If You Don’t Have Any Photos of Your Time in a Berlin Club, Did It Really Happen?
I first moved to Berlin in 2016, and when it came to the clubs, I did what I usually do the moment I find a new dish or meal I love… I enjoyed it as often as I possibly could.
Pretty much every weekend of those first twelve months was spent in some festival-like club or other, having adventures and honestly enjoying my newfound life in Germany’s capital as a mid-twenty-year-old.
A liberal free-spirited city countless people who’d lived there for years already would begin to tell me “is not like the rest of Germany” at all.
Back then, a Saturday or Sunday plan to go offline and into one of Berlin’s many clubs was not something I needed to have in the diary weeks or months in advance. I was twenty-five, newly living in the city, full of energy and surrounded by people who seemed to have very little interest in telling you what age you should stop doing anything.
We’d head out late, come home early (by that I mean the next morning!) and, as normal as working in an office during the week was, entering Berlin’s creative anything-goes nightlife became the standard way to enjoy most weekends.
Then, I abruptly stopped going to clubs completely, for seven whole years. Of course, there’s a little larger story behind that, and I promise to link to it the day I share it here.
It was only last year, in the summer of 2025, that the party popsicles came out once more. And there was something wonderfully lovely about re-entering a club I’d first fallen for at twenty-five, now at thirty-five, and discovering I still loved it just as much.
Ten years had passed. I certainly wasn’t the same person who had first danced her way through those doors. My life looked different, my priorities were different and my idea of a good weekend had definitely changed. And yet, there was still a little corner of me that was perfectly happy (ad)venturing for hours in a ridiculous Berlin playground.
I decided then and there that I was more than happy to make this an annual affair. And the Saturday before last, August 22nd 2026, that circled date on my calendar came around again.
So, in this post, you’re coming with me. On a little journey into one of the best clubs in Berlin (and in the world, imo).
Just in case you never make it here… or in case you one day decide to.
Are you ready?
The first thing you should know is that in Berlin, most clubs don’t close at all on the weekend. That means you can literally go whatever time you want, day or night.
Being the natural grandma I am (an in bed by 10pm with a book girlie hehe), daytime was the natural choice.
My gay bestie came over to my apartment for brunch and by 1pm, we were standing in front of the bouncer, who gave us several FULL looks up and down before one final nod of approval and asking for our phones.
The next thing you should know is that inside these clubs, absolutely no photos or videos are allowed. And with that, several stickers were placed over our front and back cameras.
Some people may say, “Hmm, if you don’t have any photos of your time in a Berlin club, did it really happen?” But everyone here is in agreement that there’s something rather beautiful about everyone simply being there to enjoy the experience. Not for the gram, but for themselves and with each other.
Come to think of it, that’s probably why you also won’t find a single mirror in the club bathrooms, or anywhere else.
Okay, so now we’re in… Leaving the world we knew through a Narnia wardrobe and entering an alternate universe.
The first thing you may notice is that much of the club is outdoors. There are disco balls, chairs, colourful umbrellas and all sorts of fun things hanging in the air. People are sitting around enjoying the weather in different little areas, nooks and crannies.
Inside a rocket-like boat. Cross-legged on the decking next to the pond with resident goldfish. In the sandy beach area, under the apple trees, on the theatre stage or in the alleyway that quite literally looks like you’re walking through Tokyo (I really really mean that).
Somewhere, there’s also a giant metal dragon head that you probably won’t notice until night falls and it starts breathing fire. There’s a pizza stand, somewhere to grab bowls of soup, even a wooden cabin cafe that, once you step inside, transports you right to the mountains of Switzerland. And of course, tea and hot chocolate are on the menu.
Every time I come here, I seriously wonder who the creative mastermind behind this entire place is. But even if he/she is a mystery, I can see that the artistic energy created is infectious as I look around…
People are dressed in colourful attire. There’s a man on the dance floor with a bubble machine, sending little soapy spheres glittering through the air. Another person is holding a pigeon (not real ofc) on a wooden stick that’s wearing sunglasses and has a pink chain dangling from its feather neck that says “daddy.” (😂)
Later in the evening, there’ll be a performance on the theatre stage which somehow ends with a supermarket trolley suspended in the air as two actresses, dressed as sandwiches, swing from it by their hair.
I’m giggling as I write this because it must sound quite bizarre for you to read. It’s a spectacle. An experience, really. One of those where the entire time feels like one surprise or unexpected delight after another.
The space itself is truly something else, but it’s the people who choose to go there that really make it…
When we first enter, we get ourselves a Weinschorle (basically white wine and sparkling water) and sit on the decking above the pond, just taking it all in. During this little people-watching movie, my eyes land on a woman whose outfit is… wonderful, for lack of better words. She looks like a real-life fairy godmother, no doubt capable of granting a few wishes.
“Next time I’m going to make more of an effort,” I tell my bestie. “Trust me, you won’t recognise me. I will wear THE outfit of the day. Because for me, the award for that goes to her.” I nod in the woman’s direction, still dazzled by her dress. Heart eyes emoji activated.
Later in the day, I pass her again. This time I’m close enough to tell her just how much I love what she’s wearing. I tell her I spotted her earlier and was blown away. I tell her about my grand plan to make more of an effort on my next outing and that, actually, she’s the one who has inspired me to do it.
“But what if there isn’t a next time?” she says. “What if this moment right now is all we have? Let’s glitz you up, right here, right now.”
She swivels the little pink Pandora’s box resting on her left hip around to the front and opens it. Sparkling face tattoos, gems and glitter galore peer up at me. And as my eyes meet the sparkle in her own again, the corners of my mouth turn up into a smile. “Come with me,” she says.
We sit down on stone armchairs in the sand and she proceeds to decorate my face ~ gold freckles across my cheeks, glitter beneath my eyebrows. “What’s your name?” I ask. “Alice,” she replies. “Like Alice in Wonderland.” Of course it is!
A few hours later, after taking my new sparkles for a spin across several dance floors, I spot a couple. Walking side by side, dressed, let’s say, pretty “normally” ~ except for one small detail.
They each have a tiny green sprout growing from their heads. As if their brains were fertile ground and life had quite literally taken root.
Again, I’m all smiles and compliments. “Please,” one of them says. “I have many of these. This one is yours.” And just like that, he takes the sprout from his own head and clips it onto mine.
As the night goes on, I begin noticing more sprouts popping up around the club. And every time one of us crosses paths ~ passing through Tokyo alley, wandering around the grounds or finding each other on a dance floor ~ there’s this little moment of recognition.
We smile, bow our heads towards one another and touch our sprouts together. Like they do in Avatar, you know?
Why? I couldn’t tell you haha. But again, that’s just part of the unexpected, surreal, beautiful little moments that seem to blossom here.
As I write this I’m reminded of a phrase I first came across while living in Brazil: “Gentileza gera gentileza.” Kindness generates kindness.
I complimented Alice’s outfit and she wanted to cover me in sparkles. I showed some love for a stranger’s funny little sprout and he took it from his own head and gifted it to me.
I didn’t really think about the connection between any of this until afterwards. But when I did, I realised that this is always the energy I find in this club. There’s a strange generosity to the place. And I can’t help but wonder whether there’s a little lesson hidden somewhere amongst the experience:
That when you express warmth, curiosity or kindness, somehow it seems to find its way back to you x2. And can you carry a little of that with you when you return to the “normal world”?
And sure, let’s be honest here, there are plenty of people here who are most likely taking some kind of drug or another, but the energy that pulsates through the place is happy, light, kind, welcoming and warm. Everyone is simply enjoying their time ~ happy and happy to be there.
There are clubs in Berlin that are darker, sexier or more alternative. But this club is where you go when you want joyful, festival-like, adventure vibes (always my preference!) and it always delivers. We went in at 1:30pm and, like Cinderella, we were out by midnight.
What’s that saying… “a picture tells a thousand words”?
Well, without a single photo to document this day, I’ve tried my very best to paint you a picture in a thousand words (1,832 to be exact).
If you’re coming to Berlin…
If you’re coming to Berlin and would like a few more places to seek out while you’re here, I’ve gathered 33 of my favourite spots and experiences from almost ten years of calling this city home into my little Berlin Black Book.
This club is one of them, alongside the unique cafés, restaurants, bars, hidden parks, flea markets and other little locally loved corners of the city I genuinely think are worth knowing.
And wherever you end up, I wish you a beautiful time in my home base.
