Berlin's club scene is justly famous. Aspiring clubbers can find a DJ to suit their taste any night of the week (and often during the day too), and the city provides a wide variety of establishments, from relaxed and cosy to full-on hedonistic. Our club guide shows you where and when to shake your bootie.

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• Club guide

CLUB GUIDE

2Be Club
Ziegelstr. 23
10117 Berlin Mitte
S-Bahn/U-Bahn Oranienburger Str., Friedrichstr.

If entering the 2BE Club induces a sense of deja vu, it's because the club is in the hallowed ground where clubland institution WMF (which has had more incarnations than the Dali Lama) used to be. Now the club specialises in hip hop, reggae, and what Germans patronisingly refer to as 'Black Music' (whatever that's supposed to mean). Despite the dodgy genre descriptions, the club is popular with the sun visor and basketball shirt set, and attracts top names such as DJ Premier and LTJ Bukem.

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Bastard
Kastanienallee 7-9
10435 Berlin
Tel: 030 44 04 96 69
U-Bahn Eberswalder Straße

Part of the Prater complex, the amusingly-named Bastard club is good fun and popular with the bohemian/student crowd. The musical menu features live gigs from up-and-coming Berlin bands and club nights with electronica and indie DJs. The increasingly-popular poetry slams often feature English language poetry; all contenders are welcome, so come along and see how many words you can rhyme with 'bastard'.

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Café Moskau
Karl-Marx-Allee 34
10178 Berlin
U-Bahn Schillingstr.

Once the hippest nightspot in the GDR, Cafe Moskau is enjoying a new lease of life as Berlin's number one socialist club.

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CCCP Klub
Tor Str. 136
10119 Berlin
U-Bahn Rosenthaler Platz

The only sign that CCCP (presumably pronounced 'SSSR') even exists is a red star above a forbidding steel door on Tor Straße. Ringing the bell, you are let in by a Russian doorman dressed as a cowboy, whose broken nose hints at a past working in less genteel establishments. Inside, the club consists of one small room filled with second-hand furniture. A French 1960s caper film plays on one wall, while a DJ plays Russian pop hits from the same decade. Mitte scensters mingle with shaven-headed Russian men and their DKNY-clad molls. The east-looking bars of Tor Straße have gained a new comrade.

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Clärchens Ballhaus
Auguststrasse 24
Berlin-Mitte
030 2829295

Until recently Clärchens Ballhaus ('Little Clare's ballroom') was a last bastion of old proletarian Mitte. It was even featured in an early 90s Clive James travel show about Berlin to show the naff side of the city. Now is has been taken over by the trendy café Strandbad Mitte from across the road. They have a small range of decent, reasonably-priced pizzas which can also be enjoyed outside in good weather. Inside it is an amazing mixture of GDR kitsch and trendy Mitte, with coal burning stoves and silver tinsel surrounding the dance floor. Quite a place.

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Cookies
Currently homeless - new location to be announced.
www.cookies.ch

Legendary long-running Berlin club which only opens on Tuesdays and Thursdays--if you have to get up in the morning, you're obviously not cool enough to be there. It's so underground, it (gasp!) doesn't even get mentioned in listings magazines Tip and Zitty. Although one wonders how underground a club can be when it gets recommended in the Independent's weekend break guide to Berlin.

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Delicious Doughnuts
Rosenthaler Str. 9
10119 Berlin
Tel: 030 28 09 92 74
U-Bahn Rosenthaler Platz

Actually more of a lounge than a fully-blown club, Delicious Doughnuts is another long-standing fixture of Berlin nightlife. Relax in the comfortable surroundings and enjoy a cocktail, or venture on to the small dancefloor. On weekend nights, the after-hours party starts at 5am for insomniac clubbers. Fortunately Barcomi's is nearby when you feel like breakfast.

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Havanna
Hauptstraße 30
10827 Berlin
Tel: 030 78 48 565
www.havanna-berlin.de
U-Bahn Kleistpark/Eisenacher Str.

The number one location for salsa in Berlin. On the main floor Cuban exiles flaunt their fancy footwork while German yuppies try to remember what they learned at this week's salsa class. There's more Latin music upstairs, while Schöneberg teenagers shuffle around downstairs on the hip hop floor. The clientele is so mixed that you could almost believe Berlin is a genuinely multi-cultural city.

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Hoppetosse
Eichenstr. 4
12435 Berlin
Tel: 030 53 32 030
U-Bahn Schlesisches Tor, S-Bahn Treptower Park

This club is actually a boat moored on the Spree, and perfect for watching the sun set over the river. Be careful on the steep stairs once you've had a few beers — accidents do happen at sea.

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hotelbar
Zionskirchstr. 5
10119 Berlin
U-Bahn Rosenthaler Platz
Tel: 030 44 32 85 77
www.hotelbar-berlin.de

Literally underground club with different levels and a cummingsesque distaste for upper case characters. The open decks night on Mondays lets aspiring DJs try their hand on the wheels of the steel, and Tuesday nights feature free live music with acts such as Japanese chanson stars Mama Milk.

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Icon
Cantianstr. 15
10437 Berlin
S-Bahn/U-Bahn Schönhauser Allee
www.iconberlin.de

Tucked away in a shabby courtyard in a dark Prenzlauer Berg side-street, Icon's profile is far from high. However this labyrinthine cellar club is reknown as Berlin's top venue for drum'n'bass, with regular visits from top British DJs such as the Metalheadz crew. The UK cut'n'paste label Ninja Tunes also puts on regular nights. The only problem with being in a cellar is the slightly dank smell, but the bass which makes every fibre of your body vibrate will soon take your mind off that.

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Kalkscheune
Johannisstr. 2
10117 Berlin
Tel: 030 59 00 43 40
U-Bahn Oranienburger Tor

The Kalkscheune, with its four dancefloors, is home to the renowned Schöne Party, a once-a-month Berlin club night now in its fourth year and as popular as ever. Get your tickets early — it always sells out.

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Kinski
Friedelstrasse 28
Berlin-Kreuzberg
www.kinskiclub.de

This bar is one of Kreuzberg's finest, named after Germany's favourite crazy actor, the late great Klaus Kinski. It is technically a private club, so expect to be given a membership card when you arrive. It is busy with cool young Kreuzberg types pretty much every night (except Mondays when it is closed) and they have a series of films and events and lots of good DJs during the week. It is so small that dancing is barely possible, but as a lounge club it has a lot going for it. Cool without being stuck-up.

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Komfort Klub
Dircksenstraße 40
S-Bahn, U-Bahn Alexanderplatz, S-Bahn Hackescher Markt

Considering its location right in the heart of Berlin's Mitte district, the Komfort Klub should be better known than it is. With its exposed brickwork and vaulted ceiling, this cellar club is a cosy place to relax with a cocktail, while numerous nooks and crannies create the possibility of an intimate tete-a-tete, should you desire one. On the first Thursday of every month, Komfort plays host to Sorted, a night organised by local British DJs ED 2000, Aziz, and Papa T to showcase the best of British music--highly recommended.

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Lovelite
Simplonstr. 38/40
10245 Berlin
S-Bahn Ostkreuz
www.lovelite.de

One of the new breed of clubs in Friedrichshain catering to the local student and bohemian population. Albeit located in a former mechanic's workshop, it's noticeably more chic and refined than the famous squat clubs of old, and features live gigs and DJ nights, with music tending towards electronic and house. The wall outside, with its rampant street art, is also worth a look.

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Maria am Ostbahnhof
An der Schillingbrücke/Stralauer Platz 33-34
10243 Berlin
Tel: 030 21 23 81 90
www.clubmaria.de
S-Bahn Ostbahnhof (obviously)

A Berlin institution, Maria is hip without being exclusive—if you can find it (not particularly easy in its secluded riverside location) they'll let you in. Inside the club is a vast warehouse style complex, with comfortable seating for lounging around and a spacious dancefloor. This is where big names such as Arthur Baker or Jeff Mills play when they come to Berlin, and the high 30-something-man-in-sweater quotient testifies to its status as Berlin's top venue for intelligent electronic music. Midweek it often has gigs by acts such as Stereolab or The Fall, including the occasional secret gig by the likes of the Beastie Boys.

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Mudd Club
Große Hamburger Str. 17
10115 Berlin
Tel: 030 44 03 62 99
www.muddclub.de
U-Bahn Weinmeisterstraße, S-Bahn Hackescher Markt

Hidden in a cellar in a back yard of a Mitte side street, the Mudd Club is sufficiently secluded to keep out the hordes of tourists swarming down nearby Oranienburger Strasse. The cellar vaults give it an intimate atmosphere, and it feels more like a bar with a (well-frequented) dancefloor than a full-on club. The regular Balkan Beats night is worth checking out as an alternative to Kaffee Burger's Russian Disco (the Balkans are the new Russia—you heard it here first).

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Pfefferbank
Schönhauser Allee 176
10119 Berlin
www.pfefferbank.de
U-Bahn Senefelder Platz

Tucked away underneath the crumbling mass of the Pfefferberg, the trendy Pfefferbank is small and fun. The split-level interior boasts a nicely-done decor, and the kids dancing in front of the DJ booth are illuminated by a psychedelic light show. Even for a Berlin club, the music programme is incredibly varied, ranging from internationally-known house DJs via local indie kids to Russian hard rock bands.

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PrivatClub
Pücklerstr. 34
10997 Berlin
Tel: 030 61 75 502
U-Bahn: Görlitzer Bhf.

Cosy basement club hidden behind a door in the Markthalle Restaurant. As well as DJs, the club often features readings and concerts with artists like Klaus Beyer, an eccentric Berlin musician and former candlemaker whose life's work is to re-record the Beatles' back catalogue in German.

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Rosi's
Revalerstr. 29
10245 Berlin
U-, S-Bahn Warschauer Str., S-Bahn Ostkreuz
www.rosis-berlin.de

Although (probably) legal, Rosi's feels like one of Berlin's celebrated squat clubs from the good old days, located as it is in a disused industrial building in one of Friedrichshain's darkest and most uninviting side streets. The building itself is a rabbit's warren of corridors and rooms, with couples drinking in semi-darkness in nooks behind bead curtains and mysterious stairs leading up to closed doors. In the summer the huge yard is open, where you can lounge around on second-hand leather sofas while a DJ plays anything from 60s garage punk to drum'n'bass.

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Roter Salon
Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz 2
10178 Berlin
Tel: 030 24 06 58 06
www.roter-salon.de
U-Bahn: Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz

The hipper of the two clubs housed in the Volksbühne theatre, the Roter Salon is an old rehearsal room turned suave nightspot, and home to some of the stranger nightlife to be found in Berlin (like Canadian performance artists Fuzzy Love who play theremin-fuelled cover versions of 1970s pop classics). Despite its elegant 1920s feel, the club is refreshingly unpretentious—you can turn up wearing anything and then sit on the stairs and drink beer. Its sister club, the Grüner Salon, is a curiously Carrollesque mirror image replica of the Roter Salon, and is a useful fallback if the Roter Salon music doesn't grab you.

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Sage Club
Köpenicker Str. 78
10178 Berlin
Tel: 030 27 89 830
www.sage-club.de
U-Bahn Heirich-Heine Str.

 

The closest the Berlin club scene gets to glamour, and one of the few Berlin clubs with a serious door policy—if you're not looking sufficiently sexy on a weekend night, your chances of getting in are slim. VIPs have an area to themselves, and there's even a pool for rampant hedonists.

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SO36
Oranienstr. 190
10999 Berlin
Tel: 030 61 40 13 06
U-Bahn: Görlitzer Bhf.

A cult Kreuzberg institution named after the old Kreuzberg postcode. The gay Turkish night Gayhana, with its oriental grooves and belly dancing, is an experience not to be missed.

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Watergate
Falckensteinstr. 49A
10997 Berlin
www.water-gate.de
U-Bahn Schlesisches Tor

Situated in an old warehouse next to the Spree, the huge windows on Watergate's two floors give you a fantastic view of the river, Oberbaumbrücke and the Universal building on the other side. Possibly the only club in Berlin where you can actually watch the sun coming up, although once you've seen Watergate in broad daylight at 6am you'll understand why clubs should stay dark. It doesn't really get going until after 1am, but Saturday nights can easily extend until Sunday afternoons, according to the forlorn cloakroom attendant I spoke to as we left at 8 one Sunday morning. (The horror of having one's working hours determined by people on drugs.)

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WMF
Littenstr. / Rolandufer
Berlin-Mitte
www.wmfclub.de

A long-running Berlin club which changes its location every couple of years, WMF has recently found a new home at the above address.

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See also: Kaffee Burger

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Also in this section:

• Berlin pop, rock and jazz
• Berlin exhibitions and museums
• Berlin bars and cafés
• Berlin restaurants
• Berlin opera and classical

Did I miss a must-see event or forget an important venue? Send your comments, feedback and suggestions to david.gordon.smith@expatica.com