In Berlin you do not look for a bar, you look for a Kiez. Pick the right neighbourhood and the bars find you.
Berlin does not have one nightlife district, it has many. Almost every borough has streets lined with bars, pubs and restaurants. For visitors that is a huge choice and a small task at the same time: there is something everywhere, but it helps to know where your own taste lives. This overview sorts the neighbourhoods by what you will find there.
How many bars are there in Berlin?
There is no exact number. Official statistics do not count bars as a group of their own; they are filed together with pubs, discos and dance halls under the serving of beverages, and many bars are registered as ordinary restaurants. What is certain is the scale: Berlin has several thousand pubs and bars, from the corner Kneipe to the hotel bar. For a night out, density matters more than the total: in the areas below, dozens of bars are within walking distance.
Mitte: doorbells, hotel bars and Torstraße
Mitte is the area for serious cocktails. Around Rosenthaler Platz and Torstraße, some of the city's best-known addresses sit within a few hundred metres: Buck and Breck behind a doorbell on Brunnenstraße, 100 GRAMM Bar on Weinbergsweg and its sister 100 GRAMM Vino in the Circus Hotel. On Schiffbauerdamm a steel door without a sign leads into Bar Tausend. Restaurants cover every budget, from noodle bars to tasting menus.
Prenzlauer Berg: beer garden and wine bar
Prenzlauer Berg is quieter, more grown-up and greener. On Kastanienallee you find Prater Garten, Berlin's oldest beer garden, founded in 1837. Around Kollwitzplatz and Oderberger Straße there are wine bars and restaurants where you sit for hours. A neighbourhood for evenings that do not have to end in a club.
Kreuzberg: pubs with cocktail ambitions
Kreuzberg mixes everything. Around Oranienstraße and Görlitzer Bahnhof, pubs, cocktail bars and late-night food stand side by side; Graefekiez and Bergmannkiez are more laid back. Add one of the widest choices of world cuisines in Berlin. If you want one area for bars and restaurants, this is it.
Neukölln: the most creative bar strip
Weserstraße and its side streets have been the densest bar strip in the city for years: small, young, affordable, with bars no bigger than a living room. Velvet Bar on Ganghoferstraße is one of the most creative bars in Europe, and on the top deck of the Neukölln Arcaden car park, Klunkerkranich has Berlin's most beautiful sunset.
Friedrichshain: loud, young, late
Around Simon-Dach-Straße and the RAW site, Friedrichshain is the area for groups, students and long nights: bars with happy hours, pubs with table football and the big clubs within walking distance, including Berghain.
Schöneberg and Charlottenburg: classic Berlin
The West drinks more elegantly. In Schöneberg you have been ringing at the green door of Green Door on Winterfeldtstraße since 1995; in Charlottenburg you sit under the railway arches at Bar Zentral or on the tenth floor of Monkey Bar. Around Savignyplatz there are restaurants and wine bars with regulars who have been coming for decades.
The best area for bars and restaurants
If you have one night and want both, good food and good drinks within walking distance, choose Mitte around Rosenthaler Platz or Kreuzberg around Oranienstraße. If you have several nights, take a different Kiez each evening. Our Berlin guide shows every bar on the map, and the city duel compares Berlin with eleven other cities.
Try it
City DuelBerlin versus Barcelona, Ibiza versus Mallorca, Vienna versus Zurich: City Duel compares two nights across seven criteria and crowns a winner you can share.Night PlannerChoose city, mood, budget and start time: the Night Planner builds a route of three to five stops with times, drinks and the way between them.Frequently asked questions
Where are the best bars in Berlin?
In Mitte around Rosenthaler Platz and Torstraße, in Neukölln on Weserstraße, in Kreuzberg around Oranienstraße and in Friedrichshain on Simon-Dach-Straße. Schöneberg and Charlottenburg are more classic.
How many bars are there in Berlin?
There is no official figure, because statistics group bars with pubs and discos. Berlin has several thousand pubs and bars.
What is the best area in Berlin for bars and restaurants?
Mitte around Rosenthaler Platz and Kreuzberg around Oranienstraße: good restaurants and bars are within walking distance of each other.
