Sitting in a dusty lot on the border of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, Berghain is widely considered one of the world’s best nightclubs. It has three dance floors: Berghain, a dark main room where most DJs play techno, Panorama Bar, an upstairs space that’s more focused on house, and the Säule on ground floor, though the music policy in all rooms is very open-ended. (There’s also a men’s-only club on the first level called Lab.Oratory, the occasionally used Halle and a smaller club with a separate entrance called Kantine am Berghain.)
A number of details give Berghain its cult appeal: its residents, which include Steffi, Tama Sumo, Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock, its set lengths, which range from three hours to more than eight, and its decor, which is mostly metal and poured concrete, with 30 meter ceilings and seemingly endless nooks and crannies.
Most of the parties are extremely long: Friday night events usually wrap up early Saturday afternoon, but Saturdays typically run well into Monday morning. Perhaps the most notorious aspect of the club is its door policy—hundreds of people are turned away each weekend, including regulars, often for reasons that are completely mysterious to everyone except the doormen.
The club also runs the Ostgut Ton record label and a booking agency.