The 11 Best Bars in Berlin — And the One Type You Shouldn't Skip

Berlin has more bars per square kilometer than almost any city in Europe. Most guides will give you a list of fifty. We'll give you eleven — plus a category that most visitors overlook entirely, and that tells you more about the city than any cocktail menu ever could.

We skipped anything that felt like it was coasting on Instagram aesthetics, tourist foot traffic, or a location inside a hotel lobby. What's left are places where the drink, the room, and the neighborhood actually have something to say.

How Berlin Drinks — And Why It Matters

Before you walk into any bar here, it helps to understand what makes Berlin's drinking culture different from London, Paris, or New York.

Berlin drinks late, and it drinks without hurry. Most bars don't really fill up until 10 or 11 PM, and many stay open until 3, 4, or well beyond. There's no last call panic, no rush to order. Cocktails here tend to cost between €10 and €15 — significantly less than comparable bars in other European capitals. Beer runs €4 to €6. And many places still accept only cash, so keep some on you.

Two things to know before you raise your glass: Germans maintain eye contact when saying "Prost" — skipping this is considered bad luck (or bad manners, depending on who you ask). And if someone orders a round of Mexikaner — a spicy, tomato-based shot that's essentially Berlin's version of a Bloody Mary in miniature — just say yes. It's how strangers become friends here.

Oh, and one more thing: many bars still allow smoking inside. If that's a dealbreaker, we've noted where it applies.

The Cocktail Bars

Würgeengel

Kreuzberg · Dresdener Straße 122 · Mon–Sat from 7 PM · U1/U8 Kottbusser Tor

Named after Luis Buñuel's 1962 film The Exterminating Angel — where dinner guests find themselves mysteriously unable to leave — Würgeengel lives up to its namesake. You come for one drink and stay for three. The bar occupies a former pharmacy, and traces of its past life linger in the glass-tiled ceiling, the apothecary-style cabinets behind the bar, and the warm amber lighting that makes the whole room feel like it belongs in a different decade.

The cocktails lean classic — Old Fashioned, Mint Julep, Negroni — but executed with the kind of precision that makes you reconsider what you think you know about these drinks. Bartenders here are trained professionals, not students pulling shifts. If you're hungry, you can order food from the Italian restaurant next door, Gorgonzola Club, and eat at the bar.

The verdict: The most reliably excellent cocktail bar in Kreuzberg. Arrive early on weekends — it fills up fast after the neighboring Babylon cinema lets out. Closed Sundays, because Berlin.

Becketts Kopf

Prenzlauer Berg · Pappelallee 64 · Wed–Sat from 8 PM · U2 Eberswalder Straße

The only sign you've found it is an illuminated portrait of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett in the window. Ring the doorbell. This isn't pretension — it's intention. Owner Oliver Ebert, who opened the place back in 2004 with his wife Christina, designed the entrance to mark the threshold between the noise of the street and whatever the evening becomes inside.

The two rooms are small, dimly lit, and draped in warm reds and oranges. Leather sofas, mosaic bar, and — unusually for Berlin — a non-smoking room. The menu changes seasonally, printed inside paperback copies of Beckett's plays. About 15 cocktails at any time, all built with handcrafted distillates. But the best move is to tell the bartender what mood you're in and let them choose. They will absolutely deliver.

The verdict: Berlin's most intimate cocktail experience. Reservations recommended. Not the place for a big group — this is for a proper conversation over a proper drink.

Fahimi Bar

Kreuzberg · Skalitzer Straße 133, 3rd floor · Tue–Sat from 7 PM · U1/U8 Kottbusser Tor

You won't find Fahimi on your first try. It's hidden on the third floor of one of those brutalist buildings at Kottbusser Tor — the kind of architecture that makes you question every life choice. But once you're inside, the room is striking: bare concrete walls, a glowing blue square bar, metal stools, and thick clouds of cigarette smoke. Grab a window seat if you can — the view over the chaos of Kotti at night is genuinely cinematic.

The cocktail menu rotates monthly, and the bartenders clearly enjoy pushing boundaries. Skip the classics here. Order something you've never heard of. That's the point.

The verdict: Berlin's bar scene in miniature — ugly building, beautiful surprise. Show up at 7 PM for happy hour prices before the crowd arrives around 9.

Ora

Kreuzberg · Oranienplatz 14 · Daily from 6 PM

Built as a pharmacy (Apotheke) in the 1860s, Ora has kept the bones of its past intact — rows of old medicine bottles, brass countertops, and the original square-panelled wood. The conversion to bar and restaurant is seamless, and the candlelit tables make this one of the most genuinely romantic spots in Berlin.

The cocktails are polished and seasonal. The small plates are excellent. It is not cheap — but it's the kind of place where the price matches the experience rather than the location.

The verdict: Best date bar in Berlin. Full stop. Book ahead on weekends.

The Kneipen (And Why You Need One)

Here's what most bar guides get wrong about Berlin: they skip the Kneipe.

A Kneipe is Berlin's version of a neighborhood pub — think corner bar with cheap beer, a jukebox or no music at all, regulars who've been coming for decades, and absolutely zero interest in impressing anyone. They're smoky, they're unpretentious, and they're the places where Berlin's actual social fabric lives.

The city is losing Kneipen at an alarming rate. Rising rents and changing demographics have shuttered hundreds in the past decade. Walking into one isn't nostalgia tourism — it's participating in something that may not be here much longer.

Ankerklause

Neukölln/Kreuzberg border · Kottbusser Damm 104 · Daily from 10 AM · U8 Schönleinstraße

Technically in Neukölln, right on the Landwehrkanal, Ankerklause is a bar built into what looks like an old ship cabin. The covered terrace overlooking the canal is lovely in summer. During the day, it's a café with solid breakfasts. At night, it fills with a neighborhood crowd drinking beer and playing the legendary jukebox. There are burgers, there are salads, and there are people who've been sitting on that same barstool since 2005.

The verdict: The most charming canal-side Kneipe in Berlin. Equally good at noon or midnight.

Trinkteufel

Kreuzberg · Graefekiez area · Daily from early evening

"The Drinking Devil" — the sign above the door reads Das Tor zur Hölle (The Gate to Hell). It's been a magnet for the punk scene for years, and the room reflects it: dark, loud, unapologetic. Pinball machine, foosball table, occasional live gigs. The beer is cheap, the crowd is real, and nobody cares what you're wearing.

The verdict: The antidote to every polished cocktail bar on this list. Go after midnight.

Möbel Olfe

Kreuzberg · Reichenberger Straße 177 · Tue–Sun · U1/U8 Kottbusser Tor

One of Berlin's most beloved queer bars, known locally as the "Trinkhalle" (drinking hall). The location at Kottbusser Tor is perfect — right in the thick of Kreuzberg's chaotic energy. Tuesday is the legendary cheap beer night that pulls in half the neighborhood. The crowd is diverse, the vibe is welcoming, and the drinks are honest.

The verdict: A Kreuzberg institution that manages to be both a queer safe space and a genuinely inclusive neighborhood bar. Essential.

The Rooftop (Just One)

Klunkerkranich

Neukölln · Karl-Marx-Straße 66 (top of Neukölln Arcaden) · Check opening times online

Most rooftop bars in Berlin are hotel affairs — nice view, generic cocktails, tourist prices. Klunkerkranich is none of that. It sits on top of a parking garage above the Neukölln Arcaden shopping mall, and the journey to get there is part of the experience: through the mall, into the elevator, past the parking levels, and then suddenly you're on a green, sprawling rooftop terrace with DJ sets, fairy lights, a community garden, and a view that stretches to the TV Tower.

There's a small entry fee on some evenings, and the program shifts between concerts, film screenings, and plain old sunset drinking. It's a perfect example of Zwischennutzung — the creative temporary use of urban space that defined Berlin's cultural DNA for decades.

The verdict: Skip every hotel rooftop bar in Berlin. Come here instead.

The Wine Bar

Gardine

Prenzlauer Berg · Knaackstraße 8 · Check hours online

Berlin's natural wine scene has quietly exploded, and Gardine is one of its most charming expressions. Part café, part wine bar, the space has a nostalgic warmth — wooden floors, mosaic tables, soft edges, and intentionally no bar counter, which keeps the room open and living-room-like. The wine list blends classic and funky natural selections, curated in-house and seasonally rotating. The sourdough and pastry menu covers daytime, and they're adding small plates for evening wine snacks.

The verdict: Prenzlauer Berg at its most genuinely appealing — no pretense, just good taste.

The Wild Card

Roses

Kreuzberg · Oranienstraße 187 · Daily until 6 AM · Cash only

Furry pink walls. Padded leather ceilings. Rotating mirror balls. Leopard print stools. Glittering Madonnas. Ashtrays in the toilet. Roses has been a Kreuzberg queer institution for over twenty years, and it has absolutely no interest in changing. The soundtrack is pop classics, the boxed wine is terrible, the gin and tonics are dangerously drinkable, and the place closes at 6 AM every single day.

You don't come to Roses for the drinks. You come because at 3 AM on a Wednesday, the room is full of people who are exactly where they want to be. That's harder to find than a good cocktail.

The verdict: Unforgettable. Wear something you don't mind getting sticky.

The Berlin Reality Check

Berlin's bar scene isn't glamorous, and that's precisely the point. In most cities, drinking culture is aspirational — you're paying for the design, the status, the curated experience. In Berlin, the best bars are the ones that grew out of a neighborhood's needs rather than a business plan. A corner Kneipe that's been open since reunification tells you more about the city than any speakeasy with a secret door. The speakeasies are great — we recommended several. But if you leave Berlin without sitting on a cracked vinyl barstool in a smoky room where nobody speaks English and the beer costs €3, you missed the part that makes this city different.

Before You Go: Practical Notes

Hours: Don't show up before 9 PM for cocktail bars — many won't be busy until 10 or 11. Kneipen open earlier and stay open later.

Cash: Many smaller bars, especially Kneipen, are still cash-only. Cocktail bars increasingly accept cards, but don't count on it.

Smoking: Indoor smoking is legal and common in Berlin bars. If this bothers you, Becketts Kopf has a non-smoking room, and most bars have outdoor seating in warmer months.

Getting home: Berlin's public transport runs all night on weekends (Friday and Saturday), with night buses covering weeknights. A single BVG ticket (€3.50, AB zone) covers your journey. Alternatively, taxis and ride-sharing apps are widely available.

Tipping: Round up or leave 5–10% at bars. At cocktail bars with table service, 10% is standard.

Dress code: There isn't one. Berlin rewards comfort over presentation. The only exception: Ora for a date night, where smart casual fits the room.

Looking for more Berlin after dark? Our guide to Berlin's nightlife beyond the clubs goes deeper into the city's late-night culture. And if you're building an evening in Kreuzberg, start with our Kreuzberg neighborhood guide for restaurant and café recommendations that pair perfectly with the bars above.