Cheerful local bar (kneipen) on Oranienburgerstr. and other Berlin, Germany Nightlife Tips

Nightlife Spot: Meilenstein

Pleasant unpretensious cafe/bar at the more interesting end of Oranienburgerstrasse. It was a good place to begin an evening's adventures, with local brews on tap. Good views of the bustling street outside.

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Theme: Eating and Drinking
Address: 7 Oranienburgerstrasse
Directions: at the Hackescher Markt end of Oranienburgerstrasse, not far from its intersection with Grosse Hamburgerstr.

Nightlife Spot: Hackbarth

There's a great neighborhood feel to this bar just a short stroll from Oranienburgerstrasse. It's authentic, off-the-beaten path, and 100% Berlin.

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Theme: Eating and Drinking
Address: Auguststrasse 49a
Directions: Mitte

Nightlife Spot: CSA Bar

This is one of the most beautiful martini bars I've ever been in. Located in a former sales office for the Czech State Airline (hence the name), the CSA Bar has a sleek minimalist decor, lighting that flatters, an attentive staff, and broad plate glass windows that look out at traffic whizzing by on what was intended to be East Germany's grandest boulevard. I have to confess this: I experienced a "frisson" of delight sipping my Cosmopolitan and shamelessly engaging in decadent homosexual flirtation while sitting comfortably ensconced on "Karl-Marx Allée". History does have its pleasurable ironies.

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Theme: Eating and Drinking
Phone: 29 04 47 41
Address: Karl Marx Allee 96 (south side of the road)
Directions: Friedrichshain -- U-Bahn Weberwiese

Nightlife Spot: various

Friedrichshain is a great place to bar-hop. But don't take my word for it. The Sunday NY Times travel section has just published a piece about Friedrichshain: "The Club Scene, on the Edge." Too bad it wasn't published before my visit!

"Mix Williamsburg with the Lower East Side, add a Teutonic accent and you've got the increasingly hip Berlin neighborhood Friedrichshain. It is home to both students and slackers, as a cracking night life has sprung up in the shadow of the Ostbahnhof, the main train station in the former East Berlin."

If it's in the "New York Times," it must be true!

Among the places recommended by the reviewer:
Habermayer, 6 Gärtnerstr.;
Astro-Bar, 40 Simon-Dach Str.;
and Lee Harvey Oswald Bar, 68 Grünberger Str.

I didn't visit any of the featured places myself on my November 2004 trip; maybe next time.

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Theme: Nightclub