Berghain / Panorama Bar

This place is top-rated for electronic-techno music lovers. If you're true party animal, here is the place. You will be amazed by the new experiences, good music and the fun environment.

One of the best clubs in the world. The reincarnation of the club Ostgut. This club itself emerged out of a men only fetish club night, called "Snax". Be careful, could be you can´t come inside. Only the best! Friday to Sunday from 01:00 to the end...

There isn’t another club in the world that even comes close to delivering what Bergheim can. From the start tensions are high and talk is only in whispers (so the bouncers cant hear that you don’t talk German) as you line up with no expectations of weather you will be lucky enough to have a slight nod in your direction. A nod, which will guarantee entry. Once in, bags, and for some, most of their clothes have been cloaked climbing the giant staircase can only compare to that of entering a magical land above, like the children did when the climbed ‘The Magic Far-away Tree.’ Unaware of what land and adventures awaits one today. The thump and the vibrations mingle with the beat and excitement for what lays ahead. Once surrounded by the crowd you can understand the bouncers somewhat unfair decline of entry to so many people. They have chosen the crowd so eclectically that it ensures not one person doesn’t seem like they don’t belong there. There is no point to even attempt to work out how they do it, but they do it so well. This club has something to offer everyone, especially for gay men, where the exclusive (dark) sex room downstairs delivers something, which no other club does. The lack of mirrors and a no-camera rule ensure once your inside, you’re in for the long haul, not once looking at yourself and thinking its time to go home. Remember if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Who the bouncers refused entry to, may be the very people they want there the next night. And don’t forget they do bag checks!

The best kept non-secret of Berlin nightlife, Berghain is quite probably Europe’s epicenter for visceral chic. A repurposed power plant of stateliness and ominous grandeur awaits Berghain hopefuls in what appears to be a plot of desolation sitting comfortably between the trendy, yet slowly gentrifying, neighborhoods of Friedrichshein and Kreuzberg. A club that’s open from Friday night to Monday morning, Berghain is the epitome of industrial cool. Notorious for its all-too-worthy long line and selective door policy, a club goer’s first time at Berghain can be daunting. The queue moves at a rather slow pace and the catwalk of those disappointed from entry rejection mounts one’s anxiety. Most interesting is the vast spectrum of individuals who seek admission. One might see typical techno-crazed Berlin regulars, a pack of overly self-aware ‘non-hipsters’ from NYU who are studying abroad, or even a group of four stunningly model-seeming male gynecologists who will no doubt be checking their grey sweatpants once inside. If you’ve remained painstakingly calm, divided your party of friends into sub-groups of twos or threes, and made sure most of you are gay men, you will most likely be admitted via a blasé head nod from the doorman. After being stripped of your carefully concealed camera and paying the unbelievably well-priced cover charge of 12 Euros, you may now enter Berghain. The Panorama Bar is usually saturated with minimalist techno and house music with entrancing beats and a throat-pulverizing bass. The almost labyrinthine layout coupled with disorienting strobes creates blueprints what could be your most exciting club venture yet. With relatively cheap drinks and an attractive array of dancers and gyrators and doers, there’s only room for shameless, erratic existence. For the best one-time experience, arrive just before 2:00am on Saturday night and stay until you can feel the blood pulsating in your teeth. Berghain was voted the number one club in the world by DJ Mag in 2009, and currently resides in the top 30.

The club is located in a former power plant (rented from the energy company Vattenfall in Friedrichshain, near the Berlin Ostbahnhof. The music is mostly techno, tech house, detroit techno, and minimal techno. The Panorama Bar hosts well known house and electro DJs. Nick Höppner, a resident DJ who manages the club's record label, states that "The simple division is that Panorama Bar more or less caters to house... and Berghain is really the platform for purist techno. In 2005 the club's owners started a record label, Ostgut Tonträger The label's first releases were by Berghain/Panorama Bar residents such as André Galluzzi, Cassy, and Ben Klock In 2007 and prominent minimal techno artists such as Luciano, Âme, Sleeparchive and Luke Slater.

Often referred to as the “best club in the world,” Berghain (and Panorama Bar upstairs) week after week lives up to its hype. It is a special place that no written description will do justice; it simply needs to be experienced. In Berghain expect to feel the bass thumping in your core as the intense techno blasts from their superb sound system. The high ceiling ensures that it never feels claustrophobic, and the dark, industrial atmosphere is almost religious. Upstairs the Panorama Bar is the dance floor where the hipper crowd spends more time; the space is more intimate and better lit, meaning more opportunities for eye contact. In the morning and during the day the blinds periodically open, letting sunlight in while the crowd rejoices. Since it is guaranteed that you will lose track of time in this black hole of dancing, there is a food and coffee bar, the highlight of course being the ice cream! Naturally, having this excellent reputation has its disadvantages. During warm weather, you can find yourself waiting up to two hours in line to get in during prime time (1am-4am). In the winter they try to move thing along a little faster, but there’s still a significant wait. If you aren’t eager to start your partying in the early hours, going around breakfast time or mid-day on Sunday guarantees a shorter wait and quality music. Definitely do not let the elusive door policy discourage you; even though you might potentially be humiliated and party-less after waiting for hours, if you do get in, it’s worth 100 rejections. Of course there are ways to improve your chances of making it through the door, approaching the doormen in small groups or alone, speaking German, not being belligerent, loud, obnoxious, or obviously a foreigner, and contrary to what the description above says, groups of girls certainly have a disadvantage! If you are one of the unlucky ones that gets the head shake and hand gesture by the doorman signaling that it isn’t your night (or morning, or afternoon), don’t let this dishearten you! There is always next week!

An imposing former power station on the edge of KreuzBERG and FriedrichsHAIN (see what they did there) Berghain is a club, no, institution even, which lives up to its hype. A cavernous main dance floor with a world class sound system that pumps out a constant sea of electro and techno, the main hall is not for the faint hearted. Upstairs is the more laid back Panorama bar, featuring renowned international DJs and a dreamy decor including Wolfgang Tillmans' photography. One of the pinnacles of Berlin's hedonistic hardcore clubbing scene, Berghain is a club like no other. Leave your camera at home, pre-drink until you can barely walk straight and don't be a wanker - one of the best 36 hours of your life lies ahead.

Stepping out of the taxi onto the gravel and dusty gravel I begin to wonder if the taxi driver has let us out at the wrong location. Within a few seconds I look out in front of me and see gigantic concrete block of a building with neon flashing lights coming from the small rectangle windows, metal fences leading up to the long snaking queue of anxious club goers waiting to meet their fate by the "Worlds Scariest Bouncer". A rush of excitement washes over me as I make my way to the end of the queue. To my surprise the queue moves quickly as I try to remember the tips I had read on the internet for being given the all important nod from the bouncers (no eye contact, do not speak if you can't speak German, act relaxed etc.) The moment of truth: the bouncer looks me up and down, looks to his side kick and gives the nod, I sigh with relief trying not to give much away, but secretly screaming inside with excitement. I enter the underworld, darkness fills my eyes with the odd strobe light lighting up the room and loud delicious techno beats fill my ears. I now understand why they have the strict door policy, the perfect mix of cool urban hipsters, good looking people and techno lovers makes the experience far more enjoyable. The bars are long and rather empty, the prices not too harsh on the pocket. What I really loved about Berghain is that you can spend hours and hours on end and not get bored, with mazes leading you up into a more relaxed atmosphere with low sofas and comfy seats lead into high ceiling rooms with people dancing their hearts out. They have miniature square rooms cut into the walls where you can climb into and chill or do whatever the hell you want, here there are no boundaries .Due to there being no boundaries, It is important to be aware that photography is forbidden, this way Berghain remains an underworld where no one knows what is going on inside unless they enter themselves. If you love techno, dancing for days on end and being able to do whatever you want then this is your idea of heaven, an absolute must if you travel to Berlin (beware:not for the faint hearted).

On the way to Berghain, upon arrival at Ostbahnhof (the former East Berlin’s Central Station) in a quintessentially ominous district of Berlin, the sun has most likely already begun to rise, the birds twitter in the trees, and the street cleaning machines whir through the nearly empty streets. One would imagine such a scene on the way home from a wicked night out, but here the night is at most merely half-over. Walking through over-grown and rubble strewn lots, amongst Eastern-Bloc style high rises and graffiti infested walls, the remarkably long, yet upon closer inspection quickly moving line at the club suddenly comes into view. It is 5:30 AM, and there are still quite a lot of people vying to get in. From the outside, the building where Berghain is located looks like it should be filled with bureaucrats, busily working away to push papers. In actuality the building used to be part of a power plant, and the concrete walls (and couches), metal staircases, rough edges and hard lines of such a building still abound in this club. Bouncers are of course notorious for being rude and unfriendly, but at Berghain they also practically strip search you looking for cameras, which are verboten! Upon my first visit to this club, after passing the inspection of the door staff, I was greeted by a visual that I would not soon scrub from the back of my retinas; three leather clad, mustached ‘daddies’, on a concrete sofa with a bucket of Crisco, fisting each other. This is simply shrugged off by regulars as “part of the atmosphere”. Needless to say, if I wasn't already aware, I certainly knew in that moment that Berlin was frickin awesome! Berghain began as an utterly edgy, gay fetish club, but it has since morphed into something of a tourist trap for gay and straight patrons alike. Drinks are reasonably priced and comparative to the rest of the city, the crowd is about half composed of tourists, and the speakers are so intensely laden with base that one can feel their heartbeat trying to synchronize with the thumping of the techno music. The ambiance of the club is somehow quite chic, yet trashy, glamorous and sexual. The interior design is rugged, yet smooth and mildly flamboyant. Despite the aforementioned label of “tourist trap”, I would highly recommend this club for both tourists and locals alike. Given that it is frequented by both, it is the perfect venue to mingle and mash with Berliners, but also with Spaniards, Scandinavians, Americans, French, Italians and more as well. Berghain, like the city of Berlin itself, is chic, posh, trashy and kitschy all simultaneously, with a flurry of foreigners and natives from both sides of the still psychologically divided city; and yes, these people stay out LATE.

I’m not sure if the heavily inked and otherwise physically heavy bouncers at Berghain let me in because I exuded a degree of uber-coolness, or because the German dudes I chatted up in front of me took mercy on me and put in a good word. Either way, gaining entrée into this cavernous club with at times relentless and foreboding beats was one of the great highlights of my escapade through Germany. Berghain, as you may already know, is on the short list of electro clubs that young partiers all across Europe (and the world) keep. Housed in a former power plant, in an industrial area that is a short cab ride from the hipsterville (in a good way) ‘hood of Friedrichshain, it features predominantly glass and concrete surfaces and large open spaces ideal for dancing the night, the early morning and often the next afternoon away. As I entered the imposing structure, I quickly found myself entering one of two main rooms, featuring face-pounding electronica that quite frankly scared the Hell out of me. I quickly moved on to the other main room with decidedly more groovy beats and featuring close proximity to one of the main attractions here, Panorama Bar. As its name suggests, this sweeping circular bar offers a view of every individual parked at the bar, and I’ll tell you this: the view does not disappoint. This place attracts some of the best looking women in Germany and all of Europe, and any guy with blood coursing through his err, veins, would find himself very much at home. But the main thing I found so interesting and cool about this place was all the little dark nooks and crannies where people engage in illicit behaviors of various kinds until the wee hours. You could literally do anything you wanted in here and there’s a strong chance nobody will ever find out or even care. Check this place out and make sure to stuff your wallet full of Euros because you will need them for the hefty entry fee and stiff drinks. Also, wear black. Lots and lots of black.