Berghain, Friedrichshain, Berlin

Berghain is love, except when it gets sloppy.

When you start to notice that the people around you are no longer aware that they’re still on this planet, it’s probably time for you to go home too.

Apart from that there’s really nothing I can say here that hasn’t already been said.

If you haven’t been to the Berghain at least once, make it happen… at least just one time.

OMG, I have to say that this was the best club I have ever been too. The crowd, the music, the atmosphere …everything was amazing. I was a bit skeptical as I had heard all the things about the door policy etc etc but had no problems getting in. Although everyone complains about it and in some instances it might not be right I think the whole door thing works, it means the trouble makers/weirdos etc are kept out. I will definately be going back…lets hope I can get in for a second time!

door policy - weird - BIG TIME! there is no way you can plan going to berghain with whomever... when u have freinds over in berlin to visit u and u only have 2 nigths to go out, dont put all your hopes on berghain.

i ve been there a few times now - but always spontaneous. i had no problems to get in and i had the best nigths in berlin. some even the best in my life :P

so try it!

Berghain is amazing, once you are in that is.

As a bit of a veteran I have been rejected just about as many times as I have got in, but every bit of rejection has been worth the amazing times I have had there.

If you want to get in, be smart. Go in on your own or just 2 people, obviously it is a gay club, so girls are less likely to get in than guys. Go early, the easiest time to get in is between 12-1am, this time is also when the line moves the fastest so you won't have to wait so long, if you don't want to go out that early go get your stamp and then go home. Don't wear clothes that make you stand out, this makes it easier to get in the second time if you don't get in at first. Go away for an hour or so and then try again.

Don't take it personally, half the time its just luck, its not cos you are, asian, black, white, gay, straight, you aren't looking like a hipster or what ever else you can think of, it is just random luck, often to do with who is around you in the queue for example if there is a group of drunken English (just an example, no offence meant!) being loud and rowdy, then there is more of a chance that quiet, normal acting people behind them will get in.

If you're a veteran of the underground 'rave' scene then you can probably remember going to many places like Berghain, but paying about one tenth of the entry fee that Berghain charges. You probably also remember that security staff and fashion police were utterly absent from the door at real underground events, and that entry was granted on a first-come-first-serve basis.

If you can remember parties like that, then Berghain will probably make you feel like a tiger in a big game reserve: even if you can't see the fences, you still know that they are there. They keep you in line while they keep everybody else out.

If you haven't been to real underground parties, then a night at Berghain might give you the same rush that a housecat feels when it's let loose in the backyard for its first time. Berghain's openness and freedom may seem endless to someone who is already 'housebroken' by a more rigid and comercial style of clubbing... but just because you're too tame to push at the boundaries doesn't mean that they don't exist.

Clubs like Berghain didn't invent the underground, they put walls around it. They tax people for something that should be free, and regulate something that should be spontaneous. If you're fine with being told how to enjoy yourself and when and in what clothing, then by all means go to Berghain. Standing in line for hours without knowing if you're going to get in is the punishment you deserve.

And in case you're wondering, yes I did get in AND I didn't have to wait. I'm giving Berghain two stars because the doorstaff made my friends (who started queueing at the same time as me) wait nearly two hours longer to get in. Their door policy is just so senseless that it ruins what would otherwise be a decent night out.

Verdict: yes, the venue is exceptional but the establishment that it represents is not. And as for it's street cred - well, Berghain is about as underground as the Fernsehturm.

I LOVE BERGHAIN!
my friends didn`t passed the door.
That´s why I felt very sad.
- for maybe two minutes.
Than the DJ saved my life ;-)
I had the biggest, most glamorous, sexiest, fastest, longest... party I´ve ever had!
Insane!

I've been to this club so many times now and it's still great! The vibe, the people, the music, the venue, so so good! Some times there are too many Italian and Spanish peeps ;) but ok, thats fine. One tip, sunday is the new saturday :) Go find it all out yourself, you won't regret it.

I read tons of things on the internet about Berghain, in my experience pretty much all those things are true...the queue, the door policy etc. but if you make it you're going to forget all those things and you'll experience the best clubbing experience ever (at least for me that was the case). It really changed my concept of clubbing. I am really not sure that Berghain is real, because when you're inside it's like being in a parallel world where time doesn't exist. It's always dark in Berghain, it doesn't matter if it's 6am or 5pm, light doesn't belong to it. Light exists sometimes at Panorama Bar, from time to time they open the blinds and you remember you're still in this world. In summer if the weather is good there's a garden with djs - obviously - as well, which makes the whole place even more surreal, if possible. I'm not gonna talk about the music because you know it's gonna be so good, and the residents are definitely the ones I enjoyed the most. That said Berghain is about experience, you've got to - try to - go there to understand what's like. And something will remain inside yourself after you leave that place, and you'll keep asking yourself if what you saw/heard/felt in those 10 hours or so was real.

all the comments are true regarding their door policy.

My boyfriend and I couldn't get in because I spoke English at the door. I'm also Asian so it could have been that too.

Celtics is talking a load of rubbish - i saw lots of asian women in there (wearing very little - and then less) and was talking to an Australian guy - and i'm not a hipster and i'm not gay and i'm therefore not a gay-hipster but i got in ok 'cause the doorstaff make a judement call on whether you came for the music / extras or because you see it as a 'tourist attraction' and what you're wearing, how you act and how you'd act to what others wearing / behaving / doing

Berghain doors policy FAIL.

In 1977 Studio 54 @ New york was the first club with doors policy, VIP area,... you had to be "cool" and correspond to a kind of norm to be selected.

This kind of system spread a reputation of a good venue. It also keep the club in a dominant position. In the other hand this attitude is the best way to get quickly a lot of boring peoples too, people that need a validation from a supreme entity (Berghain) to feel cool, underground or whatever.

Personally, I hat any kind of doors policy. I don't want to fit a 'underground atmosphere', basically i don't want to FIT any thing.

Segregation and quota definitely sucks.

To be frank, I was skeptical when I was being told that we're going to a place called "Berghain", didn't like the sound of that -- sounds posh.

It's quite the opposite.

I can only say so much that in retrospective I don't regret the 1-hour line (that's at 4am in the morning) or the 10EUR entrance fee. This place is simply amazing.

Don't bother coming here if you don't like it dirty -- and I mean that with respect to both location and music. We went on a Friday night, which basically means minimal techno on one floor, and hard step on the other (there is a third floor, which was closed for some reason).

The atmosphere already grasps you when still waiting outside. You just look at this massive free-standing block of concrete which is an abandoned power station, the laser lights beaming down at you through the huge windows, accompanied by the low-frequency humming of the massive sound system, and you're almost peeing your pants because you want nothing more than getting past the annoying doormen.

Speaking of which. Face control here is ridiculously hard. If I were to guess, I'd say that 25-30% of people get rejected at the door. We got in with a drove of 8 people, but you have to be clever about it. Don't shout or behave inappropriately while in line, don't behave drunk even when you are, and try to get past the door in groups of at most 3 people (mix men and women). Although there is no official dress code, I suggest you dress casual, but not boring. If you look boring, you probably get rejected (which is good, they want people to dance in there).

Inside the building, I can just say it's HUGE. I lost my bearings quickly, which may or may not be because of my progressed intoxication with beer and champagne (did I mention it was 4am?). I love the inner architecture, it looks really torn down, the walls are extremely tall (I would guess about 10-15m) giving this place a surreal atmosphere. Bar keepers were very friendly and prices just about normal for a club. Toilets are uni-sex, which considering how equally wasted everyone is, is not much of a problem I guess.

The only thing I found annoying about this place is that at some point they turn the volume up to a level where it's simply brain damaging. I hate it when they do this in clubs (I already have my tinnitus, thanks.)

I can only conclude by saying that this is probably the coolest club I've ever been to, you can literally spend a whole night at this place without getting bored. The people are cool, the music is cool, and the location is super-cool. I can't wait to come back here.

I thought it´s bigger.
But i also thought i find only tourists there, which i did not.
Very roomy, very crowded and very interesting people.
All seem to be very happy there. You can find a big mixture of different people from all over the world. Still not touristy.
The drinks are well done and i danced a lot to the music.
It is a place you can arrive alone to, but don´t have to leave alone.
You don´t have to like electronic music to like the berghain.

Until such time as these bastards let me in, I’m giving them one star. We queued for an hour at 7am and got turned away at the last, in a group of… 2 people. And the worst thing, it makes me want to go back even more.

If you’d had no joy here, I would recommend walking over to Rosi’s instead, where you have no such problems.

The door policy is completely random. Judge for yourself by the number of taxis waiting to take rejected punters away as you stand in the queue (even just after it opens at midnight). We were lucky but I would say about 30 to 40% of people were asked to “step over to the right”...which means 'you’re not coming in’. The biggest rejections seemed to be for groups of 4 or more, girls, hoodies and under 25s. The club is good but Tresor is much better - unless you’re into gay-sex in dark spaces, filthy unisex toilets and shitty bar staff - in which case queue for Berghain.

Head there if you want to know what the hell looks like.

The space is amazing! The people, Cool! Go with friends and the desire to be up all night long!!!

I think Berghain is over. I used to go here since 2005, and then, I really loved the place. there was a regular crowd, we greeted each other whilst dancing, you got to speak to mayn people, everybody was very excited about being there - and listening to great music. Thie mix was about 70% Gay 30% SAtraight, but most of the Gay crowd stuck to the ground floor, and the rest stuck to the panorama bar…

Now, the place is a bit of a tourist trap. Hardly anyone is from Berlin itself - which is not a problem - but it does make a difference to the crowd - as there is not this feeling that you might see this person again…
Last time I was there - I left, absolutely furious because every second Italian person in the club asked me if I knew where they could get “E”...

Some characters from Berghain have disspeared. Hopefully we meet again some day ;)

if you are looking for the real techno / house sound of berlin, this is possibly the wrong place, you might better go to tresor club - true techno for true people, ever since. if you use(d) to listen to commercial music and you just want to tell your friends about these parties that last days because everyone thinks something might happen until sunday evening - this berghain thingy is the place - if they let you in :) there is a good door-policy, very nice service, large bars (so you do not have to wait). if the music is right it is nothing less than a techno temple :))

The coolest club currently in Berlin, hands down - judging by the massive queues there every weekend. The club has the same owners as the legendary Ostgut club, which is featured in the documentary about the Berlin club scene, “Don’t forget to go home”. It’s set in an old industrial warehouse/factory - like a smaller version of the Tate Modern in London.

The inside is actually divided into 2 distinct areas: Panorama Bar, open all weekend; and Berghain, which is only open on Sat nights. On Sat, the club opens at midnight and closes late on Sun evening. The atmosphere is quite different in the 2 areas. The Panorama bar hosts top international djs, such as Laurent Garnier or Carl Craig, plus some very talented local djs playing cutting edge minimal house and electro. Berghain, on the other hand, is a massive dark smokey cavern playing hard techno a to predominantly half naked, gay audience

Unfortunately, the queues are absolutely horrendous, so it’s best to plan your visit very early (ie before 1am) or arrive a little later and take your chances around 4am or 5am. Otherwise expect to queue for a minimum of 1.5 hours and it’s not uncommon to have a queue at 7am, as quite a popular option is to go solely for the day session.

As mentioned in previous reviews, one thing to note is the very strict door policy. The door staff can be intimidating and they seem to turn people away randomly - although groups of slightly geeky guys speaking loudly in foreign languages don’t do themselves any favours. I’ve been told that the reason they never have any presales is so they can keep complete control over who gets in. Well fair play to them, they can afford to.

One thing I love about Panorama Bar is when sun comes up, they open the shutters on the windows to let the sunlight in and the crowd goes wild. They say you “see the light” :-)