and danced on the dance floor with the others. Progressive, deep house and minimal techno tunes play on the Waterfloor and dancier, fluffy house, dance and trance tracks play upstairs in the main room (which is tiny.) They have a strict no photo policy. If you even attempt it, you'll have a security guard waving his hands blocking your photo within a second, so I didn't get any photos of our Watergate adventures, only a picture from outside. I enjoyed this venue. It was among the three clubs recommended to me (along with Tresor and Berghain) and did not disappoint.
CASSIOPEIA
This venue is all sorts of amazing. Set in an old, multi-level industrial hall, Cassiopeia is an alternative clubber's playground. Beer garden's, a skate park, open-air cinema and rock climbing tower all feature outside while inside holds two floors which play a variety of music depending on what night of the week you go. Reggae, Dancehall, Trap, Funk, Soul, Jazz, hip-hop, punk & heavy metal to name a few.
Of all night's I went on a Tuesday - 80's/90's pop night. YAY!! (internal screams) however, luckily it was toward the end of our night, and I had shifted into sing-a-long mode, so the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys were probably just what this drunk girl needed at the time. Even though I wasn't a fan of the music, this venue was insane, and I'm looking forward to going back to Cassiopeia (on a different night of the week) and seeing what else it has to offer. Australia needs a venue like this!
COOKIES
Mitte.
Friedrichstrasse 158, 10117 Berlin, Germany. (Corner Unter Den Linden & Friedrichstraße) cookies.ch
Once going upstairs we found the main (and larger room) and spent the rest of the night in there. Techno, House and Electro played as we all drank like fish while dancing and laughing the night away.
The only thing I disliked about Cookies was having my camera taken by a patron; They handed it back to the bar, however, stole my memory card, so I lost a lot of Berlin memories. Unfortunately, Cookies has closed.
MATRIX
The club attracts a young crowd, and the music was very poppy/ top 40's dance. However, the nightclub is located only 1-minute walk from Plus Hostel, Amanda's accommodation, so we decided to stick it out. Once the Jagerbombs started flowing the music became more bearable, and we had a great night.
If I was under 20, I would probably love this club, but as for now I probably wouldn't head back here again unless I had to.
Berghain - Photo via Wikipedia.
BERGHAIN
This Techno Institution and one of the world's most famous nightclubs; made infamous by their doorman, Sven Marquardt, would have to be one of, if not the, hardest club to get into in the world. On the night we tried some punters didn't even get within 20 meters of the front door before being hand motioned to turn around and not even bother.
Due to bad planning and no research, we arrived at Berghain approx 1 AM on Monday morning; 5 hours before they closed. Our group of 9 split up immediately. We tried. We all failed. The first three rejected, myself and Paul failed, another three then dismissed. The worse thing was we didn't even get rejected by Sven, it was his night off work, and we dealt with one of his short, bald henchmen instead. Bayden, the most "German" looking of all of us was the last to attempt. He managed to get more than the word "no" out of the doorman and was told if we had have arrived at 9 pm we would have been let in. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to try my luck again at Berghain as I left Berlin before the club opened the following weekend. Next time, Gadget!
DRUIDE
DR. PONG
You place a 5 euro deposit on a paddle to play table tennis (ping pong). All waiting players simultaneously walk around the table taking turns hitting the ball back and forth - you miss you're out. The final two competitors aim to be the first to reach 10 points and, therefore, be crowned the winner.
YESTERDAY BAR
60's, 70's and 80's rock was playing which was a nice change considering how many dance clubs are around.
LAST CATHEDRAL
After learning that Last Cathedral is part-owned by Rammstein, I really would have liked to have seen what it is like on the weekend.
4 Comments
17/7/2019 05:05:59 am
Hi Mathilde, 14/7/2019 05:31:53 pm
Wow! this is a very helpful tip sis! :) I'm going to note all of this down.. :) 17/7/2019 05:03:27 am
Hi Gary, Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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