Widely regarded as the most famous techno club on earth, Berghain occupies a hulking former power station in the no-man's-land between Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg. Opened in 2004 by Norbert Thormann and Michael Teufele, the founders of the earlier gay club Ostgut, it turned an imposing slab of GDR-era industrial architecture into a cathedral of electronic music. Its cavernous main floor pounds with relentless techno beneath towering ceilings and a thunderous Funktion-One sound system, while the lighter, house-leaning Panorama Bar sits upstairs. Marathon weekends run from Friday night deep into Monday morning, blurring all sense of time inside. Its notoriously selective door, long fronted by tattooed bouncer Sven Marquardt, and a strict no-photos policy have become legends in their own right. A famously sex-positive, queer-rooted ethos gives the club a freedom and intensity few venues anywhere can match. The stickers placed over phone cameras at the entrance underline an unwritten code that what happens inside stays inside. A global icon, Berghain endures as the spiritual home of techno, a converted power plant whose monumental space, uncompromising door and round-the-clock parties have made it a pilgrimage site for electronic-music lovers from every corner of the world.

Type: NightClub

Address: Berlin, Germany, 10243

Website: https://www.berghain.berlin/

Open Days: Friday; Saturday; Sunday

Minimum Age: 18+

Cover Charge: €10-€20

DJ: Marcel Dettmann; Ben Klock

Capacity: 1500

Opening Date: 01/10/2004