Bei Schlawinchen on Schoenleinstrasse has run 24 hours a day since 1978, with bicycles and toy dolls bolted to the ceiling, two-euro beers, a foosball table and a clientele that never quite empties out.
Tip: Open literally always; arrive at 04:00 to see the room at full strength. Cash only; smoking inside.
Address: Schoenleinstrasse 34, 10967 Berlin
Trinkteufel on Naunynstrasse runs as Kreuzberg's hardcore-and-metal dive: loud guitars, cheap pours, a foosball table that's always busy, and a clientele that prefers the bar to the pavement until sunrise.
Tip: Doors at 15:00, no closing time; cash only. The kicker table is the centre of gravity.
Wohnzimmer on Lettestrasse near Helmholtzplatz furnishes its room like a 1960s living room with mismatched sofas, lace doilies and old armchairs; long pours, cheap beer and a daytime cafe role.
Tip: Open from morning; the room shifts from cafe to bar around 19:00 and runs late. Cash easier than card.
Das Klo near Ku'damm has run a toilet-themed novelty pub since 1971 with toilets as seats, urinal-bottle beers, test-tube shots and animatronic puppets that hammer guests on the head from the ceiling.
Tip: Tourist trap that locals respect; arrive after dinner for the full effect. Group bookings welcomed.
Cafe Cinema beside the Hackesche Hoefe runs as a dim, smoky room with old film posters, mismatched antique furniture and a clientele that holds the place against the polish of the surrounding courtyard.
Tip: Cash easier than card; the back room is quieter. Stays open until 04:00 most nights.
Diener on Grolmanstrasse runs as the West Berlin artists' pub, with around 500 portrait photos of actors and writers on the wood-panelled walls; ex-boxer Franz Diener took it over in 1954.
Tip: Open from 18:00; closed Sundays. Knockwurst with sauerkraut and a beer is the order.
Berghain occupies a former Vattenfall power plant in Friedrichshain and remains the canonical Berlin techno club, with Sven Marquardt's door and Klubnacht running Saturday night through Monday morning.
Tip: No phones inside, no logo'd clothes, no big groups. Klubnacht queue moves all weekend; small groups in black after 04:00 fare better than 23:00 lines.