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.
Address: Naunynstrasse 60, 10997 Berlin
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.
Tresor moved from its original Leipziger Platz vault to the Kraftwerk powerhouse on Koepenicker Strasse in 2007 and still books the harder end of Berlin and Detroit techno across multiple floors.
Tip: The Globus floor upstairs runs broader house; the cavernous Tresor floor downstairs is where the kick-drum lives. Cash only at the bar.