A citytrip to alternative Berlin

Hereby some tips for maximum joy with a minimum budget when you visit the German capitol.

Avoid the hotels
Wasted from a heavy night out, you have to be on time to get your breakfast before 10.00. While your eyelids hang somewhere around your knees and your stomach shrunk to the size of a lemon you try to eat the dry scrambled eggs, greasy bacon and drink the pure acid what they call orange juice. And all that fun for EUR. 18,- per meal! When you want to chill on your room the only thing on TV is CNN and lots of TV channels in a language you don’t understand. It seems that they dub every English TV show to the native language just to annoy you. And the expensive small rooms and ditto mini-bar (and mini it is) makes the trip a little bit uncomfortable.

Rent an apartment!
You stay for reasonable prices, between the locals in a cool part of town, and you decide when to have breakfast. It can’t go wrong with a kitchen, bathroom, spacious living- and bedroom for your comfort available. Like home you find your daily groceries at the cheap and fresh bakery, supermarket and coffee shop, just around the corner. Just like the bars and restaurants the locals are visiting.

Alternative Tour
You’re a bit interested in the history and cultural evolution of Berlin in the past decade and like streetart and graffiti? Do the Alternative Tour. Everybody knows how to find the Brandenburger Tor, you don’t need a guide for that. Besides of that, it’s a bit boring and you might want to do that when you reach the age when you need dentures and lose the ability to hear. You won’t find the backstreets, courtyards, hangouts and explanation about the Berlin streetart- and graffiti scène by just walking around.

Partying till the sun comes up. Twice!
Forget Berghain or Watergate. Visit ‘Salon zur wilden Renate’! Not yet quite familiar and discovered by the mainstream clubbers so it’s less touristic. It’s an old mansion with a courtyard that’s fully stashed with bizarre installations in a wacky setting and is a perfect spot for a hot summer day mini festival. Once inside you imagine yourself in a surreal, 3D, Salvador Dali painting. Downstairs is a pub with mini dance floor but upstairs is where the party goes wild. Dancing and drinking with, I think, 300 like minded party people between psychedelic paintings and doorposts which are probably made in Alice in Wonderland. All that enhances the authentic vibe that modern or industrial clubs are missing. I can tell a whole lot more about it but you need to see it yourself if you have a more than average love for the alternative side of electronic music.

The door policy is very strict because the popular venue is relatively small and therefore can’t host a big crowd. The doorbitch is the personal assistent of the Devil and is very picky if it comes to the selection of the ones who may enter. Dress yourself a bit up and do not wear some kind of casual camping outfit, smile with a twinkle in your eyes and know who’s playing that night if she wants to figure out if you’re a connoisseur or a wannabe. Make sure you’re there before 01.00 if you want to avoid a long queue and an even stricter door policy.

Closing time
They never heard about that in Berlin. It depends of the night but don’t be surprised if the party ends next day at four o’clock in the afternoon. Are you are a rock and roller and need to ‘after party’ some more? Some party’s start on Saturday and end on Monday afternoon. That happens at Katerholzig for example. You can find that in an old soap factory down the bank of the river Spree.

All the ingredients for a weekend you wont forget for a long time.

Recap
Cool areas of Berlin: Friedrichshein, Kreuzberg and Prenzlauer Berg.
Prices apartments for a long weekend: EUR. 200,- to EUR. 300,-
Alternative Tour EUR. 20,-
Entrance Wilden Renate EUR. 12,- to EUR. 20,-
Food & Drinks Below average compared to other big European city’s