8 best bars in Berlin for every season

A drink and a chat with friends always lifts the spirits. But with over 4.500 bars in Berlin, how to find the perfect spot in the long winters, sticky summers and fiery autumns? If you’re new to Berlin and looking to find the coolest bars, rain or shine we’ve got you covered.

Best Berlin bars in springtime

Spring is truly one of the best times of year in Berlin. After a long hibernation, the city comes back with a vengeance and everyone is desperate to get outside to wonder at those tiny shreds of green beginning to appear on the trees. These spots are top for sipping a wine and feeling the sun properly warm your face for the first time in months.

Ankerklause, Kreuzkölln

On the Maybachufer bank of the Landwehr canal, Ankerklause borders Kreuzberg and Berlin’s bar-heavy, desperately hip neighbourhood, Neukölln. Right on the water, this is an excellent spot to see the season change and the busy world pass by.

Early on in the springtime, you can retreat to the bar's nautical-themed interior. Feeling like it's nearly jumper weather? Head out to the covered marquee area overhanging the canal. Late May and T-shirt time is here? Find a spot in the outdoor seating area and watch the sunset over Berlin’s Altbauten as Neukölln bustles away.

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Silver Future, Neukölln

If you’re looking for a bar in Berlin, Weserstraße is the place to go, and if you’re on Weserstraße, Silver Future is one of our top picks for you.

This spot has been serving Berlin’s queers and their friends since 2007. Not just cocktails but an ever-enticing calendar of queer open stages, bands, FLINTA* date nights, drag shows and comedy.

On a warm spring evening, you can enjoy the outdoor seats on Weserstraße or perch yourself at the window front. Now, what’ll it be…?

Cool bars in Berlin for summer

Everyone wants to spend the summer in Berlin. From May Day to September 30 the city barely sleeps. Here are the best spots to while away your evenings and early mornings.

Klunkerkranich, Neukölln

This rooftop spot is a weather-dependent Berlin staple with a wow factor. Unsuspectingly plotted at the top of the Neukölln Arkaden shopping centre with an excellent view over the Hauptstadt, Klunkerkranich is the perfect spot to send a gaze of satisfaction into the distance.

With live music and DJs, expensive-for-Berlin-but-still-kind-of-cheap beers, vegan food and wacky art installation decor, this is a must for anyone visiting for summer or jaded Berliners needing to reignite that spark with their sexy city.

Entry to Klunkerkranich costs between 2 and 8 euros depending on if there is an event that night and what it is. It is also possible to pay a concession entry fee.

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Cafe am Neuen See, Tiergarten

Cafe am Neuen See is a wee bit of a hidden gem. Nestled in Berlin’s answer to Central Park, Tiergarten, this Biergarten is a pleasant walk from the city’s biggest sights and attractions - the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate and the Fernsehturm - making it the perfect spot to end your dutiful slog around the must-sees.

Take a spot on one of the Bierbänke below the twinkling lights, order yourself a Stein and a currywurst - vegan or otherwise - and enjoy the lakeside view. Cafe am Neuen See may be on the pricier side when it comes to Berlin bars, but the atmosphere makes it all worth it for the sweetest of summertime evenings.

Image credit: Mo Photography Berlin / Shutterstock.com

Cosy bars for autumn in Berlin

The nights are drawing in, the soggy browns and oranges are here, the rosé has been resigned to the cupboard and red is back on the menu. Here's where to make the most of autumn in Berlin... while drinking.

Paris Bar, Charlottenburg

There is no more reliable place to enjoy a glass of rouge in Berlin than Paris Bar, a little slice of the city of lights as the grey months descend. Take a seat on a wooden chair, lift your red from the white-clothed table, eat a single pomme frite and look up at the bar’s mural of its own interior, surrounded by other whimsical works.

We know the sum: Paris equals bohemian art and bohemian art equals intellectual and cultured. As such, Paris Bar has a claim as the “most important artists’ bar in Germany”, a hot spot for catching a glimpse of the great and the good of German film and international culture. 

Back in the real world, you can head further down Kantstraße for one of Germany’s best stretches of Vietnamese food.

Das Gift, Neukölln

Autumn is about new beginnings and Das Gift claims to be “the friendliest bar in Neukölln”. So if you’re a fresh face in the city or looking to make some holiday friendships or romances, this is the place to go. 

Alongside friendliness and affordability, Das Gift boasts an excellent calendar of events, pub quiz on Mondays and spoken word on Thursdays, both of which are packed with strangers waiting to become your friends. Another perk - this might be the only bar in Berlin where paying by card is preferred.

Berlin bars to forget about the winter

Hours of candlelit conversation - the stuff of life - at these two bars will make the depths of winter which await you outside feel romantic, rather than dreadful.

Madame Claude, Kreuzberg

Madame Claude is another unsuspecting joint in the heart of Kreuzberg, which is deep enough in a basement that you can forget that it’s -15 degrees celsius outside for a little while. As quirky Berlin bars go this bar is pretty damn quirky. You may already be half-cut, but believe your eyes, all of the furniture is attached to the ceiling, everything is upside down.

Head to this little madam for a cheap drink, cheap shots, a dancefloor so tiny that making friends with strangers is inevitable and Sunday night’s fantastically named “Open Mic L J Fox”. There are no windows so it’ll be 5am before you know it.

Ä Stube, Neukölln

Known to the locals simply as “Ä”, this parlour is another happening spot on Weserstraße bar stretch in Neukölln and a perfect hideout for knocking back Augustiners while the snow falls on Neukölln’s freezing streets. 

With mismatched furniture, candle-lit rooms and clouds of cigarette smoke, Ä is about among the purest of “Berlin bars”. For some extra fun, depending on the night, you might be able to catch a concert in the bar’s back room. We’ll call you out when the spring buds are back.

What is your favourite bar in Berlin?

Have we missed one of Berlin's hidden gems? Let us know your favourite Hauptstadt bar in the comments below!

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