Berghain - DD Review

This must be the best gay club in Berlin. It also attracts a fair proportion of breeders. On Fridays only Panorama bar, the top floor, is open and it's pretty mixed. On Saturdays, gay Berlin men get to have their fun and the club is great – scores 10/10. It’s a huge ex-powerstation. The ceiling on the ground floor is about 30m high. There are huge iron steps leading up to the dance floor. It is industrial. Hard loud techno music, a spacious darkroom on the dance floor, quiet bars and spaces to chill out, another more discreet darkroom on the ground floor. There's no London club with the space and the atmosphere. In Summer the party continues outside all Sunday.

Bad point:The queue: Get there early or late (4-5am) to avoid it. You are under the harsh surveillance as you wait. People often getting turned away – after they’ve queued for ages. Large groups of girls are usually a no no. Boringly dressed (scruffy T-shirts and jeans) groups of men are also victims. We tried not to talk and to look serious as we got near the door. You’re searched quite thoroughly. Wallets and cigarette packets are opened. But they didn’t touch my socks or pants. The man at the cash desk (€12) greeted us warmly and after we had paid, he laughed and said “Glad to see that you got in.” The queue subsides around 5am.

Top tip: If you go to lab.oratory, which is in the same building, you can jump the queue into Berghain (but you still have to pay.)

Warning: The Friday / Panorama Bar, Saturday / Berghain routine is not strictly followed. Check the calendar to avoid disappointment.

Where	Friedrichshain: Strasser der Parisier Kommune, then a small turning into a industrial park Ostbanhof U-bahn
When	Fridays & Saturdays from midnight
Web	http://www.berghain.de/
Attracts	Up for it crowd 20s-40s. Tourists. Mostly gay.
Quantity	1000
Darkroom	Yes x 2
Dance	Yes

Comments

[facebookofsex]

a perfect web site realy :)))

[otis]

there is some sort of confusion. one of the 3 dancefloors/stages of Berghain is gay, and there is a backroom, quite obvious actually.

the rest of the club IS TOTALLY HETERO (at most druggily bi-curious) and NOT GEARED TOWARDS CRUISING BUT DANCING.

and that's the truth guys. now, whether u like it or not...

[Jules14]

Berghain is dead. Same boring music. Nothing has changed. And the door policy remains fucked up. They have become too arrogant and complacent. Don't bother, unless of course you like the idea of standing in a queue (which has nothing to do with the number of people inside) for up to 2 hours and then get subjected to a completely random door policy. It doesn't matter what you look like, or if you are gay (how would they know anyway), or if you are not from Berlin. They are on a power trip -it's a really bad vibe. Avoid. Seriously.

[thejules00]

Ich lieber Berghein. I have been there twice the venue is awesome, the music is fantastic, the crowd is really mixed & like the darkrooms / cruise areas too.

[Markus]

Berghein bouncers are shit. These fucking straight bastards don't know the difference between gays and heteros. I tried to get there at a civilized time for clubbing, i.e. 2 am. There was a massive queue of all young straight girls and young hetero guys blocking the entrance. I almost thought I'm at the wrong place. What horror to queue up with these people. Then I made it the the front and then they did not let me in telling me I'm not gay. Me standing there all muscles and tight shirt sobbing to get some action. Instead a couple of 20 year old girls made it there. Is this really a gay club?

[John]

The other darkroom in Berghain is sort of behind the bar downstairs. You walk through the bit where the sofas are and there it is!

[elliot]

berghain's amazing - there's even a graffiti tag on the outside, "don't forget to go home"!

i'd agree about the lights - they can be a bit monotonous, because they bought the wrong type of lighting - their lights are more suited to rock and roll stage acts than clubs... maybe they need to upgrade the lights with a colour thingie on front, or something.

two darkrooms, one's in the far left corner of the dancefloor with sling and completely, totally black. not found the second one - i think i may have been having too much fun outside. no-one cares if your sex is anywhere else in the club, though you may find panorama bar upstairs quite straight.

if it's a nice day in the summer, then the garden will be open outside from 10am. It's a grassed area with deck chairs, not the beer garden, which is rather sleepy and aside from having sexy bar staff, is rather boring in comparison. i went home, showered (being careful not to wash off my stamp from when i went in earlier), changed and returned at about 2pm, with enough people to make it a very enjoyable afternoon, dancing on the outdoor dancefloor, sitting around on the deckchairs, or going round behind the seating areas to the grassy bit and sunbathing on the grass.

you can see the dance area on google maps here - http://tinyurl.com/5ceo65

[phil]

Re Berghain - tis a couple of years since I've been there but yes, highly recommended. You'll get in if you look the part. Venue is amazing, very Berliner, we have nothing like it in London that's for sure. Three levels of industrial grandeur. Friendly mixed crowd, gayer on the main floor, straighter upstairs. The club goes right thru into Sunday afternoon and the later you stay the messier it gets. Two downsides from my POV: the banging techno music on the main floor can become repetitive to the point of monotony, although the second dancefloor upstairs has different more varied sounds, and also there are way too many strobe lights (ugh). Other than that, a true Berlin experience and a must-do for the discerning gay clubber.

[Amer]

Ooooo this sounds NICE, will have to check it out at the weekend ....

[Glamour64]

Yesterday, on a lovely Sunday summer evening I came across the Berghain Biergarten.

I heard of it before and it turned out to be
really nice. It is located left of the club's building if you approach the club's main entrance.

The main entrance to the Biergarten is on
Rüdersdorfer Strasse behind Berghain club.

In the Biergarten is a central building with
the bar downstairs and two terraces upstairs. There are beds and deck chairs with pillows and cushions. I had an Alster (beer with lemonade) sitting on one of the beds.

There were gay couples on the other beds
cuddling up to each other ore enjoying grilled chicken from the barbecque downstairs.

There's a fountain in the garden and tables and chairs. There are also holiday swings where up to four people can have fun in.

It was nearly 8 pm and the club next door was still going. People kept going in and out.

The opening hours are during the week from 3 pm and on Saturday/Sunday from 9 am.

I'm looking forward to my next chill out there, after a night of dance and fun at Berghain.

[Merlin]

The best club I've ever seen!