ICBRKR TRAVEL GUIDE: BERLIN

Art AficionadosMusic Loverssolo adventureweekend getawaygroup tripUber explorersdigital nomads
Written By Moon Affair

Berlin, confirmed by many, is one of the most exciting cities to live in. The city doesn’t know limits. Due to historical reasons, this rebellious, young, and rough city became the most welcoming place for anybody looking for a new home.

At any given time of the day, you will find it hard to recognize if a person just came out of a club or is going to work. The city is special in its art, love for music, liberalism and freedom.

In the end, wherever you end up in Berlin, my main advice would be to lose any expectations upon arrival and buckle up. This city is a ride!

-Bedeir R

Thank you ICBRKR members and Berliners - Pauline L and Bedeir R, for their insider recommendations. Connect with them in ICBRKR app when you travel to Berlin.

A few facts about Berlin

  • 3.7 million inhabitants: Berlin is over 9 times the size of Paris, BUT it only has 1/5 of Paris’ density

  • 1700 bridges & 180km waterways

  • 1.3km the longest open air gallery in the world: East Side gallery

  • 100+ co-working spaces

  • 400,000+ Döner sold everyday and 70 million+ Curry Wurst every year

  • As rent/m2 is relatively low, it not only attracts young talents, but also startups seeking affordable office space. Therefore, most of the startups in the area are either younger than 2 years with limited funding or older than 4-5 years with a large number of employees, for example Zalando.

  • Housing used to be cheap but with the ever-increasing number of movers to the city, that is no longer the case. The Alternative attracts mostly expats or local Germans seeking a more international environment. You can barely hear German and if you try to order in German, you’ll most likely get answered in English.

 

INSIDER TIPS

  • The best time to visit Berlin is in the summer because of the nice weather

  • To get into BERGHAIN, the legendary club in Berlin, wear all black or dress as cool club kids. No preppy clothes, please. Or get on the guest list. Best hack is go through the gay club downstairs if you are a male.

  • Berlin has a strong public transport system, you can simply use Google Maps or Citymapper to check the best routes, or use the BVG (Berlin public system) app to buy tickets. In addition, with all the advanced mobility services, the options to get from one Kiez or around the same Kiez are ever increasing.

WHAT NOT TO MISS

Brandenburg Gate

BERGHAIN from DJ Mag

Tommy Weisbecker Haus by Various Artists

Berlin has one of the best street arts since Berlin is the most tagged ( “bombed” ) city in Europe. Do walk around to explore it. Check out here where to find these street arts.

  • Visit Hackesche Höfe and Haus SchwarzenbergSammlung Boros

  • Visit Sammlung Boros (art gallery). It used to be a Nazi bunker

  • Be a club kids and check out the legendary clubs like Kit Kat Club, Kater Blau, and Berghain

  • Check out Berlin art at the Berlin Wall (East Side gallery)
    Insider tip: “ have lunch at Katerschmauss and walk from there down the road until the big bridge in Friedrichshain”

  • A walk in the park - Tiergarten

  • Helmut Newton museum. The fashion photographer legend
    Insider tip: “combine the museum with Tiergarten and drink at Monkey bar”

  • Bondage shop lingerie shopping

  • Walk around in Mitte for little shops and cafes - Auguststrasse, Gipsstraße, RosenthalerStrasse...

  • For history and landmarks - visit Berlin Wall Memorial, Treptower Park,Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island, Reichstag Building, Reichstag Building, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and Pergamonmuseum

WHERE TO STAY

There are so many cool boutique and cool vibe. It’s hard to pick one when you visit Berlin.

Soho House Berlin. Photo from cntraveler.com

Michelberger Hotel. Photo by Zoe Spawton

BERLIN by NEIGHBORHOOD

Just like any other city, Berlin has several neighborhoods with distinctive characteristics. However, in Berlin, every neighborhood (or as they call it in German, Kiez) could feel like an isolated city, and when you roll from one Kiez to another, you’d sense that everything changed. Unlike New York, where Chinatown has different demographics than SoHo, in Berlin the same people hang out in Mitte and Kreuzberg; they just behave and dress up (or down) differently. Unique!

There are 21 Kiez in Berlin, however, I’d regroup them into 4 categories as we feel them living here.

1. THE ALTERNATIVE (EAST/SOUTH)

Kreuzberg. Photo from commons.wikimedia.org

Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Neukölln are the 3 major alternative Kiez in Berlin (ranked in ascending order by how alternative they are). The Alternative is young, hip, dressed up fashionably in an unbranded way.

WHERE TO EAT

Restaurants and bars look run down but provide amazing food with strong representation of organic and vegan food. Here is a list of places not to miss in The Alternative:

WHERE TO HANG OUT

Kater blau

Parties go on from Thursday to Wednesday, non-stop or with few hours break every 3 days. The Alternative is home to the most renowned clubs in Berlin:

  • Friedrichshain: Berghain(need us to say more?) Urban Spree (great day drinking place after walking around here to explore street arts)

  • Kreuzberg: Katerblau, (home of some of our favorite Berlin djs like Mira and Mimi Love), Das Hotel (fun spot with alternative rock music and turn into a wild night), Madame Claude (experimental music bar), Holzmarkt (great happy hour spot)

  • Neukölln: Sisyphos, Klunkerkranich (weekdays spot with great electronic music)

 

2. THE STAR KIDS (MIDDLE)

Mitte

Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte are home to the middle and upper-middle (Mitte-l) class. Retired bankers, consultants and corporate employees (couple of years experience) or previously/currently working in the fashion industry, in their late 20s-early 30s, who sought a lifestyle change and opted-out of the standard career progression in Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg.

The Star Kids are a little older than The Alternative and mostly enjoy a bit of disposable income either inherited or saved from their previous life.

Startups in The Star Kids are between 2-4 years old, have raised a few million and have up to 40 employees on average.

WHERE TO EAT

Restaurants could appear in better condition and higher food quality, but the main difference is the price is 20-30% more expensive. The area around Torstrasse is quite lively with multiple options for food and drinks. Additionally, The Star Kids are home to Soho House. Here are some of my favorite restaurants & bars:

Prenzlauer Berg: Restaurant Herr Rossi, Restaurant Mrs Robinson, Restaurant Umami, PAPPA E CICCIA, La Bigoudène, Sorsi e Morsi Wine Bar

Mitte: Katz Orange (German), Frea (Vegan), Yafo (Isreali, must make reservation), Daluma (healthy food), Klub Kitchen (healthy lunch).Muret La Barba, PeterPaul, To The Bone, Yafo, Neue Odessa Bar, My Bar ICI

WHERE TO HANG OUT

The Kiez used to host the best parties in Berlin 20 years ago. Now clubs aren’t the main signature of the Kiez, they mostly run on their historical fame. On Thursday night, you can have the rare occasion to go to a hip-hop night at Kitty Cheng or Bravo Bar. For the past 1.5 years, a group of my friends and I started a new party series to revive the party scene in Mitte called Nachtzeit, with the motto #MakeMitteGreatAgain ♠

 

3. THE LAWYERS (WEST)

Charlottenburg. Photo by Berlin.de

Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and west of Berlin are the upper class of Berlin, alongside the original Berliner (living in Berlin for more than 15 years). The Lawyers Kiez is the closest you know to cities, where you have malls, banks, corporate offices and families. The Lawyers are the Munich of Berlin, where it is accepted (and encouraged) to wear suits and pull out a Gucci belt without being judged. The Lawyers seek a higher quality and fancier lifestyle than The Alternative & Star Kids. There is your highest chance to get a response in German, as well as meet a true-born Berliner, whose parents moved or lived West of the Berlin Wall.

WHERE TO EAT

Restaurants look like where your parents would take you for dinner, bathrooms are clean and the service is professional. That obviously comes at a price. However, we all seek that treat at least every now and then. So if you are looking for a cozy, fancy experience, here is a list of restaurants & bars to go to:

Augusta Berlin

Charlottenburg: Monkey bar (sueper chic rooftop bar), 893 Ryōtei Japanese Restaurant, Repke Spätzlerei & Flammkuchen

Schöneberg: La Cantine d'Augusta, La Pequena Habana, Mister Hu Bar, Panama

WHERE TO HANG OUT

The clubs at The Lawyer (you guessed it right), are Lawyer clubs. Here is where you can get Grey Goose bottle services with 10 people lighting up candles:

4. THE FAR (FAR)

photo by Martin U Waltz

Lichtenburg, Stieglitz, Spandau, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, and Reinickendorf are just far. Nobody lives there!

Moon Affair
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