germany :: berlin :: general

[AL-9000]

here's some random suggestions:

a lot of the best shops and most mentioned in this thread are in mitte, generally in the area between torstraße and hackescher markt station, east of große hamburg straße and west of prenzlauer allee.

bar-wise i don't have that much to offer. i like the beergartens like praeter, golgatha in viktoriapark, and the one in volkspark friedrichschain.

for actual german food joseph roth diele is pretty good.

huhnerhaus at görlitzer park

white trash bar

cafe wintergarten

there's a lot of good vietnamese and pho around

cdv, renate, about blank, stattbad wedding, katerholzig are some kool klubs. music is usually tech house but there's still great times to be had.

[rirawin]

Will be in Berlin for 4 nights in June. I see a lot of people have already posted a lot of shops/bars/clubs recommendations.

Are there any cultural ones ? apart from the usual Checkpoint Charlie, Jewish Memorial etc, which I've done before on previous trips to Berlin.

[bueno]

Will be in Berlin for 4 nights in June. I see a lot of people have already posted a lot of shops/bars/clubs recommendations.

Are there any cultural ones ? apart from the usual Checkpoint Charlie, Jewish Memorial etc, which I've done before on previous trips to Berlin.

It's a bit out of the way but you could go to Potsdam (Schloss Cecilienhof), if you have around half a day free.

[AL-9000]

too much stuff to do

museums:

Hamburger Bahnhof

ddr museum

stasi museum

Museuminsel

Bauhuas archiv

Boros Collection

Deutches Technikmuseum

Designpanoptikum

memorials:

berlin wall memorial

soviet war memorial in treptower park (i recommend not googling a picture beforehand for best results)

Berlin-Hohenschönhausenmemorial (ex stasi prison turned memorial by former inmates)

other:

Garten der Welt

Classic Remise Berlin (classic/vintage/rare cars)

Schloss Charlottenburg

Teufelsberg

Sachsenhausen

[darkanimal]

aight il be stayin here for more than a week. what's the best time to hit up berghain, sunday 8am? 3 pm?

Edited May 6, 2013 by darkanimal

[freecat]

Sunday afternoon is super random. I have seen steezy people being declined and goofs accepted.

I would say the best is to go between 23.30 and 2.00 on saturday night, get your stamp, have a quick beer, then either stay or leave and do something else, then come back at the exact time you wanted to go.

rirawin: I would check this for a list of exhibitions: http://artnews.org/cityexhibitions.php?city=Berlin&All&g_ord=close

timeout is not bad either: http://www.timeout.com/berlin/

as for Mustafa kebab, I would avoid it and go somewhere else if you seen more than 5 people in the queue. It is ridiculous to wait 1/2 hour for a kebab. Among the best eateries are on Kotbusser Dam and Sonnenallee and in the neighbourhood. I can be a bit more specific if needed

[eveyo]

Hello. This June 5 to 9, I'll be visiting Berlin for the first time, alsong with a group of emerging designers from Hong Kong.

During our time there, we hope to visit some designer studios, cool places of interest, museums etc which are not in the usual guidebooks.  WIll appreciate your recommendations.

 

Meanwhile, for those in Berlin, we will be exhibiting at DMY in Tempelhof at Hangar 1. Do visit us if you're there.

Thanks.

[ORIMONO.eu]

Hello. This June 5 to 9, I'll be visiting Berlin for the first time, alsong with a group of emerging designers from Hong Kong.

During our time there, we hope to visit some designer studios, cool places of interest, museums etc which are not in the usual guidebooks.  WIll appreciate your recommendations.

 

Meanwhile, for those in Berlin, we will be exhibiting at DMY in Tempelhof at Hangar 1. Do visit us if you're there.

Thanks.

 

Hi,

 

You should hear with Richard, designer of Obscur if you could visit their studio while you are here. It's an industrial, raw space in the old east block.

 

Also, if you like industrial objects, a visit to the small surreal museum Designpanoptikum at Torstraße in Mitte is well worth a visit. Check their FB page out here.

 

Enjoy your stay here

[darkanimal]

allrighty food lovers, where are the good all you can eat buffets here?

[freecat]

http://www.sakura-berlin.de/

It's on Kurfürstenstraße 126 but I think they have other restaurants. When are you going to be there ?

[darkanimal]

cool thanks goona look it up. arriving this 19th, Sunday. rented an apt in Friedrichshain. 

I'm assuming stores and major establishments will be closed and also on Monday? so my only option is to go pub crawl, haha. 

[AL-9000]

yeah a lot of places will be closed, but Karneval der Kulturen is actually cool and worth checking out. There's a parade and streetfest. Also there's a bunch of open air parties.

 

http://www.karneval-berlin.de/de/neu.258.html

[rirawin]

Another food related question. The missus is obsessed with trying the local delicacy "Eisbein", any recommended restaurants in and around the Mitte area that serves this dish?

[AL-9000]

I did some recherche and found a couple places. The first 2 serve Schweinhaxe, which is the Bavarian version of the same cut (pork knuckle) but roasted instead of boiled. Also served with different side dishes. I never tried the dish or any of the places so I can't personally vouch for any of them, just going by online reviews. All are in Mitte except Zur Haxe which is in Prenzlaur Berg.

 

Brauhaus Mitte

Zur Haxe

Max und Moritz

Alt-Berliner Wirtshaus

Brauhaus Georgbräu

Edited June 15, 2013 by AL-9000

[freecat]

I#ve heard good things about Max und Moritz.

[Tashi]

looking for a berlin proxy, plz help 

[freecat]

i can help you. send me a pm!

[rirawin]

Wow, had such a great time in Berlin despite the weather being quite unbearable at times, 33-35 degrees C during the day. I won't be waiting 6 years to visit again that's for sure.

 

Unfortunately, we timed our trip with Obama's, so a lot of the tourist areas were closed or restricted to the public on two of the days, in particular the Schloss Charlottenburg - will definitely go there next time we're there. We did do quite a few other places, Topography of Terror, Museum Island (3 of the museums there) and Sachsenhausen being the noteworthy ones. The latter we went on a free walking tour with Vive Berlin Tours, there was just a small group 7 including the guide and it was one of the best tour guides we've ever been on - and I'm usually not a fan of them. If anyone is in Berlin I highly recommend going with this tour guide/group. Guy who led the tour, Dennis, was really engaging and based the tour on two ex-prisoners of the camp, Martin Niemöller and Harry Naujoks. Stopped off and had a nice walk around the Bellevue area on the way back.

 

Food wise, we did Mustafa's and Curry 36, Mustafa's lived up to the hype, best kebab I've ever had to date. Curry 36 was a bit of a let down, but served as an appetiser while we waited in line for Mustafa's (we only queued for around 15 minutes).

 

As for local food, we tried to go to Max und Moritz but unfortunately it was closed for renovations for the week we were there. We did end up going to Tiergartenquelle, which was really good. Tried their roast pork joint and it was sooo good. Pork literally just melted in your mouth. The local beer they served was a big hit with the missus too.

 

Thanks again for all the recommendations.

Edited June 23, 2013 by rirawin

[darkanimal]

good to hear richard. yeah berlin is pretty fucking amazing, big thanks to freecat and AL-9000 really great insider recommendations. it was rainning cold, lined up for mustafa so i ordered 2 wraps and finished it right away. but huhnerhaus was my big surprise, so good, i only had it on my last night otherwise i would have been there everyday. i didn't really like currwurst in general, i had mine at konnopkes, they all start to blur and just taste like hotdog with ketchup and curry. joseph roth diele was so good and really inexpensive, no english menu but everything we tried was a hit. im a big fan of turkish food so anywhere i randomly ended in kreuzberg, didn't dissapoint.

 

i did potsdam and glad that i decided to go with a tour, in my head i thought it was walkable and easy to navigate, would have been lost all day. the whole experience would take you 5 hours so prepare accordingly. treptower park soviet memorial was fucking cool. on the alternative side, i went to monster kabinnett and a bunch of artist spaces/abandoned buildings. 

 

i went to darklands and asked where is a good industrial music club, without blinking the sales dood said 'berghain'!. seems like its a religion to the locals there, everyone i asked just said so. so finally on my last weekend i headed there. we took the advise of getting super early just when it opened ,to get stamped. managed to get in, the place was a time warp. techno really wasn't my scene but i loved the whole experience. i enjoyed upstairs, panaroma bar more. by around 0600 sunday the real locals start pouring in berghain. it made sense to me now what crowd they want in. that place was packed with so many attractive people, all represented from young to old, streetwear, punk to steezy. the only reason we left is that my friend had a flight to catch. but there are beds and a snack bar upstairs to recharge. when we left there was still a queue to get in!

 

really had a blast here, and 10 days was still not enough for me. on my first night, still jetlagged, i went to the last cathedral, cccp bar, a bunch more, and ended up at kaffe burger which i had the most fun. will definitely be back, got addicted to club mate and their flavored beers. 

[freecat]

Glad you guys had great experiences. I was super busy and didn't send PMs, but feel free to next time you come by. 

 

I went to Potsdam yesterday as well, it's got very beautiful castle, houses and parks (I have to go to Studio Babelsberg some other time), and the city center is a nice change to Berlin's fast paced inner city. I drove there but it seemed rather ok by S-Bahn. Rather recommended if it's sunny and you want to spend a nice day walking around.

 

rirawin, you indeed came during one of the most enduring week we had in a long time. Obama's visit closed loads of roads and attractions as well... Then again it's now been raining for about a week :/

[bueno]

 

I went to Potsdam yesterday as well, it's got very beautiful castle, houses and parks (I have to go to Studio Babelsberg some other time), and the city center is a nice change to Berlin's fast paced inner city. I drove there but it seemed rather ok by S-Bahn. Rather recommended if it's sunny and you want to spend a nice day walking around.

 

It's fine by S-Bahn as long as you're prepared really. Have to be ready to get buses and trams once you get off which isn't that bad unless you have to figure it all out on the spot.

[poof]

hi all, will be coming by berlin again this october.

 

Previously i stayed in charlottenburg with the family but this trip, i would want to live somewhere with more nightlife and local scene. which are the recommended areas? (Neukölln or kreuzberg etc) and are the mauerpark flea still open?

thanks in advance!

[freecat]

I'd stay in Neukölln or Kreuzberg if you want to be closer to things happening for sure. I'm pretty sure the Mauerpark Flohmarkt is opened all year.

[poof]

Thanks freecat, got a place at Friedrichshain instead for this trip! did my homework but if anyone has more info to share, i'd appreciate it and get your beer if you're around!

[spaces]

thinking about moving to berlin for a few months, tips to get me started? 

[AL-9000]

To study? work? just for kicks? Do you know where you're staying?

[nvsnli]

Checking this thread out as i go to Berlin december 25th - 30th.

 

Dont know when christmas sale starts in germany but if its in that timeframe i might get lucky and cop some decent stuff (RO sneakers and such)

Also good tips on the clubs. Was aware of Berghain already but i would like to get in proper party that has mentality anything goes.

Edited October 16, 2013 by nvsnli

[noobedloser]

Im studying in Berlin from January - end of April, whats the weather like during this time? Ima be posting in this thread with a lot more questions once I get things finalized.

[Inkinsurgent]

Expect it to be apocalyptically, bonecrushingly cold. 

[nvsnli]

Expect it to be apocalyptically, bonecrushingly cold. 

In Berlin? Give me a break, -10 celcius aint cold.